The Tesla and other Electric vehicle thread.....

[gln1955]

Have any of you EV owners been dealing with this?

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/16/1224913698/teslas-chicago-charging-extreme-cold

Our cold winters is one concern I have about getting an EV.

 

[bholder]

I would have to deal with it if I were road tripping during this cold. Happened for a couple of trips 2-3 years ago, none yet this year. I'm snug as a bug in my warm house, and so is my Model 3, currently charging in the garage!

 

[bholder]

So I test drove FSD 12.3 for the first time yesterday - flawless, human-level driving, got everything right including several tricky spots the previous version couldn't handle. Very impressive. I really feel like we are at the awakening of the first real AI awareness here. It's that amazing.

 

[bholder]

I did manage to get FSD into a situation this afternoon where I had to grab control from it - turning left from a side road onto a divided highway, it started the left turn then tried to go right for some reason.... still, this thing's way beyond anything before...

 

[Mike N]

So I test drove FSD 12.3 for the first time yesterday - flawless, human-level driving, got everything right including several tricky spots the previous version couldn't handle. Very impressive. I really feel like we are at the awakening of the first real AI awareness here. It's that amazing.

FSD .... as in Full Self Driving??

That scares me. My Dad has a newer Subaru with the lane departure warning camera stuff and not long ago a bird crapped on the window, partially blocking the camera's view and making the whole system go bonkers.

Honestly, I'll pass.

 

[woodyng2]

The DS4 E’tense has a number of driving/braking automation capabilities, but it still gives me the willies to drive,
or even be a passenger, in it. Mostly it seems slow to react. But, it is a very beautiful car.
I miss my C-30 Volvo with the 5 cylinder engine and 6 speed manual clutch.

 

[fdeck]

Not electric, but my family has a Subaru with lane assist and adaptive cruise control. It doesn't liberate you from driving the car, but it makes driving a lot less tiring and aggravating. Like @Mike N says, if it doesn't like the signals it gets from the sensors, it dumps you back into manual mode.

What I tell people is that it's like another person is driving the car, and that person is a teenager.

In other words, you still have to be alert. Between the different controls, my favorite is adaptive cruise. I can just get behind a semi going 70 MPH on the freeway, and sit there forever.

To replace our other car eventually, we're seriously thinking about a plug-in hybrid that can be driven locally on full electric. It has to fit an upright bass.

 

[MJ5150]

We drive cars from 2002 and 2010.
Last September on a trip we had to rent a car, it was a brand new Nissan and it had all that fancy junk on it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't passing anyone on the freeway and the car would slow down when I began to overtake someone. Then all the beeps and colors in the mirrors. Yeah, no thanks.
We pulled over at a rest stop and I spent the next 15-20 minutes, with help from YouTube, turning all that junk off.
No thanks. I know how to drive.

-Mike

 

[Mike N]

We drive cars from 2002 and 2010.
Last September on a trip we had to rent a car, it was a brand new Nissan and it had all that fancy junk on it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I wasn't passing anyone on the freeway and the car would slow down when I began to overtake someone. Then all the beeps and colors in the mirrors. Yeah, no thanks.
We pulled over at a rest stop and I spent the next 15-20 minutes, with help from YouTube, turning all that junk off.
No thanks. I know how to drive.

-Mike

If road salt didn't tear stuff up here in Western NY, I'd still be driving my 73 Blazer and 79 Impala....... simplicity and reliability at its finest.

 

[Mike N]

Not electric, but my family has a Subaru with lane assist and adaptive cruise control. It doesn't liberate you from driving the car, but it makes driving a lot less tiring and aggravating. Like @Mike N says, if it doesn't like the signals it gets from the sensors, it dumps you back into manual mode.

What I tell people is that it's like another person is driving the car, and that person is a teenager.

In other words, you still have to be alert. Between the different controls, my favorite is adaptive cruise. I can just get behind a semi going 70 MPH on the freeway, and sit there forever.

To replace our other car eventually, we're seriously thinking about a plug-in hybrid that can be driven locally on full electric. It has to fit an upright bass.

As a retired auto mechanic (40.years in the field) I'm glad that I'm retired. All these nanny systems in modern cars just up the complexity and repair costs when something goes wrong.

No thanks..... I'll stick with simplicity.

If someone is so reliant on the modern crap to help them drive, they shouldn't be behind the wheel to begin with.

