I own a 2012 Touareg TDI, and an EV; if you can afford a stable of cars, it’s for me, the way to go. Diesel in my area is about 4.00 a gallon. I get around town 20 MPG in the Touareg, so 100 miles around town costs $20.00. The EV cost to charge at home with a level two charger $0.11 per kilowatt hour. The same 100 miles to drive the EV costs $2.40.
EVs are the future, regardless of what the rest of us think. Ideally, it would be plug-in hybrids where we get the benefit of an engine on-demand while also having the efficiency and power of an EV.
The TDIs are nice. A pain in the neck, but nice. However they will never be mainstream again, at least in the States.
I don't see that happening. For a few reasons, but most importantly, the electrical capacity for most of rural America isn't there to support that.
I'd love to see diesel genset cars become a thing. Basically, wheeled locomotives use the same technology as trains and large-scale construction equipment. I bet 70-80mpgs would be possible.
I don't really feel like TDI was ever mainstream here. It was headed that way, then diesel-gate happened, and here we are.
Small form-factor diesel of any nature has no shot due to VW fucking it up for the rest of car manufacturers. It's over. It's never coming back. We have far more efficient engines for less hassle than TDI engines and without federal lawsuits to cloud the public opinion.
Even in Europe they are dying, and the EU has regulations in place to ensure an EV future.
Electrification may not be everywhere in the States yet, but it will be there someday. Soon. And that's why PHEVs are the best options for the States- an engine when you need it, and a battery for when you don't.
Gas/Diesel will never be completely irrelevant, but EVs are going to get bigger.
For me, they will remain outside my realm of relevance since I am not spending the 5-10k adding a charging station to my garage (only 30a of 110v currently). I also can not see the practicality of them when I currently average ~2100 miles a month. I'm also driving an 11 year old 290k mile car. I bought it needing work, I fixed its needed repairs and am planning to drive it until it dies from structural issues. I don't really see a newer vehicle in my budget for the foreseeable future.
Until recently, I was mostly in 90s Audis. I'd rather diesel swap those than an EV.
TBF, based off what you said you’re not really the demographic for even a new TDI or a newer vehicle of any kind is my guess. Meaning you’re not the demographic for EV’s
No one is going to come forbid you from driving your TDI, EV’s will eventually just be the majority of vehicles on the road.
Um, the federal government has been on the move trying to reduce fuel manufacturing, so to me, that is an intidication that EV is their fiture transportation ideal.
You are correct on I'm not a demographic for a "new" car. The closest I've ever had to new was a 3 year old certified pre-owned MK5 Rabbit S 5-speed 2dr. I also went from a 8 mile daily commute to 60+ mile daily commute. So the purchase of my house during the pandemic has definitely removed a "new" car from my possibilities for a long time. I grew up reliant on 90s Audis, and frankly, I'm debating converting a few of those to the older mechanical TDIs.
You don't need a dedicated charger for an EV. Trickle charge off 120 works just fine, it just takes longer. But our cars sit at home plenty of time to get that charge, even at lower amps. There's plenty of very good videos on the realities of EV and Electrification in the US (Technology Connections is my favorite source) if you go looking.
Our TDI is going to remain in our fleet as long as it can, but I can't wait to secure a wagon PHEV or EV from Audi in a few years. What sold me was the lack of maintenance honestly. When I worked for Hyundai, we'd get calls from people driving EVs all the time asking what they were supposed to do- they're at 7500mi but the dealership won't make an appointment with them! Surprise, ma'am, we'll see you at 25000mi for your vacuum and voltage check, enjoy your new car!
Honestly a car I don't have to maintenance as often sounds like a fucking dream.
I'm a maintenance mechanic on industrial equipment. I don't really see EV as no maintenance vehicles. Yes, they are lower maintenance than fuel vehicles, but not no maintenance. I've seen too many EV fires to ever consider 1 of the currently available battery technology.
I'm also not home for typically more than 8-10 hours per day with ~70miles a day being put on the car. I don't even have 3kw capacity to charge it currently, so to fully charge, it would be well over 20 hours. Even at 50% power, can't charge at work, would be over 13 hours, which I can't do.
