Shell starts to close gas stations.

[DonTom]

I hope the coolant issue is no big deal.

There are three possible low coolant messages, and I am at the one before it will come on the screen that says "coolant low--okay to drive". If I didn't go into the area I don't belong, I wouldn't even know it's a little low, I think it means I am just below the fill line in the coolant reservoir.

The last message will be "coolant low, schedule service" or something like that.

In reality, since I almost never charge on the road, I could safely ignore them all. I should be able to drive with no battery coolant at all, AFAIK. It COULD just make fast charging a lot slower. It cannot damage anything. The charge rate is set by the communications between the fast charger and the BMS where stuff such as battery temperature is considered to set the charging KW rate. It is just more likely not to be perfect.

But I will fix it anyway, of course.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Derby6]

EVs have no privacy.

-Don- Reno, NV

That is a HUGE concern. On one hand I don’t care, but on the other hand it’s my car, I paid for it. Nun anyones business what I do or where I go.
Many out there have much stronger opinions than me on this.

 

[Chef Duane]

That is a HUGE concern. On one hand I don’t care, but on the other hand it’s my car, I paid for it. Nun anyones business what I do or where I go.
Many out there have much stronger opinions than me on this.

I just bought a new Honda and it came with 2 years free of their telematics system called HondaLink. It actually does some pretty cool stuff like software upgrades (car and nav system), in-car wifi hotspot, and Alexa interface. I don't do this but if enabled you can get in and say "Alexa, start my car and tune radio to FM 95.5." I'm not a fan of Alexa listening to me wherever I drive and certainly not in my home. Plus I'm sure there are a lot of metrics that it sends to Honda that you never know about. I'm not sure if I'll renew when my free intro is up.

 

[Viajeros]

That is a HUGE concern. On one hand I don’t care, but on the other hand it’s my car, I paid for it. Nun anyones business what I do or where I go.
Many out there have much stronger opinions than me on this.

I don’t think it’s just EV’s though. I would think any modern car is pretty “connected”.

 

[DonTom]

That is a HUGE concern. On one hand I don’t care, but on the other hand it’s my car, I paid for it. Nun anyones business what I do or where I go.
Many out there have much stronger opinions than me on this.

I noticed. Perhaps a reason why many people prefer older cars.

BTW, I don't think this is an EV thing, it's probably all or most modern cars these days which have a stock GPS.

I don't care if people can tell where I have been, myself. But I understand a lot of people don't like that. They should stick with older cars and then will not have to worry about such.

And not have a cell phone in the car either.

If the car has no stock user GPS, I think it is unlikely that locations are being sent out from any type of hidden tacking device.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

I'm not a fan of Alexa listening to me

I don't think it does until it hears the word "Alexa". It is only listening for that one word "Alexa" before it hears anything else.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Derby6]

I don't think it does until it hears the word "Alexa". It is only listening for that one word "Alexa" before it hears anything else.

-Don- Reno, NV

Agree with all above. Except that.
You can’t hear Alexa if your not listening. You have to be listening all the time. Lol

 

[DonTom]

You have to be listening all the time.

Kinda, but not exactly. it's a machine, not a person.

"Alexa" is what is used as a "wake-word". It's used like a switch to "wake up" or turn on another circuit. Without saying the wake-word, the other circuits are not activated.

Waiting for the wake-word is much like a switch waiting to be turned on.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Chef Duane]

But it has to listen all the time to hear the "wake word", no?

 

[DonTom]

But it has to listen all the time to hear the "wake word", no?

But it is only listening for that one word to be activated. Everything else said before being activated is ignored and not doing anything.

I guess it depends on how we define "listening". It doesn't compare well to human hearing as we can't ignore everything said except for one single word in the same way as a machine.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Chef Duane]

But it is only listening for that one word to be activated. Everything else said before being activated is ignored and not doing anything.

I guess it depends on how we define "listening". It doesn't compare well to human hearing as we can't ignore everything said except for one single word in the same way as a machine.

