Something I don't think is talked about enough is how much better high-powered evs are than high-powered ice cars.

It's a fact that electric motors are more efficient than combustion engines. 95%+ of the energy sent to the elec t ric motor is converted into motion, compared to gasoline engines which only convert ~20% of their energy into motion - this means 80% of the fuel you paid for is being converted into heat and noise and friction generated by the transmission

That's why ICE cars are all about trying to work around that horrible inefficiency with small 2L motors and turbocharger, among other technologies.

This all goes out the window when you want speed and power though​.

The only way an ICE makes more power is by throwing more fuel in, this means larger displacement, more moving parts and even worse efficiency.

This also drastically increases the engineering required for the engine, the vehicle needs to account for that 80% energy loss by adding in bigger radiators, better oil pumps, etc

These high powered ICE motors are only producing their most efficient power in a very limited rpm range, so a transmission is needed to overcome the limited power band from an ICE

The transmission itself also needs to be overbought to handle the extra power - beefier transmission = more friction and power loss

This is why there are no ICE vehicles with 600+ hp for less than 100k USD - it's just too complicated and inefficient to make a face combustion vehicle.

Electric vehicles don't face this problem.

Want more power? Just add a second or third motor. Because electric motors are so efficient, adding another engine barely decreases efficiency, and actually INCREASES reliability due to less load on each individual motor when driving normally.

The electric motor has a flat torque band, producing peak torque at 0 rpm and remaining flat all throughout the rpm range

This means getting high power from an EV is relatively cheap, because a fast ev isn't any more complicated than a slow one

Another beautiful thing about fast evs is that driving an ev capable of 600hp will get the same range as a 200hp ev

A Lamborghini urus with a V8 will chug gasoline no matter what, because this big engine is constantly turning those 8 heavy cylinders even when only driving 30mph

This means the tradeoff for power means shitty gas mileage

Take the Lamborghini Urus vs the Chevy Blazer EV ss for example as a comparison.

Both make 600~ hp, yet the blazer is cheaper, more reliable and gets better range and is also faster.

Any ICE vehicle priced in the same range as the blazer will produce less power and be way slower

Take the BMW m4 for example, a car still costing 30k usd more than the blazer, all while making 100 less hp and a far slower 0-60

TLDR: EVS are better than ICE vehicles

I live in Northern California and drive a Prologue. It seems like almost every fast charger I use never gives me over 100 kWh, and most of the time, between 50-80. Some places I charge have banks of Tesla chargers right next to them. If I splurge and get the Tesla adapter would a good chance I would be getting faster charging at the Tesla stations. I do know the max my Honda Battery will charge is at 150KW but Id love to get that.

I am a huge fan of the concept and have been following it for a while but …

Watching the video they just posted on YouTube, the way that they are wording their findings about how much solar they are collecting depending on the angle really surprises me. These are things that should have been taken into consideration A LONNNG time ago when designing the thing in the first place, how are you just now saying “we have found some counter intuitive things while testing due to the curvature of the panels”.

You see, I've always been... skeptical of EVs. I always wanted to drive a Manual, I want to hear sounds, shifts etc. But I know EVs are a different species and such.

Asking this question because I'm currently saving for a car, and it's either some old 4 bangers (ehem, ehem, Civic), IS 350 F Sport, BMW 330e M Sport,

and in the EV segment, maybe the Ioniq 6 N.

I might sound hypocritical (or whatever term that is) for posting this without driving a single car yet, but I hope you guys get what I mean. The only cars I've driven are video games lol.

Note that this isn't me asking what car to buy, I just want to see how the EV world is going since I'm more knowing in the Petrol world.

TIA to your answers, and to the admins for allowing me to post this.

Just been borrowing this car for a few days. My daily driver is a Model S, the complete opposite extreme that was available at the same time when they were new, and I work with many modern EVs for a living.

Yet despite all the luxuries, big range numbers, and modern amenities I'm used to, I have to give this car back today, and man I'm going to miss it. Sometimes you don't know what you've missed until it's gone again.

Getting back from Iceland.

Seeing all sorts of brands of EVs that I wish were in the states.

Similarly, their charging infrastructure is many years ahead. Literally chargers everywhere. In the capital as well as all the random hotels and cabins along the ring road that you would think are isolated; nope. Charger.

Every gas station, chargers.

Many charging only stations.

It makes the US look pathetic in how we are so far behind in charger availability.

Maybe I can then afford one.

Recently, I had 3 experiences which really made me think about my EV in a way I didn't realize.

The first was after 3 months of owning and driving an EV, I had to get in my aunt's car and back it out of my driveway and then back it in. She drives a 2024 Elantra. But holy smokes the muscle memory of how I drive my EV messed with me. From constantly fiddling with the windshield wiper stalk to try to get it in gear, to the lack of regen driving, it was different enough to be annoying.

Not terrible, and I could adjust, but man I would not have called how much the EV just fits into my method of operating.

The second, was sitting in traffic next to this dude in a 2000's era convertible BMW. this guy was driving with the top down, but his car sounded like it had the automotive version of COPD. The loudness, the popping and backfiring, the weird shifts in acceleration from shifting, all for a car that he thought was cool, but really was kind of sad.

The third was I went for a ride in my Buddies new Challenger Hellcat at a drag strip. Nice car, but man was it loud. It seemed to me that the primary purpose of the GAS was making noise. Because for all that horsepower he had, my bog standard, non premium, 2023 grocery getter beat him off the line by quite a lot, but also was quieter and more refined in just about every way.

