Interesting story: When I was in college we had the head of engine development for the Viper (an alumni) come to one of our SAE meetings to talk about what at the time seemed like the best job ever (he pretty much agreed).

There was a particular spot on Coronado island in San Diego where I would loose service every time I walked through it. It was in an open park facing inland. But for about 50 or 100 ft if I was on the phone while I was out walking the dog the call dropped every time.

My parents still have it partly because where they live cell service can get spotty for streaming media, and they are not the best about linking phones to cars and such.  It’s just fancy radio that works anywhere.

Neutral: It’s all about headlines, and I don’t foresee them being able to actually implement by then. Mainly because 9 years seems like a long time but in car development cycles it’s not. For this to happen you need EV options for all the vehicles on the road today and there are just not EV options for a lot of…

I was all set to agree with the fox body mustang, but you are more correct. From the original K-car that basic package was used to create almost everything Chrysler made that wasn’t a truck, including the minivan and the Chryser TC by Mazerati. It really was the most 80's car.

The real question will be if you will actually want to once you have kids? Don’t answer now, it doesn’t count until you actually have kids.

3rd Gear: I guess I should start that I fully acknowledge what Elon has done for EVs, but I continue to be amused by the fact that his goal of saving the planet using EVs seems completely counter-balanced by the massive new construction efforts (concrete has a huge CO2 cost), and his rocket company which literally…

It makes me happy this exists!  I am unlikely to ever own one or do this conversion as my area is not very scooter friendly, but we need more of these kinds of options to give older vehicles new life in the EV age.

Some states (like VA) have started to compensate by charging an extra registration fee on EVs. In Virginia it’s an extra $88/year “highway use fee” on top of the usual $30-35 for most cars.

I wasn’t advocating a particular tire size for him or any one else. Just stating a circumstance where it might make sense to buy used tires. Tire prices don’t get dramatically cheaper at the sizes he’s installing. These aren’t a set of 195/75R15s on your average econo-box. But you could likely find somone looking to…

This is the right answer. Windshield wipers, power windows, blower motors, even brakes on an EV use electricity, all of them create surge loads that the battery handles without issue. The 12V charging circuit can likely also be smaller because of that as well, it doesn’t need to power everything, just be able to keep…

I think it would depend on a lot of factors. I have 35's on my truck and should have done 37's. They have maybe 3k on them in 2 years, so they’d be a good deal for someone if/when I decide to go up.

I see your W and raise you a double-W.  The Chrysler A57 30-cylinder tank engine from WWII.

Yes, they were throttle body fuel injected, so it was like having a 2 barrel on it. Just a lonely fuel injector spraying it’s heart out. But they made decent torque, and were a long stroke so they make lots of low end grunt. The following year it got better fuel injection and power went up to 220/295.

Being small hatchbacks with low centers-of-gravity and all that instant torque with no noise, you can drive them fairly spiritedly if you want, and with no transmission they’re pretty responsive. It’s not a Miata, but it’s far better than the gas version of the cars most of these EVs are based on with their buzzy…

Exactly, it’s an argument I’ve made a few times. I understand the economics aren’t there right now in the new car market, but getting people in EVs is the best way to convince them they want one, and for a lot of the US the easiest way to do that would be as “second vehicles”. My wife has a Jetta and will still take…

Isn’t the point of these articles to show how people are embracing EVs? Didn’t know it needed to meet some arbitrary bar you’ve set for what EV life needs to be. Why does EV life need to be all or nothing anyway?

An aftermarket version of the EV transmissions GM/Chrysler used for their quickly killed hybrid trucks would be similar to what you want. Problem is for it to work well I think it would require a fairly competent person to program it to the vehicle. A nitrus like “boost” button might seem simple enough but I’d bet…

Batteries. Remember that the energy density of batteries is much lower than that of gas. Most current EVs use all the under-body area they can for batteries. Trucks may have more under-body area, but they also have larger energy requirements.

Scale isn’t the problem, it’s thermodynamics that don’t work here. What are you making hydrogen from? How do you use less energy making hydrogen than you get from the hydrogen? How does that hydrogen then power the ship?