-Don- Reno, NV

Yes, probably semanitcs. But to activate on that one word it necessarily must listen to them all to determine if the wake-word has been spoken. And the thought of a technology listening and waiting for the wake-word is a repulsive invasion of my privacy.

 

[Onyrlef]

Because voice recognition in my Suburu has never mistook my command to "call Rita" for "did you say (all) humpback whales (read)
poorly?"
The notion that a device is dormant ( trust us we care) until it cues to a certain word and that the tech giants would neeeeever use an invasion of privacy to their monetary advantage, is laughable on the merits. Facebook sold access to every americans personal data, which then granted them access to every facebook members network of friends, to Cambridge Analytica in 2015/16, then Zuckerberg lied out his a** to congress about it. TikTok is likewise funneling data to the Chinese gov, while the US Senate dithers over a fabricated free speech issue.

 

[Onyrlef]

When folks receive a message saying that their EV is charged, do they exit the store, move their vehicle, and make room for another shopper to charge their EV?

That's funny Tom, the main reason RV's have such a difficult time getting to the pumps at Buc-ees is after a car or truck finishes fueling up they just lock the vehicle in place and go inside to shop. I suspect the EV owners would be just as considerate.

 

[Skookum]

I care about invasions of privacy that costs money.

As I mentioned, GM is about to find out what happens when an automaker shares information about driving habits to analytics firms. A class-action was filed this month.

In short, GM records information about acceleration, braking, and speeding events. The analytics companies then sold that to…your insurance company.

The insurance companies then raised rates on those drivers based off those driving events recorded by OnStar . The lawsuit alleges GM shared this data without explicit consent or knowledge, and has caused them financial hardship as a result. Oooh, this is going to get ugly.

It’s not just GM that is doing this. Your Ford, Subaru, VW, Chrysler product, Honda, etc, any car that has a telematics system.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/03/gm-sued-for-sale-of-onstar-driving-data/amp/

 

[Viajeros]

That's funny Tom, the main reason RV's have such a difficult time getting to the pumps at Buc-ees is after a car or truck finishes fueling up they just lock the vehicle in place and go inside to shop. I suspect the EV owners would be just as considerate.

I don’t know. As soon as you are unhooked you are done. The charge goes right to your credit card.

 

[Tom]

That's funny Tom, the main reason RV's have such a difficult time getting to the pumps at Buc-ees is after a car or truck finishes fueling up they just lock the vehicle in place and go inside to shop. I suspect the EV owners would be just as considerate.

Haven't used a Buc-ees, but have occasionally seen this behavior at Pilot/Flying J and Love's. If it happens in the truck lanes, I hear a stern loudspeaker announcement for folks to pull forward from the pumps.

 

[DonTom]

And the thought of a technology listening and waiting for the wake-word is a repulsive invasion of my privacy.

Then you should be happy with the way Tesla does it. All speech is ignored until you press a button to turn on the mic.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

That's funny Tom, the main reason RV's have such a difficult time getting to the pumps at Buc-ees is after a car or truck finishes fueling up they just lock the vehicle in place and go inside to shop.

It takes quite a while to fill up a large fuel tank. I don't understand why they cannot go into the store as it is filling up as I often do with my 80-gallon gas tank to fill up.

By the time the tank is full, I am ready to drive away.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Tom]

It takes quite a while to fill up a large fuel tank. I don't understand why they cannot go into the store as it is filling up as I often do with my 80-gallon gas tank to fill up.

By the time the tank is full, I am ready to drive away.

-Don- Reno, NV

Don,
I think the biggest offenders are car drivers; Not so large fuel tanks. The truck lanes, which we use to fill our DP, are set up so you just drive forward when full; The truck or RV behind you can then pull forward to the pump. I suspect that's why we rarely see the issue at the truck pumps.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I would think if a town could justify having a Wal*Mart, they would be able to justify the chargers. Such as the Wal*Mart in Susanville, CA where they have none.

-Don- Reno, NV

There are WM's in many places where people geographically aren't inclined to purchase an EV. Here is a perfect example. There's a WM every 3 miles, but per capita there just aren't that many EV's.