[busterarm]

Petrol cars actually work in extreme climates.

[theshrike79]

My diesel and petrol cars really didn't like longer -30C weathers. The oil turns into mush and the poor 12V battery can't hold a charge.

It was a roll of the dice every morning whether I could go to work each day.

With an electric car, I sit in the car, press a button and it works. The cabin is hot within 5-10 minutes.

Compared to my diesel, which started blowing hot air to the cabin around the time I was already at the office :D

[busterarm]

You had -30C winters and no engine block heater and battery tenders/jump kits?

Electric cars only really work at sedan weight/form-factor right now. Most people who need to drive in extreme climates aren't really city drivers and typically need more capable types of vehicles to go with the terrain...if not all out industrial vehicles entirely.

Heavy equipment like that isn't even viable with electric vehicles yet.

[nickik]

> Electric cars only really work at sedan weight/form-factor right now.

Complete nonsense. SUV/CUV are by far most new models.

All major manufactures have pick-up programs for next year.

> Most people who need to drive in extreme climates aren't really city drivers and typically need more capable types of vehicles to go with the terrain...if not all out industrial vehicles entirely.

They guy who has bought the most Teslas lives on the arctic circles. EV are incredibly popular in Norway and also the other nordic places. EV are very popular in Switzerland where we have high mountains, and go skiing there all the time.

Apparently it works for all of those people. But I guess people the state go on 500 mile expeditions to Alaska multiple times a month.

> Heavy equipment like that isn't even viable with electric vehicles yet.

Seems like your are moving the goal post pretty fast. By far most people that don't live in cities drive normal CUV/sedan/hatchbacks.

[busterarm]

> SUV/CUV are by far most new models.

And are not work trucks. They also don't weigh much different from your average luxury 4-door sedan these days.

Well-civilized places like you are talking about are not really extreme environments.

[theshrike79]

”Work Trucks” or pickups are a 100% American thing.

Aussies have their utes, which are like sedans with beds.

Europeans use either vans or trailers pulled by said vans (or sedans) for the same thing.

[theshrike79]

Of course I had a block heater. It did fuck-all for a 2-liter Turbodiesel engine when it was -30C outside for a few days.

Maybe if I kept it running all night, but most apartments only allow 2 hours of electricity on a mechanical clock.

Yes, electric vehicles aren’t valid for every single category yet, sedans and SUVs are the current leaders, maybe smaller hatchbacks too.

[6f8986c3]

Petrol cars can be easily fixed in a driveway.

[user-the-name]

Not a modern one. An outdated, inefficient one, sure. But not one that is actually built to be efficient.

[ppf]

The Fiat 500 from 1957 got 43mpg. Imagine what could be done, if car manufacturers were not focussed on the lease market, meeting the newest emissions regulations (more relevant in Europe), and filling cars with electronic toys.

[user-the-name]

Renault Twingo III gets 66 mpg, while having much more space and being generally more useful.

[ppf]

Yep, there are modern engines that will do that. I was using the example of an older engine, because they are generally much more fixable (which was OP's original point).

[user-the-name]

But my point is, the equivalent today gets a lot better milage, and the reason why has lots to do with why it is not fixable.

[busterarm]

But it's so much more complex than the 50+ year old Fiat 500 that the home mechanic can no longer work on it.

[Causality1]

This comment does not deserve downvotes. Tesla is every bit as anti-hobbyist as Apple or John Deere.

[nickik]

Did you know that Tesla is not the only EV company?

[Causality1]

Tesla is 80% of the US BEV market. Which manufacturers make their electric vehicles easy to work on?

[nickik]

No current company makes any of their modern cars deliberately easy to work on. No matter the %, the fact is you can get a car from VW, BMW, Daimler, Hyundai, Nissan and so on.