Hybrid cars - expensive to maintain?

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Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
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The Fully Charged Show on Youtube gives some worthwhile details about EV ownership.
This one in particular switched me on to the viability of solar power charging a powerwall during the sunlight hours which in turn charges an EV car and even lessens the strain on the national grid while its at it.

There's a lot going on with this tech and personally I'm hoping that the van I own now will be the last internal combustion engine I need to buy.
I'm totally unimpressed by the self driving things but theres companies even doing electric conversions to classic cars using Tessla batteries and motors.
The lecky motors can chuck out some serious poke as well.
 
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Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
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The power curve of EVs I believe can be adjusted to suit needs. It has a more even curve without the same gear change steps. I think a lot of my cars have what feels like a hole in the power just before you change from first to second gear. It feels like you stop dead! None of that with EVs.

It's going to be the way things go but still needs a big new step up in tech yet I think. Range too is an issue or instant charging. If you can fill them up like ICE cars then they'll be a winner.
 

mousey

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Jun 15, 2010
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I watched a youtube video the other day of improvements to tanks, they asked the guys who actually drive them and sit in them all day, the most practically introducible improvements straight away, seemed to be to put cameras all over it. One on the front of the gun barrel so they could just poke the gun out to see round a corner, rather than drive the whole tank out. A load of cameras at the front with a screen at the back so the troops on foot behind the tank could see what was in ahead.

Fair enough a tank is a lot harder to see out of than a car, but I'd imagine camera's being a great idea - after all what's the point in having mirrors if you can just turn your head, or get out of the car to have a look about [yes this comment is deliberately being difficult]

My wife watched someone back up their massive lorry / truck to hitch up to a horse box, her and a friend were very impressed by the drivers accuracy, when they asked the drivers response was that she had cameras on the back showing exactly where she was.

Last time I was in my dad's car [he had cameras on the back, and even an overlay showing the size of space the car was going to take up and an approximation of the path of the vehicle and where it was going. Awesomely hand, and pedestrians have commented how good my dad's spatial awareness was when reverse parking - no special powers, just cameras...
 
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Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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Going off topic now, bit have you tried a self parking car?
I rented one in the US last year. Truly scary. Did it only once, then parked the oldfashined way.

I do not think my mind will ever accept technology taking over some of my tasks!
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
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Not tried one but went to a customer with one of the directors and his big audi suv had driver assists on. The traffic got busy and drivers did the old cutting in and out of lanes. The trouble was his car detected them and decided to brake to keep the recommended safe stopping distance As signified by two chevrons between you and the car ahead.

First time it happened I had the feeling something wasn't right. Then I realised he wasn't the one braking. He clocked my confusion and explained it before turning it off. It was rigidly sticking to the rules in its algorithms but humans take the view the the car had pulled out to go around another car and will be back in their lane in a very short time. So humans don't maintain the gap. A conscious, human decision based on personal views of risk. A computer might learn that through AI but companies will never apply it because If anything goes wrong or the driver has really bad judgement then the company will be liable for the car program copying the human's bad hazard assessment.
 

mousey

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 15, 2010
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One of my friends had a car with fancy braking assist stuff. There is a steep hill near me with a tight bend bordered by a tall wall, every time he went up it the system thought he was getting too close to something and wanted to break, while he was wanting to put his foot down to get up the hill :).

I suppose for the majority these things work well but there are [will always be?] situations that catch the computer out.

Something that interested me awhile ago, those captchas 'I'm not a robot' thing are really being used to train programs to see the world the way we do. It is interested with the self driving car being pushed, that most of the captchas I have come across these days are about spotting the boxes which contain cars / traffic lights/ pedestrians/ shop fronts....
 

srod

Forager
Feb 9, 2017
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Something that interested me awhile ago, those captchas 'I'm not a robot' thing are really being used to train programs to see the world the way we do. It is interested with the self driving car being pushed, that most of the captchas I have come across these days are about spotting the boxes which contain cars / traffic lights/ pedestrians/ shop fronts....

Reminds me of this:
https://xkcd.com/1897/
 

gonzo_the_great

Forager
Nov 17, 2014
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...... The only change is to reduce consumption. Buy economical over all aspects of use then keep it working well with his servicing and keep it on the road as long as possible. That amortises the manufacturing pollution over a longer period of time.

And I've been using the excuse, that I'm tight, because I run old cars and keep them going forever.

