EV RVs?

[NY_Dutch]

I just cant imagine a holiday weekend trip with over 50% of the vehicles being EV's. If you think the gas lines now are long, just imagine what the lineup would be with each EV taking a half hour to charge!!
Maybe in the future charging capacity will be more available, but not for the foreseeable future from where I stand.

I like my HCV (hydrocarbon fueled vehicle)

Just my $.02 FWIW

It sometimes takes 15 to 20 minutes to gas up my motorhome, depending on the pump flow rate and how empty the tank is.

 

[DonTom]

You are not representative of the driving public:

Perhaps not, but most drivers in the USA drive less than 40 miles per day. My average is much less for cars but much greater for motorcycles.

I recall you had one EVs of many years ago. I don't think you can compare that well to today. Back then, I would not want an EV. A lot has changed since those days.

Something like a Tesla is arguably an excellent car and EV experience, if they aren't getting any better market penetration than they are I'm not sure what kind of EV would.

Tesla will soon no longer have the big advantages over the other EVs the ways things are changing. But for now, IMO, Tesla is still best EV for a trip across the country. But now Tesla has a lot of competition from other EVs, including their now very cheap used Tesla market.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

It sometimes takes 15 to 20 minutes to gas up my motorhome, depending on the pump flow rate and how empty the tank is.

I sometimes look forward to those breaks as much as at a rest stop or whatever. My Class A has an 80-gallon fuel tank and gets 8.5 MPG (average). That is a range of 680 miles. It too takes time to fill up from near empty.

But I hope I never have the need to go more than 600 miles nonstop without at least a few 20 minute or more breaks.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Chef Duane]

Westinghouse built the first AC generating plant at Niagra Falls and it's associated power grid distribution system in nearby Buffalo, NY in 1886. It's taken the intervening 129 years to grow our existing power system. Now we're proposing to double it's size to accomodate electric cars in less than 1/10th that time.

We're talking Manhattan Project or moon landing level of commitment, only on a national scale instead of a limited scope.

And that's before the environmental reviews, public hearings, etc. which now delay major construction projects for several years at a time.

Check back in ten years, indeed.

Not to mention the power line infrastructure required. Will it be OK to crisscross the entire country with powerlines more than it is now? Or perhaps we should bury them. Neither option would assuage the vociferous opposition of the environmental activist groups. Maybe Tesla was right about gigantic Wardenclyffe Towers every few hundred miles. Or huge space based solar panels that beam the power down from orbit. But I digress.....

 

[DonTom]

But an EV for most doesn't solve any problem an ICE already solves at best for the same or less money.

I can think of quite a few.

And these days the prices are quite close to ICE and I expect in a few years EV prices will be cheaper than most ICE.

But here are a few EV advantages.

1. Home charging.

2. Use the A/C without the engine running (such as if you have a doggy on a 110°F day and you want to stop for an hour somewhere). And monitor the temps from where you're at.

3. No gas to get rotten. Store it for years if you need to.

4. Cheaper to operate. A lot less to maintain. Less things to go wrong.

5. Cleaner, okay to start and move in a closed garage and still be able to breathe.

6. No worries about cold starts to shut off in ten seconds.

7. Unbelievable torque. Seems to me both directions on the same road is more downhill than up.

8. Use the cruise control on the steepest hills if you want. No shifting to screw up the tranny that doesn't exist.

9. Little need for the brake pedal.

10. Regen is great for going down curvy roads. Go slow and you will have a better charge than you started with.

I am sure if I thought about it longer, I could name many more.

BTW, did your old EV even have regen?

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

Not to mention the power line infrastructure required.

The Level Four stuff is mainly for much larger rigs. I do wonder, however, how many will be charging at the same time in the same area. Especially if we change to an all E-RV world.

Cars, such as my Chevy Bolt can use the Level Four chargers, but it will charge at 55 KW at the very max, leaving at least 945 KWs for others.