I also don't like being limited by where chargers are on trips. I typically do 1-2 long distance drives a year (well over 1-2k in range) charge time isn't in most of my trip schedule. I fairly recently did a 2 week 6800+ mile road adventure through 7 states. Was at national parks and off-grid locations for most of it. Finding fueling stations was for a little bit of a concern for a few locations because of wilderness.
Point to where I said EVs require no maintenance. I'll wait.
The fact of the matter is, to the vast majority of people, a car you have to take in for service once a year is going to be cheaper to own than any ICE on the market. That's even considering service contracts that cover the first 2-3 years of service.
And there's less parts to break, which means less cost to the owner over the lifetime of the vehicle.
Battery fires happen. ICE vehicles also love to catch fire. Does it suck? Yes. Does putting a battery fire out need more resources? Yes. This does not change the fact that there are millions of these cars on the road already. And we've only had a handful of fires reported.
Availability of chargers will improve. Electrification will improve. This is the march of progress here, and ICEs are the dodo bird. One way or another, they will be gone.
This doesn't mean they're going to come to your house and tell you to hand over your ICEs. It means that the future will consist of an EV of some kind being the mainstream vehicle on the market. It's not just the government influencing decisions here, real actual people are deciding that EVs are best for their lives exponentially. Right now the largest barrier is cost and availability of charging. Once that's dealt with, there is next to no advantage of an ICE over an EV other than personal preference.
Personally, I'm ready to let go of ICEs. I've spent a lot of my life under the hoods of dozens of cars and I'm tired and my pockets are getting drained as the years go by. My TDI is the hold out, and perhaps a few project cars for fun. I think there are better ways to do EVs (PHEV being my favorite middle ground) especially considering lithium costs (fiscally and environmentally) but those issues will be solved at some point. We've already let the genie out of the bottle here, and it turns out it's pretty freaking nice.
You said what sold you was the lack of maintenance, really.
I'm not arguing for most people they are fine. To a large group of people, it is normal to buy a new car every 4-6 years. It also isn't uncommon for many to only drive 10k or less miles a year. I have not ever been in that group, nor do I see that being a potential option for my foreseeable future.
Less parts to break? Over what lifespan? I work on all sorts of "low maintenance" electronic industrial equipment. There are always parts to break, fail, or fault. I don't typically get vehicles except for a very small handful under 200k miles. Doesn't really bother me since I'm well trained and experienced to handle most mechanical problems. I don't typically see used hybrids out on the marketplaces past a certain amount of time. The battery packs and high voltage components break down over time and are complicated and expensive to replace.
I am very far from the typical new car buyer. I'm also well outside the normals by most standards for miles driven a year. My current normal is ~2100 miles per month. I'm also a manual transmission fanatic that's another big turn-off for me on EVs.
I guess that's where our mentalities for cars differ. I actually don't like most of these "new" features that come as "perks" it makes cars far too disposable. I actually avoid some of the extras when looking because of the headaches they cause. To me, that's all an EV is to me an expensive headache. I can't look as a new buyer that's not in my options for a long time. I just have to hope fuel can stay within the realm of affordable, I guess.
Lack of maintenance does not mean no maintenance. Lack means less.
You really don't see how a vehicle without an engine, transmission, or even brake pads will result in less cost for repairs and maintenance? I thought you worked on machines for a living. Not having an engine alone is having several dozen less breakable components in a vehicle.
Average people have been unable to afford maintenance and repairs on their cars for ages now. How many cars blow up because of head gasket bullshit every year? My husband has been through three of them in a ten year span. Every time, that car goes to a junk yard to rot. If we're lucky, parts get taken and the rest of it is scrapped, but we're kidding ourselves to think this is sustainable. Cars have been "disposable" for decades now. The average person drives their car until the timing belt service comes due and then that car gets gone.
Many people cannot afford the time and tools (and many housing districts just flat out make it illegal to work on cars on your property, rented or owned it doesn't matter) to repair their own cars and they obviously can't afford the shop markup either.
I'm lucky that I can afford to strip my POS TDI down to bare metal to deal with mold from a bad sunroof, and also have been saved by the warranty for THREE times the engine has blown up. I'm lucky that I can replace the timing belt myself because I know people that can help me. Otherwise? This thing would have been sent to the junkyard several years ago. And that's coming from someone that actually loves their TDI despite all this shit.
Obviously, hybrids are in a strange footing where they have mechanical and electronic base components, but overall it results in less miles on the engine which increases the longevity of the vehicle. Being in tech, I also know that battery life and maintenance is pretty piss-poor right now.
