TKOPerformance wrote:

There's nothing inherently wrong with electric cars so long as people understand what they really are.  The fact that electricity cannot be package like gasoline is a deal breaker for most folks, because it eliminates the possibility of a fast fill up and getting right back on the road. 

Then there are those who think they are saving the planet by not polluting, but they don't bother to think past the car.  Electric vehicles are much worse for the planet than internal combustion powered ones.  The battery packs required for them require mining hundreds of tons of ore to refine rare and toxic elements like lithium.  The mining equipment does not have pollution controls, and the mining itself destroys habitat and causes massive erosion, as well as water pollution. 

Then there's the way power is made.  A lot of US power plants still burn fossil fuels.  Our limited nuclear power production creates radioactive waste that we still have no plan for handling nationally, so its just stored on site.  Then there's the idea that you burn a fossil fuel to convert it to electricity, then transmit that electricity so it can charge a battery.  There's energy loss at every transition point.  Its inherently just more efficient to burn the fossil fuel to move the vehicle directly. 

Modern cars and trucks almost don't even pollute anyway.  The emissions standards are so tight they are basically puffing out water vapor and trace amounts of everything else. 

The big killer for me though is that those touting electric vehicles like Elon Musk have basically sabotaged the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that present a real solution to vehicle based pollution.  Hydrogen fuel production produces oxygen as a byproduct, hydrogen vehicles emit only water vapor, and they can be filled up in the same time as an internal combustion vehicle.  The technology has been demonized and vilified by those seeking only financial gain.  The science behind it is sound (its been used by NASA for decades), and its something we should be using much more. 

As a toy, sure, electrics are fun.  They make max torque at zero RPM, which seems impossible, but that's how they are so crazy fast off the line.

Anyway, sorry for the tirade.  I just wish people would bother to learn the truth about electric cars, but I suppose ignorance is bliss. 

DON'T FORGET........a famous poster on here once said........"Common sense is not a flower grown in everyone's garden"
 I've heard supposedly 'educated'/smart people argue that electric cars are the future and how we will" save-the-planet". When asked just WHERE will all this needed electricity come from...this "enstein" stated...
"Why Philadelphia Power of course!"
6s6

JMHO but I wouldn't be caught dead driving that misnamed PR stunt of an oversized RC car abortion that Ford has now diluted the Mustang brand with. Why not call it something else - anything else - other than a Mustang? Call it what it is - a small electric crossover SUV. Attaching the Mustang name to it to satisfy all the PC awoken set that they can now drive the wonderful, new updated forward looking new Mustang of the future is a blatant PR stunt to show that Ford is striving to be the leader of the Next Generation of automotive excellence! Why not call it the Electric Edge of Tomorrow or The Mock E? Leave the Mustang name to the cars that we all know and love. Let us drive our loud, gas guzzling and smoke belching dinosaurs (the newer dinosaurs too) in peace. It won't be all that much longer that we will be around to enjoy them anyway. Leave the Mustang brand to those of us who understand and appreciate what it actually stands for.......again - JMHO.

TKOPerformance wrote:

There's nothing inherently wrong with electric cars so long as people understand what they really are.  The fact that electricity cannot be package like gasoline is a deal breaker for most folks, because it eliminates the possibility of a fast fill up and getting right back on the road. 

Then there are those who think they are saving the planet by not polluting, but they don't bother to think past the car.  Electric vehicles are much worse for the planet than internal combustion powered ones.  The battery packs required for them require mining hundreds of tons of ore to refine rare and toxic elements like lithium.  The mining equipment does not have pollution controls, and the mining itself destroys habitat and causes massive erosion, as well as water pollution. 

Then there's the way power is made.  A lot of US power plants still burn fossil fuels.  Our limited nuclear power production creates radioactive waste that we still have no plan for handling nationally, so its just stored on site.  Then there's the idea that you burn a fossil fuel to convert it to electricity, then transmit that electricity so it can charge a battery.  There's energy loss at every transition point.  Its inherently just more efficient to burn the fossil fuel to move the vehicle directly. 

