Tesla pickup rumored. Van not too far behind?

israndy said:

California opened a free charging station in the Fairfield area and one of the first things that happened was an RV pulled into one of the spaces. He had a J1772 plug on the side of his RV that took 220 volts in. His claim to being legal was that he had an electric bicycle inside that he was charging, but in the mean time he also ran his AC and fridge and water heater on that same plug.

-Randy

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Randy
Yes having a free charging stand is complementary IN some PLACES at the moment!
As the demand goes up so will be the charges varying from place to place just like like gas stations. Competition and convenience will play their part.
The smart versions of the system will & can already gauge the demand/.charge duration and set the tariff fees according due to gauge charge & PARKING TIME as well!

I went on a tele-seminar about buying these systems & providing the service !Itwas very informative.
Dennis

I might be wrong, but I thought I remembered a couple charging stations at Rest Stops along I-70 in Kansas or Eastern Colorado.

In some places, this could be pretty easy to accomplish without even being on the grid. A Tesla power wall coupled to a wind turbine or solar array. And NO guarantees that there will be juice at all times. Kind of like there are NO guarantees that the toilets won't be clogged up and overflowing.

surlyoldbill said:

I might be wrong, but I thought I remembered a couple charging stations at Rest Stops along I-70 in Kansas or Eastern Colorado.

In some places, this could be pretty easy to accomplish without even being on the grid. A Tesla power wall coupled to a wind turbine or solar array. And NO guarantees that there will be juice at all times. Kind of like there are NO guarantees that the toilets won't be clogged up and overflowing.

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Bill
NO guarantees that the toilets won't be clogged up and overflowing.[/QUOTE]

The only guarantee of clean toilets is the the State of Wyoming!
Their rest stops are NOT stinking like Lions Dens.
In fact some of the nicest in the whole country!
Perhaps because it is so sparsely populated I always feel in my frequent forays up there, that I need or have the urge to mentally respect it & switch off the lights as I motor south out of Cheyenne and cross the state line into Colorado in my Landrover .

This for me as a lover of the Northern Tier is this! Vistas of many !
Dennis.
Bloody marvelous part of the world--Americans are blessed with such places!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIVqjJDMtcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QL9KdcXkA

lindenengineering said:

Bill
NO guarantees that the toilets won't be clogged up and overflowing.

Click to expand...

The only guarantee of clean toilets is the the State of Wyoming!
Their rest stops are NOT stinking like Lions Dens.
In fact some of the nicest in the whole country!
Perhaps because it is so sparsely populated I always feel in my frequent forays up there, that I need or have the urge to mentally respect it & switch off the lights as I motor south out of Cheyenne and cross the state line into Colorado in my Landrover .

This for me as a lover of the Northern Tier is this! Vistas of many !
Dennis.
Bloody marvelous part of the world--Americans are blessed with such places!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIVqjJDMtcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QL9KdcXkA[/QUOTE]

Also a very Red state.

Red! Rojo! Reference to colour ?
Colour--Colorado is that!
Colo--rado--Spanish euphemism for the red--Senor.
Dennis

israndy said:

California opened a free charging station in the Fairfield area and one of the first things that happened was an RV pulled into one of the spaces. He had a J1772 plug on the side of his RV that took 220 volts in. His claim to being legal was that he had an electric bicycle inside that he was charging, but in the mean time he also ran his AC and fridge and water heater on that same plug.

-Randy

Click to expand...

Speaking of heater .... does anyone have any experience with an EV in below zero temperatures?? It seems like an electric heater would draw a LOT of power and really reduce the range.

israndy said:

California opened a free charging station in the Fairfield area and one of the first things that happened was an RV pulled into one of the spaces. He had a J1772 plug on the side of his RV that took 220 volts in. His claim to being legal was that he had an electric bicycle inside that he was charging, but in the mean time he also ran his AC and fridge and water heater on that same plug.

-Randy

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Randy, I remember that guy from when I had my Nissan Leaf. I think Fairfield changed the signage indicating you had to be an EV. At least he had one of those letters. (RV)

mendonsy said:

Speaking of heater .... does anyone have any experience with an EV in below zero temperatures?? It seems like an electric heater would draw a LOT of power and really reduce the range.

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I have a Mitsubishi iMiev, it's claim to fame for EVs is (well, that it has the smallest battery, but also) it's heating is done with coolant, like a regular car. The electric coils that convert half the battery to heat don't heat the air directly, they heat the battery packs coolant. What is SMART about this is that many of the owners have been using Webasto clones from China that heat the liquid running on gasoline. They just put a small lawn mower tank under the hood along with the heater and it runs to it's set temp and keeps the coolant there. When you are cold inside you just turn up the fan blowing the heat into the vehicle and causing the heater to run some more.

