Electric and Hybrid cars

norton9478

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Posts
34,074
I used to live in an apartment where I had to pay my own heat. I just kept the thermostat at 55-60 and lived off the neighbors.
 

norton9478

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Posts
34,074
Eh...it depends. It all depends on how big your service is. Thankfully, the only 240v device I now have is my AC condenser, but up until a few weeks back, I also had a 240v stove. My service is large (and modern) enough that I could add another 240 circuit...but that wasn't the case with my previous house.



We currently pay $.30/therm for natural gas...which isn't a horrid price. In a hard month, our bill is not much more than $100, typically less. Example, in Jan we used 143 therms and it was a really cold month.

With this polar vortex being what it is, Feb might be double that. We haven't hit freezing in 14 days, today will be the first day with a temp of 20 in 12 days...so that's lots of heating even when the stat is turned down.

In a neighboring town, my brother is paying $.80/therm and due to some shitty dealing by their town, their per therm price is slated to go up 5x, possibly more for the months of Feb. If I was in that boat, my 143 therms would run me $572 vs the typical $42.90.

Thankfully, I don't have to dick with heating oil...

I'm an electric man. I'll never go back to a furnace. Even if I wasn't getting goverment provided electricity for half the regional open market rate i'd still have electric.

My 200 amp box is full. I'm thinking of redoing the electric heat from baseboard to cove and cutting down the number of circuits needed to leave one set of breakers open for a hot tub and another set of breakers open for a proper 240v system in the garage.
 
Last edited:

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Posts
12,919
My heating is free, but it only turns on from November 15 to March 15. No thermostat. That's the norm here.

Interesting...what kind of heat is it? Forced air, radiant steam/water?
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Posts
44,746
Interesting...what kind of heat is it? Forced air, radiant steam/water?

No fuckin clue, smokes. Doesn't come from vents on the floor. Remember 1950s styled heaters, or whatever? Yeah. It's that. Encased in what's supposed to look like part of the wall.

You want to be warm, close all the doors and windows. Want to cool down, open a window. Hey, it's free. Quality can't compare to America, however. But then again I don't have a family, I can take this.
 

NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2000
Posts
11,088
I used to live in an apartment where I had to pay my own heat. I just kept the thermostat at 55-60 and lived off the neighbors.

I knew someone that didn't pay for hot water, and would run the shower to get heat.
not that they didn't have heat, but they were too cheap to pay for it.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,929
No fuckin clue, smokes. Doesn't come from vents on the floor. Remember 1950s styled heaters, or whatever? Yeah. It's that. Encased in what's supposed to look like part of the wall.

You want to be warm, close all the doors and windows. Want to cool down, open a window. Hey, it's free. Quality can't compare to America, however. But then again I don't have a family, I can take this.
That's steam/heat. Your building must have a central boiler. All the apartments I lived in with free heat had a boiler system. I don't think it's possible to meter it, so it's included.
 

Tripredacus

Three 6 Mafia
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Posts
5,465
My first real interaction with a hybrid. Someone uses remote car starter to start car, sounds like normal car. Runs for awhile, some guy comes and gets into it. Then the car turns off. Then the car starts to drive. I first wonder why he turned the car off, but really just the gas engine turned off and the car was still on. I thought this to be a safety problem because the car does not make any sound in drive mode.
 

joe8

margarine sandwich
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Posts
3,727
My first real interaction with a hybrid. Someone uses remote car starter to start car, sounds like normal car. Runs for awhile, some guy comes and gets into it. Then the car turns off. Then the car starts to drive. I first wonder why he turned the car off, but really just the gas engine turned off and the car was still on. I thought this to be a safety problem because the car does not make any sound in drive mode.
I think that can be a problem with electric cars. They don't make any noise, like a petrol engine car does, so pedestrians can't hear them coming.
 

Cylotron

ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Posts
3,711
I have a Honda Civic and a Toyota Prius. The only difference is one costs about $20/week in gas, the other costs about $30/week.

:spock:
 

NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2000
Posts
11,088
I think that can be a problem with electric cars. They don't make any noise, like a petrol engine car does, so pedestrians can't hear them coming.

This is known as the motorcycle defense. "If they can't hear you...."
brap brap brap brap

It's an absolutely ....brap brap brap... ridiculous....argument.
 

norton9478

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Posts
34,074
In the US, they are not required to make a certain amount of noise at speeds under 20mph.
 
Last edited:

Fygee

Bewbs! Z'OMG, Teh BEWBS!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Posts
3,985
Almost all residences have 240V going into the property, but we use 120V across everything. It's not too expensive to have the quick charger placed at home.

That's good. Vegas tends to be a little different as you'll get a 220v outlet or two standard, but it's usually just in the laundry room or the kitchen for appliances.

Had to pay $900 to get an outlet ran to my garage, which was a lot of fun since the energy panel is on the opposite side of the house.
 

NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2000
Posts
11,088
That's good. Vegas tends to be a little different as you'll get a 220v outlet or two standard, but it's usually just in the laundry room or the kitchen for appliances.

Had to pay $900 to get an outlet ran to my garage, which was a lot of fun since the energy panel is on the opposite side of the house.

Right. US houses do not have 240V throughput the house. Something the Brits will often laud about their system. In reality, almost all US homes have 220-240V going to the house. It's just 120 throughout the house. That's why it's pretty simple to setup high voltage wherever.
 

