EV Sales Rebound and Used EV Deals Disappearing Soon?

[TheBar]

"I guarantee you, we're going to end fossil fuel" is a quote from Joe Biden's debate with Trump.

TheBar said:
Everyone was told they would have to replace their cars, home heating systems, gas stoves, even weedeaters with all electric.

Everyone? How did they miss me? All I recall is some states were not going to sell new ICE cars anymore after 8 years or so. Keep the ICVs you already have and be able to buy used ones just as ever after that date.

-Don- Reno, NV

Ban on gas stoves and weedeaters in 2025. Maybe if you watched real news instead of fake news you'd understand the real world.

How well did your electric house heater work? They seem lousy to me based on what I have seen of them so far--when compared to natural gas or propane.

My energy bill was lower after converting from gas to a heat pump in a house built in 1960 with less insulation and all single pane windows than my new 400 sq ft smaller "energy efficient" 2024 house heated with gas. (My house was 80% complete when I bought it so I didn't have a choice.)

Where you live obviously skews your perception of the world. Those of us with enough sense to avoid Siberian climates and coastal craziness have lower heating costs plus gasoline is half your price.

 

[TheBar]

That is a nonstop thing with any new technology. A few jobs are lost and a few are gained, usually with a demand for more higher tech employees. I wonder if they worried about jobs when the first ICE car hit the market. Those who made horse shoes, horse buggies and many other jobs were threatened.

-Don- Reno, NV

It isn't the jobs in energy that would collapse the economy. It would be the price of conversion. The everyday person having to throw away their cars, home heating systems, stoves, down to weedeaters would leave no money for groceries much less other consumer goods.

And gasoline cars replaced the electric car that was invented first. So quit talking about gas cars replacing the horse. Electric cars were dominant before ICE.

 

[DonTom]

You don't find 10 things to do in a rural area.

I stopped by MiddleGate yesterday. In reality, there is almost nothing one can do in MiddleGate. The ten things listed in your message, only one is in Middegate. The small restaurant, order inside, but eat outside where there is some room. But yesterday, many people were meeting in Middlegate on some type of Dune buggy event. Perhaps as many as ten of them there yesterday, which is a crowd for there.

And get a free solar charge, so I plugged in there as I took some photos of the place. A short "opportunity charge" as 14 miles east is the Cold Springs Station Restaurant which as a DCFC. I mainly plugged in to add info to Plugshare here. Perhaps I stayed long enough to add one KWH to my battery (~7 miles).

Anyway, I took some photos of MiddleGate yesterday while I was there for a few minutes.

This is the Diesel Generator that runs the entire town of Middlegate (runs 24/7):

(perhaps a spare genny in the white box?)

But the free to use AC Charge station runs from the solar:

The old not working (for years) Freewire DCFC also charged its battery from this solar:

The dumpy RV Park:

That is pretty much the entire town of MiddleGate.

Here is what causes some of the confusion:

"Middlegate, Nevada, has conflicting population figures depending on the source, with places.us.com listing 24,772 residents and other sources citing a population of 17 to 23 for the specific settlement.

• The 24,772 figure appears to be an error or a misattribution of Churchill County data to the specific town, as the site also notes a density of only "3 people per square mile," which is inconsistent with a population of that size for a tiny community.
• Multiple travel and historical sources, including Travel Nevada and Nevada Sports Net, describe Middlegate as a tiny community or "ghost town" with a population of 17 (formerly 18 or 23 ).
• Located in Churchill County at an elevation of 4,600 feet, Middlegate is widely recognized as a remote stop on the "Loneliest Road in America" (US Route 50) rather than a significant city.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

From Thursdays Wall Street Journal, the Number One newspaper in the U.S.

 

[DonTom]

From Thursdays Wall Street Journal, the Number One newspaper in the U.S.

Speaking of EV pickups, I saw a very nice one charge next to me that I did know know existed. The guy was from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, charging up in Fernley, NV the same time as me. We BSed for a while, which often happens at EV charge stations.

His has every option, the self-driving, largest battery, etc. It cost him $110,00.00 out the door, so do not let the base price advertised fool you, but he paid for every option they had, and the larger battery is very expensive. 205 KWH. That is a large EV battery (my Long Range Tesla M3 battery is 77.8 KWH) . Its claimed range seems accurate to me, as I would expect around 400 miles using two miles per KWH for such a heavy (8,867 lbs) vehicle on the freeway.

But his is black, not white unlike in the photo.

It was the 2025 GMC Grand Sierra, which I have never seen before. Or at least never noticed one on the road.

It cost him $55.00 to charge back to full there in Fernley at 53 cents per KWH. So he got a 108KHW charge at the full 350 KW. It took just as long to charge up my motorcycle for 9.7358 KWH ($5.16) at a little less than 20 KW, 34 minutes. That 34 minutes adds around 70 miles of range for me with my motorcycle and adds around 205 miles for him in his pickup truck.

Anyway, I thought the GMC Sierra pickup was really a nice EV truck. It had every feature I could think of, even the regen control on the Steering wheel to control regen as I drive like my Chevy Bolt. If I were going to dump my old ICE Dodge pick up that rarely gets any use, I would certainly consider the GMC Sierra EV, now that I have seen it and know about its countless features.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

It isn't the jobs in energy that would collapse the economy. It would be the price of conversion. The everyday person having to throw away their cars, home heating systems, stoves, down to weedeaters would leave no money for groceries much less other consumer goods.

And gasoline cars replaced the electric car that was invented first. So quit talking about gas cars replacing the horse. Electric cars were dominant before ICE.

