Recent content by michaelbmw

That's correct. The Bolt battery pack weight 960 lbs, so a very rough guesstimate of the additional weight is 500-600 lbs. So it really isn't fair to suggest it's porky...it has a much bigger battery. The additional weight is well used.

Exactly. That's the point. 80 miles is not enough. Why would anyone settle for an 80 mile car if given the option of a 200 mile car? At one point Tesla offered 40 kWh cars and there was so little demand they were dropped. Didn't make sense to get one.

That's why the 80 mile Teslas are so popular...80 miles is enough for most people

That's the way it works in California. Rebates, incentives, etc. are treated as if you had paid a down payment. So it's taxed like each of the other payments. Sometimes the tax credit money is used not as capital reduction but instead to artificially inflate the residual, thus reducing the...

I don't think it fair to say that they sold their souls to the devil. I think it's more correct that they whored themselves out

Running up to high levels of charge on a DCFC is inconsiderate to other users. I can understand trying it once to evaluate performance, but in the time it takes you to charge from 80 to 99%, another user could probably charge from 0 to 80

I have a Ford Focus Electric. People on the Myfocuselectric forum say the same kind of rah-rah thing....the design is wonderful, the car has thermal management for the battery, just plug it in, don't worry, etc etc etc Well let me tell you...the car is going back at the end of a three year...

Yes, but it is a minor effect. The effective series resistance of the battery increases with age, so the amount of charging energy that goes to heat increases. As a battery ages, not only does it energy capacity decrease, but also its ability to delivery power decreases. The latter is due...

I wouldn't think of this as $199. Add in the cash up front and the disposition, more like $300/month. Decide based on that.

It MAY make sense to pre-order and place a deposit on a model 3 because: 1. There is only one seller (Tesla itself) and 2. They are sold a fixed price. It makes no sense to place a pre-order with a dealer unless you have more money than brains, because: 1. It ties you to that particular...

The term that some people use is that the EVSE "advertises" the maximum current it can supply. The car takes whatever it wants, up to that advertised maximum.

Are you in California? If so don't expect the $2500. 30 month lease minimum to qualify

I use Sirius in several other electric cars (Focus electric, Volt, and RAV-4 EV) and it works quite well. When you go through a tunnel or stop under an overpass, it stops of course. But in normal use it's very reliable. But the AM radio works in all those other cars as well. Maybe...

The problem with taking this approach is that forcing the ICE to run turns the I3 from a 124 MPGe electric car into a 39 MPG hybrid. If one has to do this frequently, it would be more efficient to drive a Prius. BMW should have provided a bigger ICE engine for the Rex, one capable of driving...

That is the same reasoning that Chevy uses to try to claim that Volts are getting 250+ MPG. It ignores the electrical energy that is consumed and gives a number that imagines the entire distance was covered using only the gasoline energy. Using your example of a Rex going 100 miles on a...