Driving an electric car from Sydney to Melbourne / the Downsides of EVs

[ruSTynutz]

Is this just an expensive experiment?

Who knows, like Steve said, time will tell...

I did read elsewhere that they have had a couple of issues...one truck didn't make it back to the depot and had to be towed apparently due to a particularly hot day which could be an issue down the track what with global warming and all...

Anyhow, hopefully it's more successful than Janus Electric's trial where they lost 2 out of 6 trucks to fire...

[ruSTynutz]

With Tesla prices dropping yet again it must be doing wonders for resale values!

https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla-slashes-prices-in-australia-may-2024/

I guess it's good if you're looking at buying one though...

[Marcus]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-27/comparing-electric-cars-and-petrol-cars/103746132

[ruSTynutz]

I had a read of that this morning...

There does seem to be lots of estimates, expectations and rubbery figures produced in the article to support the narrative but at the end of the day I don't disagree with the fact that EVs are "greener" than ICE vehicles.
Whether they are as green as they like to project, that's probably debatable...

More than 3 million Australian homes have rooftop solar and, according to a 2021 survey, most EV owners plug into their own set-up.
A car that's charged with rooftop solar produces even lower emissions over its lifetime.

Out of those 3 million homes only around 180,000 have batteries. I'd like to know how many of them also have an EV!

There are obviously a lot of people charging their EVs from the grid overnight with power most likely produced with coal/gas, depending on what State you live in.
Crowing that there are 3 million Australian homes with rooftop solar does sound much more impressive though if you're pushing the EV narrative. 

Oh, by the way, it was only a few days ago that the NSW government extended the life of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station for at least two more years so that might throw their calculations out a bit. 

Anyhow, if you're happy to put up with the inconveniences of EV ownership, go for it...I very much doubt I'll be having one in my garage any time soon for all the reasons I've put forward in my other posts... 

[ruSTynutz]

‘Can’t sell its cars’: Horror news for Tesla owners as prices plunge

https://tinyurl.com/2n9sukrm

[ruSTynutz]

Tesla's Self Drive Technology is Great...   

https://youtu.be/h4f-crzpZ9w?si=na6gaJ6IwNXrdxR5

[Joso]

That’s if it doesn’t catch on fire first

[Joso]

That’s if they don’t catch on fire first 😂😂😂

[ruSTynutz]

That's not quite correct, Joso.
The word is they are less likely to catch on fire compared to an ICE vehicle although it will be interesting to see if that changes as they age, and we get more and more EVs on our roads... 

[LindsayGT]

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/byds-new-hybrids-can-get-from-melbourne-to-brisbane-with-range-to-spare

[ruSTynutz]

It will be interesting to see how it is in the real world.

Hybrids do appear to be a much better option than full on EVs...

[CallMeSteve]

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/byds-new-hybrids-can-get-from-melbourne-to-brisbane-with-range-to-spare

I don't have a dog in this fight, and I've never spent any serious time with a hybrid, so I'm happy to be corrected on anything I say.

I do think that hybrids make a lot of sense since they play to the strengths of both ICE and EV technology.

However I think the title of that article is misleading. There is no way I would expect to drive that vehicle from Melbourne to Brisbane at highway speed without a refuel.

From what I understand, the NEDC fuel consuption test is 25 years old, is very lenient and it is heavily geared towards slow-speed, stop-start city usage (which of course is where hybrids shine).  The sources I've read suggest that the consumption measured under the newer WLTP standard that we use in Oz could be 30% hgher. So the quoted figure of 2.9l/100k could be more like 4l/100k, which is fairly common for hybrids in a pure city cycle.

Further, my understanding is that the fuel consumption benefits that hybrids achieve in the city evaporates on the open highway where the electrics are mostly unused and fuel consumption is largely determined by wind drag.

So to take an optimistic city-cycle fuel consumption and extrapolate it to 'Melbourne to Brisbane' is completely incorrect.

[LindsayGT]

https://carnewschina.com/2024/05/28/byds-5th-generation-dm-technology-for-phevs-debuts-in-china/

[ruSTynutz]

Tesla sales numbers slump amid uncertainty over EVs
By Bethan Yeoman

Is the electric vehicle honeymoon over?

Thousands of Teslas are piling up in what’s been described as an auto graveyard amid plummeting sales across Australia, with motoring
experts now worried the honeymoon is over for electric vehicles.

