A home converted electric car

[Wayne49]

Those lots are not sales locations. They are used to place vehicles manufactured and recorded as sold (reported sales from an assembly plant are to the manufacturer's sales organization).

There are dealers with vehicles stuffed into non showroom lots as the manufacturers require the dealers to purchase inventory. Las Vegas off 95 near Durango has dealer lots with new vehicles parked very close together. These vehicles still have protective wrapping. There are no flashy signs in these lots. No banners. No people.

Near Detroit off I75 south of Flat Rock is a vast field of brand new Ford vehicles. Detroit Metro airport has the same thing for Chrysler.

It's called "channel stuffing". The vehicles are considered sold and the financial reports look great to keep up an inflated share price.

In MuskCar's case it is vehicles that were hastily assembled under an open air tent and cannot pass final quality for delivery to customers. To meet a deadline to support an inflated share price.

Now open up the closet, and look at where the energy to charge electric vehicles comes from currently.

An aging power grid powered by fossil fuels or nuclear waste creation.

Mass conversion to electric will be a mass disruption of the current economy in many areas. Misery. More opioids.

Just so you can have an electric vehicle and feel good.

[Wayne49]

As for the home built electric vehicle, I am wondering about the charging supply.
Almost all of us here are familiar with undercharging and the effect on battery capacity and lifetime.
The inventor has interesting ideas, then bases the recharging system on a simple charger.

Bringing multiple batteries in a one at a time sequence up to full charge is going to take a while.

[TrainChaser]

"Mass conversion to electric will be a mass disruption of the current economy in many areas. Misery. More opioids."

Like outsourcing millions of jobs? "The more things change, the more they stay the same." --Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

I wonder how much of a home solar setup you would need to charge an all-electric car?

What would be nice is super-efficent solar cells that could be applied to the outer skin of vehicles, so they could charge as they drove or sat in the driveway. Although maybe not so great for winter in Alaska and the northern climes. I wonder how many parts that would save?

I faintly remember a science fiction writer who commented in his novel that most of the parts in an internal combustion engine were there to fix the problems with the internal combustion engine.

[MN C Van]

People that didn't have Model Ts, complained about them, too.

About no one rides a horse anymore, although I did see one downtown, harnessed to a buggy, tonite.

Gasoline is far more polluting than coal power plants. The ICE is extremely inefficient- The heat that comes off the radiator and out the exhaust is wasted energy. Electric motors have neither exhaust nor a radiator.

How polluting it is or isn't isn't the highest thing on my list. Nor is how efficient it is.

It's too easy to plug a car in, and have a full charge every, single time. At work, or the mall, or ...

Americans have no memory- They forget the lines in the early 70s when the Arabs decided to shut down supply.
Then the problems in the late 70s. Then the $4 a gallon gas.

But, overall, as Train mentions, I'm really just a cheap screw, I'd love to stuck some panels up and never have to pay for a fillup again.

[Trebor English]

There are two alternators with a belt drive from the electric motor.

"One charges the service battery and the other charges the batteries powering the electric motor. An inverter changes the direct current (DC) from the bank of batteries to alternating current (AC) to operate the electric drive motor."

With this logic you could get a 2000 watt inverter with two outlets.  Use one outlet for a battery charger connected to the battery that powers the inverter and the other outlet could power your window unit air conditioner.  If the inverter has a USB port you could also charge your cell phone.  

This would be better than combusting engines.  Engines are hard to light and even harder to keep lit.  It would be silent except for the pesky fan in the inverter.

[weigh2ez]

Does anyone know how much of our money the federal government has given Musk?  How many dealerships does Tesla have?  Texas won't allow Tesla to put dealerships in the state.  Who repairs these things.  I don't have anything against them I can't afford one and I'm an old internal combustion engine lover.  I worked for a forklift dealership and we had electric forklifts and palletjacks and guess what?  They needed service from time to time.

[TrainChaser]

^^^ U.S. Tesla Service Centers: https://www.tesla.com/findus/list/servic...d%20states

Tesla subsidies as of 2015: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy...story.html

[rvpopeye]

I don't follow his finances but have a (very happy) friend in LA. that invested in Tesla early on (back in 2008?)
So I get these emails telling me this stuff......

Musk paid the gov back in full and early for the original "loan".
Tesla doesn't have dealerships ,, they sell directly to customers .
Texas car dealers didn't like being cut out and got a law made banning Tesla sales .....

I wasn't sure where they repaired them but just read that^ .

I believe the motors are located at each wheel .
So the entire engine , transmission , exhaust , radiator , gas tank , fuel pump , things like cv joints etc are all not there to break/wear .
Guessing (probably wrong) all the electronic stuff isn't really that much more complicated from the crap in all new cars.

Aren't all of those Tesla charging stations everywhere powered by solar ?

I think I'd buy a Tesla based rig if I won the lottery or struck it rich finding GOLD ! Yup yup !

[TrainChaser]

^^^ They're gradually getting them all changed over to solar chargers (includes photo of the panel array): https://electrek.co/2018/06/05/electric-...g-station/

[MN C Van]

Anything can, and will break.
Except a /6 or a 318 of course.

Sophisticated engines with long timing chains will fail sooner or later, but automatic transmission are the real problem, as everyone knows.

Popeye is correct, motor eliminate the drivetrain, so the trans is gone.
You really can't put a motor in the hub, as it weighs too much. Even a little extra unsprung weight, and you get ride complaints,
With a three billion lb motor ...