Modern cars and trucks almost don't even pollute anyway.  The emissions standards are so tight they are basically puffing out water vapor and trace amounts of everything else. 

The big killer for me though is that those touting electric vehicles like Elon Musk have basically sabotaged the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that present a real solution to vehicle based pollution.  Hydrogen fuel production produces oxygen as a byproduct, hydrogen vehicles emit only water vapor, and they can be filled up in the same time as an internal combustion vehicle.  The technology has been demonized and vilified by those seeking only financial gain.  The science behind it is sound (its been used by NASA for decades), and its something we should be using much more. 

As a toy, sure, electrics are fun.  They make max torque at zero RPM, which seems impossible, but that's how they are so crazy fast off the line.

Anyway, sorry for the tirade.  I just wish people would bother to learn the truth about electric cars, but I suppose ignorance is bliss. 

I operated distribution and bulk electric power systems for forty years and I couldn't say all that any better, TKO, except to add that nobody is even talking about the short life span and impossibility of recycling "solar" "green" energy producers or what's going to happen when most people living on a block try to recharge their electric vehicles at the same time.  A 200 amp residential service...just like a 20 amp circuit with six receptacles does not mean every tap on that circuit can be loaded...even 50% ...at the same time.  All I see coming from the great "green" movement is worse pollution and seriously higher energy prices with no gain. 

Last edited by Bullet Bob (3/27/2021 7:42 PM)

I had a college age girl walk right in front of my F250 once.  If you can't hear that thing coming you're legally deaf!  Of course, alcohol does diminish hearing...

I look at Ford's "plight" this way: if they built the best vehicles in every class they'd have nothing to worry about.  I definitely have a soft spot for Ford, but I buy vehicles based on what I need the vehicle to do and reputation of the vehicle in terms of quality, etc.  Ford won't do that though.  Their refusal to identify emerging market segments and exploit them is why Americans are buying other marques.  Now that those other marques once called "Japanese", "Korean", etc. are often actually built in the US people have dropped a lot of that post WWII patriotism by way of brand loyalty. 

That said, why Ford will continue to do fine is that they are a business first and build cars second.  Their stock, etc. does well because of this more so than what they build.  GM got dragged down by GMAC during the mortgage crisis, and finally had to streamline their operation, which frankly never made a ton of sense.  Chrysler, excuse me...Dodge, Fiat?  Not sure anymore, but they should have been left to die long ago.  Lee Iaccoca saved them and then they struggled ever since he left.  If it hadn't been for the Jeep brand and the Cummins Diesel they would have failed round about 2000.  Now they are using an old name (hemi) to market an entire engine line that really isn't a hemi.  So Ford's not the only one doing that.  Actually the list is pretty long.  Its always going to annoy the purists, but those decisions aren't based on us.  We aren't going to buy those vehicles anyway, regardless the name. 

Chile, and lithium huh?  So those who bought electric cars are also responsible for those people that got stuck in that mine.  Good to know. 

MS wrote:

I bought a Mach E today.  Once I found out it has the exact same wheelbase and track width of my 66, it was a no brainer.  My next project is to cut the ugly body off the Mach and place my 66 fastback body onto the electric chassis.  Best of both worlds!!!  Can’t wait to get rid of the gas guzzler 427 and get some serious electric DC power. You know there will eventually be a ton of aftermarket go-fast goodies to really pep up the already high powered electric motor.   Hopefully will have it done in time for the 2022 Bash!

I call BULL SH$$. This is April Fools day.

John, you sure know how to kill a perfectly good April Fool joke.

Bolted to Floor wrote:

MS wrote:

John, you sure know how to kill a perfectly good April Fool joke.

😂 😂😂😂 Sorry Steve, that was too far out in left field to be believable. If you started with a conversion on an all wheel BMW chassis, it might have been a different story.

I already looked into that.  BMW has different wheelbase and is way too wide.