Electric Cars - the discussion continues.

[Old Koreelah]

I got my 2005 model air con screen out of Bulgaria.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

My 2008 Volco V50 blew a turbo - Volvo wanted £1300; Citroen (the "manufacturers" of the engine and turbo) wanted £600. The OEM asked £120.. er that should have been £220

 

Who did I buy off?

 

 

[Bruce]

That's close to the biggest markup I know of... A fuel pump for an imported European car. Cost to the importer = $70, selling price to the customer = $1400.

 

 

[facthunter]

They are outrageous mark ups but a lot of dead stock is dumped these days. (after about 5 years but sometimes a bit longer0. Sometimes they auction it but dumping it means you buy more new cars which is what they want. Keeping and cataloging stock is expensive. Profit on new cars is generally not a lot. The sales commission is often much more than the unit profit. Nev

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I recall when I was a young-an (about the time of the VB Commodore/EA Falcon), I was watching a program that claimed to buy the parts to make one of these cars was about 5 or so times the price of a new car... The reality is, it does cost a lot to have every part available - even those that move slowly as they don't often break. But wherever you are in Australia, you can (or at least could) get a part within a couple of days - the limiting factor being transport..

 

 

[spacesailor]

That was the 90s.

 

Now when you want a part it comes from a different state to one you,r in at the time you need it

 

space a ailor

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Ahhh the good ol days... When I broke down not too far from Birdsville in my ol FJ55 cruiser, a tie rod end (from memory) was with me within 48 hours

 

 

[facthunter]

They cross reference the whole country instantly these days. There are few "common" parts now. Complex engine mounts that will never fit anything else. . Hoses all special for purpose.. I have just been servicing the Bosses Mondeo today.. Had to make a special 27 mm spanner to get the oil filter apart. At least I know for sure it has the right oil in it now. and the drain plug is not eywateringly tight.. Nev

 

 

[spacesailor]

Ford mondeo

 

Badge engineered as far as I remember, like the Opel ,Commodore, Mazda, Lazer, & many many more.

 

Like the Nash designed, but built by Austin of Birmingham, the Austin Metropolitan

 

spacesailor

 

[ATTACH]49571._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[facthunter]

I don't agree with that description, spacey. Since they are generally considered to be at the cutting edge of euro development, the Badge engineering assertion is not appropriate.. in this instance.. VW, Passatt and Skoda yes as with Opel Saab and Vauxhall.. It's a long time since the Mazda 323 and Ford Lazer were really quite similar ands swapped parts. It's not necessarily always a bad thing. The Toyo Kogio/ Ford alliance was mutually benefitting unlike Jeep/Chrysler and a german companies dalliance.. Fiat GM and Nissan Renault and Mack Renault. Nissan actually went quietly broke around 1998 and Renault got involved, GM paid out a millions of dollars bond to get away from an option to purchase some of FIAT and FIAT seemed to prosper almost immediately. Now they have gone with Chrysler . The GFC did a lot of damage to many car companies mainly the US ones. plus a few unfortunate amalgamations that saw BMW lose enough to have to go public after being tied up with Land Rover. Jaguar is now owned by India's TA TA company and they (Ta Ta) are pretty BIG.. Who needs another car manufacturer? That's why the rush to amalgamate happened but not always with a good result. for the companies market value, subsequently.. Nev.

 

 

[spacesailor]

And not so good for Some owners

 

Paying big for badged parts that are cheaper from that other company.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

That has been known to happen. Big savings if you are in the know. When you get to know the real mark up it's close to criminal. The people who MAKE it get BU$$$$ @ll and they MAKE it. I worked in machinery sales for a while and that's the place to be if you don't have to stock it for long, and IF the people actually pay you when they say they will. Nev

 

 

[Methusala]

Back to the main game for a mo... I think the Chinese should come up with a "town car"formula incorporating lightweight bicycle and motor bike tech to build a 3 passenger electric town car, possibly a 3 wheeler. Instead of the 2 gas guzzlers we now have we could have a distance carriage and 1for the groceries. This should sell for around the 10k mark.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Decades ago in NSW there was a proposal to reform vehicle third-part insurance funding.This would have replaced the once-one-year lump sum with a tiny levy on fuel used. It would have encouraged people to leave the weekend family car at home and commute in a small, efficient vehicle like the one you suggest.

