What feature in your car could you not live without?

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Air conditioner use is “peak” pricing.

Not if they are window units. As not all homes have centralize air. Peak pricing doesn't matter if every one is using one. We have 4 window units for our house, each bedroom gets one as well as one for our first floor. 

 

But thats besides the point. There are areas of the country they have to do rolling black outs due to demand. That points to an issue with the grid. Also what happens when something like 2003 happens again? Personally I think we need to fix the "Grid" before looking at ways to bend it over a screw it. Because everyone buying electric cars and even if they ALL charge them at night, there still will be issues, because then there would be more demand at night when there is no solar. At least with solar during the day you have extra generation.  I guess we agree to disagree. 

[Godlygamer23]

4 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

A lot of people stream music - or even have music saved onto their phone. It's a useful one-stop device to play music... damn near wherever, frankly. That's a primary purpose of my phone: to play music from Spotify in my car. It's the main reason I have an unlimited plan. And with things like Apple CarPlay becoming more and more common, it's becoming more and more convenient to go that route. Most people don't mind that it can be a little annoying to organize music libraries on a phone.

And if you purchase your music through iTunes, then it's really easy to either stream it or download it to your phone, all without syncing up to a PC. And it's even more convenient with automatic downloads enabled. 

 

In my particular vehicle, my infotainment setup is able to see music that's not on my phone(as it shows up on it to stream), so my phone will just stream it. 

[Godlygamer23]

5 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Using smartphone is the dumbest thing ever. Then you need to duplicate everything on the phone and always have it with you and some cars don't support wireless which means you need to plug in the damn thing and then it'll charge and I don't want it to charge and if it has wireless you're discharging phone. Also I don't have stuff duplicated. If I want to listen to game soundtracks I sure as hell don't want to listen 80's hits at that moment. Folders are playlists. And to add music I just dump it in folder of choice. Instead of bothering with playlists or being forced to have all the song tags filled otherwise it'll be like retarded pikachu. No thanks. I don't like ANY of that. Maintaining music libraries on phones, be it Android or iPhone is just so clumsy and time consuming I never bothered. I basically have few songs on and that's it. I basically never listen to them. USB drive in car, I can't imagine listening to FM radio. Haven't done so for basically 15+ years...

I find it to be much more convenient to just use my phone to listen to music in my car, versus a flash drive. But I will mostly agree with not listening to the radio. Too many commercials, and always playing the same songs. Sometimes there'll be something new(sometimes how I hear new music), but it's mostly just the same stuff, and it's very tiring and I seriously end up hating the songs. 

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Not if they are window units. As not all homes have centralize air. Peak pricing doesn't matter if every one is using one. We have 4 window units for our house, each bedroom gets one as well as one for our first floor. 

 

But thats besides the point. There are areas of the country they have to do rolling black outs due to demand. That points to an issue with the grid. Also what happens when something like 2003 happens again? Personally I think we need to fix the "Grid" before looking at ways to bend it over a screw it. Because everyone buying electric cars and even if they ALL charge them at night, there still will be issues, because then there would be more demand at night when there is no solar. At least with solar during the day you have extra generation.  I guess we agree to disagree. 

Yeah.  I’ve got window air con.  It happens in older buildings built without central air. A window air conditioner generally has a working life of less than 10 years, and all the newer ones have timers on them so you don’t have to run them all night for no reason.  There’s also “thermostats”. Just because an airconditioner fan is going doesn’t mean the compressor is.   I don’t disagree that the US national electrical grid is in a state of disrepair.  I’m going to totall ignore “reasons why” as that’s getting political.  Suffice it to say there are dueling opinions on that one.  As for rolling blackouts the last time I heard of that happening it was in California and had to do with fire issues combined with lack of critical maintainance, not lack of power generation.   I don’t believe they’re happening right now.  They might be I suppose.  I don’t live in California. You seem to feel this is the result of inadequate power generation.  It’s not generally (though it is in some nations) rolling blackouts are usually caused by over generation of power combined with inadequate management.   I did say the magic word though “California”.  I get the impression that was what you were driving for. 

