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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar ...not comfortable with installing the 'White Potential Explosives' in the form of CNG Tanks |
CNG is a safe technology. Despite 2 decades of use in India and me living in a city that has a very high penetration of CNG use, I have never seen a vehicle go BOOM... be it India, Italy or Bangladesh, 3 countries where CNG is used and I visit frequently.
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar the average lifespan of the battery is one thing which no one talks about. With such rapid use, say a couple of thousand kilometers a month for an average user, how long will the battery survive before it's rendered useless and needs a replacement? |
If a company like Tata is offering an 8 year battery warranty, they are sure to have kept a buffer. Since their battery suppliers, who are likely to have approved the 8 year assurance and most likely supply to at least half a dozen other applications, these guys are very sure. So ideally 9 years should be possible.
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar what would be the resale value of the car ideally after 5 years and 60 thousand kilometers (a lower count though). |
Keep an eye on 2nd hand car sales sites abroad. I am sure that many 5 year old EVs are coming on resale already abroad. Also Sri Lanka has a fair number of old Japanese EVs running there. So Lankan car sites should give you data.That should give you a ballpark figure of the kind of depreciation to expect.
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar EVs can't be serviced by regular joes with a set of 'paana-pakad' unlike their ICE counterpart. Emergency breakdown on highways, ease of after-warranty service at FNG is questionable, specifically due to Tata's after-sales service's reputation. |
How often do you service your electric ceiling fan or mixie? I am still running the stuff I bought 25 years ago. I think my grandparents house has fans from pre-independence period, but they may have undergone some service. EVs have the advantage of very few moving parts. The few moving parts are also rated at very high levels of reliability. Hence, Tesla is discussing Infinite Warranty for their cars. Arguably, Tata and Tesla have little in common except the first letter, but still reliability is a given in EVs.
The only glitchy part in an EV is the software and with every OTA Update that gets more and more robust. Remember the heating, hanging and rebooting of early Android phones. With Android 9 and 10 it is bullet-proof!
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar no one knows what sort of issues and problems the car is going to throw at you down the line. |
An EV is the agglomeration of old, proven tech.The upsides and downsides are known. It is not like cold fusion or CRISPR gene editing where we don't know the pitfalls. Modern testing protocols for automobiles are robust and the number of absolute lemon of a car that you will see has petered down drastically in the last decades.
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar Also in my opinion, until the time battery swap is available at every nook and corner like fuel stations, EVs do not particularly make much sense to me. The Govt. should setup an infrastructure in every fuel pump across the country where "swap & go" sort of battery packs are available like LPG cylinders. Getting your vehicle charged every 250 kms is highly impractical. |
Battery swap is not practical given that one cannot get 50 odd cell phone manufacturers to agree on common charger protocols.This cannot be Govt. driven in any case.
Again drawing on the cellphone analogy - I used to carry massive charge banks, buy obscure phones with 5000 mAh batteries to last me the whole day. These days I use a OnePlus 7T with 3500 mAH battery and it works well for me. Why? 1) The software and hardware are more energy efficient 2) I know what things to switch off to keep my battery consumption controlled and 3) The 30W fast charge lets me top up 20% additional charge in minutes.
Exactly the same thing is happening with EV batteries and fast chargers. We shall see batteries getting more and more energy dense, the whole eco-system getting more efficient with power optimal use and the chargers get cheaper / faster and more ubiquitous. Why can't every 10th city street lamp-post become a fast charger? Mark my words - it will.... when the hardware and software can be packed into the cylinder of the lamp-post.
As for 250 kms of range - 80% plus private car owners in India don't clock that kind of daily mileage. If an EV is your 2nd car and your daily runabout / commuter, what is the issue?
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Originally Posted by urbanzameendar Govt. should make it mandatory for the battery to be of standard dimensions across all segment of EVs, which will allow a faster penetration of the technology into mass market. If an electric bike needs 1 battery, a car should need 4 or 6 of the same size and power, as per the requirement. Just like the standardized form of USB cable.
The bottomline is, I for one, wouldn't be comfortable with an EV unless it's battery is hot-swappable just like fill it, shut it, forget it. Till then, I prefer to stick to a traditional engine. |
The history of communism is proof that the market is a better mandate than the Central Govt. and I'd let the market sort it out. Ultimately no one but the individual user can decide whether they will stick to a horse buggy or try out the new-fangled inventions they call 'horse-less carriages'. But within 3 to 5 years ICE vehicles are dead.
I just bought myself a car before the Nexon EV got launched. But I am very sure, my next car is gotta be an EV. And that Nano I keep as a run-about is gonna be modified into a stonking EV the moment I find a trust-worthy modifier. . . . Gonna smoke some boy-racers with an electrified Nano
