The latest electric cars from Hyundai, Kia and Ford have the ability to share their battery power with another vehicle that is running low and needs a bit of a boost.
One hour of charging from these electric vehicles should deliver enough energy to drive a stranded electric car between 10km and 20km (depending on the model).
DB2
They can’t compete with Tesla so they make their cars even more expensive. Smart!
The Captain
What does one do if a Tesla runs out of electrons on the highway or country road?
DB2
One takes the Tesla to where there are electrons or brings electrons to where the Tesla is. One fellow just blew up his Tesla.
Making expensive cars for the odd case of running out of electrons does not make economic sense.
The Captain
How much more expensive does it really make it? Many smart phones added this feature (wirelessly charge other phones) a couple of years ago. Doesn’t seem to have hurt their sales.
They already are bleeding money on EVs, why bleed even more? It might be a great idea when they can afford it.
The Captain
They use seawater to charge them.
Andy
I don’t know the answer to that. But it does seem like a trivial feature to add a 120v outlet on EVs for various convenience reasons. You can buy as 120v 1000w inverter for ~$200 retail. You could use this to “jump” a stranded EV with enough miles to get to a nearby charger.
Mike
For someone concerned about that, I ask “How often do you run out of gas?”
I’ve never run out of gas because I’m a responsible person and occasionally look at my gas gauge. How often do YOU run out of gas?.. now, if the answer is similar to mine, why do you think you’d have that problem with EVs?
Rob
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
Especially considering that EVs typically start warning you, over and over when you are below some threshold, such as 50 miles remaining. And, at least in a Tesla you can get a very accurate projection of how far to go to get to a charger and how much energy the car is using for the drive train, climate, wind, elevation, entertainment, etc. and hints on what to do to drive more efficiently to arrive without getting to empty.
Never had a gas car with those features
Mike
I ran out of gas a few times in my younger days when trying to stretch my limited funds. But that’s not what I was asking. Is there anything that Tesla does in particular, such as a network of service responders to call?
DB2
I haven’t keep up with this but some time ago people were talking about Tesla making house calls for repair work that did not need to be done in the shop. That included on the road assistance like the AAA offers.
You don’t want to struggle to change a flat tire on your car when it’s raining at 11:00 at night. With a roadside assistance plan, all you need to do is make a call and a technician will come take care of it for you.
The Captain
Possibly because there’s a gas station on every corner, sometimes three to a block. While EV chargers are vastly less well populated. So your attempt to make these situations “equal” ignores the most important part of the issue, ie, “refilling.”
You’re welcome.
“E” is for ¡Échale!
El Capitán
Clearly, you miss the point… which is paying attention to the fuel/charge level. In which case, the spacing of chargers is just part of paying attention. I guess you don’t.
Rob
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
I agree. This doesn’t make any sense. The car is telling you, you are low on power, you tell it to find you a charging station nearby. It tells you the closest one and you head to that charging station. Why would you run out of power? The charging station is to far away? That is because you didn’t pay attention. My ICE car doesn’t do anything like the Tesla does. I think anyone arguing the point really doesn’t comprehend how easy Tesla makes it to never run out of your charge.
Andy
Just an FYI, my 2018 ICE does the exact same thing. Tells me the nearest gas station and asks me if I would like to navigate to it when I get to around 25 miles left of gas.
Just did some quick googling and the found that Volts did this at least as early is 2011. It is probably fair to assume that this feature is common with any vehicle (EV or ICE) that has a nav system.
I have a Nav system in my 2008 Dodge Ram and 2018 Toyota Rav4 but do not have it where it watches when I am going empty. But maybe the newer ones do that. It wouldn’t surprise me. But that still just says how easy it is now not to run out of gas. I have always driven a lot of miles and never have ran out of gas though.
Andy
And in the UK:
DB2
Sure. Also to the tire wear and pressure. And oil level. And windshield wiper fluid. And transmission fluid. And battery health. And …
The point, which you have purposely missed, is that people often “don’t pay attention.” With a gas car that’s not a big deal (although the almost-million a year who run out would argue otherwise) because there’s a filling station on every street corner. The EV will “tell you how to navigate to a charging station, where you can spend 20 minutes cooling your heels.”
Clearly not an insurmountable problem as charging stations become more prevalent, charging times get reduced, and home charging becomes more common. For now, just another impediment to overcome for consumers and consumer perceptions.
I pay attention to reality, and how actual consumers react, not to how fanbois rationalize everything. See the difference? I didn’t think so.