[dalekphalm]

22 hours ago, crazzyman said:

 

Umm no, Maybe in France and other places were non EV cars will be phased out by law.  Their are to many alternative fuels to to make that a problem.

Sooner or later it will likely happen even in the US. 
 

Also even though there are alternatives (mainly just Hydrogen Fuel Cell), they’re more expensive and less efficient than EV’s. 
 

Hydrogen sounds good in theory but it’s stupid expensive to manufacture and either requires fossil fuels (steam reforming), or electricity (hydrolysis). 
 

Hydrolysis uses so much electricity that you could just charge an EV to get the same equivalent range and it’ll use less electricity. 
 

There are definitely some possible uses of HFC though - particularly stuff where range and refuelling is more important than costs, such as long haul trucking. 

22 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Every gas station in the Detroit area I have been to has NO chargers. 

Perhaps none that you’ve seen.

 

As of right now there are 481 EV charging stations, with 2161 chargers in Michigan, with a further 162 stations planned. 

22 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Doesn't help the older homes. Newer homes are built shitty at least in the US. Old homes tend to be most solid but wiring is older and panels could be full. 

Sooner or later those older homes will need to be updated. Yes it will be expensive to do so. Government incentives could help speed that process up. 

22 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Lot of older houses in the US dude. Pretty much my entire neighborhood. Most people cant afford to update things like their electrical. 

Yes there are lots of old homes. There are also new homes being built every day. It’s a problem, but not impossible. 

22 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Thats not how it works. Consumers dictate what they want, companies either produce that or they go out of business.

Yes but often consumers are irrationally attached to a certain way of doing things. 

22 hours ago, Donut417 said:

The US government is not likely to regulate gas cars out of existence. California might try, but they will fail. Also with services like Uber and others, I have a feeling a lot of people in the future might not own a car. 

The less people who own cars, the better for the environment. But in the US and Canada, I don’t see car ownership disappearing anytime soon. 
 

You mention the grid a lot - the fact that the US grid is in such shambles is really bad. You need to be pressuring your state to fix that. 
 

The EV transition has been coming for a long time. Michigan should have started planning for this already. 

22 hours ago, Voluspa said:

I'm all for cutting emissions. I'm lucky enough to have a house with a garage and circuit breaker in it. I already put 220 in it once, and have room for more. I would actually love to get rid of my pickup for an EV or finish paying it off and get an EV. In all honesty, if I can make it make sense an EV will probably be my next go to. There's a whole different can of worms there though. 

https://apnews.com/article/04029bd1e0a94cd59ff9540a398c12d1#:~:text=DETROIT (AP) — Cold temperatures,as much as the cold.

  Hide contents

The automobile club tested the cars at 20 degrees and 95 degrees, comparing the range to when they were tested at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a report on the study.

At 20 degrees, the average driving range fell by 12 percent when the car’s cabin heater was not used. When the heater was turned on, the range dropped by 41 percent, AAA said.

20 degrees is a warm winter day for me. I'm roughly 70 miles (112KM) from Anchorage if I need to get anything my small town doesn't have. That's 140 Miles(220+KM) round trip. I have yet to see a single charger up here. Because of winter up here, 4wd is a must. Figure the Model 3, they "claim" 353 miles range. Round down to 35% from the study for errors/better batteries etc. That leave me with approximately a 230 mile range. It's do able, but then figure in I have family that I regularly go see that is 130 miles from me and live in an even smaller town. I'd still need my ICE pickup to get there and back. There's also places I just wouldn't trust any EV over an ICE. A lot of people that go moose hunting up here use special rigs. Large lifts, super wide tires to not break through muskeg. I just wouldn't trust an EV out there. Even if you could get it to float there's a lot more that can go wrong when it breaks through. Snorkels won't help electric motors. 

