CT Companion vehicle - model 2, Aptera or other

Ogre

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. There are just somethings you cannot look cool while doing...or driving.
Little confused. We’re you referring to the Cybertruck or the Arcimoto hear? I’ve heard people say the same thing about both….
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rlhamil

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This may sound a little self centered but I am not buying a CT to be environmentally friendly or economical. I am buying it exclusively because of the utility and coolness of it. Environmentally friendly and economical just happen to be positive side effects of the design to me.

Not to say that I don’t care about being environmentally friendly, because I do. It‘s just not high enough on my list to influence a major purchase such as a truck.
My interest is partly the acceleration of an electric, but mostly that this electric has good range (tri-motor), can haul anything I'd want to (non-commercial use), go anywhere I might want to go, and is likely to be very long lasting and very low maintenance. I don't object to any environmental benefit, but that'd be no more than a tie-breaker for me.
 

TomGriff

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I get that you need two cars but you can offset a lot of that if you simply have solar. We have a 3 and and S as well as an old Ram. I plan on getting rid of the Ram and the Model S when the CT shows up. But since most of your charging is at home, solar is a no brainer for the offset of some of that cost.
I would love to go solar, but with my electricity at 8.5 cents/KwH it doesn't make sense financially. For regions with cheap electricity and not as many sunny days (parts of the Pacific Northwest), until solar becomes cheaper there is no financial case for refitting a house with it. The financial case if incorporating into a major renovation or new construction is probably better, especially with the improvements on solar roof tile. There is an argument from a resiliency standpoint, especially with EVs and a solar roof.
 

TomGriff

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My interest is partly the acceleration of an electric, but mostly that this electric has good range (tri-motor), can haul anything I'd want to (non-commercial use), go anywhere I might want to go, and is likely to be very long lasting and very low maintenance. I don't object to any environmental benefit, but that'd be no more than a tie-breaker for me.
My choices were similar. I have two electric cars because I thought they were better values. Environmental concerns had very little to do with my purchase. I believe that as people are exposed to EVs and realize that the "lack of charging infrastructure" isn't particularly relevant IF you can charge at home, the performance, lack of maintenance and energy costs will bring people to them.

Back to the original question, what vehicle pairs well with a CT? I would strongly consider a Chevy Bolt not under recall (or an older one assuming they sort out the recall). Our '17 Bolt actually does some things better than my '15 MS (360 degree camera view, heated steering wheel, rear heated seats, back up camera with automatic wiper, best stereo of any car I've ever owned). Not saying the Bolt is a better car than my MS (which I also love), but at $16.5K with 23K miles it was a great value. There are so many great EVs coming out that hopefully the used car market for EVs will improve in the next 3.5 years.
 

ajdelange

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So are you saying if you have solar charging it is OK to consume more energy than you need to because it has no effect on the energy balance?
Yes, absoutely! And to take Sunday drives, which, strictly speaking I don't need to do. I've got the car anyway. Driving it has no marginal impact. Why not do it?

Are you considering nights, cloudy days, the impact of producing the panel and big batteries?
My solar panels don't work on nights or cloudy days so I don't charge then but what has that got to do with it?

Fancy math but BS.
Sorry the math was too advanced for you. When you learn to add and subtract you'll be OK.
 


Ogre

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I would love to go solar, but with my electricity at 8.5 cents/KwH it doesn't make sense financially. For regions with cheap electricity and not as many sunny days (parts of the Pacific Northwest), until solar becomes cheaper there is no financial case for refitting a house with it. The financial case if incorporating into a major renovation or new construction is probably better, especially with the improvements on solar roof tile. There is an argument from a resiliency standpoint, especially with EVs and a solar roof.
I’ve said it before, Solar is most interesting if you have situations where you are unplugged for a few days at a time. Camping or if you have unreliable power. If you plug in every night, it’s a lot less interesting.

I think for camping it’s pretty amazing. But even just road tripping it can save a fair bit of change off your Supercharger bill.
 

ajdelange

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I would love to go solar, but with my electricity at 8.5 cents/KwH it doesn't make sense financially.
There is always a financial case because 0¢/kWh is always cheaper than what the utility charges. It's just that the case weakens as the ratio of savings to capex shrinks. Put another way: it takes longer to recoup.

There are reasons beyond financial ones for going solar. If you care about such things curtailing CO2 emissions comes to mind. There's the "cool" factor, fitting in with your liberal neighbors (if they only knew) being able to say "My car runs on fusion power" and, of course, the illusion that you are getting something for nothing. The geeky find endless hours of entertainment trying to fit probability distributions etc. to the data a solar system produces.
 