Otherwise all electric cars have pre-heat capability, where you are still plugged in and you start the car heating. Teslas have big enough batteries to actually heat the car while driving AND get to your destination, most other electrics are just not able to handle super snowy conditions. That's why so many Teslas have sold in Norway with their amazing tax breaks on EVs. And watching their drive by wire snow handling really makes them the best cars for snow.

-Randy

ECU said:

I want to see the end of four door pickups in my lifetime.

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Interesting. I actually waited for the beginning of the (4 door pick up) + (short bed) as a college student and the concept wasn't offered at the time.

HarryN said:

Interesting. I actually waited for the beginning of the (4 door pick up) + (short bed) as a college student and the concept wasn't offered at the time.

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I have no idea what a less than 6' pickup bed could be used for that the back of an SUV or station wagon could not. It seems purely cosmetic, and poorly, to have a token open space in the back of a car/SUV.

Two bales of hay?
1/10th cord of wood?
Muddy rubber boots. That's it, a place to put your muddy rubber boots.

surlyoldbill said:

I have no idea what a less than 6' pickup bed could be used for that the back of an SUV or station wagon could not.

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A refrigerator.

surlyoldbill said:

I have no idea what a less than 6' pickup bed could be used for that the back of an SUV or station wagon could not. It seems purely cosmetic, and poorly, to have a token open space in the back of a car/SUV.

Two bales of hay?
1/10th cord of wood?
Muddy rubber boots. That's it, a place to put your muddy rubber boots.

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My 68 Triumph Daytona 500

Or bags of manure, that's no something the wife would let me put INSIDE any of our cars. Also it makes a good place to put a hitch for a 1/5 wheel trailer. Then 4 doors for the family to ride in.

Is a Triumph really that small?

-Randy

israndy said:

Or bags of manure, that's no something the wife would let me put INSIDE any of our cars. Also it makes a good place to put a hitch for a 1/5 wheel trailer. Then 4 doors for the family to ride in.

Is a Triumph really that small?

-Randy

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I have a 71 Triumph 250 cc.

surlyoldbill said:

I have no idea what a less than 6' pickup bed could be used for that the back of an SUV or station wagon could not. It seems purely cosmetic, and poorly, to have a token open space in the back of a car/SUV.

Two bales of hay?
1/10th cord of wood?
Muddy rubber boots. That's it, a place to put your muddy rubber boots.

Click to expand...

A washing machine, a dryer, a laz-y-boy lounge chair. There are lots of things you can get in a less than 6 ft. bed pickup that you can't get in an SUV or station wagon. I have a Subaru Outback SUV and a Subaru Baja pickup (4 ft. bed). I moved a lot of stuff in each last year in moving to a new house.

I would say if you buy larger then it would not be beneficial unless you can get an 8 foot bed pickup to haul 4 x 8 foot sheets of plywood or wall board.

YES, you could put these things in a 4-5' pickup bed. But these all seem like trivial things and a pickup with a small bed would not be needed or used very frequently. If someone hauled appliances very often, they wouldn't get a vehicle that could hold just ONE. And besides, a single washer, dryer, refrigerator can be put in the back of an SUV (fridge needs to stand upright for 24 hours after being on it's side before you run it).

But everything has it's niche, a small bed doesn't make sense in my situation. If it can't contain 4x8 sheet products, it's of little use. I'm not telling anyone that they are stupid and should get sick and die because they like short bed pickup looking things. The other defining thing about pickups is the bed being a separate body part from the cab.

The Tesla semi trucks did a loaded test run from Reno to Fremont today.
0-60 in 5 seconds, 20 seconds at maximum load. 400 miles on a 30 minute charge.
All this could be scaled down and make an awesome electric full size van.

http://www.motortrend.com/news/tesl...1964404d301462fcfdfd0&utm_medium=&utm_source=

Awesome, we may see a electric van before we die, as long as we are still allowed to drive it?

flman said:

Awesome, we may see a electric van before we die, as long as we are still allowed to drive it?

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I actually think our not driving it will be the second biggest improvement.

4wheeldog said:

I actually think our not driving it will be the second biggest improvement.

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Yeah, I like the idea of total cruise control. Too bad that we'll still have to sit behind the wheel off self driving vehicles for the next 10-20 years. It would be nice to get on the interstate, put it in Total Cruise, and then go in the back and read or sleep for a few hours.