Automobiles

[sk_tle]

I understand your points and it appears to be becoming more clear by the day that the CEO in question is indeed toxic and foolish and a liability. All that said, I like my vehicle and I believe it is fundamentally more efficient than a comparable gasoline powered vehicle. And since abandoning car usage in my case is essentially impossible I hope I've made the best decision I could. The research I did prior to buying it indicated that it is environmentally less destructive over the life of the vehicle than a comparable gasoline car. I hope that turns out to be the case.

I was not pointing at you in particular. If you have to replace a vehicle, by all means replace it with something more efficient/less environmentaly destructive than its replacement.

I visited Mexico for a month recently and I have experienced first hand the "north american" car dependent way of living and the impact it has on the cities and its inhabitants. I reckon there are things that are hard to change on an individual basis (especially regarding women and safety perception) but many others that are down to we are used to that, why fucking change?

There are a lot of personnal choices/decisions that one can do as well as advocacy. How many of you people have written to their respective elected officiasls on abandoning the stupid zoning rules? Probably very few of because protecting the value of one's home/investment takes more priority over living in a decent car free city.

[vertical_doug]

I was not pointing at you in particular. If you have to replace a vehicle, by all means replace it with something more efficient/less environmentaly destructive than its replacement.

I visited Mexico for a month recently and I have experienced first hand the "north american" car dependent way of living and the impact it has on the cities and its inhabitants. I reckon there are things that are hard to change on an individual basis (especially regarding women and safety perception) but many others that are down to we are used to that, why fucking change?

There are a lot of personnal choices/decisions that one can do as well as advocacy. How many of you people have written to their respective elected officiasls on abandoning the stupid zoning rules? Probably very few of because protecting the value of one's home/investment takes more priority over living in a decent car free city.

Basically, we are alive and like bacteria, we are a population that pollutes itself.
Are we smart enough to not to pollute the human race into extinction?

Probably, but there will be a lot fewer of us when we get there. By and large, human nature means its someone else's problem. Until it's not, then we go to war.

Pretty sure that is how this works.

* eff.... I already violated my resolution to be an optimist this year.

[htwoopup]

…The reality is that at least in the US, a car-free life is very, very difficult. That is simply the reality and the result of urban planning a century ago that was based on personal travel and having a lot of space for each house. Why? Because at the time nobody considered the effects of oil consumption and because the US had, at the time, nearly infinite space to house everyone. That's no longer the case of course.

Let’s not forget that Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum, General Motors, Mack Truck, and Firestone were convicted when it was discovered that they had in fact killed mass transit in Los Angeles/ Southern California.

It never ceases to burn my ass that there are so many who want more money without regard to the collateral damage to others/ the planet/ etc because “I’ll be dead by the time it matters” or whatever it is that makes them have no moral compass.

[32x20]

I've been wishing lately that we could just high speed rail across the country rather than fly. It's a shame we couldn't at least get some basic coast-to-coast routes done. Flying is fine once you're on the plane, but the whole process is just unpleasant anymore. And terrible CO2 emissions wise compared to land based mass transit.

[Marvinlungwitz]

My wife’s MDX is approaching 160,000 miles. We’re likely to replace it in the next few years, and we are still undecided about electric vs. ICE.
We need something with a decent range that doesn’t fall too much in the cold if we go electric. And speaking of electric, we looked one of these just before Christmas at Oak Brook. Same color. We liked the interior and the software interface.


Untitled by Marvin Lungwitz, on Flickr

[Saab2000]

My wife’s MDX is approaching 160,000 miles. We’re likely to replace it in the next few years, and we are still undecided about electric vs. ICE.
We need something with a decent range that doesn’t fall too much in the cold if we go electric. And speaking of electric, we looked one of these just before Christmas at Oak Brook. Same color. We liked the interior and the software interface.


Untitled by Marvin Lungwitz, on Flickr

All EVs suffer in cold weather. Also, the ranges published offer a misleading figure. That’s from absolutely fully charged to dead, and under ideal conditions. Since most EVs shouldn’t be charged to full or run empty consider your range to be 60%-80% of the published figures. Also, do research on the current state of charging on road trips if you’re using anything other than the “evil brand”. The “evil brand’s” chargers are plentiful and reliable. All others are sketchy in terms of availability and reliability, at least today.

Since my EV will be used 99% of the time in local driving I’m OK with home charging. If longer trips are involved be sure to be educated on how this works. Not knowing the potential pitfalls can lead to a very undesirable outcome.

It’s possible that hybrid technology is superior for your application.

