[tvmurray]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

I can't picture a reputable car rental outlet that would have only one car available.

Was this a national rental company or a mom'n'pop operation? If the latter then I would suggest it is a case of "renter beware".

It was Dollar/Hertz Rental, but in their defense many other companies had a sign up that said no cars available. Also when I took it to another airport they exchanged with no questions after my story.

[Blackbird45]

Originally Posted by Susan1717

I have no desire ever for an electric car. Most of the family I drive to visit have zero capability to charge a car. I don’t believe it’s better for our earth either.

Susan if you're young enough you might have no choice ICE will become obsolete. Again, this has nothing to do with the environment. If it did there would be a more sustained effort for hydrogen vehicles. This all has to do with profits. This is a new market; global warming is just a cover story. If your concern is charging station, once the money starts rolling in, you'll be tripping over them, they will be everywhere.

[TeresaE]

Originally Posted by Blackbird45

Like it or not EVs are going to take over.
Today’s investments in the EV world are slated to improving milage, charging speed, and access to charging stations. Musk just signed a contract for $100 million with BP to supply their stations with his chargers in the U.S., plus taxpayer dollars are being spent to place charging stations on our public roads. Once people get use to the convenance while on a highway just being able to pull into a rest stop and fill up while taking care of business or waking up in the morning with their cars fully charged at home the demand will start to surge again. And let’s take a look at the profits, EVs are much less expensive to produce then ICE vehicles. Between solar, wind and nuclear, electricity is also less expensive than producing and delivering fuel. Maybe because the last five years of my career was negotiating contracts, I see everything through the lens of dollars. But to bolster my position unless there is a request most all new homes are being built with electric heat, stoves and ovens. Why because it’s less expensive than running a second fuel sore. At the end of the day maybe not as fast as expected but EVs will dominate the market and the conversion will have nothing to do with climate change, just follow the money.

In 2006, did a paper on EVs for my masters program. At that time it was projected that at most EVs would gain 25% of the market, but to do that oil would. Have to double in price.

Last time I looked the EV share of the market it was still less than 10%. When Henry Ford started mass production of automobiles, did the government mandate their use over horses? No, the market decided. If it weren’t for government mandates imposed on us, the market share for EVs would be even less.

[Blueblaze]

Originally Posted by Blackbird45

Susan if you're young enough you might have no choice ICE will become obsolete. Again, this has nothing to do with the environment. If it did there would be a more sustained effort for hydrogen vehicles. This all has to do with profits. This is a new market; global warming is just a cover story. If your concern is charging station, once the money starts rolling in, you'll be tripping over them, they will be everywhere.

A tank of hydrogen makes more sense than a 2000 lb battery that takes 8 hours to charge, but the only advantage to the environment would be that you wouldn't have to level mountains in China digging up lithium, cobalt and rare earths. Hydrogen would be a disaster for "Climate Change".

The primary source of Earth's greenhouse is WATER VAPOR, not CO2. CO2 is a trace gas, barely 0.04% of the atmosphere -- unlike Venus, which started the warming panic, where it is 98% .

In fact, if vehicles actually do contribute to Global Warming, it is undoubtedly because of the water vapor they emit -- for every carbon atom in a molecule of gasoline, there are 3 hydrogen atoms.

[huge-pigeons]

Originally Posted by charlieo1126@gmail.com

there are 350 charging stations in Vermont according to drive electric Vermont with more coming on line monthly , Vermont has the highest per capital rate of public charging availability in the United States according to Drive Electric Vermont . I looked this up only because all my nieces and nephews ski in Vermont and drive their EV s up there from the Boston area. A simple search and you would have found a map with easy directions to all the chargers and no I don’t have one ,but facts are facts

It means nothing that there are 350 stations, how many work with the Chevy? Probably a handful. Also, out of those listed, how many work? How many cars are using them? What converter do you need? I have friends that skipped buying an EV that wasn’t a Tesla because of the lack of stations.
We are light years away from having the infrastructure to handle EV’s

[TeresaE]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

So why haven't the manufacturers done that?

Surely if one came up with a car that did 100mpg it would vastly outsell those doing 35mpg?