Actually we had a similar discussion at work, when they were asking for ideas to make the company more 'green'.
I suggested keeping company card for 6yrs, rather than 3-4yrs. And offering them to the company car driver at a good price at the end. Then we save on the manufacturing environembtal cost. The employees would look after the cars, saving fuet, tires and maintainence costs. And people may be inclined to stay with the company a bit longer to get to buy the car.

It was dismissed, as their lease company only did 3yr leases. Blinkered view I recon.
(What they really wanted was to save money, not save the earth!)
 
Jul 24, 2017
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One main think about the electric car is that there quiet, there is a hazard in that, but I would rather that than just another dam thing polluting the air with noise, especially reversing alarms to me they are like car alarms, ignored mostly anyway
 

Janne

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You can always drive it with the widow down, put on some Feindflug or Rammstein at full blast.....
:)

Proper music that! None of these Castrato singers of today.

Reversing alarms are good if you are behind a car that has started to reverse....
 
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Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
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The more EVs about and the fewer ICE cars about the more habits of pedestrians will change to accommodate. Things like observation of what about you, different ways to walk around car parks such that you become less likely to be surprised, etc. That's what I would expect. Perhaps habits of drivers change too such that more ppl back into parking spaces, drivers become more observant or more cautious in higher risk areas such as car parks.

Afterall there's a cost in hitting pedestrians and a cost in being hit by cars. So it's in both parties interests to learn to cope.

Ever the optimist! :)
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
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I hope to get to a nearby garage (45 minutes away) that sells cars, vans , jap imports and campervans as well as owning a conversion company. Saturday it looks like. Already contacted them. Hope to see what's there and discuss conversion of a van or japanese mpv van. IIRC they did have a Toyota hybrid. As well as a nice looking Mitsubishi Delica / D5.
 
Jul 24, 2017
1,163
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somerset
You can always drive it with the widow down, put on some Feindflug or Rammstein at full blast.....
:)

Proper music that! None of these Castrato singers of today.

Reversing alarms are good if you are behind a car that has started to reverse....
Rammstein! Janne you surprise me with your good taste, hows about some Manson and Ministry or some dark techno.....could be a great sound track for a road trip! But I still don't think we need more alarms just more aware people both sides of the car.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
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Manson’s music is undervalued and under appreciated.
His Tained Love? Beautiful People? Sweet Dreams?
Unbeatable!

My son has a fancy soundsystem in his Defender, we drove home tonight from the supermarket ( wife drove my car) and we enjoyed Rammstein with the windows down....
Male bonding!

I like Prodigy too....

It must be a joy listening to loud music in an electric car!
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I hope to get to a nearby garage (45 minutes away) that sells cars, vans , jap imports and campervans as well as owning a conversion company. Saturday it looks like. Already contacted them. Hope to see what's there and discuss conversion of a van or japanese mpv van. IIRC they did have a Toyota hybrid. As well as a nice looking Mitsubishi Delica / D5.
Can you get a vehicle independently inspected before you buy it?

I used to ask the dealer if it was ok. If they said no, I walked away.
If they said yes, I was happy to buy a car without this inspection.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
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That's possible The AA and rac do car inspections I believe. Won't use the AA though but that's a long story involving miss-selling / error on my part for not seeing the non-existent small print.

Anyway you're talking about Manston the really tall guy not the boy band? Just checking! ;)

Those Manston tracks were just covers right? Did he do any good stuff of his own? Speaking as someone who used to like his stuff and seen him live twice. Including one time that I saw a member of the audience throw in a female excitation device and he put on a show with it. Questionable behaviour live on stage but I guess that's his image. Although he did make the mainstream and appeared on chat shows all over the place at one time.

So do you rate the Manston version of tainted love above any of the other versions? I thought he had just taken the approach of soft cell a bit further and read a bit derivative because of it. I mean soft cell diverted the heart of the song away from the mainstream with their extra subtext. Or however you want to put it, they subverted it first Manston copied that idea.

Just my opinion. Great presentation but nothing truly new just a progression a bit further.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
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Female excitation device....

Yep, Manson the tall guy!
Many hits are remakes of unsuccessful tunes.

I find the Tainted Love a very fascinating sociological example of music.
The Original ( sung by G. Jones) was about love between a blaq and a whitey.
Soft Cell was about Pederast love.
Mansons version? Love over the Social class divide?

Btw, did you know that Gloria Jones, the Motown vixen, was the GF of Marc Bolan?
 

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