sold mine earlier this month, now have F5000 which is not a toy
apollo11,
Jun 29, 10:21pm
No, that definately qualifies as a toy. Unless you are using it to tow a trailer for work or something.
bill-robinson,
Jun 29, 10:58pm
no, it is not a toy, i prepare it for an owner, and someone else is drving it. so, not a toy, serious business
apollo11,
Jun 29, 11:18pm
So what serious purpose does it serve? Someone gets their jollies riding it really fast around a track. Sounds like the toy department to me, whether it runs on distilled dinosaur or not . However feel free to take yourself way too seriously.
metzeler,
Jun 29, 11:39pm
So you dont own or drive it.Looks like someone else is enjoying the toy then.
apollo11,
Jun 30, 12:27am
To be fair to Bill I also consider cars like the Nissan Leaf and the i-miev to be a 'niche' product. I could never buy a car that plugs in AND looks like a vacuum cleaner, because I'm shallow. Tesla has shown that EV's are do-able and don't have to look like a hoover, and with the Tesla 3 close to launch they may even be affordable. Around 450k range and an 80% refill taking half an hour means that the Tesla 3 could prove to be just as versatile as a fossil equivalent, and with every manufacturer now planning to build EV's consumers will start to see some choice out there. The next ten years will see some of the old car companies adapt or die, such as Mitsubishi who have talked about rebuilding their brand around EV's but have put out mediocre product such as the i-miev.
,
Jun 30, 4:04am
Nissan Leaf is no more a niche product than a Toyota Corolla or a Nissan Tiida. You may not like the look of them, but pretty much all mid sized hatch backs are just as ugly. The I-miev is a totally different kettle of fish, too small for my use (mostly open road) but some people love them for round town.
,
Jun 30, 4:11am
That really is just a toy, I had a double cab D40 Navara as my previous company vehicle and that was a pain in the arse enough around town with its terrible turning circle and a F5000 is a third nipple in comparison.
A Tesla Model S is just a practical 4 door family sedan. that happens to do 0-100 in 2.4 seconds and is electric. Once you've driven one you'll understand.
apollo11,
Jun 30, 4:51am
You may be able to make the Leaf work for you within a certain parameter, but it doesn't have the versatility yet of the equivalent fossil hatch. The petrol sniffers aren't going to stop bagging electrics until they do everything better than fossil cars. That point may be as much as ten years away.
bill-robinson,
Jun 30, 4:56am
i get pleasure out of preparing the car and winning the odd race at no cost or risk. is that is a bad thing?
tony9,
Jun 30, 5:00am
Then the Leaf is a total failure, it has about 1% of the sales of a Corolla. A niche niche I guess.
apollo11,
Jun 30, 5:54am
Well you did say 'now have F5000 which is not a toy' where as 'I'm working on an F5000 for someone' would have been accurate. Come on Bill, you don't need to try and impress us lol!
,
Jun 30, 6:18am
Hardly, the Leaf is a huge success, the highest volume EV ever made. Obviously its low volume compared to what is among the worlds most popular petrol cars which have been in production for over 100 years.
EV registrations in NZ are increasing exponentially and used import Leafs make up the bulk of these. For a good reason, they're great to drive, bulletproof and are free after a couple of years if you commute any distance each day.
Pretty much every manufacturer is now investing heavily in EVs and many are claiming that they won't be making gas cars within 10 years.
,
Jun 30, 6:22am
The next Gen leaf will have about 350km range and comes out in a few months, the Tesla Model 3 looks like it will do around 400km and comes out in one month. In 10 years, you'll be hard pressed to buy a new gas car anymore and second hand they'll be mostly scrap metal.
In reality the existing Leaf has plenty of range for 99% of driving, and the next generation of EVs will go far enough for pretty much everything you'll ever need to do.
bill-robinson,
Jun 30, 6:36am
i only impress with results, not dreams about cars that are not available
,
Jun 30, 6:40am
What dream cars are you talking about?
apollo11,
Jun 30, 6:51am
If you think 'sounding like a plonker' means 'results', then colour me impressed Bill.
apollo11,
Jun 30, 9:10am
You missed my point. EV's are going to have to be superior to ICE cars in every way to impress some of these fossil lovers. And some of them won't be happy even then if it doesn't sound like a V8. Bill Robinson has said he will never buy one, even if it does blow jobs. The changeover will probably happen in Europe and Scandinavia first, then China, USA, Outer Mongolia . and eventually New Zealand.
metzeler,
Jun 30, 9:14am
If its fine with you then thats ok, but some of us need more than been a bystander.
,
Jun 30, 4:25pm
They already in every respect excluding purchase price and refueling speed. At the top end of the market they already have the range, they're much more powerful, they're a fraction of the cost to operate and they're fundamentally more reliable.
The purchase price situation will quickly become reversed, EVs are fundamentally simpler to build than gas cars with less moving parts and far lower development costs (it costs many billions to develop a modern diesel/petrol engine). The industry believes this will happen by 2023, however the much lower operating costs mean that this isn't a requirement for wide spread adoption.
The refueling time is an even easier problem to solve, despite the fact that I do a minimum of 100km per day in my EV with its range of about 140km, I spend a lot less time fueling my car up than I did in my previous diesel vehicles doing a similar distance, why?. Because I pretty much never have to stop for fuel, 99% of filling up my car happens when I'm doing something else. I arrive at home (or work) and I plug my car in the wall and walk away. The benefits of being able to gas your car up at home from a wall socket are huge. Add to this that the gas costs me around $1 per 100km and you can quickly see why most people will choose an EV. This becomes even more attractive when your car can do 400km to a charge.
Why would anyone car about Bill? he won't be an issue, he can keep his gas car for as long as he likes. Most people don't really car about their cars, they're not emotionally attached, they're a means to an ends, getting around. They're looking for the most economical, comfortable and reliable option. This is why EVs are taking off, and why in 10 years, it will be hard to buy a new gas car at all.
All this doesn't take into account the environmental and health benefits that EVs offer, it will be interesting to see what the governments approach will be once price parity for purchase is reached.
Not much more than many hundreds of AA size torch batteries inside.
elect70,
Jun 30, 9:46pm
Ill buy an electric car when they have a network o f fast charging stations built the length of the country . 2030 ? . But they wont until thousands of e cars have been sold first . catch 22 . So myICE car will be in use for many years to come .By then we will have power shortages again due to the high demand & or dry winters in the lakes district . Then we could have car less day s again .
remmers,
Jun 30, 11:39pm
Suggest you check out charge net, electric highway nearly complete. Home charging using solar will become the norm by 2020.
apollo11,
Jul 1, 12:42am
Plus it is a damn sight easier installing a charging station than digging in underground fuel tanks for a petrol station. Tesla aim to have their charging stations solar powered with battery storage. Hopefully there is some sort of consensus reached about commonality of charging sockets.
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