Think it sucks when your flashlight battery goes down at the most inopportune moment?
Now imagine having your Tesla Police cruiser tell you you only have 6 miles of charge left During a Pursuit!
At 120 MPH
It happened;
You can fill a gas cruiser in what, maybe 4 minutes?
And how does someone bring you extra juice at the side of the road?
Humored
Another example of the false hype behind electric cars. I highly doubt a police cruiser could complete a shift before the juice runs out, much less a 120mph chase.
It will apparently save the planet and keep polar bears from catching fire but, you die from exposure when you run out of juice in the desert. Electric cars are a novelty, they have more phone like gadgets and useless apps than they do actual car features. It’s a step backwards. Steam powered, Nitrogen, compressed air would be a better step forward than electric. Also, at least in the US, 60% of our electric production still come from burning coal. If you live in California, the state of California has already decided for you that absolutely everything causes cancer. Look at any warning sticker on anything that is sold in California.
Especially with all the electronic crap being stuffed into cars today (radar sensors for blind-spot detection and rear cross-traffic detection, cameras for lane-departure warnings, “reading” speed-limit signs and warning you and/or staying below that speed, etc.), there was talk about going to 48V (or higher) systems, or mixed 12V/48V systems to reduce wiring thickness, cars are just overloaded.
And HVAC is now all-electric, ie, no more scavenging waste-heat in winter, but in fact running both AC to dehumidify and burn off battery power for heat.
And Minnesota, 1st- or 2nd-coldest state in the US (Alaska might be #1), just committed to forcing more EVs into dealers’ lots. And we all know just how well batteries thrive in cold temps.
The national electric grid is strained as it is, and yet they want to pretty much push all cars onto it as well. Oh, but we can “help out” by letting EVs be used as storage and put electricity into the grid at peak times. That’d do wonders for your EV’s battery’s cycle life.
And here, I’m literally the only schmo on the block whose neighbor “would rather not” keep a car in a shared driveway. No one else has that problem; they just pull it in without grief. So how, precisely, would I be able to charge an EV? Keep a 200’ (or longer) extension cord on-hand? And those who live in apartments?
How would AA get you moving again if your EV ran out of juice, short of a tow? No more just getting a few gallons of gas to get you on your way in minutes for a few bux.
Just recently, I think whole swaths of Colorado had their power deliberately cut because things were too dry and windy and the possibility of sparking wildfires was too great. Soooo, everyone in those areas would also be immobile, too.
I like the idea of EVs, but they’re not quite ready for primetime. Not without lots more work.
Think about the positive side. Those grandma’s/grandpa’s who want to spend more time with their grand children. Now they can see them the whole sunday, for it takes that long to recharge the EV’s of their children.
There’s an Old Guy I talk to at the health club —he had to ad a serious 220v circuit and plug in his shop for when his daughter came visit this summer with their Tesla
He likely didn’t have to, though. Level 1 chargers can work fine off of 120V, but do take a loooong time to charge.
Probably didn’t want her staying the weekend. :laughing:
I think she was staying a few weeks —- Better him than me—— 
I mean, having a 220/240V line PLUG is actually very useful.
@Lightbringer, have you ever tried a 240V snowpowler? My father actually has one, and it’s so much more powerful than the 120V ones.
Everyone has 230V lines in their house. I had 1 house that had 460volt 3 phase line.
??? Not sure Alcoholics Anonymous would want to bring you “more juice” there at the side of the road. :person_facepalming: LOL.
That 240 volt hasn’t Got nothin’ against this V8 Canadian;
Indeed everybody has a 240 volt service, 2 legs of 120 volts. Just about every major electric appliance in a house operates off 240. Twenty years of being an electrician I’ve only heard of a 120 volt service once and I’m pretty sure the guy was full of it.
I’m jealous of having 3 phase in a house. I can get 3 phase motors, equipment, and welders so much cheaper. Stuff practically brand new has to be given away in the used market if it’s 3 phase. Yes I know I can put in a phase inverter, just another headache.
From the article that was linked to…… ” Usually the Tesla has between 40 to 50 percent battery left at the end of a shift, with Fremont Police Captain Sean Washington noting in a previous interview that, “We are easily able to make it through an 11-hour shift with battery power to spare.””
Electric may not be for everybody, everywhere. But we have oodles of solar panels and make all our electricity for the home, the shop and the Tesla. It works for us and quite well.
Nope, don’t have any snowplows (?), only Mr Shovel.
Can’t imagine myself using a plow, mower, etc., with a long-ass extension cord dragging behind. Already cut into one with a hedge-trimmer trying to keep it away from where I was trimming. :confounded:
Something about blades and wet snow and 240V doesn’t exactly thrill me.
We do have 240V just fine, though, for major appliances that need it.
Just tell ’em you’re driving drunk and want to continue on your merry way. :laughing:
Fremont isn’t that big a city and I can easily see them driving less than 100-150 miles per shift. And that’s if they’re using it for patrolling rather than less driving intensive duties.
I like what Tesla is doing more than most posters here, but even I raised my eyebrows when I heard that Teslas were being purchased as police cruisers. At 200 km/hr, you're gonna burn through you batteries lickity split.
It makes a lot more sense to use EVs for delivery trucks, where you can predict the range, drive all day, and charge every night. Amazon recently announced that it is moving to this model. Amazon expects to make money on the changeover to electric delivery trucks. Anyone here think the hard-boiled business people at Amazon are dizzy? Not me.
BTW, have you heard Elon's latest "vision" for Tesla? He is pushing hard for full self-driving. He thinks he'll get there long before others. If that happens, there will be a window where Tesla has a monopoly on self-driving while other companies are catching up. At that point, Tesla is planning to create a robo-taxi fleet, and become a competitor for Uber and Lyft, with a cost structure that is something like 1/10th (or less) of what those companies will have to pay. Drivers cost money.
For the past three years, sales contracts for Telsa vehicles have included language prohibiting purchasers of self-driving Tesla vehicles from using their cars as self-driving taxi's for Uber, Lyft or anyone else except Tesla. In addition, leases for the Model 3 prohibit lessees from buying their cars at the end of the lease. Tesla plans to take them back,and use them in its robo-taxi fleet.
All of this is very interesting, of course, but that doesn't mean it will happen.
Source:
Tesla Autonomy Day - Robo Taxi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucp0TTmvqOE&t=3h5m25s
Tesla Autonomy Day - Cost Structure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucp0TTmvqOE&t=3h12m11s
I seen that on the news, its discovered that their electric Tesla models they are using have Ultrafire batteries in them instead of good cells to cut & save costs.
I think it was the autonomy video I linked above where Elon admits that Tesla has used third-party batteries for the Tesla Powerwall, but not for its cars.
Edit – Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucp0TTmvqOE&t=3h38m32s
You are right. I guess driving in a smaller are inside of a city wouldn’t use as much juice. I guess I don’t think about those things out where I live. Our entire county has maybe 8 officers patrolling a entire county. There are only 4 small cities in our county. The largest is less than 5,000 people and the smallest is less than 150. Only one has a 24hr police department. The other ones shut it down about 11pm or midnight.
So maybe not too good in a large county with a large area to patrol but perfectly acceptable in cities with smaller zones to patrol.