Appreciate the detail. Has it saved you any money? I feel like my power bill is too high for what we have, so I have been looking at these products to get a detailed baseline. Curious if it will show an appliance running 24/7 or if it will be adding yet another electronic device sucking power...

Eh, tough to say. I originally got it to help troubleshoot some problems we were having with our AC, and it did do that. (My HVAC guy was impressed that I could give him a chart that showed the exact second the condenser shut off.)

Beyond that, it's helped me to understand how much energy it takes to run my furnace blower 24/7 and allowed me to fine tune the right blower speed to balance circulation and cost.

Most everything else is mostly just for fun, but it's definitely interesting. Depending on what you're trying to troubleshoot, a Kill A Watt meter costs like $30 and can help you understand the energy usage of anything that plugs into a standard 120 outlet. That's where I'd start if you don't already have one. I use mine all the time to get a feel for how much juice random appliances are pulling.

Appreciate the response! I have thought about the kill-a-watt approach, but my biggest questions are around my hvac that includes a whole home dehumidifier that runs 24/7 (we have no idea why) and 2x hot water heaters (we didn't ask for 2). We did have an issue our main fridge that ran almost 24/7 until it was repaired. On top of it all, we likely have an insulation issue that needs to be rectified this summer. New houses are so much fun!

Either way, I think I am going to order your solution and see if it helps. Thanks again.

Tesla's Internal Shake-Up

Tesla is planning to lay off over 14,000 employees—more than 10% of its global workforce—in its first large-scale layoffs in over a year, according to an internal memo this week. The company's electric vehicle sales have begun to stagnate amid a decline in demand and increased competition from Chinese carmakers. Tesla's shares fell over 5% on the news.



CEO Elon Musk said the layoffs are part of cost-cutting measures as the company prepares for its next phase of growth. Also yesterday, two top executives at Tesla announced their departure: engineering executive Drew Baglino and policy and outreach executive Rohan Patel.



The shake-up comes after Tesla earlier this month posted its first year-over-year decline in quarterly sales since 2020. The report came after China’s BYD briefly overtook Tesla as the world's top seller of battery electric vehicles last year. In January, Musk said Tesla would soon release a cheaper, $25K model rumored to compete with BYD. That plan has now reportedly been tabled, with Musk prioritizing the debut of a robotaxi fleet in August

I'm starting to be a little worried about how much progress Chinese EV companies are making. We'll probably end up regulating them out of having much of an impact in the U.S., but they could take a real bite out of U.S. manufacturers' global car sales. Based on sales trends outside the U.S., other countries don't seem to have as many aversions to EVs as U.S. consumers do (some of which makes sense given how much more spread apart people are here).

Your concerns seem well founded.

Their idea/procedure of the quick change batteries is a pretty big deal in my opinion.
I posted an article on it a while back, where it is similar to our system exchanging propane bottles. It is done quickly, similar to filling up with gas for ICE cars.

That plus just overall cost. You can point to a lot of things for the "slowdown" of EV sales (which, to be clear, is more of a slowdown in growth than a slowdown in actual YOY sales), but the biggest factor seems to be that EVs are still pretty damn expensive compared to their ICE counterparts. Meanwhile, BYD is putting out new cars that cost around $10k (albeit with severely limited range at that price).

Oof. That's a really good way to get unionized.

I didn't realize they were ionized.

Offering one at $25k sounds like a good move in the right direction.

Back to the battery exchange thing.

I remember when I would not do that with propane tanks because my cylinders were pretty new (they have a date code) and didn't want an old piece of crap in exchange.

For the last few years I could care less and only care about it being full. The exchange is fully automated.

I can see that same attitude carrying over to EV batteries. You pull into a quick change place and snap, $20 and they swap in a fully charged battery in a few minutes.

This would make longer trips possible again without long charging delays.

It's the only way it will work.

Can't overcome the physics of charging with the current way of doing things.

I agree, it makes so much sense.

If you are doing a regular daily commute the current system seems adequate, but anything too much beyond that seems like a gamble.

Read a story the other day about a guy that rented a Hyundai EV if I remember correctly. He had a heck of a time on a fairly short trip and the charger plug would not fit his vehicle once he found a place to charge it.

I would think they would make that universal, like the gas nozzles.

Who is they?

:hmmm:

Elon Musk is going to play nice?

The Federal Government is going to dictate a standard?

Yes

Most EV cars being sold in the US are now moving to the Tesla charging plug style. Today, customers are getting an adapter with their car, which will allow them to use Tesla charging stations.

