You’re telling me Volkswagen would report to the market that one of the specs for it’s cars was a lower number than it actually outputs in the real world? I don’t believe it.

Nissan is already planning to ditch CHAdeMO for CCS in the next update of the leaf. Other new Nissan EVs are going straight to CCS.

3rd Gear: Regulatory Capture

Hamilton’s left front and a Red Bull’s right rear.

Isn’t it unsafe to walk away from the pump while it’s operating?

The “chuckability” (which I define as a lightweight car with good steering feel) of my Protege, Protege5, and Mazda3 was always my favorite feature of the brand. I moved on to a Nissan Leaf after the Mazda3 and I’d love to have a lighter electric car.

$10k is a lot of electrical work. Do you have an older house that might have been exempt from the NEC since the 60s? That kind of cost sounds like a whole new level of service from the grid to the building and a fully new electrical panel. Most people with a house that has 100A-200A service can get at least a 20A 240v…

I bought a 2013 Leaf last year with 58,000 miles and I’ve put 20,000 miles on it in 14 months with a ton of DC Fast Charging (mind you, it maxes out at 50kW, but so does the Bolt).

My $100 EV registration fee for my 3,300 pound Nissan Leaf each year is already close to the amount a 2,900 pound Honda Civic would spend in gas tax in a year for the same mileage.

The credit for PHEVs was limited by how big the battery was. The Chevy Volt (2nd gen) was able to claim the full $7,500 because it had a large enough battery. Many PHEVs were not eligible for the full amount because of their smaller batteries.

2nd Gear:

I wish I could be this sanguine about the possibility. A couple of years ago I would have thought a ban on new ICE cars in my lifetime would be insane and instant political death to anyone proposing it.

I work in procurement for a small automotive OEM. The chip shortage is just the tip of the iceberg. Steel prices are skyrocketing and fabricators are wary of holding a bunch of stock material because of it, so lead times on fabricated components are moving out. Plastic parts are in trouble because there isn’t as much…

...Dealerships are good for the consumer. A direct to consumer model doesn’t allow a consumer to negotiate the best price. 

That is the problem here. Affording a new car. A ton of people have never ever purchased a new car.

Yeah cars are so damn expensive now compared to when they initially came out. It’s sad.

My state already charges me a special EV fee for my annual registration of my Nissan Leaf ($100). A Honda Civic running equivalent miles as me (10,000) would pay about $110 in state and federal gas taxes combined. We’re pretty much there.

I called a Kia dealer in Kansas City to see if they had any Niro EVs available. I had to explain to the salesperson that there were different versions of the Niro and I was looking to see if they were going to get any of the full EV version (they weren’t). He asked me if I’d heard about the Telluride.

I would add that the average age of cars in the U.S. is 11.9 years. With a 50% market share, EVs will take over 20 years to take over the market to the fullest extent. And it’ll be a decade before they’re at 50% market share. We have a long time to figure out the energy production problem. People act like we can only…

Both the 100kWh Tesla and the Rivian can charge at 11.5kW on AC power. If you’re buying one of those cars, you can afford to get a 60A line run to your garage (if you need a line that expensive, which plenty of people won’t).