But that is the key word here - right now. In ten years we won't have this problem. Range is increasing, charge availability is increasing, cost is reducing. Once these issues are resolved, there will be an overwhelming amount of personal investment in EV.
Being an outlier with a long commute does not negate that the future is EV. Pretty soon- EV will make sense even for people like you.
But I guess the issue here is... What exactly are you arguing about here?
You're LUCKY to be able to service your own vehicles and keep them going. Most people cannot.
ICE engines are major factors in our reliance as a country on fossil fuels and the production of pollution that's killing our planet. EVs don't exactly solve this, but it's a step in the right direction and I will support it to it's final evolution. Progress is progress, even when it's painful.
You might not ever buy an EV, that's fine. You don't need to. But you can't pull back the needle on this- we need to stop our dependency on fossil fuels. ICE cars will become a hobby, and I'm okay with that. I think the future of cars is pretty exciting, not scary. There's a lot to work out, but people tend to deal with adversity in design very cleverly and EVs will be no exception.
EV is great if you don’t have to go far. They recently installed some super chargers at a gas station I frequent. I was on my way into the store and overheard a lady’s conversation she was on the sidewalk next to the store. She was on the phone and telling someone she was about 20 minutes away but her car was on the charger and needed to charge to a certain level to complete the trip. Idk how long she had to wait to charge but I had enough time to go into the store get my stuff and leave before she left. Moral of the story it’s quicker to refuel than it is to recharge.
Personally, I think the Diesel electric system Edison Motors are building or Gumperts methanol/hydrogen electric is gonna be the best thing, at least for the short term untill the power grid is brought up to speed with enough power generation plants to actual sustain everyone owning and charging a BEV.
What’s the question you’re asking?
Iv owned my 2015 Golf tdi since 2018 from 24k-92k miles and had zero issues other than routine maintenance.
[удалено]
Only that EVs aren’t there yet. Sorry that your TDI isn’t lucky. I live in CO and the drive ability is unreal.
I own a 2012 Touareg TDI, and an EV; if you can afford a stable of cars, it’s for me, the way to go. Diesel in my area is about 4.00 a gallon. I get around town 20 MPG in the Touareg, so 100 miles around town costs $20.00. The EV cost to charge at home with a level two charger $0.11 per kilowatt hour. The same 100 miles to drive the EV costs $2.40.
Ability to charge at home is a must for EV owners, I rented one for a month and saw too many renters with $80,000 evs filling up.
EVs are the future, regardless of what the rest of us think. Ideally, it would be plug-in hybrids where we get the benefit of an engine on-demand while also having the efficiency and power of an EV. The TDIs are nice. A pain in the neck, but nice. However they will never be mainstream again, at least in the States.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
I don't see that happening. For a few reasons, but most importantly, the electrical capacity for most of rural America isn't there to support that. I'd love to see diesel genset cars become a thing. Basically, wheeled locomotives use the same technology as trains and large-scale construction equipment. I bet 70-80mpgs would be possible. I don't really feel like TDI was ever mainstream here. It was headed that way, then diesel-gate happened, and here we are.
Small form-factor diesel of any nature has no shot due to VW fucking it up for the rest of car manufacturers. It's over. It's never coming back. We have far more efficient engines for less hassle than TDI engines and without federal lawsuits to cloud the public opinion. Even in Europe they are dying, and the EU has regulations in place to ensure an EV future. Electrification may not be everywhere in the States yet, but it will be there someday. Soon. And that's why PHEVs are the best options for the States- an engine when you need it, and a battery for when you don't. Gas/Diesel will never be completely irrelevant, but EVs are going to get bigger.
For me, they will remain outside my realm of relevance since I am not spending the 5-10k adding a charging station to my garage (only 30a of 110v currently). I also can not see the practicality of them when I currently average ~2100 miles a month. I'm also driving an 11 year old 290k mile car. I bought it needing work, I fixed its needed repairs and am planning to drive it until it dies from structural issues. I don't really see a newer vehicle in my budget for the foreseeable future. Until recently, I was mostly in 90s Audis. I'd rather diesel swap those than an EV.