 

It might have kept city roads from being choked with single commuters in monster 4WDs.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

The Mercedes Smart car was supposed to fill that gap - I guess they are more than $10K for a 2 seater as they are £13K here. But they work remarkably well.. We have friends - a couple who are both well over 6' and have one they use to traipse around town with their daughter... get her to school - do the shopping, etc.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

The coppers here in Juneau, Alaska use Smart cars; a big change from the yank tanks of the past.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I recently 'Ferried' a Nissan E - something or other for friend who runs a small scale parcel / document delivery service, mainly for City use. He said that the battery was fully charged, and that I should be able to deliver the van to the demonstration event in Leicester, with no charging issues. Leics. isn't that far from his Base just up the road from me. After putting me on the company insurance, I had a safety briefing,. .

 

He is using four of these vehicles in central London ( No congestion charges, due to all electric ) but he has had some issues with drivers almost reversing over pedestrians, crossing the roads behind the vehicles, whilst the driver was trying to manouvre out of a street parking space and not hearing any engine noises. He asked me to be super vigilant in this regard ( As If I'd reverse ANY vehicle without looking first. . .)

 

As I drove off, I was Astonished at the Torque these vehicles have . . .they accelerate like a bloody high powered Motorbike. . . .but I can see how they could cause problems for pedestrians generally,. . .I had several lemmings walk off the pavement without looking first and giving me palpitations. . . . .

 

If you heve not driven an all Electric vehicle, and you get the chance, I can recommend the experience.. . .

 

Yes, it will be better when you can do more than 105 Miles per charge,. . .and when the country has massively upgraded its natinal power grid generation capacity. Utterly impossible at the moment in the UK without far more small Nuke stations dotted around.. . . until then,. .. small numbers of vehicles, nowhere near enough charging points. . and far far too little generation capabilty to keep them all on the road.. . .Maybe Hybrids will have to be acceptable for a few decades. . .

 

 

[Cosmick]

I recently had the opportunity to drive a new Tesla (rich friend). I jumped in, checked mirrors and then had the urge to "start" the car, no just push the pedal. Friend had proximity key in pocket. Acceleration and De-acceleration were amazing.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

When you consider the lack of interlinked mechanical components in an electric engined car v a mechanical engined car, there is little wonder the torque sensitivity is a lot higher.. I understand (at least one model) Tesla has 4 motors - one on each wheel - so direct drive electric - apparently the acceleration is painful..

 

 

[Marty_d]

When you consider the lack of interlinked mechanical components in an electric engined car v a mechanical engined car, there is little wonder the torque sensitivity is a lot higher.. I understand (at least one model) Tesla has 4 motors - one on each wheel - so direct drive electric - apparently the acceleration is painful..

How bloody sensible is that. No drivetrain loss- what's that usually, about 20%?

 

Not to mention all those hundreds of bits of metal in an IC engine trying to fly off in different directions all the time.

 

 

[kgwilson]

And also not to mention that an electric motor develops full torque from zero rpm.

 

 

[spacesailor]

Allso a Steam car has maximum torque at throttle opening, Killed off by bureaucracy, Tax by weight.

 

Sounds like RAA, "wing load restrictions" for AUF 95-10 aircraft.

 

1930s Doble & Stanly steamers did 100 mph., mr ford,s did 40 mph down hill.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[coljones]

Allso a Steam car has maximum torque at throttle opening, Killed off by bureaucracy, Tax by weight.Sounds like RAA, "wing load restrictions" for AUF 95-10 aircraft.

 

1930s Doble & Stanly steamers did 100 mph., mr ford,s did 40 mph down hill.

 

spacesailor

Weight is the thing that kills roads

 

 

[facthunter]

Steam is inefficient and there's no way to get around it. Latent heat of vaporisation of water is a fixed figure.. Steam has to warm up even Nuclear resembling boilers. aren't instant. Most steam cars weighed in heavy and needed a lot of water. They existed way before the 30's.. Nev

 

 

[spacesailor]

They didn,t think of using the same as train,s with it,s "coal & water tender", in the uk trailers are not registered like Australia so shouldn't have had to pay the Tax man, his ransom. LoL

 

spacesailor