Yes, I well realize that. But the EV technology back then was so poor and inefficient that ICVs jumped way ahead after they were invented.

There is no way to compare an EV that runs a motor with a DC L-A battery to the modern EV that uses a single pulse every 120° to the motor (similar to PWM) and has regen and all that from a lith battery of many KWH.

Who will have to "throw away" their old cars or need to convert them?

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[weighit]

All I know is as car guy my whole life, working in dealerships in some form and owning a body shop, had you told me way back when I would own or drive an electric car I would have said NO WAY! But now actually having owned one for 7 years, I'm a believer and really enjoy this vehicle. It is not for everyone, but if your life style can support owning one it will change the way you think about cars/suv's. Just not looking nor worrying about the cost of gas/diesel is a game changer.

 

[DonTom]

drive an electric car I would have said NO WAY!

It all started with me in year 2017 with a buddy of mine, Bob, who died two years ago. We went to breakfast together in my ICE pickup trick and Bob told me he would like to look at the Motorcycles at the Indian motorcycle shop here in Reno. I didn't even want to go inside, as I had no interest in Indian motorcycles.

But I go inside and discovered they also sold (then, but not these days) Zero electric motorcycles. I decided to buy one as a "toy" for 10K$. That is the bike I take on my RV trips these days. I discovered it was no toy, unless I want it to be, as I can adjust with a Smartphone how I want to bike to ride, from gutless to scary fast. It's poor range of around 40 miles on the freeway was a lot more useful than I expected. But ~100 miles at much slower city speeds. Of course, I can ride it a lot farther than 40 miles on the freeway if there are compatible charge stations on the way. The small battery means charge stops are quite quick. IOW, twice the charge stops but for half as long than for a bike with twice the battery capacity and range.

Since then, every vehicle I purchased other than my 2022 Class A has been electric.

A larger bike shop here in Reno, Eurocycles, now sells Zeros, every model made, which is quite a few. But Zero is made in California, not Europe. For them to sell Energica would make more sense, IMO, as they are made in Europe (Italy).

Before that bike, I never gave EVs any thought.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[RayIN]

Ford is back with an EV pickup; cost is expected to be $30K, with range of 300 miles.

MSN

 

[Brad Buchanan]

we'd converted all of our toilets with Bidets in both the camper and the house.

Interesting.

How much more water does a bidet use compared to before in your case?

Our grey tank is the limiting factor for us, but we have a washer in the bus.

 

[Brad Buchanan]

A larger bike shop here in Reno, Eurocycles, now sells Zeros, every model made, which is quite a few. But Zero is made in California, not Europe. For them to sell Energica would make more sense, IMO, as they are made in Europe (Italy).

So why don't you move to Italy as, according to you they have better things?

 

[Brad Buchanan]

Interesting. I never thought that much info would be available for Middlegate.

I assume one single crime is all it will take there to have a high crime rate.

All that is there is the very small RV park (a very dumpy one) and the restaurant and the two solar chargers, the DCFC does not work and I doubt if it will ever be replaced or repaired. I think they get all their power from a large Diesel generator that I have never seen NOT running and a few more KWs from the solar on the building with the chargers.

I assume the RV park is what has the high crime rate.

Your Plugshare maps isn't showing much info such as the distances between working charge stations. But ti look to me that any LR Tesla would have no problem out there.

How often do cars travel on rural roads without going trough a town with a charger fairly close by? Or a gas station for that matter?

Listing Austin, NV as well as Cold Springs Station "as something to do" is really stretching it. Austin, NV is 60 miles from Middlegate.

-Don- Reno, NV

That is because if we run out of gas we walk or have someone bring us a can of gas.

 

[Brad Buchanan]

you need to buy a Tesla. The last I heard Tesla does NO advertising anywhere and ended up with the hottest selling car in the world

-Don- Cold Springs Station Restaurant, NV (Electric motorcycle ride).

But they aren't made in China. Your bosses will be angry that you are promoting an American company.

 

[Brad Buchanan]

I stopped by MiddleGate yesterday. In reality, there is almost nothing one can do in MiddleGate.

Oh but there are many things to do.

You can make fun of the working folk living in mobile homes, criticize their restaurant and their audacity to have their own utility.

The entitled folk have all the fun!

 

[DonTom]

Oh but there are many things to do.

You can make fun of the working folk living in mobile homes, criticize their restaurant and their audacity to have their own utility.

The entitled folk have all the fun!

I ain't going to criticize anybody who puts up solar charge stations in the middle of nowhere that anybody can use for free, even if not doing any business there ever.

So I do have a a rather expensive bacon cheeseburger in the little restaurant there, once in a while. when I do stop by, which surpassingly extra good. However, I am often on my way to the restaurant in the next town east at Cold Springs Station, 15 miles east, which is more of a real restaurant, with DCFC and a larger RV Park. Not much else there either:

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

That is because if we run out of gas we walk or have someone bring us a can of gas.

They do the same with EVs these days From small slow chargers to giant portable ones.


https://insideevs.com/news/717760/porsche-turbo-charging-portable-macan/

 

[Brad Buchanan]

They do the same with EVs these days From small slow chargers to giant portable ones.

View attachment 2464838
Watch Porsche's Portable DCFC Charger Juice Up The Macan Electric
View attachment 2464839

Aunt Edna can bring you a can of gas.

She might not want to carry either one of those portable batteries around lol!

 

[DonTom]

She might not want to carry either one of those portable batteries around lol!

Some tow trucks have them.

But these days, there are no good excuses for running out of gas/diesel or a charge. It means somebody screwed up.

-Don- Reno, NV