 

[fdeck]

If road salt didn't tear stuff up here in Western NY, I'd still be driving my 73 Blazer and 79 Impala....... simplicity and reliability at its finest.

My mechanic told me that they shouldn't salt the roads, but people should use snow tires and learn to drive.

I wouldn't object to that, because the salt messes up my bikes. And both cars have snow tires. And I remember in southeastern Michigan, when cars lasted a year before the rust holes appeared.

Also, congrats on retirement.

 

[JKos]

If someone is so reliant on the modern crap to help them drive, they shouldn't be behind the wheel to begin with.

Eh. I use to not mind driving a 5-speed in city traffic. I know how to drive. But, now, adaptive cruise control makes congested traffic driving so much easier.

 

[gln1955]

As a retired auto mechanic (40.years in the field) I'm glad that I'm retired. All these nanny systems in modern cars just up the complexity and repair costs when something goes wrong.

No thanks..... I'll stick with simplicity.

If someone is so reliant on the modern crap to help them drive, they shouldn't be behind the wheel to begin with.

Solutions in search of problems. How about car makers put their R&D into better QC and overall reliability.

 

[bholder]

No thanks..... I'll stick with simplicity.

No thanks. My EV is far simpler to build and maintain than your old ICE monstrosities.

 

[gln1955]

No thanks. My EV is far simpler to build and maintain than your old ICE monstrosities.

That must explain why they cost more.

 

[Alkali Ike]

No thanks. My EV is far simpler to build and maintain than your old ICE monstrosities.

He said nothing about EVs. What is the deal with you. *shrug*

I will never EVER use FSD on any car I may own in the future even if I can't delete the option entirely. No ******* way. Having to be hyper-vigilant that the car doesn't make some silly mistake is more stressful to me than just driving.

Driver assist features like Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind Spot Monitoring are great convenience and safety tools though. But they have absolutely NOTHING to do with FSD. They're just tools. It takes 10 minutes to learn how to use them. But the driver is still in charge of the driving.

My car also has Lane Keeping Assist. It's an abomination. I have it permanently disabled.

Conflating sensible driver assist features and FSD is illogical to me. They're absolutely not the same thing. What's next, no park distance sensors or rearview cameras because the driver is stubbornly resistant to learning about anything that's merely an assist or convenience device?

EDIT: Apparently today Elon Musk mandated that from now on every new Tesla will have FSD enabled and the buyer MUST go on a demonstration drive with FSD. **** that ****.

Elon Musk mandates Tesla to install and demo Full Self-Driving Beta for every new delivery

 

[Mike N]

No thanks. My EV is far simpler to build and maintain than your old ICE monstrosities.

Pretty much nothing more simple than the truck in my avatar.

No computers, no BS..... One wire to the distributor and a basic carburetor on top of the intake manifold.

 

[gln1955]

My wife's 2023 CRV has a "feature" that brings up an icon of a nice steaming cup of coffee on the dash when it thinks you are dozing off. I drove it on a trip to Cleveland and the coffee came on a few times for absolutely no reason. I was fully alert driving through normal Interstate traffic. I have no idea what it measures to come up with this crap. It's not irritating as much as amusing.

It also has lane keeping and proximity alerts. When all these are on I call it "drunk driving mode".

 

[Alkali Ike]

"EVs are simpler to build" may be true in terms of assembly lines. But the software that makes them work is far FAR more complicated and these difficulties more than offset any assembly line efficiencies. Ask any number of legacy car makes how hard it is to get the software right. In fact, ask Tesla with regard to FSD.

Or ask me. I've owned 2 EVs. Currently driving a GTI.

 

[Alkali Ike]

My wife's 2023 CRV has a "feature" that brings up an icon of a nice steaming cup of coffee on the dash when it thinks you are dozing off. I drove it on a trip to Cleveland and the coffee came on a few times for absolutely no reason. I was fully alert driving through normal Interstate traffic. I have no idea what it measures to come up with this crap. It's not irritating as much as amusing.

It also has lane keeping and proximity alerts. When all these are on I call it "drunk driving mode".

LKA is definitely akin to "Drunk Driving Mode", only it's the car that's drunk. It constantly tugs and pulls and nudges the steering wheel for no good reason. It's very easily fooled by tar strips, lane seams, bad striping, and other common road anomalies.