Yes, but it will never happen because of the tax dollars and fuel consumption. If we don’t buy enough fuel the system can’t pay for itself. Same with hybrids. If we, the consumer, chose those, neither oil nor lithium would be sold in large enough quantities.
With EVs they’ll be able to tax mileage. They’ll also be able to curtail travel. Imagine the next pandemic only this time, we’re mostly in EVs. The car computer shuts down. Now you’re stuck. A dystopian thought? Maybe, but a stuck population is a controlled population. Like the serfs in Russia of old.

[Randall55]

///

[Randall55]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

EV's are very popular in UK, and given the size of the country, quite practical.
We are never more than 70 miles from the sea, and one end to the other is just over 600 miles, which, with a bigger EV, is a one charge journey.
Plenty of public charging points.
Even our rural local supermarket has two, and they make no charge (yet!), and you very seldom see both points used at same time.
Personally I will never have one due to the exorbitant cost of purchase, plus wife and I travel a lot in UK and Europe, and could not be bothered with all the logistics of finding charging points.
It's horses for courses really.
If our world was solely TV I could see the point of one, but with the distances of city to city travel in US, I would never have anything but an ICE vehicle.
Just cannot understand the TOTV posters who are so opposed to EV's.
No one is forcing them to buy.
The majority will be long dead and gone, even if such a time comes.
Just stick with your ICE vehicle, and let those who want electric sort out any problems with them.

Sorry for monologue, but freezing and raining cats and dogs here at the moment, so a bit bored.
Probably do an essay on roundabouts tomorrow, or divulge the best cheesecake recipe in the world!

looking forward to that cheesecake recipe. I've had enough roundabout talk.

[crash]

Originally Posted by Caymus

Can Chevy Bolts use Tesla Stations?

No they have different charging outlets.

[tvmurray]

Originally Posted by Blueblaze

EV vs ICE arguments aside, I will ask the question again.

tvmurray, Please tell me: WHICH RENTAL AGENCY FORCED YOU TO TAKE AN EV?

I REALLY want to avoid that company, since I will be renting a car this Christmas to drive back from Chicago!

It was Dollar/Hertz. However most other rental companies had no vehicles. They did exchange it for a real car with no hassle or cost. My question remains as to why any rental company would have an EV in their fleet.

[tvmurray]

Exactly

[Lintondr]

Google shows over 20 chargers open 24 hours just in tiny Stowe VT. Something seems askew in the sound of music of the original story. Additionally given how many seasonal travelers, there is also more than a single car rental agency.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by Robbb

Well the new Prius plug hybrid gets 91 mpg, is that good enough?

Genuine owner of a 23 Prius plug in here (same vehice as the 24). The vehicle is exceedingly rare with only a few hundred sold in the entire state of Florida.

It does not get 91 mpg, not in the 80s, not in the 70s, not in the 60s. Its 50 /47.

The Prius Prime advantage is the first 40 miles are electric only. The gasoline engine gets the mpg thats stated above.

[Marine1974]

Originally Posted by charlieo1126@gmail.com

there are 350 charging stations in Vermont according to drive electric Vermont with more coming on line monthly , Vermont has the highest per capital rate of public charging availability in the United States according to Drive Electric Vermont . I looked this up only because all my nieces and nephews ski in Vermont and drive their EV s up there from the Boston area. A simple search and you would have found a map with easy directions to all the chargers and no I don’t have one ,but facts are facts

tarting in the spring of 2024, Ford EV owners will have access to the Tesla Supercharger network. Currently, the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E feature a CCS-type charge port, but an adapter will allow them to connect to Tesla's fast-chargers.Nov 7, 2023

[RHReese]

Originally Posted by Keefelane66

Sometimes you might need to use Google instead of asking people with minimal knowledge
“In the last year, the number of EVs on the road has nearly doubled, from 6,000 to 10,000, and Vermont has added 55 charging stations, for a total of 396.
Sep 20, 2023

EV's are total piece of crap. Don't bother with them they are not worth the trouble. You could have charging stations at every corner and you still would spend most of your time charging the EV's. $50,000 for a car that will only go 200 miles and take hours to recharge. NO THANKS.