My Tesla can charge at 250KW max. leaving at least 750 KWs for others. This is under the very max charging conditions for each. The norm, depending on the SOC, temp and other stuff will be somewhat less.

I would only use a level four in a car if I needed a charge and no level 3 is available.

Some Level 3 charge station locations have 350KW as well as 50KW chargers. Especially Electrify America charge locations (many at Wally Marts). I make sure I always use the 50KW when it is available for my motorcycles (25KW max). But they will all work with it. But somebody else could come who wants the higher power. BTW, it works both ways. They can also use the 50 KW charger if they wish to wait a while.

DCFC (DC Fast Charging) is a bit more complicated than most charging. The vehicle tells the charger what to do based on temp, max charge rate, SOC% and more. So it is perfectly safe for my 25KW max charge motorcycle to be on a million watt charger. The charger is told what to do via digital communication between the two. The charger also knows to shut down if any little thing doesn't look right. This has caused incompatibility issues with some vehicles--happened to me when my Energica motorcycles could no longer charge with Chargepoint--the one I use the most. It took a couple of months to fix with the help of Energica SW engineers speaking with ChargePoint SW engineers. After they had the fix, they were able to do all the chargers OTA, but had to be one at a time and it took a few weeks.

-Don- (From the Pho King Good Vietnamese Restautant in Auburn, CA--and it really is Pho King Good!)

 

[Chef Duane]

Don, you're trying too hard.

 

[Derby6]

Yawn..... 21 of 47 Posts by 1 person selling to the world that EV's are the best thing since sliced bread. LMAO

 

[DonTom]

Don, you're trying too hard.

Not trying at all. I only type out these messages when I have nothing better to do, which is fairly often these days.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

Yawn.....

Yet you're still reading my very boring posts.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Chef Duane]

Not trying at all.

Yeah, you really are.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Yet you're still reading my very boring posts.

-Don- Auburn, CA

It's part of my job here.

 

[DonTom]

Yeah, you really are.

IYO, I am trying too hard to do what for what purpose?

Perhaps to educate others on EVs to help stop the EV Phobia?

Has anybody here not learned a thing or two from my posts WRT EVs?

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

It's part of my job here.

And that is why I would never ask you such a question.

Yes, it's part of your job to read as many boring posts as you can tolerate.

Poor guy!

You should ask for a big fat raise!

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

Yeah, you really are.

When I am waiting for my food to come, being all alone in a restaurant, what else is there I can do?

It's kinda difficult to sit and do nothing at all.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Derby6]

Yet you're still reading my very boring posts.

-Don- Auburn, CA

Nope—just counted them. I already know what they say. Same things you post over and over and over.

 

[Chef Duane]

IYO, I am trying too hard to do what for what purpose?

Perhaps to educate others on EVs to help stop the EV Phobia?

Has anybody here not learned a thing or two from my posts WRT EVs?

-Don- Auburn, CA

Just don't try so hard, people will find their way.

 

[DonTom]

Just don't try so hard, people will find their way.

A very small percentage, IMO. Most people who own EVs are because they know somebody else who does and learn about them.

I seriously doubt if many people just hop in an EV to buy who have been driving ICE all of their life.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[NY_Dutch]

I wonder if PHEV-RV's would be a good interim solution until the campgrounds and charge stations catch up with an EV-RV world? Thor has an EV-RV (may still be in test) that uses a small generator to extend its range up to 500 miles, but I don't consider that a true PHEV since it isn't capable of continuing on under ICE power when the battery is depleted.

 

[Firstime RVer]

All I can say is that I respect everyone's choices. We all have opinions and preferences, and I can assure you that my choices are the ones I feel best suit my needs, budget, preferences and the facts as I know them.

I'm always willing to hear differing opinions. Heck they might teach me something in the process.

If I ever eventually consider an EV it would most likely be a hybrid..

Safe travels and all the best.