like a hand-written letter
Love the analogy
EV thread
- Thread starter Apparition
- Start date
Love the analogy
GoldCountry
Member
Read the first few pages and the last few pages of this thread. A couple of observations not necessarily specific to this thread…
People talk about EVs not needing their automotive needs all in one package—like you’re only allowed to own one vehicle. Ours is strictly for running around and commuting. Range is not an issue for this purpose. We live in a pretty rural area. Most services are 40-60 miles away and my office commute is a 100 mile round trip. Our Tesla 3 has a 350 mile range. Real world, driving like I stole it with the HVAC running—it averages 4 miles per kW or 328 miles of range.
It does not need to tow 20,000lbs, be able to get through the Rubicon or charge as fast as a gas fill up when on a road trip. I have 10 street legal vehicles ranging from classic trucks and SUVs, to crew cab long bed Cummins, our little TJ and a couple motorcycles. I have spent precisely 0 minutes waiting to charge for this EVs use case. So it’s actually better than our ICE vehicles in that regard—we wake up to whatever percentage we set it at. In our case, we leave it set to 80%.
The best part about the vehicle over the 100,000 plus miles we’ve driven it is ZERO maintenance. Did I mention I have a fleet of vehicles? The Tesla is nice in that regard.
About the software taking over, disabling features and obsolescence—I haven’t updated the software in over 3 years. Nothing has happened to the car, nothing has been pushed. The reason I have not updated is the one and only “recall” that has been issued was due to people being idiots and wanting to sleep while on autopilot or full self driving. They issued a recall software update to include eye tracking to make sure you aren’t texting or sleeping while in autopilot. Since I have a piece of tape over the interior camera, I wouldn’t be able to use autopilot any longer. My solution, just don’t update the software. To this day, I can use autopilot on longer freeway trips with my interior camera blocked while running software from 2023.
To reiterate, it would never be my one and only vehicle, but they make great DDs to keep miles off the vehicles you love and they are very safe for your wife and kids—especially compared to my 40+ year old American steel alternatives. I’m not an EV fanboy and I don’t think I’m saving the planet.
People talk about EVs not needing their automotive needs all in one package—like you’re only allowed to own one vehicle. Ours is strictly for running around and commuting. Range is not an issue for this purpose. We live in a pretty rural area. Most services are 40-60 miles away and my office commute is a 100 mile round trip. Our Tesla 3 has a 350 mile range. Real world, driving like I stole it with the HVAC running—it averages 4 miles per kW or 328 miles of range.
It does not need to tow 20,000lbs, be able to get through the Rubicon or charge as fast as a gas fill up when on a road trip. I have 10 street legal vehicles ranging from classic trucks and SUVs, to crew cab long bed Cummins, our little TJ and a couple motorcycles. I have spent precisely 0 minutes waiting to charge for this EVs use case. So it’s actually better than our ICE vehicles in that regard—we wake up to whatever percentage we set it at. In our case, we leave it set to 80%.
The best part about the vehicle over the 100,000 plus miles we’ve driven it is ZERO maintenance. Did I mention I have a fleet of vehicles? The Tesla is nice in that regard.
About the software taking over, disabling features and obsolescence—I haven’t updated the software in over 3 years. Nothing has happened to the car, nothing has been pushed. The reason I have not updated is the one and only “recall” that has been issued was due to people being idiots and wanting to sleep while on autopilot or full self driving. They issued a recall software update to include eye tracking to make sure you aren’t texting or sleeping while in autopilot. Since I have a piece of tape over the interior camera, I wouldn’t be able to use autopilot any longer. My solution, just don’t update the software. To this day, I can use autopilot on longer freeway trips with my interior camera blocked while running software from 2023.
To reiterate, it would never be my one and only vehicle, but they make great DDs to keep miles off the vehicles you love and they are very safe for your wife and kids—especially compared to my 40+ year old American steel alternatives. I’m not an EV fanboy and I don’t think I’m saving the planet.
just kidding man, I see the future potential ownership of an EV much in the way you describe, a mileage sponge for daily local-ish hassle free driving. I have a feeling the Slate will be filling that need for many
GoldCountry
Member
lol, just trying to share my experience with the vehicle. As a result of living in a rural area, we drive quite a few miles. Every mile I drive the EV is a mile kept off my other vehicles.
I’m interested to see how much range the Slate actually achieves with normal everyday drivers.
KennethS
TJ Expert
I've said it before, I would like an EV for the performance aspects but the dang computerized vehicle surrounding that electric drivetrain is a 100% turn-off for me. I don't own a vehicle with TPMS or a screen in the dash, and I like it that way.
GoldCountry
Member
I hear you, and again, my second newest vehicle is over 20 years old. I believe you are mostly referring to the user interface, rather than the actual complexity of electronics in the vehicle. The unfortunate fact is modern ICE and hybrids have far more computers/control modules than EVs. The number of sensors and electronics to carefully monitor fuel, timing and automatic transmissions and the computers that react to that data and send commands to adjust those parameters is high.
Modern automatics and CVTs scare me. I currently own two automatic equipped vehicles. A 50 year old Ford F-350 supercab with a C6 and a 40 year old Chevy Suburban with a TH400. Everything else is a manual.
New vehicles are generally not meant to be user serviceable nor cheap to work on. I owned a 2019 Silverado z71 LD (2018 body style).
They kept having to replace the entire headlight assembly under warranty because the white plastic trim surround was delaminating. The tech told me that out of warranty, the headlight unit was $1300. That and my research about direct injection were my cues to sell. Timing was fortunate during COVID and I sold it (to a dealer no mind you) for several thousand more than I paid new. It had 25,000 miles on it at the time and had to go to the service department quite often for stupid stuff during that period. Normally we do all of our own work, but it was under warranty.
KennethS
TJ Expert
I’m more turned off by silly things such as inability to unlock the door unless the vehicle is not moving, electric door latch actuators, and of course the annoying beeping alerts for everything.
Americans and their interlocks. We never had clutch/starter interlocks when I was growing up. Can't just permanently disable the thing as it would be MY fault if some idiot started the thing in gear. Bullshit...
speeding_infraction
TJ Addict
Well, first of all it's not just Americans lol. Also, yes, you can disable it
Yea, but most of them seemed to get started here, or at least in our car market. I had an '87 F250 that had a clutch interlock, yet a '96 Passat didn't. I also am pretty sure an '88 Ford Tempo we had was equipped with one as well. *shrug*
When I went to put a "scotch-tap" on the clutch wires on that F-250, I could tell the dealer had removed exactly that (a scotch tap) that the PO had put on. I just put another one on, using the existing slots in the insulation.
GoldCountry
Member
The newest vehicle I had that I remember not having a clutch safety was my 1993 Audi urS4. 20v turbo inline 5. I miss that car.
Yea, the Germans would be resistant to crap like that for sure. I'm not sure when the Japanese picked it up - we had a '98 Accord for a couple or three years that had it as I remember.
KennethS
TJ Expert
First thing I did with the ‘98 TJ was disable that clutch interlock. I am glad Jeep recognized there was a legitimate need for it.
I would do that too, just like I did the '87 F-250 - but if some idiot fucks up, like at a car shop or something, I'd be responsible in our bass-ackwards bullshit legal "system". Instead, I'm putting in an override switch.
KennethS
TJ Expert
I can sympathize with your concerns, but since I am a cheap bastage I do all the work on my stuff. Last time the Jeep saw a shop was the dealership the previous (first) owner took it to under warranty.
Apparition
Sand Hollow '26 beginner trails in the books
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Apparition
Sand Hollow '26 beginner trails in the books
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