In 2025, Ford & GM cars will be able to use the Tesla charging stations without an adapter.

If you're looking to buy an EV, hold off until 2025 if you can. Charging Life will get easier.

That sounds like progress!

In a few years the infrastructure will probably be refined much more than it is today.

I don't see an EV in my future as buying a Hybrid was a giant leap for me but it has been very rewarding with 52 mpg.

I would like to drive one someday though.

I’m looking into a used EV for my new commute that is driving my daughter to school and home then picking up after school and back home. About a 110 miles altogether each day. Private school hence the driving distance. Majority is along the K-10 corridor. What might be an advisable, reliable choice that is gonna handle 60K on the odometer over the next three years? I’d prefer to make use of the used EV tax credit so under $25K. So far there are a few Mach E RWD Selects and a couple of the base model Ioniq 5 I’ve driven as well. I’ll likely third party warranty through Xclerate Auto that does them mostly on Teslas but other makers as well. I’m having a Level 2 charger Putin the garage and we have a 3rd vehicle for longer road trips if need be. Thanks in advance for all the CP EV wisdom…

If you're doing 110 miles each day, I'd suggest looking at models with at least double that range, as the range listed is usually optimistic and some days your commute may get longer due to extra errands, traffic, etc. I'd say that you should drive a couple different models and see what you like.

I went with a 2022 Tesla Model 3 and it's fantastic. I got a crazy deal ($19k after tax credit) because Hertz bought a huge number of them 2 years ago and recently decided to dump them, so the market got flooded. There's probably still some out there.

We rented a Mach-E on a recent trip to Austin. It was insanely fun to drive. First time I actually started thinking about buying electric.

What did you find so different about it and most fun? Acceleration? Quietness?

I'm curious to ask why? Do you work in the automotive industry? Buy their stock? ...I don't see how China producing affordable EV cars is bad for the average global and/or US consumer. The price of US vehicles, specifically, have absolutely sky-rocketed in recent years! I was in love with the idea of buying a jeep, when I was a kid it was super cool to drive a beat up wrangler, the low end wranglers now cost something like $60k and the top end wrangler goes for a whopping $100k+ after taxes!!!??? WTF!? It's not a ****ing house! I'd argue that Chinese competition might help reduce the rate of YOY price increases on similar US vehicles and offer a tiny piece of the total solution for dampening the inflation we're currently seeing in that market.

I really like how much faster my 2024 Tesla supercharges compared to my 2016 Model S Tesla. I get up to 1000 mph now when I plug in and the battery is low. It quickly goes down to around 800 but I used to max at 580 I feel like in my old one. Also when the battery is 60-80% full it also charges faster. Makes road trips that much better now.

Would never ever get a EV if it wasn't for the Tesla supercharging network.

American made cars will get cheaper, but you will need to pay a subscription for every little thing in it.

Want AC? **** you pay me money. Want to use cruise control? **** you pay me money. Want to listen to the stereo? **** you pay me money.


It’s coming.

Yeah Tesla already has a $9.99 a month for "premium connectivity" which is such a crock. You can't really even be able to use the features without it except for the map. I have to use Tune In to get AM radio. Can't use spotify, etc. I just use my phone as a hot spot right now but I'm sure I'll get tired of doing that and just breakdown and buy it. I can't figure out a way for the car to automatically connect to the wifi of my phone after I start driving. I have to manually turn the wifi back on when I start a trip, which is annoying.

It sounds like you're talking about allowing Chinese economics and production methods to break the Unions. If allowed, it would be quite the viewing experience.

My free premium connectivity trial ran out and I didn't even notice, TBH. I listen to FM or Amazon Music through my phone, and neither of those changed.

Just a general desire to see U.S. manufacturing remain a healthy and viable industry.

US EV manufacturers are lucky Honda and Toyota seem uninterested in taking BEVs seriously, IMO.

Holy shit that is fast! Almost Mach 2! Where do you drive it so fast?

Problem is a propane tank is a way different scenario than an EV battery. Hell you said you didn't want to trade in tanks because the ones you had were less scratched than the ones you were going to get back. They were going to work exactly the same, but just them looking nice made you want to hold on to them.

Batteries however, unlike tanks, degrade over time. The old scratched up propane tank you were going to get in return was going to hold just as much propane as the newer ones you traded in. And tanks tend to not really die like batteries do. Now you're trading in a brand new battery & could get one that may have been in use a while & down to 80% capacity of a new one.

