Waiting for Superbatteries They are still a long way from matching the energy density of liquid fue

Well, I'm absolutely NOT a fan of dealerships. It is their business to make as much profit as they can by buying cars from their manufacturer and then selling them and their maintenance for as much as they can.

I like the Tesla model (used by some others, too) where you order your car on-line and then pick it up. I've heard they will deliver, too. New Teslas have one price - no dealership markup.

I agree with most of what you are saying. However, the bottom line is still that an EV needs far less maintenance. There are certainly service issues an owner can perform.

Tesla doesn't do its own bodywork. A crashed Tesla would go to a non-Tesla shop that probably needs Tesla certification for warranty and for the case that the owner bought Tesla insurance.

 

Yeah there are some common car issues that won't be a problem. Alternators (although I'm unclear how the aux battery is charged), belts, spark plugs, starters, transmission service, oil changes, etc.

Yeah the Teslas look nice. Only thing I kind of don't like is I don't know how hard it will be to get used to not having a normal dash display. The tablet thing seems annoying to me.

 

I agree with your "normal dash display" comment.

I like the info where cars have always put it - in front of the driver.

Plus, Tesla buries common functions in screen menus. I don't want to play touch screen games when I adjust review mirrors, turn on the radio, adjust the heating and other common tasks.

The Ioniq5 and some others have the common information right in front of you. Then, the screen is extended partway toward the passenger and is more built into the dash as it doesn't have to be quite so large. Also, I think they have heads-up display for turns and MPH - I don't know if I'd like that, but it sounds cool!

Tesla has done an incredible job of engineering and manufacturing, but they aren't going to be the only show in town - I certainly hope.

 

Almost everything you just mentioned is something added to the transmission. Almost all transmissions come from Allison, and the transmissions themselves are often highly compatible. Not universal, but in a great many cases say a 4 cylinder vehicle transmission can be swapped with one from a different model, year, or even manufacturer as the original.

You talk about the 42RLE, that has only been used in everything from the Jeep Wrangler, Dodge Ram, Dodge Charger, and most other Dodge 6 and 8 cylinder vehicles.

So if the transmission from your Wrangler fails, feel free to go to a junkyard and pull one from a Dodge Ram. It's the same transmission, even if you have a Jeep SUV and are pulling it from a Dodge truck.

 

Yes, but in most of those applications the same engine and transmission are used together.

The 3.8 in the Wranglers and the later Pentastar 3.6 were used in a very large number of vehicles with common transmissions.

The gearing of the engine, the transmission, and the differential gearings need to match in such a way that the shift points in the auto transmission do so at the right times.

Even the same 3.8 engine used in a lot of Dodge mini vans can't be put into a Wrangler because some of the casting points of the block don't mate up correctly with the motor mounts or other factors.

So in some cases even the same engine can't be swapped from one vehicle to another without major modifications.

I've done a lot of research on this looking for options, and there's not a lot.

 

I can see why people would be concerned about sources of new ICE transmissions.

With life expectancy being 7 years and new buyers keeping their autos for an average of 8 years, it's certainly an issue - especially in the used market.

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-long-does-an-automatic-transmission-last#:~:text=Time and mileage vary between,miles or approximately 7 years.

https://www.thezebra.com/resources/driving/average-length-of-car-ownership/#:~:text=With the average length of,more miles on the road.

Maybe some change their driving habits to try to extend life.

 

The real problem that severely limits EVs (again conceding that there are some limited circumstances where they may be adequate) is that an electric motor instantly goes to full torque so off-the-line acceleration can be quite breath taking (I hear anyways) but increasing power demands more and more electricity from the capacity limited battery. This causes range to drop like a rock. Several folks have been quite shocked with the new Ford Lightning when they hooked up a trailer to haul a car for instance and the battery range dropped from 300 miles to 70 or 80 miles. That, combined with the drop in charge when cold, is the Achilles Heel for widespread EV adoption.

ICE powertrains naturally modulate power output to match operational demand and transmissions (effectively torque multiplier machines) allow the engine to stay in the fuel consumption sweet spot of roughly 1500-1600 rpm (at that rpm the cylinder processes are clicking along pretty comfortably in combustion terms). If you've got a tach in your vehicle, watch it a bit while driving. It'll pretty much stay in that area on average.

The short version of all that is my Ford F150 (I grew up in Dearborn, MI. Yes, I'm a homer.) with a 36 gallon tank has a lightly loaded range of about 650 miles or twice that of a Lightning. Both vehicles hauling the aforementioned trailer and cargo will have my truck with about 7 times the range of the Lightning. And if it's near freezing, my range will rise to probably 10 times as far as the Lightning.

And that's the simple insurmountable technical limit that will doom mass adoption of EVs for the foreseeable future.

 

Well probably not my tach because I've got 5.13 gears so I'm running more in the 2100 RPM @ 70Mph range.

Yeah I realize there are quite a few issues not just with the vehicles but the grid itself is never going to be able to support more than 25% replacement without tons of money being dumped into it, and currently we're borrowing billions to give to Ukraine so that's never gonna happen.

For the average, around town grocery-getters they'll probably be fine though.

We used to use little electric golf carts around base that had a bunch of 12v car batteries powering it. They were fine for what they were, and we didn't have to mess with gas or oil.

I see EVs in much the same way: limited utility, but good for what they can do.

 

Yes, towing a car or a major trailer takes a LOT of energy. I don't know the capacity of a Lightening, but lets remember that it is the first ev pickup to ever be developed. It's ridiculous to consider the very first ever product to be the limit of the technology direction. Ford has other EVs that are nowhere near state of the art even for EVs available today.

On the other hand, I fully believe there will be tasks that will be tough for EVs to conquer. Also, it is clear that there are categories where ICEs are not competitive, even after decades of technology improvement.

ICE engines + transmissions + differentials sap a lot of energy in various forms of friction and heat management. They have far lower efficiency than an EV, as they have large numbers of moving parts.

 

I wish Mazda had kept up with the Wankel. Although I think they're still used in a lot of light aircraft situations.

Years ago I used to rebuild them for racing applications in RX7's. I could pick up a short block and carry the thing across the room, and those little things could make some power.

 

It was an amazing engine for sure. I don't know anything about it's efficiency, etc., but one has to respect the reduction in moving parts and the new way of looking at ICE power.

Mazda says "Although the Mazda RX-8 was the last model to actually use a 13B rotary engine and production of the RX-8 finished in 2012, we’re still producing spare parts and engines made using these parts. That’s why this factory still exists.”

https://www.mazda.com/en/innovation...he Mazda RX-8,why this factory still exists.”

Maybe these engines may all be used as replacements. But, it's interesting that they are still being built.

 

They could not pass modern clean air standards. Mazda was a real believer in that engine, but emissions killed it in the US and Europe.

And there is simply no reason to keep working on an engine that can not be sold in most of the world.