Electric Vehicles
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@taniwharugby Don't you f'ing start me! Our road is a pot holed swamp at the moment - have the rates gone down -NO!
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@NTA said in Electric Vehicles:
@taniwharugby all depends actually - EVs are at their least effective on long drives with few stops or elevation changes. Cold weather reduces performance but that has to be seriously cold.
@Snowy The long range Model 3 is probably closer to 500km in real-world terms. The NEDC range is somewhat bullish.
Yeah I wasn't convinced either, but here it is:
https://www.tesla.com/en_NZ/model3
Interesting with the Audi that if you spend an extra $1500 for 21" rims you get an extra 8-10% increase in range. Quite significant until we get more fast chargers around the country. They are seriously big wheels and do suit our shitty roads (North Island mostly).
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@Snowy said in Electric Vehicles:
@taniwharugby Don't you f'ing start me! Our road is a pot holed swamp at the moment - have the rates gone down -NO!
Do you live in NSW?
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@jegga Hard to disagree with him having tried a few. Cheap to run, fast, all wheel drive, not much to not like.
He's probably right about driving a car with a stick shift but it is a shame. I have 3 manual vehicles and still prefer them to autos (of which we have 2). All a bit long in the teeth (like me) but the control and drive of a "stick shift" is still the winner on our shitty roads. I might have already mentioned that...
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@NTA said in Electric Vehicles:
@MN5 one for you nerds
That looks awful. Beautiful car with a crap paint job.
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@Snowy said in Electric Vehicles:
Thought about doing a conversion to my TVR, but weight and distribution would be an issue I think.
Still cool though.
Do one to your hilux, Musk said trying to convert his original lotus roadster to electric was a painful exercise . Especially trying to get it to handle properly again with the different weights etc.
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Had a whirl in one of the new Nissan Leaf models on the weekend. Bloody nice car, but I think perhaps a bit too small for our needs - I set up the driving position for me and the boy would struggle to fit in the back.
Look, its $55k onroad, and that is a lot for a hatch. But you get full leather interior, heated front and rear seats, heated steering wheel, a pretty big boot, and for the toys you have 360 degree camera for parking, Bose Stereo, Apple / Android compatibility, and a ~300km range. All the bloody annoying alarms for shit as well.
Best bit for me was the ePedal - this is Nissan's "special thing" that basically makes one-pedal operation possible, and its great in traffic. Take your foot off the accelerator and the car will come to a complete halt. Took a few minutes to get accustomed but once I did it was pretty cool, and could be used with standard mode or full regen to help keep the battery at a decent level.
Good takeoff - nothing like the Model S of course - and very smooth drive with light steering. Almost too light but would be very much appreciated by the wife I've no doubt. Good visibility as well and the cameras I imagine are really handy for those difficult parks where another car just beeps at you but can't say what's wrong.
I'm still concerned by the lack of liquid cooling for the battery, and the rumoured difficulties with fast charging. Regardless, as I explain to the nice Kiwi sales lady, we're sadly not in the market for another car just yet, and I had my concerns over the interior room even as a second car. Plus, Nissan might be bringing out an SUV/Crossover electric in a couple of years that could convince me to part with the X-Trail:
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I should add: in the last month since the Tesla Model 3 dropped, I've seen about 8 of them driving around my part of Sydney. These might otherwise be BMW 3 series or MB C Class owners who are going electric. It is interesting that I might see a Model S or X occasionally, but now it will become so commonplace as not to be remarked upon.