FAT$TACKS

Not Average Joe., Not Average Homeowner., Not Aver
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Posts
4,263
I've been looking at a few different electric cars as of late. I am thinking about picking up a lower cost one to play around with and see how it is. I figure worst thing would be I really like it and want to upgrade to a better or new EV. Anyhow I've seen what looks like good ones to try out running used in the 10-14k, so that may be worth it try for a couple of years or so.

The idea of having a car plugged in and it get itself warmed up and ready to go for when you leave in the morning seems pretty nice. Come home and plug it back in to be ready for the next morning, would be alright by me.

This whole having stuff shut down or limited due to the plague has really made me think about my driving and such as I don't go anywhere anymore. At first I missed getting out and such but I've gotten used to it and really don't care any more about going to all the thrift and game stores each weekend, or making runs for fast food and other nonsense driving to things I did. Basically I've cut out almost all the needless driving.. also been eating more home cooked food, and I don't really have the urge to go back to what I was doing.

My work day drive is less than 12 miles. I could snag a phev and pretty much just run on electric I think most of the time. The downside to me though is the big reason to go electric is no more gas stations, oil changes, and that sort of thing, so a hybrid would kind of give me the worst of both worlds in a way.

The other thing is that there is nothing around here used. Anything I would buy I would need to have shipped in as I couldn't drive an EV home due to the lack of charging between here and everywhere else.

If everything goes according to plan, my current car will be sold Monday and I'll be without a car for a while while I try to find something different. My Mom doesn't really drive these days much and is trying to get take her car. I'm just going to use it until I find what I want, but I don't want it full time as I would hate for her to need it and not have it.

That is about where I am for now.
 

kitkit.com

Ace Ghost Pilot
15 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Posts
1,309
If you have 14k budget for a used one, you might want to look into 2017 Chevrolet Bolt which has 200+ miles range (fully electric). I know you don't like the idea of oil change/going to gas station. My father-in-law has a 2nd generation Chevrolet Volt (a Plug-in Hybrid, now discontinued) which has 50+ miles range on electric + 350 miles on gas. Chevrolet Volt only needs to do oil change for every 10,000 miles. Kentucky should have Chevrolet dealerships that service Bolt/Volt.

If you don't mind buying a 1st/2nd generation EV with shorter range (80 miles), then you have plenty of options for 10-14k. I would stay away from 1st generation Nission Leaf as battery degrades badly.

I've been looking at a few different electric cars as of late. I am thinking about picking up a lower cost one to play around with and see how it is. I figure worst thing would be I really like it and want to upgrade to a better or new EV. Anyhow I've seen what looks like good ones to try out running used in the 10-14k, so that may be worth it try for a couple of years or so.

The idea of having a car plugged in and it get itself warmed up and ready to go for when you leave in the morning seems pretty nice. Come home and plug it back in to be ready for the next morning, would be alright by me.

This whole having stuff shut down or limited due to the plague has really made me think about my driving and such as I don't go anywhere anymore. At first I missed getting out and such but I've gotten used to it and really don't care any more about going to all the thrift and game stores each weekend, or making runs for fast food and other nonsense driving to things I did. Basically I've cut out almost all the needless driving.. also been eating more home cooked food, and I don't really have the urge to go back to what I was doing.

My work day drive is less than 12 miles. I could snag a phev and pretty much just run on electric I think most of the time. The downside to me though is the big reason to go electric is no more gas stations, oil changes, and that sort of thing, so a hybrid would kind of give me the worst of both worlds in a way.

The other thing is that there is nothing around here used. Anything I would buy I would need to have shipped in as I couldn't drive an EV home due to the lack of charging between here and everywhere else.

If everything goes according to plan, my current car will be sold Monday and I'll be without a car for a while while I try to find something different. My Mom doesn't really drive these days much and is trying to get take her car. I'm just going to use it until I find what I want, but I don't want it full time as I would hate for her to need it and not have it.

That is about where I am for now.
 
Last edited:

Lastblade

Friend me on Facebook!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2001
Posts
5,840
I didn't know the Bolt is now under 15k in the used market, I thought it was just the Volt. That is a really good price for an EV.
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
Interesting...what kind of heat is it? Forced air, radiant steam/water?

They get free heat by burning the enemies of the Party. It's the most efficient form of heating, as it solves multiple problems at once!
 

FAT$TACKS

Not Average Joe., Not Average Homeowner., Not Aver
15 Year Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Posts
4,263
So....

I got to looking into different makes of PHEV. I found a pretty good price on a used vehicle and was all set to buy it., but seems I did better homework than the dealership that had it.

A 2017 model Ford C-Max with less than 22k miles for just under $11k.
I got to looking at the service records for the vehicle and noticed that the battery had been changed three times at a dealership over the years. I thought that was very excessive. I had everything ready to buy the car and asked dealership I was at to get in touch with the dealership who serviced the car and get me the info on why they kept changing the battery. I thought maybe they were screwing with some old person or something.

Anyhow, they didn't get back in touch with me that day. The next day the car was removed from their website and I half figured that someone walked on the lot and bought it. I called them up that afternoon and they told me that I don't want that car and they weren't going to sell it.

Turns out there was some kind of electrical issue in the car that kept killing batteries and the dealership was never able to figure it out and Ford wasn't willing to do anything about it either.

Now, it's back to looking again.
 
Top