Two thousand Teslas arrive at Port Melbourne every month but sales slumped a massive 44 per cent in April, and many of the vehicles
have been pictured waiting to be moved on from the busy transport hub.

Click link to continue reading: https://7news.com.au/news/tesla-sales-numbers-slump-amid-uncertainty-over-evs-c-14905950

[Williamson]

Tesla sales numbers slump amid uncertainty over EVs
By Bethan Yeoman

Is the electric vehicle honeymoon over?

Thousands of Teslas are piling up in what’s been described as an auto graveyard amid plummeting sales across Australia, with motoring
experts now worried the honeymoon is over for electric vehicles.

Two thousand Teslas arrive at Port Melbourne every month but sales slumped a massive 44 per cent in April, and many of the vehicles
have been pictured waiting to be moved on from the busy transport hub.

Click link to continue reading: https://7news.com.au/news/tesla-sales-numbers-slump-amid-uncertainty-over-evs-c-14905950

More discounts coming?

[Marcus]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYh22Ay7/

[ruSTynutz]

Me thinks he's been drinking too much of the Tesla Kool-Aid!    

[LindsayGT]

A little update on my son’s friend’s trek around Australia.

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/family-towing-a-caravan-across-australia-in-an-ev-to-prove-scomo-and-doubters-wrong

[ruSTynutz]

Thanks for the update, Lindsay... 

They claim they averaged range of between 260km and 300km per charge

Nothing to write home about when you consider the camper is fairly lightweight with a tare weight of 1480kg...

While no-one is saying you can't do trips towing a camper with an EV, the point is, would you want to? 
Instead of a nice relaxing holiday cruising our huge Country, you'd be constantly planning and worrying whether you were going to make it to the next charger
and with that sort of range there would be little opportunity to deviate off your planned route for fear of being stranded out in the middle of no-where.
At least with an ICE, you'll have way more range and more options.
You can also carry a couple of jerry cans of fuel for those times that you feel like exploring further than you'd planned...

[LindsayGT]

They don't appear to be suffering from "range anxiety".

More like stopping to "smell the roses", so to speak. https://www.thesmellofroses.com/posts/what-does-it-mean-to-take-time-to-smell-the-roses

Very few negative comments on their facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/ElecTrekking

[ruSTynutz]

They don't appear to be suffering from "range anxiety".

That's good for them if that's the case, but with their pretty limited range I'm sure there would be plenty out there that would...

More like stopping to "smell the roses", so to speak. https://www.thesmellofroses.com/posts/what-does-it-mean-to-take-time-to-smell-the-roses

I know what "smelling the roses" means and all I can say you'll have plenty of time to do that while waiting for your EV to charge...lol.
Driving an ICE vehicle will allow you to "smell the roses" pretty much whenever you want... 

Very few negative comments on their facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/ElecTrekking

Probably because that sort of page would be attracting like-minded people and/or people just interested in their travels...

[Gadget]

50,000 km in and we've saved over $4,000 in fuel,  and over $2,000 in servicing.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-10/farmer-switches-to-an-electric-vehicle-and-saves-thousands/103952104?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

Sent from my SM-N986B using Tapatalk

[ruSTynutz]

That's good for him! 

It will be interesting to see how the Tesla's suspension holds up long term travelling gravel roads although in saying that, the road in the video looked to be in pretty good nick.

[Biggles]

Big savings if you don't mind driving a couple of hundred kays further to avoid rough roads- he's obviously nursing the suspension that way.  Should last as long as his Landcruiser too, since there's not much maintenance required.  He's obviously not needing to haul as much cargo backwards and forwards to Brisbane as the fourby can carry.  Everything has its trade-offs.

[ruSTynutz]

I think the extra couple of hundred k's he has to do is due to where chargers are located, Bill!

The reason I mentioned the suspension is because there seems to be a fair bit of discussion online about suspension issues on Teslas so it may be an issue long term.
And while the guy says the maintenance is a lot less compared to his Landcruiser, he's comparing 2 completely different styles of vehicles, one is a 4WD and the other is a sedan...
I'd also like to know how old the Landcruiser is and how many k's it's got on the clock.
I suspect it probably has a lot so naturally there's likely to be a lot more maintenance required than a relatively new-ish vehicle.

Hmmm, I wonder if he carries a spare tyre?