Furthermore what happens when that battery completely dies & needs to be replaced, is it the responsibility of the car owner or the owner of the "battery changing station" to replace it? If it's on the shop, these shops are in essence providing EV owners with free battery replacements for life. If not you could trade in a brand new battery for one that dies on you & now you have to replace a battery in a brand new car. In the rare instance a tank would die, you just pull it out of your grill & reexchange it. The company won't notice it's not working until they go to refill it & then they will fix it. I'm thinking when you have to tow your EV back to get the dead battery replaced they're going to realize somethings wrong with it.

Batteries don't really "die" like that, the charge they can hold just keeps decreasing until the effective range makes the car less usable. So you could have a battery at the end of its life and just charge it enough to get to the battery swap station and leave them with a bad battery. The battery swap company would need to factor the cost of buying new batteries to replace bad ones into the prices they charge for the battery swap service.

You bring up some good points.

To start with, on the propane tanks, they used to have a date on them that when it had passed, they could not be refilled anymore. I had that happen once, but it was before these automated exchange centers existed.

You would take your tank to the refill station and they would check the date on your tank. I could care less if it was scratched up, it was the date that was the issue and also there were a couple different types of connectors initially. Depending on the type of connector your grill had, you had to have a compatible one on your tank.

Similar issue to the different charging connector issues on the EV batteries that exist now.

Without question, the cost of the EV batteries and where yours is at in it's life cycle will have to be factored in. I am very cognizant of battery life cycles and how they degrade.

It will be interesting to see how it is all worked out. At one time the propane tank issues seemed insurmountable.

I can see them having a test system or analyzer to make this kind of swap fair to both parties. I know on lead/acid batteries it exists but am not familiar with the technology on these new batteries.
I recently bought a lithium battery for the Jetski and it is much different.

Every single cybertruck getting recalled.

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Whoops.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW: Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks shipped to date because of a faulty accelerator pedal. <a href="https://t.co/tihjl2HAfO">https://t.co/tihjl2HAfO</a></p>&mdash; Sean O&#39;Kane (@sokane1) <a href="https://twitter.com/sokane1/status/1781269669757776045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It'll be fascinating to look back on Cybertruck in 10 years. On the surface, it looks like it's likely going to be a financial flop, but you could make an argument that it's done a pretty good job of keeping Tesla top of mind even while other EV manufacturers are (kinda) catching up.

Elon is playing 5d chess

Yeah, you can test the health of batteries. On cars.com, they report the battery health for the used EVs.

If you subscribe to the any news is good news philosophy yeah

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For this system to work, the car owner would no longer own the batteries at all.

Either the battery swap company would have to own them. Or some third party would.

The car owner would pay a rental or lease on the batteries. So if they got bad batteries, it wouldn't matter as far as swapping. Now it would suck as far as not getting the range you were promised.

Maybe the lease could include a guarantee that the swapped in batteries will be so good, or so good on average over the course of the year.

I can imagine the theft rings of people stealing batteries will pop up and sell them on the black market or swap n shops. Or people with evs renting a car and swapping batteries. I am sure more rental companies will keep getting rid of their stocks.

Will be interesting to see how they go about the battery issue and swapping.

Yea, there would probably have to be a way to electronically scan to make sure the car owner returned the same batteries that were put in.

But I'm not very convinced battery swapping is ever going to be a thing. Super fast charging that gets you ~80% or something in a reasonable time strikes me as more likely.

Agreed. Charging won't ever be as fast as fueling, but they're getting it fast enough to be bearable for most people.

Tesla recalls
 

US regulators launch new probe of Tesla after 2 million cars recalled.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reviewing a December recall on Tesla's autopilot feature, focusing on whether the electric vehicle company adequately remedied the issue. The probe comes after at least 20 crashes have occurred involving cars that received Tesla's autopilot software update.

Electric vehicles are technically more popular than ever, but it's no secret that the market isn’t growing as fast as originally hoped. Major manufacturers like Ford and Toyota have delayed plans for all-EV lineups, and many startups have either folded or are on the brink of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Even mighty Tesla saw its automotive revenue decline 13% in the first quarter. Both the technology and infrastructure remain sub-optimal with many EVs having a shorter range than their gas-powered counterparts and the US being way short on charging stations. On top of all that, EVs cost more.