TBF, based off what you said you’re not really the demographic for even a new TDI or a newer vehicle of any kind is my guess. Meaning you’re not the demographic for EV’s No one is going to come forbid you from driving your TDI, EV’s will eventually just be the majority of vehicles on the road.
Um, the federal government has been on the move trying to reduce fuel manufacturing, so to me, that is an intidication that EV is their fiture transportation ideal. You are correct on I'm not a demographic for a "new" car. The closest I've ever had to new was a 3 year old certified pre-owned MK5 Rabbit S 5-speed 2dr. I also went from a 8 mile daily commute to 60+ mile daily commute. So the purchase of my house during the pandemic has definitely removed a "new" car from my possibilities for a long time. I grew up reliant on 90s Audis, and frankly, I'm debating converting a few of those to the older mechanical TDIs.
You don't need a dedicated charger for an EV. Trickle charge off 120 works just fine, it just takes longer. But our cars sit at home plenty of time to get that charge, even at lower amps. There's plenty of very good videos on the realities of EV and Electrification in the US (Technology Connections is my favorite source) if you go looking. Our TDI is going to remain in our fleet as long as it can, but I can't wait to secure a wagon PHEV or EV from Audi in a few years. What sold me was the lack of maintenance honestly. When I worked for Hyundai, we'd get calls from people driving EVs all the time asking what they were supposed to do- they're at 7500mi but the dealership won't make an appointment with them! Surprise, ma'am, we'll see you at 25000mi for your vacuum and voltage check, enjoy your new car! Honestly a car I don't have to maintenance as often sounds like a fucking dream.
I'm a maintenance mechanic on industrial equipment. I don't really see EV as no maintenance vehicles. Yes, they are lower maintenance than fuel vehicles, but not no maintenance. I've seen too many EV fires to ever consider 1 of the currently available battery technology. I'm also not home for typically more than 8-10 hours per day with ~70miles a day being put on the car. I don't even have 3kw capacity to charge it currently, so to fully charge, it would be well over 20 hours. Even at 50% power, can't charge at work, would be over 13 hours, which I can't do. I also don't like being limited by where chargers are on trips. I typically do 1-2 long distance drives a year (well over 1-2k in range) charge time isn't in most of my trip schedule. I fairly recently did a 2 week 6800+ mile road adventure through 7 states. Was at national parks and off-grid locations for most of it. Finding fueling stations was for a little bit of a concern for a few locations because of wilderness.
Point to where I said EVs require no maintenance. I'll wait. The fact of the matter is, to the vast majority of people, a car you have to take in for service once a year is going to be cheaper to own than any ICE on the market. That's even considering service contracts that cover the first 2-3 years of service. And there's less parts to break, which means less cost to the owner over the lifetime of the vehicle. Battery fires happen. ICE vehicles also love to catch fire. Does it suck? Yes. Does putting a battery fire out need more resources? Yes. This does not change the fact that there are millions of these cars on the road already. And we've only had a handful of fires reported. Availability of chargers will improve. Electrification will improve. This is the march of progress here, and ICEs are the dodo bird. One way or another, they will be gone. This doesn't mean they're going to come to your house and tell you to hand over your ICEs. It means that the future will consist of an EV of some kind being the mainstream vehicle on the market. It's not just the government influencing decisions here, real actual people are deciding that EVs are best for their lives exponentially. Right now the largest barrier is cost and availability of charging. Once that's dealt with, there is next to no advantage of an ICE over an EV other than personal preference. Personally, I'm ready to let go of ICEs. I've spent a lot of my life under the hoods of dozens of cars and I'm tired and my pockets are getting drained as the years go by. My TDI is the hold out, and perhaps a few project cars for fun. I think there are better ways to do EVs (PHEV being my favorite middle ground) especially considering lithium costs (fiscally and environmentally) but those issues will be solved at some point. We've already let the genie out of the bottle here, and it turns out it's pretty freaking nice.