 

I think EVs will be great in cities in the near future. Out in our rural areas and especially up here in Alaska, we have a long ways to go to get there though. 

Yes there are some niche cases like yours that could be problematic. But most people don’t live in Alaska. 
 

And if they can get cars available with longer ranges like 500+ miles, that would alleviate a lot of the concerns. 
 

We will get there sooner or later. 

[ARikozuM]

Cruise control. 

[bimmerman]

headed and ventilated seats. Sooo nice for road trips.

 

also, lots of torque. I want to merge NOW

[Velcade]

3 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

ventilated seats

are amazing!  I've got these in the truck and they're amazing.  Use them all the time.

[PlayStation 2]

5 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

headed and ventilated seats. Sooo nice for road trips.

 

also, lots of torque. I want to merge NOW

Not big on ventilated seats, but yes to the heated seats. Nothing's nicer than warming your ass for work when it's 29F outside.

Can also agree on torque. When you live somewhere where the roads are long and not constantly split up by stoplights (and on freeways), it's nice to get slapped by torque at 2000rpm rather than having to wait approximately 7 years for any high-end power or torque to kick in.

[bimmerman]

Just now, handymanshandle said:

Not big on ventilated seats, but yes to the heated seats. Nothing's nicer than warming your ass for work when it's 29F outside.

Can also agree on torque. When you live somewhere where the roads are long and not constantly split up by stoplights (and on freeways), it's nice to get slapped by torque at 2000rpm rather than having to wait approximately 7 years for any high-end power or torque to kick in.

Yup, totally agreed on the torque. Super looking forward to replacing my (awesome, just aging) v8 car with an overly powered EV when the time comes for that reason; I really like being able to mash the pedal and have the car MOVE.

[Guest]

Probably the auto gearbox. I can drive manual fine,  but in traffic i want an auto!

[TomvanWijnen]

Cruise control. I use it all the time. Especially when driving far, it's amazing, but even for short trips it's great, as it allows your feet to relax and makes you not have to think about your speed all the time. Just set and forget. That being said, I've also driven (also longer trips) in cars without cruise control, but it's definitely not as nice as with it.

 

Air conditioning is also pretty great.

 

Good visibility is also important. Many cars have stupidly big A-pillars that block your view, especially in a turn. I hate that. Also many cars have a terrible view when looking to your side or backwards. I also hate that.

 

A reasonable clearance from the ground. Some cars are so low to the ground that you hit bumps even if you're going very slow. Very annoying. I'm not a fast driver, but I'd rather not damage the car when going over bumps.

[yolosnail]

For me, it has to be Air Conditioning and Heated Seats, both on at the same time because I like the cold air, but I like feeling warm

 

I also couldn't live without power chairs, we had a hire car and it had manual seats, and I couldn't find a comfortable position, it was either one click too far forward or backwards

 

Oh, and a good wading depth, the roads round here often flood so it's nice to be able to go shopping without a 5 mile detour 

 

Finally, either Xenon or LED headlights, the aforementioned hire car only had halogen headlights and honestly it was easier to see with the DRLs on!

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, yolosnail said:

For me, it has to be Air Conditioning and Heated Seats, both on at the same time because I like the cold air, but I like feeling warm

 

I also couldn't live without power chairs, we had a hire car and it had manual seats, and I couldn't find a comfortable position, it was either one click too far forward or backwards

 

Oh, and a good wading depth, the roads round here often flood so it's nice to be able to go shopping without a 5 mile detour 

 

Finally, either Xenon or LED headlights, the aforementioned hire car only had halogen headlights and honestly it was easier to see with the DRLs on!