Now, take all that struggle with consumers and put it into the trucking and shipping industry, where diesel engines reign supreme, and you have an even bigger problem:

EV trucks cost about three times as much as combustion-engine semis, and despite state and federal subsidies, the WSJ noted several logistical reasons propping up diesel rigs: EV rigs cost double to operate, can travel less than half as far, and require hours of recharging, which isn’t too practical for an industry that operates on thin margins.
An analysis from trucking firm Ryder found that converting a fleet of 25 commercial vehicles, including about 10 big rigs, to EVs in California would raise the fleet's operating cost by 56%, or $3.4 million a year, the WSJ reported. Light-duty trucks raise operating costs and the expenses tied to labor, charging, and repairs go higher as the vehicles get heavier. In the last year, Ryder has sold just 60 EVs through a program to help companies set up battery-powered fleets, but only five were heavy-duty trucks and they were only used in yards, not roads.
10-4, Good Buddy: Though the big rig EV space seems a little bleak, Amazon did just add 50 of them in California, claiming it to be the biggest EV fleet in the country. The Volvo-made trucks are expected to be used in first- and mid-mile transportation, and some will carry goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on a 35-minute drive to a fulfillment center in Santa Fe Springs.

Written by Griffin Kelly

Japanese Automakers Turn to Gas, Biofuel Engines as EV Adoption Stalls
 

Japanese Automakers Turn to Gas, Biofuel Engines as EV Adoption Stalls


Just as surging gas prices during the 1970s provided Japanese carmakers with an opportunity, Japan Inc. is ready to capitalize on the greatest fear on American roads today: running out of charge.

Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru are forging a new path in the fledgling era of all-electric vehicles. On Tuesday, the three automakers revealed prototypes of smaller combustion engines that will work in tandem with battery-powered engines and can run on standard gasoline as well as hydrogen and a variety of other fuels.

You Can Go Your Own Way
Many manufacturers had plans for all-electric lineups in the next decade or so, but most have scaled down those ambitions as EVs struggle with low adoption rates. Toyota’s Prius helped popularize hybrid cars, sales of which have become a real boon for the Japanese automaker. And now, instead of trying to take a page out of Tesla or BYD’s book, the company is looking to evolve its hybrid design toward a carbon-neutral future:

Toyota announced Monday it was partnering with petroleum companies Idemitsu Kosan, Eneos, and Mitsubishi to develop carbon-neutral fuels and make them available in Japan by 2030. Biofuels can be considered carbon-neutral as they release fewer emissions than gasoline, and the CO2 they set off could be absorbed by the plants (corn, soybeans, sugarcane) that produce the fuel.
During a presentation Tuesday, Subaru CEO Atsushi Osaki said the companies are committed to “preserving the Earth’s precious environment for future generations.” However, the auto industry must make “steady, realistic progress toward carbon neutrality” and that it’s “ultimately up to customers to decide what car is best for them.”
Bufford Barr, COO of New Day Hydrogen, sees passenger cars as part of building the clean hydrogen market, but he knows it will take a while.

“The problem with passenger vehicles is just getting enough of them on the market and that they’re using enough hydrogen to justify the stations,” he told The Daily Upside. “If you have three fueling stations in the entire state of Colorado, is that enough for you as a private vehicle owner to feel comfortable with? The answer is probably no. But for commercial fleets that have the same routes day-in-and-day-out, those three stations can give plenty of coverage.”

Electric Boogaloo: This isn’t to say Toyota has checked out of the EV game. Sure, the company hasn’t been an EV juggernaut, having only one model and opposing tailpipe emission requirements proposed by the Biden administration last year, but it sees some writing on the wall. Toyota’s Chief Technology Officer Hiroki Nakajima told the Financial Times that the company’s investment into the new engines would be a “magnitude smaller” than the money going toward electric vehicles and battery development. EV sales, while slow, are still going up. By 2030, one out of every four new passenger cars sold will be an EV, according to S&P Global, so it wouldn’t be the wisest move to ditch the solely battery-powered vehicles altogether.

Written by Griffin Kelly

Wow, they invented hybrids?

I mean, Toyota kind of did. Not recently, though.

Biofuels, eh?

Imagine if you can just pop a turd in your gas tank and drive 300 miles.

Figure it out, science.

Taco Bell to the rescue.

Until they figure it out we'll just have to keep letting the cows do it for us. They're even making this cool white stuff and steaks as a byproduct while filling the shit tank powered fuel lines. California is running all the dairy farms off though, so you might have to move if you want shit powered anything before the Taco Bell system gets everyone up and running.

There used to be a guy around here that ran his car off old McDonalds oil.

No. Al Gore did that after his work on the internet . Duh.

Hey man. Don’t be adding competition to my fertilizer market.


I’ll take all the shit I can get.