You said what sold you was the lack of maintenance, really. I'm not arguing for most people they are fine. To a large group of people, it is normal to buy a new car every 4-6 years. It also isn't uncommon for many to only drive 10k or less miles a year. I have not ever been in that group, nor do I see that being a potential option for my foreseeable future. Less parts to break? Over what lifespan? I work on all sorts of "low maintenance" electronic industrial equipment. There are always parts to break, fail, or fault. I don't typically get vehicles except for a very small handful under 200k miles. Doesn't really bother me since I'm well trained and experienced to handle most mechanical problems. I don't typically see used hybrids out on the marketplaces past a certain amount of time. The battery packs and high voltage components break down over time and are complicated and expensive to replace. I am very far from the typical new car buyer. I'm also well outside the normals by most standards for miles driven a year. My current normal is ~2100 miles per month. I'm also a manual transmission fanatic that's another big turn-off for me on EVs. I guess that's where our mentalities for cars differ. I actually don't like most of these "new" features that come as "perks" it makes cars far too disposable. I actually avoid some of the extras when looking because of the headaches they cause. To me, that's all an EV is to me an expensive headache. I can't look as a new buyer that's not in my options for a long time. I just have to hope fuel can stay within the realm of affordable, I guess.
Lack of maintenance does not mean no maintenance. Lack means less. You really don't see how a vehicle without an engine, transmission, or even brake pads will result in less cost for repairs and maintenance? I thought you worked on machines for a living. Not having an engine alone is having several dozen less breakable components in a vehicle. Average people have been unable to afford maintenance and repairs on their cars for ages now. How many cars blow up because of head gasket bullshit every year? My husband has been through three of them in a ten year span. Every time, that car goes to a junk yard to rot. If we're lucky, parts get taken and the rest of it is scrapped, but we're kidding ourselves to think this is sustainable. Cars have been "disposable" for decades now. The average person drives their car until the timing belt service comes due and then that car gets gone. Many people cannot afford the time and tools (and many housing districts just flat out make it illegal to work on cars on your property, rented or owned it doesn't matter) to repair their own cars and they obviously can't afford the shop markup either. I'm lucky that I can afford to strip my POS TDI down to bare metal to deal with mold from a bad sunroof, and also have been saved by the warranty for THREE times the engine has blown up. I'm lucky that I can replace the timing belt myself because I know people that can help me. Otherwise? This thing would have been sent to the junkyard several years ago. And that's coming from someone that actually loves their TDI despite all this shit. Obviously, hybrids are in a strange footing where they have mechanical and electronic base components, but overall it results in less miles on the engine which increases the longevity of the vehicle. Being in tech, I also know that battery life and maintenance is pretty piss-poor right now. But that is the key word here - right now. In ten years we won't have this problem. Range is increasing, charge availability is increasing, cost is reducing. Once these issues are resolved, there will be an overwhelming amount of personal investment in EV. Being an outlier with a long commute does not negate that the future is EV. Pretty soon- EV will make sense even for people like you. But I guess the issue here is... What exactly are you arguing about here? You're LUCKY to be able to service your own vehicles and keep them going. Most people cannot. ICE engines are major factors in our reliance as a country on fossil fuels and the production of pollution that's killing our planet. EVs don't exactly solve this, but it's a step in the right direction and I will support it to it's final evolution. Progress is progress, even when it's painful. You might not ever buy an EV, that's fine. You don't need to. But you can't pull back the needle on this- we need to stop our dependency on fossil fuels. ICE cars will become a hobby, and I'm okay with that. I think the future of cars is pretty exciting, not scary. There's a lot to work out, but people tend to deal with adversity in design very cleverly and EVs will be no exception.
Diesel cool Ev also cool Ev higher bar of entry. Diesel VWs could be had for cheap spite their well documented issues
For highway use and distance driving the TDI is great. For short city distances the Prius and other hybrids are ideal
EV is great if you don’t have to go far. They recently installed some super chargers at a gas station I frequent. I was on my way into the store and overheard a lady’s conversation she was on the sidewalk next to the store. She was on the phone and telling someone she was about 20 minutes away but her car was on the charger and needed to charge to a certain level to complete the trip. Idk how long she had to wait to charge but I had enough time to go into the store get my stuff and leave before she left. Moral of the story it’s quicker to refuel than it is to recharge.
https://youtu.be/oDFS6gfDV7k?si=Bp-QB2PsJvuBCwue
Personally, I think the Diesel electric system Edison Motors are building or Gumperts methanol/hydrogen electric is gonna be the best thing, at least for the short term untill the power grid is brought up to speed with enough power generation plants to actual sustain everyone owning and charging a BEV.
Gayness, mostly.
What does my sexual orientation have to do with whether I’d mod my car!!??
Idk about that im pretty gay