Hurricane evacation and electric vehicles

[JSH]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Evac. So how will an EV do in floodwaters. Get stranded on wet but not flooded roads. Then water rises.

We've been over this already. You drive your other car and let the insurance company replace the EV.

[oil pan 4]

I have liability only.
Seriously who pays over $30,000 for a car with limited range and long charger dwell times.

[freebeard]

JSH —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FszARiU_jRI

Sometimes high ground is only a few blocks away.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I have liability only.
Seriously who pays over $30,000 for a car with limited range and long charger dwell times.

Who pays for a new car ever? Fortunately there are many who do, otherwise I'd be spending way more than I care to on transportation.

The most I've spent on a vehicle to date is $17k (for the Acura), and I considered that an extravagance and the most I'd pay for a vehicle.

I've been considering a used Spark EV, but if replacement batteries are $22k, that represents a huge potential for the car to become a paper weight, even if it does have a more robust battery conditioning system.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by hamsterpower

How many tens of thousands would it have cost Space X to do what most rocket builders do in this case? Build a two ton block of concrete or steel. This car was something he had and could do without at little to no cost. The pay back was a lot of publicity for the both young companies. Seems like a worthy business decision to me.

How much extra did they spend building a cradle to hold the Tesla in place?

WRT to publicity, it's not entirely true that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Sure, the Tesla fanboys might have gotten all hot & bothered over the launch, but they were already fans. (See "preaching to the choir" :-)) But I would guess the overall effect on the marginal future customers was negative.

It's also possible to get the publicity without the waste. Consider the amount of publicity WalMart has gotten out of Sam Walton's pickup over the years. Musk could have gotten better publicity by say raffling off the car, and using the money to fund student space experiments...

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by hamsterpower

How many tens of thousands would it have cost Space X to do what most rocket builders do in this case? Build a two ton block of concrete or steel.

How much extra did they spend building a cradle to hold the Tesla in place?

WRT to publicity, it's not entirely true that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Sure, the Tesla fanboys might have gotten all hot & bothered over the launch, but they were already fans. (See "preaching to the choir" :-)) But I would guess the overall effect on the marginal future customers was negative.

It's also possible to get the publicity without the waste. Consider the amount of publicity WalMart has gotten out of Sam Walton's pickup over the years. Musk could have gotten better publicity by say raffling off the car, and using the money to fund student space experiments...

[redpoint5]

The intangibles are incalculable. If I was the engineer tasked with sending a cinder block to space, I'd probably screw off until I absolutely couldn't avoid working on the project, then quickly design the ballast. If my task was send a roadster to space, I'd start right away, and probably put in unbilled time having fun with the project.

I don't know about a Walmart pickup truck, but I do know about the space roadster. I suspect there are many more people like me who would also not be aware of some truck, but aware of an electric vehicle in space.

[freebeard]

Consider the amount of publicity WalMart has gotten out of Sam Walton's pickup over the years.

Kek.

Who's Sam Walton, a ball player? Consider the publicity he could have had if he shot it into Outer Space.

edit:
What you need for evacuation purposes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1Pj0mLRog

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018...irphibian.html

[oil pan 4]

The most I ever spent on a vehicle is on my leaf, just shy of $7k with shipping.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I have liability only.
Seriously who pays over $30,000 for a car with limited range and long charger dwell times.

Who pays $30K for a car? I won't but I'm glad someone does so I can buy it 3 years later at a 50% discount.

Who would spend $30K on a Leaf with a 150 mile range?
Someone who:

1. Regular commute is within the range of the vehicle
2. Can charge overnight so the dwell time is irrelevant
3. Realizes they are buying 100K miles of "fuel" in the purchase price of an EV