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When we came home tonight there was a car stopped in the road near the end of my drive but not in front of my property half out in the road. Pitch dark. Got the grandkids and wife in the house and grabbed a flash light. But while I was trying to decide if I should check it out, just watch it (it was in the view of a security cam but was a poor dark view) or call it in to the SO when another car arrived, then a pickup truck. They parked one in front and one behind the car, flashers on. I figured broke down... flat tire... whatever... they have help. After maybe a half hour a UPS truck arrives! What? They off loaded some packages to the UPS truck and it left. So it now is getting pretty late, and below freezing so I wandered out to check on them. I intended on offering to let them leave the car in my yard until morning if need be. HA! It turns out it was a brand new electric car, didn't get the make, being used to deliver packages. The driver said another driver told him he could go 12 or so miles after it said zero range remaining and he was only a couple miles from his destination. His didn't make it! He said... "Guess zero means zero" The battery had run down, and when it did it locked the car in park. Could not be moved. They were trying unsuccessfully to revive it with a jump box. The guy said he found a youtube video that said with some power it could be put in TOW mode and it would then roll. So the guy ask if I had any extension cords... enough to reach the car from my house, about 200 feet. He said they could go get some if not. I do, but they are fairly light weight... but it worked! Just a few seconds hooked up to mains and he got it in TOW mode. They thanked me and away they went... dragging it down the road behind the pickup with a tow strap! Dude must be a private contractor, don't know, but I suggest he get AAA  Some people spread happiness wherever they go… some whenever they go. | ||
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| His diet consists of black coffee, and sarcasm.  |
No, the E doesn't stand for Enough Gas.  Or, in this case, Enough Electrons."The Almighty, He put some livin' things on this earth so a man can eat." - Festus Haggen, Gunsmoke | |||
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Member |
I'm not an expert but most of the cars that get towed in my area are 'locked' in park. So, the driver was going to get an extra 12 miles after 'empty'... how were they going to get back? My Native American Name: "Runs with Scissors" | |||
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| Member |
So emergency equipment for your electric vehicle should include both a spare tire AND a fully fueled AC generator? Seems a bit ironic. | |||
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| Official forum SIG Pro enthusiast  |
Both of my Toyota gasoline vehicles when low on gas will display zero for range when in reality the gas tank still has almost 2 gallons. it makes sense that an electric vehicle would not function the same way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The price of liberty and even of common humanity is eternal vigilance | |||
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E tan e epi tas |
Yeah but IC engines are more predictable. Batteries are effected by heat / cold quite a bit. OP noted that it was getting down to freezing that may have played a part. All that said don’t drive around on E no matter what you drive. This doesn’t sound like it was a hardware problem if you know what I mean.  Take Care, Shoot Safe, Chris | |||
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| My other Sig is a Steyr.  |
E stands for excitement! The last time I considered an electric vehicle, it was one of these:  | |||
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E Plebmnista; Norcom, Forcom, Perfectumum. |
Just how many of them little batteries does it take to run a car? ================================================ Ultron: "You're unbearably naive." Vision: "Well, I was born yesterday." | |||
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Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
For me, it was one of these bad boys: Link to original video: https://youtu.be/5W4MYJt8c4w ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| Freethinker |
There was a recent report of how an officer from an evidently truly “woke” police department had to terminate a pursuit (IIRC) when one of the Teslas his department has switched to ran out of juice. Reportedly the previous user had forgotten to plug it in at the end of his shift and I gather that the new guy didn’t check the charge status. No different, I suppose, that running out of gas, but with their greater range most gasoline powered vehicles are more forgiving of oversights. ► 6.0/94.0 “I can’t give you brains, but I can give you a diploma.” — The Wizard of Oz | |||
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Member |
Electric cars are different from internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. I have a 2015 smart fortwo Electric Drive, and here's how my car functions. Range is not really measured in miles, but in time. Battery time, that is. Mileage is determined by calculating mi/kWh, or miles-per-kilowatt-hour. My dinky little smart has a 17.4 kW battery. Under optimum conditions (heat and cold play a major role), I could theoretically get 90 miles on a full charge. I said theoretically, because that estimate is used at vehicle startup in optimal temperature (~72°F). That figure quickly adjusts. More likely, range is about 70 miles, if I drive at about 4.0 mi/kWh. But that's unrealistic, as there are other factors that come into play. Sharp cornering, rapid accelerating and heavy braking all affect the battery. On the other hand, there is what's known as "recuperative braking," which occurs when easing off the accelerator. Then, the braking effect generates electricity that is returned to the battery. I have two gauges on my dash that display power consumption and power available. The power available is shown as a percentage, and when it drops below 20%, I get a warning. When it drops to about 3%, it figuratively shouts at me: CHARGE UP NOW! So, what's 3%? Well, given the above, it's a "guesstimate." My smart comes with a 110-volt charger in its trunk, so if I need to "top off," any 110-volt outlet will do. But it's slow (newer cars and batteries, particularly Teslas) can reach 80% capacity in about 20 minutes (yeah, but that's a 440-volt charging station, by the way). I have a 240-volt EVSE (electronic vehicle service equipment) charger at home, and I can get a full charge from nearly empty in 4-5 hours. But my smart car is my "local runabout." I have a six mile commute to work. It's eight miles to church. The grocery stores are all within two miles. For my general purposes, my electric smart car makes sense. For longer distances, I have an ICE car in my garage, a nice 2014 Mercedes-Benz E350C4. My Merc has only 28K miles on it, because I only take it out when I need to turn the engine over, or go on a longer drive. I'm very careful to not get stranded in my electric! You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless. NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member | |||
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| Member |
Laughed out loud at that. I was surprised a regular 120 Volt receptacle would charge it, the driver said yea, but it's slow, taking roughly 48 hours or so. He had the car plug and adapter in the trunk. Some people spread happiness wherever they go… some whenever they go. | |||
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| Ignored facts still exist |
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Member |
You'll need only 9,648, if you use the larger AA. | |||
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| Big Stack |
Have you done the math on whether this setup saves you money over just driving the Merc wherever you need to go?
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Wait, what? |
Can’t you just grab a bucket and walk to the nearest electric recharge station? “Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown | |||
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| Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
I tried that electric charging thing with my Jeep, but after an hour on the Tesla charger, the fuel gauge didn't budge a single millimeter. So I took that red gas can off of the back of my Wrangler, and less than a minute later i was able to drive another 60 miles. Hmmm, how 'bout that...  ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| I Am The Walrus |
Thanks for the cool rundown on how it works. Never new how they functioned. I don't think I'm ready to jump into an electric yet but I have looked into a hybrid, more specifically the RAV4. With such a short commute to work and church, would something even smaller like a motorcycle or bicycle be practical? _____________ | |||
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