[AngryScientist]

Very ignorant question: Do any EVs have onboard chargers? Say I wanted to drive to Vermont for a long weekend and I was OK with a very slow charge rate, can I just plug into any 20A 120V outlet and charge at a very slow rate?

[vertical_doug]

Very ignorant question: Do any EVs have onboard chargers? Say I wanted to drive to Vermont for a long weekend and I was OK with a very slow charge rate, can I just plug into any 20A 120V outlet and charge at a very slow rate?

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but if you charge off a regular 120v outlet, your trickle is about 4 miles per hour. So in the situation were you are away for a long weekend, charging 12 hours overnight will only gain you about 48 miles of range.

Depending on what your daily driving needs are like, you probably can get by with a 120V in your home, since your car on average is parked most of the time, and when on a road trip you want to splurge with topping up at higher levels.

Level 1 charging at 120-volts will charge at a speed of 1.44kw with a 15-amp breaker and 1.92kw with a 20-amp breaker. These speeds will fully charge an average electric vehicle in 2-3 days and replenish about 4-7 driving miles per hour of charging.

[Saab2000]

Very ignorant question: Do any EVs have onboard chargers? Say I wanted to drive to Vermont for a long weekend and I was OK with a very slow charge rate, can I just plug into any 20A 120V outlet and charge at a very slow rate?

Sort of. I don’t know about other brands but when I ordered mine it still included their “Mobile Connector”. So mine came with one. Today that’s a $230 accessory. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it is.

As mentioned, it charges slowly with this option. But if you’re really just sitting for a few days it’s not a bad option. It will plug into a standard home outlet and away you go, trickle charging.

I’ve never used mine yet but have a plan to do so when I visit a friend’s place. I will plug in because I know once I’m there we’re parked for 12-18 hours. This will just be a test on my part to check the viability of this. I can make it there and back easily on a single charge.

It’s best to know where your en route fast charging options are located (and onboard software helps with this) but having the slow charge option is always a good thing.

It no longer comes standard with my vehicle but is available. I don’t know about other brands, but they’ll all charge at a pretty slow rate. But if you’re not in a hurry, so what, right?



Also, for the point of semantics, the charger is part of the charging system in the vehicle itself. The thing you use to plug into the car is just the connector. I know it’s splitting hairs but it is worth knowing. I didn’t know that a month ago.

[AngryScientist]

Also, for the point of semantics, the charger is part of the charging system in the vehicle itself. The thing you use to plug into the car is just the connector. I know it’s splitting hairs but it is worth knowing. I didn’t know that a month ago.

Thanks.

From a very basic standpoint, when I think of any battery charger, I think of a device that converts AC to DC at a higher potential than the battery to be charged. I had assumed that with a home or dock based charger, super or otherwise, that conversion takes place at the charger and DC current is pushed to the vehicle, perhaps I'm wrong on that one. For the gizmo that you're talking about above, the AC/DC conversion has to go on in the car.

And I agree that would be a great thing to have. As above, if I go to VT for a weekend of bike riding, and can let the car sit on a trickle charge for 3 days straight at an AIRBNB or similar, it's a good option to have.

[zachateseverything]

Thanks.

From a very basic standpoint, when I think of any battery charger, I think of a device that converts AC to DC at a higher potential than the battery to be charged. I had assumed that with a home or dock based charger, super or otherwise, that conversion takes place at the charger and DC current is pushed to the vehicle, perhaps I'm wrong on that one. For the gizmo that you're talking about above, the AC/DC conversion has to go on in the car.

And I agree that would be a great thing to have. As above, if I go to VT for a weekend of bike riding, and can let the car sit on a trickle charge for 3 days straight at an AIRBNB or similar, it's a good option to have.

there are three levels of chargers you'll find in the field and how that electricity gets processed by the car depends on the level. level 1 (120V) and 2 (240V) chargers are AC current. The AC-DC conversion happens in the car and that internal AC-DC conversion tends to be the bottleneck (particularly on plug-in hybrids like my Volt). level 3 chargers are DC. They're bypassing the car's AC-DC converter and putting DC straight into the battery. Charging rates are much faster but not all platforms support this, or support it at the highest rate of charge.

Most cars will ship with some kind of travel charger. My Volt came with a level 1 plug. I know the Ford Mach-E comes with a charger with swappable 120 and 240 volt pigtails.

Level 1 charging is ungodly slow. For something SUV sized you're going to get 2-3 miles of range per hour of charge. if you plugged in for a weekend you'd have 100-180 miles. 50 miles for an overnight is pretty good.

Level 2 will net you a full charge overnight unless you're driving something massive like the Hummer or Lightning. It's probably the sweetspot for most home charging since you can utilize an existing circuit for other 240v appliances like dryers or welders.