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ajdelange

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But even just road tripping it can save a fair bit of change off your Supercharger bill.
Elon said that the solar toneau might add 11 miles per day to the CT battery. At 450 wH/mi and SC rates of 28¢/kWh that's $1.39.
 

Ogre

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Elon said that the solar toneau might add 11 miles per day to the CT battery. At 450 wH/mi and SC rates of 28¢/kWh that's $1.39.
I've had 2 trips where my mileage when I got home was less than 25 miles. On one of them, I had 1 mile left of range. Better planning certainly mitigates that, but having that 11 miles would have given me a lot more piece of mind when I rolled in on my last few electrons. Just Today I reached my destination which was about 8 miles from a supercharger and I had less than 20% range so sentry mode was disabled and I was pretty cautious using climate control and a few other features.

I know solar is unlikely to ever pay for itself in terms of power savings, but it opens up more possibilities for where I can take the truck and what I can do when I get there.

Another oddball use. Park the truck at the airport for a week. Return to a full tank plus you truck can keep sentry mode on the whole time.
 

ajdelange

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Park the truck at the airport for a week. Return to a full tank plus you truck can keep sentry mode on the whole time.
Sentry mode gobbles quite a bit relative to nominal phantom drain but putting that aside and assuming that Musk's 11 miles are after phantom drain in a week one would accumulate 77 miles under the further assumption that there were 7 continuous days of full sun. But iignoring that too we note that 77 miles is 38.5% of the CT's battery so that you could come home to a full battery under the ideal conditions only if you leave the truck with over 61.5% charge.
 


Dave Lyon

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I ordered the CT in hopes that it will pull my 5th wheel. In reality, it probably won't, so I'll probably end up with my existing F350 diesel as my main vehicle, and cancel the CT order. If that happens, we may replace the wife's car with a model 3, but since we travel most of the time, it would set a lot while we're gone. It might be too expensive for the amount of time it sets.

It's possible our Ebikes will be the only ev we own. Unless bitcoin continues to do well. Then I might replace the F350 with the Tesla Semi, and put the model 3 on the back of it while towing my 5th wheel. :)
 

jhogan2424

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I’m sure it will pull it. You will just need to charge up every 85 miles. I wish for the same but it’s just not there yet. I’ll keep my 350 to move the heavy trailers around.
 

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There is always a financial case because 0¢/kWh is always cheaper than what the utility charges. It's just that the case weakens as the ratio of savings to capex shrinks. Put another way: it takes longer to recoup.

There are reasons beyond financial ones for going solar. If you care about such things curtailing CO2 emissions comes to mind. There's the "cool" factor, fitting in with your liberal neighbors (if they only knew) being able to say "My car runs on fusion power" and, of course, the illusion that you are getting something for nothing. The geeky find endless hours of entertainment trying to fit probability distributions etc. to the data a solar system produces.
It would take 25 years to break even on my house with my climate and my electricity consumption/costs. I believe that in the next 5-10 years as technology continues to improve the financial case will become more compelling.
 

Ogre

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Sentry mode gobbles quite a bit relative to nominal phantom drain but putting that aside and assuming that Musk's 11 miles are after phantom drain in a week one would accumulate 77 miles under the further assumption that there were 7 continuous days of full sun. But iignoring that too we note that 77 miles is 38.5% of the CT's battery so that you could come home to a full battery under the ideal conditions only if you leave the truck with over 61.5% charge.
More likely is I forget to top off my charge and get to the airport with 30-40% charge. Leave it parked for a week. Without solar, it has 20% power, Sentry Mode is off, and the cabin is 150 degrees. With Solar, it has 50% power, Sentry Mode is on, and the cabin is 105 degrees.

Or you can replace "Airport" with a friends house, a campground, or any other place where you might stay for a few days without power.

The point is, the cost of the power is completely irrelevant, it's the fact that your car has power at all in these places.
 

Ogre

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It would take 25 years to break even on my house with my climate and my electricity consumption/costs. I believe that in the next 5-10 years as technology continues to improve the financial case will become more compelling.
Again, the case isn't "I pay $3000 for solar panels which will pay for themselves in free power".

The case is "I have (some) power in places where I otherwise wouldn't".

It's not for everyone. Maybe it's not even for most people. It's for folks who are out in places with no power for days at a stretch. I could also see a contractor wanting this so they can be on job sites plugged in all day long sucking power and not worrying about losing range.


Edit: ** Getting free power from the sky every single day is just a really nice side-effect **
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