What's the Slate's maintenance like?

[brian10x]

One hill to die on at a time. No, an EV is not a perfect solution, but it's certainly an improvement. It's about progress,not perfection. Coal is bad, but so is drilling, transporting, refining, transporting and burning gas and diesel.

Where I live we also have nuclear (which has different issues) and hydro generated electricity, and wind is being developed. There are also enough homes with solar putting electrons back *into* the grid to create a small but still significant difference in the supply side pollution equation.

To me the zero emissions from my vehicle is only one small benefit of the vehicle as a whole. The fact is that even if it were an ICE truck, the Slate just fits my needs better than most of the rest of the market.

I really like SAFE nuclear energy. I hope America starts to embrace nuclear as a safe, clean power source. I'm actually old enough to remember when we thought cars would be powered by a tiny nuclear reactor!

 

[brian10x]

Windmills kill birds, as do skyscrapers, houses, deforestation to mine coal, and the garden variety house cat. All of these have a greater impact on the avian population than windmills.

From MIT: "A 2012 study found that wind projects kill 0.269 birds per gigawatt-hour of electricity produced, compared to 5.18 birds killed per gigawatt-hour of electricity from fossil fuel projects. That’s in part due to collisions with equipment (wind turbines aren’t the only energy infrastructure birds can fly into), but mostly because of the environmental impact of fossil fuels." https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/do-wind-turbines-kill-birds

Honestly I can't tell if you're a troll, a killjoy, a (bad, juvenile) comedian, or someone who just likes to crap on other people's optimism. For someone who's supposedly looking forward to owning a Slate, all your comments on this thread seem to be hyper critical and designed to tear down the entire concept of an EV.

I'm an AI troll and a spelling NAZI. You absolutely nailed it. Guilty.

 

[Luxrage]

I'm an AI troll and a spelling NAZI. You absolutely nailed it. Guilty.

Well you definitely struck a cord with sum of us with you're cereal spelling/grammar corrections, just don't overdue it or users may loath your posts and you won't get the desired affect!

 

[brian10x]

Well you definitely struck a cord with sum of us with you're cereal spelling/grammar corrections, just don't overdue it or users may loath your posts and you won't get the desired affect!

Duly noted!

And it's SOME. You are welcome!

 

[GaRailroader]

Duly noted!

And it's SOME. You are welcome!

It’s also Overdo.

 

[Luxrage]

It’s also Overdo.

There's a whole lot more in there, I pulled no punches on grammar problems in that post!

 

[brian10x]

There's a whole lot more in there, I pulled no punches on grammar problems in that post!

I try not to be too obnoxious or overbearing. Please forgive my spelling corrections. I'm mildly retarded and slightly artistic. I also have a slight conundrum in my thought process. I will make every effort to be more friendly and pleasing.

 

[Bud The Elder]

I really like SAFE nuclear energy. I hope America starts to embrace nuclear as a safe, clean power source. I'm actually old enough to remember when we thought cars would be powered by a tiny nuclear reactor!

Same here. Do you realize that The Jetsons was produced 63 years ago and set in the year 2062 which is only 37 years in the future? We have a *lot* of ground to cover in the next 3 decades to get from EV trucks to floating cities!

 

[cvollers]

I think E90400K had referenced a Forbes data point that said 10 cents per mile for maintenance on an ICE and 4 or 6 cents per mile on EV. Let’s just call it 5 cents a mile on maintenance savings and 10 cents a mile on fuel savings. 15 cents a mile is $15k difference in 100k miles. A $25k Slate could pay for itself in reduced maintenance and operating costs over an ICE vehicle in 167k miles.

Boom.

 

[AZFox]

I try not to be too obnoxious or overbearing. Please forgive my spelling corrections. I'm mildly retarded and slightly artistic. I also have a slight conundrum in my thought process. I will make every effort to be more friendly and pleasing.

Your knot bing awl fun duh mentally Sirius, argh yew.

 

[Driven5]

Your knot bing awl fun duh mentally Sirius, argh yew.

If you smell something burning, it's just my brain trying to wrap itself around this.

 

[KJRaven]

Your knot bing awl fun duh mentally Sirius, argh yew.

Thanks AI!!

 

[atx_ev]

I'll throw my hat in the ring and give some examples of ICE-specific failures on my cars, specifically emissions controls.
My Thunderbird had an EGR valve fail a little after 100K miles, my first LTD had a smog pump problem and needed a new one* (that may have just been a bearing failure IIRC), and I know I've had at least one PCV valve go bad as well. Just some little things the EV won't have to deal with, and don't get me started on CARB compliant catalytic converters VS "49-state" versions. My Element is not on its original and if I had to move to California I have no clue if it would pass.

I fully expect the Slate, being the first vehicle from a new automaker, to have all sorts of random, weird problems for the first 10K of us that buy em. And just like every other EV / new car out there I'll be like "well, I was stranded for ten hours on the side of the road, missed my daughters wedding, and was mugged, but I love my Slate and would never get rid of it!"

*Knowing what I know nowadays I would have just removed it.

catalytic converters are often stolen from cars like the prius, tundra, and tacoma. It costs like $3500 to replace all four on the tundra.

The tundra has a secondary air injection pump which is used to improve emissions in the first 60 seconds of operation. They somehow collect moisture, rust, and put the truck into limp mode. It costs about $2000 to repair. The first time was under warranty, but when it happens again it will be on my dollar. The online communities have developed bypasses to prevent the shutdown so the pump doesnt have to be replaced, but this can cause emissions testing failure.

my wifes honda odyssey had a valve problem caused by eco mode that causes valve leaks. Apparently reducing the number of pistons for eco purposes puts a lot of extra stress on the ones that are running resulting in eventual failure. I installed an aftermarket system to turn eco mode off which stopped the problem, but most people arent aware of it until it is too late.

 

[Dorbiman]

my wifes honda odyssey had a valve problem caused by eco mode that causes valve leaks. Apparently reducing the number of pistons for eco purposes puts a lot of extra stress on the ones that are running resulting in eventual failure. I installed an aftermarket system to turn eco mode off which stopped the problem, but most people arent aware of it until it is too late.

This is really common on cars/trucks with LS engines with displacement on demand/cylinder deactivation as well. The upside is that it increases engine longevity. The downside is that it obviously comes at the cost of fuel economy, which means operating costs increase, which is a bummer.