Level 3 (technically DC fast charging) is unlikely to happen in most homes due to the wiring requirements. You'll get back to 80% charge in half an hour on the current top spec battery systems.

[zachateseverything]

I'm not disagreeing but a lot of stores around here that have parking lots have chargers. The Target near me has 8 Tesla chargers and they seem to get a lot of use. They also have 4 "everyone else" chargers for the rest of us.

most of the parking lot chargers you see, even the Tesla ones are just level 2 chargers. They'll do some work to charge your car but you have to be able to leave your car there for a few hours to really get anything out of them. they're great for your parking spot at home, a hotel overnight, or at work. they're ok if you're going to dinner or a show or something. they're less great if you're just out running errands.

[Saab2000]

most of the parking lot chargers you see, even the Tesla ones are just level 2 chargers. They'll do some work to charge your car but you have to be able to leave your car there for a few hours to really get anything out of them. they're great for your parking spot at home, a hotel overnight, or at work. they're ok if you're going to dinner or a show or something. they're less great if you're just out running errands.

The Tesla “destination” chargers at hotels are usually level 2. But when there is a row of them, as I understand it, they’re likely Superchargers, or DC fast chargers. There’s a distinction between the level 2 destination chargers and the generation 2 Superchargers.

Tesla is rapidly deploying their third generation Superchargers, which charge at up to 250 kw. The destination chargers are like home chargers.

There’s a Meijer store near me that has a third generation Supercharger.

The car will tell the driver what’s what.

Potential buyers need to be educated on these technologies before signing to purchase. It can definitely be confusing.

I very much wish the industry would deploy an industry standard, at least as far as the plug interface is concerned.

[rec head]

I'd be surprised if most of the Tesla chargers I see in Chicago are not Superchargers. Do the Tesla destination chargers look the same as the Supers? The destination charger I used did not. As for the rest of the parking lot chargers you are probably right.

I hope that Tesla doesn't get any of the Inflation Act money because they open sourced their plug design to other manufacturers vs have to open all their chargers to everyone. If I were a Tesla owner I'd fell differently.

[vertical_doug]

Back to our regular scheduled programming.
Get your auction paddles ready

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https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-54...rd-gt40-mk-iv/

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-54...-woodie-wagon/

[Marvinlungwitz]

Back to our regular scheduled programming.
Get your auction paddles ready

https://www.mecum.com/auctions/kissi...to-collection/

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-53...v-convertible/

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-54...-507-roadster/

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-53...berger-camaro/
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-54...rd-gt40-mk-iv/

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-54...-woodie-wagon/

Someone’s getting a vintage muscle car itch.

[jimcav]

my muscle cars itch is non-existent at the moment--still need to get motivated and sell my '74 455 trans am, but if I had sold it and/or had some loose cash I'd be tempted by the '78 Toyota FJ-45 pickup.

[Saab2000]

my muscle cars itch is non-existent at the moment--still need to get motivated and sell my '74 455 trans am, but if I had sold it and/or had some loose cash I'd be tempted by the '78 Toyota FJ-45 pickup.

I haven’t really had a muscle car itch since I was in high school and would glance through Hot Rod magazine.

My ICE car muse remains a Porsche 718 of some variety. Second place is a Supra manual.

[Tom]

Someone I know wanted a 65 Fairlane with a particular letter code sequence. I know little but I took his word for it that it was fast. He saw one auction for about 60k and his dad said I drove one of those. For that kind of money buy something modern. He bought one of the recent Boss 302 Mustangs. It is very fast and makes a great noise doing it.

[Too Tall]

Someone I know wanted a 65 Fairlane with a particular letter code sequence. I know little but I took his word for it that it was fast. He saw one auction for about 60k and his dad said I drove one of those. For that kind of money buy something modern. He bought one of the recent Boss 302 Mustangs. It is very fast and makes a great noise doing it.

Bean there dun dat. For years one of my hobbies was restoring old cars. I did most of the work myself, it was therapy. After I was done with them, they were loud AF and fun....and ANY modern car was faster.

The point is having fun, not blazing down the road in old iron but hey I guess you could build a Pro Street that did that...it's not stupid infact it's fun but pointless. Heck, I laughed my arse off watching a guy with a 66 corvette with a 383 and all the suspension goodies absolutely knocked down every cone at autocross. Sheeesh, the old saying "inspite of or because of" came to mind ;)

*IF* I ever get back into autocross and track days I'll build a real poopbox and race in the class.

I've driven a BB Cobra from MN to MD and trust me it was not that much fun. Give me a normally aspirated P car and a real coke thanks.

***Highly caffeinated response****