So those have some internal switching for climate systems to bypass the battery when plugged in? Interesting. Seems unnecessary to a layman like me but obviously they know better. I do question if charging just for a few minutes like to top up is appreciably bad for the battery though. I'd...
I wouldn't necessarily expect any EV to use wall power directly for heating/cooling. I assume it would still draw from the battery for any power usage like normal, then concurrently refill the battery if it's plugged in. Kinda like a cell phone when it's plugged in. I don't actually know if...
Much of the lack of education by the public on EV benefits is circumstantial. It would usually come from advertising. But pure EV makers (Tesla, Rivian, Lucid) do almost no conventional advertising.
Meanwhile legacy automakers don't sell EV advantages very hard because they don't want to...
Agreed. The "agenda" has actually detracted from and gotten in the way of many people learning the virtues of EVs on their own merits. Not nearly enough effort is spent on selling potential customers on the benefit of home charging. If I were an EV manufacturer, that would be in every...
Apartment complexes will eventually follow as demand for charging dictates, but that's only like 30% of the populace. Most of the natural growth should come from people already in ideal position: homeowners who can easily install their own EVSE.
Suburbanites with 2 cars are the perfect...
The US has been losing it's auto manufacturing dominance since the 1970s. First it was competition from Japan, then it was competition from Korea, soon it will be competition from China. If we can't make a competitive product, that's what needs to happen rather than handing out $billions in...
Yep, and it's a shame it was ever pushed that way. Frankly, we bought our EVs in spite of that, not because of that. We bought them simply because they're great products for our situation (owning a house and garage where we can take advantage of the biggest EV benefit - convenient home...
I've always liked RJ, but some of the stuff he said in that article was rather annoying.
The US isn't "turning back to gas-powered vehicle expansion", they're just not handing out $7500 credits via taxpayers to EV buyers anymore. There's a big difference. I'm sure he's mad about the impact...
Refer to Ron's reply for battery preconditioning as he's more familiar with the Gravity specifics than I am (every EV model does that a little differently). But I will add that if you have the vehicle plugged in at home or hotel, yes, it's a good idea in the cold to remote start it (or set a...
I can't speak for Tahoe from the CA side but we do drive from CO to Reno and Vegas many times each year. Done it probably 25 times in our Mach-E (and twice in our new Macan). Some of those trips were winter, in freezing temps for half of the miles (1800-2500 miles RT, depending on which...
Not a window, the glass roof. It goes nearly all the way back to the rear of the Gravity above the 3rd row. (Cargo area for me since I didn't even order the 3rd row seats.)
It would go on the inside. Works thru glass. Not the prettiest solution but with the Gravity's massive glass roof, it could probably go in the rear somewhere. There's even suction cup mounts available for it. The antenna isn't all that big (about 1 foot square, flat).
Maybe someday Starlink will offer a cheaper minimal plan that makes it worthwhile. A cheap 2Mbps plan should work for SXM. I read that you can get the $50/mo 50GB Roam plan (30-100 Mbps) then put it Standby Mode for $5/mo and still get 500Kbps, but that's not really intended to be for...
Mine usually coincide. I keep Android Auto running on the screen, and can see the signal indicator. When we lose SXM streaming channels, it usually shows we lost T-Mobile phone signal too. We might get an extra minute or two but usually out of range for one is out of range for the others too...
The USB ports don't work as an audio source either? That would be one patchwork for the dead zones - just leave a USB stick in and switch the input. Kinda of a weak option but better than nothing.
Sounds like whatever download content we wanna play is gonna have to be on the phone.
Some say...
I get those too. The integrated apps in our other cars get all the channels (satellite and internet). I favorite about a dozen of them to rotate through (some of each). When the cell signal dies for half an hour on a rural stretch, I just stick to the satellite channels. Looks like I won't...
That varies greatly based on where you road trip though. That's probably true in your area, but not for the vast stretches of WY, UT, NV, CO, etc that we frequent. Lots of dead spots for long stretches through the desert and prairie and mountains.
It's more than an hour but yes, there are repeats if you listen to it frequently (radio stations do the same). It's a Catch-22... you tune to a station because you like those songs. But if they only play one of your favorite songs once a week, you're likely to never hear it.
The main value...
But you can't stream with no cell service. Road trip frequently across the empty stretches of WY, UT, NV, etc and streaming is useless for hours at a time, except for a few minutes passing thru a town.
We're coming from a Mustang Mach-E and a Porsche Macan EV.