Had a friend with a jeep tj the thing can apparently have a snorkel attached that puts the wading depth at like 4 feet, but it seems there’s a problem with a tiny air inlet in the pumpkin.  That apparently also needs to have a hose that goes as high as the snorkel or you make pink milkshake (this is very bad)

[yolosnail]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

Had a friend with a jeep tj the thing can apparently have a snorkel attached that puts the wading depth at like 4 feet, but it seems there’s a problem with a tiny air inlet in the pumpkin.  That apparently also needs to have a hose that goes as high as the snorkel or you make pink milkshake (this is very bad)

At that deep, I'd be just as worried about the electricals, or water getting into the cabin.

The safe wading depth for our car is 450mm (it can go deeper, but that's what the manufacturer recommends), but I honestly wouldn't trust the door seals at that depth!

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, yolosnail said:

At that deep, I'd be just as worried about the electricals, or water getting into the cabin.

The safe wading depth for our car is 450mm (it can go deeper, but that's what the manufacturer recommends), but I honestly wouldn't trust the door seals at that depth!

The jeep had a “hose down” interior.  The doors didn’t even keep out wind really.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Bombastinator

[yolosnail]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

The jeep had a “hose down” interior.  The doors didn’t even keep out wind really.

The car might be able to take it, but would you really want to be driving around with soggy legs?

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, yolosnail said:

The car might be able to take it, but would you really want to be driving around with soggy legs?

Well there’s always one of these

[Parideboy]

In no particular order:

 

AC: I really suffer the heat, I'm used to cold climates. I usually keep the temperature to about 19c (~66F). Anything higher than that feels hot for some reason.

 

Manual transmission: I really enjoy driving with a clutch and a gear shift, I've got a "sporty" drive style (rev-matching, heel-toe). As convenient as an automatic transmission is, it would ruin the experience for me. This is one of the reasons that's keeping me to switch to EV.

 

Petrol: I don't like diesel engines, they have more torque at low rpm but the throttle response isn't the same as petrol. Plus, diesel vehicles usually require more maintenance compared to petrol ones.

 

12 hours ago, TomvanWijnen said:

A reasonable clearance from the ground. Some cars are so low to the ground that you hit bumps even if you're going very slow. Very annoying. I'm not a fast driver, but I'd rather not damage the car when going over bumps.

Agree. Most city cars nowdays are following this trend to make their cars look "cooler".

[Drama Lama]

Wheels and motor 

tracks aren‘t good for cities

[Radium_Angel]

This:

 

[TomvanWijnen]

32 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

This:

Oh no, I would so drive into the person behind me with this! My first gear is on the top left, where the reversing gear is here... First gear is actually on the top left for all four cars I've driven so far...

[TomvanWijnen]

9 hours ago, Parideboy said:

Petrol: I don't like diesel engines, they have more torque at low rpm but the throttle response isn't the same as petrol. Plus, diesel vehicles usually require more maintenance compared to petrol ones.

Funny you say that, as I actually prefer diesel, because in my experience they're much more responsive and faster at the same HP level.

[Parideboy]

14 hours ago, TomvanWijnen said:

Funny you say that, as I actually prefer diesel, because in my experience they're much more responsive and faster at the same HP level.

I'm referring to the response of the engine itself, not the speed of the car. Even in neutral, I feel a slight delay in diesel cars when hitting the throttle, very similar to the lag produced by turbos.

 

As for the speed, it all depends on the rpm range. Usually, cars are driven in the 1500-3000 range, and in this case, diesel engines are more efficient.
Another point to note is the length of the rpm curves. Diesel engines have a shorter curve, this means that the rpm rises more slowly while accelerating compared to gasoline engines. In acceleration, gasoline engines have more rpm with less torque while diesel engines have less rpm with higher torque, both achieving very similar power (HP).
Gasoline engines compensate for the lack of torque with speed, due to the nature of the engine.

 

The best engineered diesel engine will be as poweful as its gasoline counterpart. Gasoline engines are more powerful by design, not necessarily efficient or convenient (especially while driving in cities)

[Radium_Angel]

15 hours ago, TomvanWijnen said:

Oh no, I would so drive into the person behind me with this!

You get used to the reverse layout pretty quickly, and very soon it makes solid sense.