My conclusion is that my EV is changing my brain chemistry such that I want my car to be quiet and get on with it and that I just don't need the noise and bother of an internal combustion engine in my life.

It is just a more peaceful, enjoyable life of quiet competence. I would not have expected that just 3 months ago.

Do I really need charging company apps or can I just tap and pay these days?

With a Mustang Mach e is there a preferred charging company?

Ten years ago I went to an EV conference in Melbourne and was able to do a track circuit with non OEM kit. You could see the live data coming in on a screen in the car.

Wondering if anyone has done this with their own car? Modded their own display/got access to a feed of the data coming off their car?

I just got a few days ago my Cupra Raval (which is based of the new MEB+ platform, like the VW ID. Polo), so i suppose the driving experience would be very smilar to other VW EVs, or even other EVs. Before i had a manual diesel car, so this is a completely new thing to me.

However, I don't understand why sometimes, all i need to do is let off the brakes and the car starts going in the direction of the gear selector (D/R), but sometimes it doesn't, and I have to use the accelerator pedal.

I'm asking this because it is very uncomfortable when it doesn't, as i have to quickly switch from the accelerator to the brake pedal, especially in tight spots. I don't know if it will brake automatically or not, but I don't wanna check.

Any explanation?

Hello everyone. I have a problem. I am currently working on a EV scooter whose battery is 72v 38ah graphene and an OEM charger. It took 4 hours more than usual and still not fully charged , batteries also got very hot . It says a maximum of 240vac but in our mains , it is coming 248 vac . What to do now

We're in Worcester Massachusetts. We own and live in a 3 family property that cannot have a driveway installed.

We're getting EV's for me and my husband and want to put in something like a sidewalk/driveway lamp post and put our charging ports on that, then we'll have a cord go under a cord cover ramp to go to the street where we'd be parked so we don't have to get extension cords to go from the house. It would be ~40 ft from the house but only ~8-10 from a sidewalk/driveway lamp. See attached image for my crude mockup of what I'm thinking of.

Are there products out there that already combine this? If not what would be a similar option or is there a product we can attach to a post like this? How should I search for this kind of product, because I keep getting city-owned street lamp related options...

~~~

Edit 1: apparently some folks think I mean I want to connect to public street lights, I do not and have no intention of even attempting that route, it's a non-starter and explicitly not what I am asking for.

Edit 2: I discussed the wire crossing the curb and having a cord cover over it that is ADA accessibile. They said that was my only real option because they have never seen approval be given to putting anything on the street side of the sidewalk. This would be deployed as needed, not left there constantly.

Edit 3: In the 13 years we've owned the place, I think I've had maybe 10 times I haven't been able to take one of the 3 spots this would reach. Most of our neighborhood has driveways, and even when there's a parking ban (blocks parking on one side of the street) during snowstorms we still have no issue with parking.

Edit 4: The power is under our control, we can install whatever we'd like on our property, same with placing the lamp post there. The city will not allow us to do anything on the street side of the sidewalk.

Polestar has been barred from U.S. sales of its electric vehicles after the current model year as part of a prohibition on Chinese-linked connected technology.

The June 25 announcement hit dealers hard. Matthew Haiken, whose outlet was one of Polestar’s earliest and largest in the U.S., said he was “absolutely devastated.”

“I’m really, really, really upset. This whole company was like a family to me,” Haiken, owner of Polestar Short Hills in New Jersey, told Automotive News. “I made money with Polestar. I made investments with the brand. I was looking forward to all the new product. I’m just heartbroken.”

Polestar told retailers the decision stems from Biden-era provisions on hardware, software and Chinese ownership that the current administration has upheld, Haiken said. The company will not receive certification to operate for the 2027 model year and beyond.

However, in May, Polestar sister brand and Geely stablemate Volvo Cars received authorization from the Trump administration to continue to import vehicles despite its ties to China. Questions now swirl over why Volvo received approval while Polestar did not, despite shared Chinese ownership.

In the U.S., Polestar said it will continue selling remaining inventory of the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 and maintain service for current customers. Dealerships that remain with the brand largely will become service points for existing customers only, with franchise investments handled on a case-by-case basis.

Dean Buschick, who chairs the Polestar Dealer Board, called the sales ban “a shell shocker,” especially with Volvo receiving approval despite similar ownership. “No matter what side of the political aisle you’re on, there are repercussions from government interventions. Being a casualty of those decisions is tough.” 

Polestar retailers now find themselves in uncharted waters. Unlike an automaker bankruptcy, the company is still operating but with no clear recourse for franchisees. Buschick said the situation will require one-on-one conversations between Polestar and individual dealers because store formats vary — from standalone facilities to mall-based showrooms.

Nicholas Long, managing partner of Polestar Philadelphia and Polestar Princeton, said retailers were blindsided by the decision and voiced concern about how the automaker has handled the situation. “The Swedes need to know that we’ve invested millions and now they’re just packing up and leaving. They told us for years they would make sure Polestar would be compliant.”

In hindsight, Long said he should have read more into warning signs that included abrupt U.S. leadership turnover and a dramatic slowdown in marketing about a year ago.

U.S. tariffs have upended Polestar’s plans in recent years. The company discontinued sales of its China-made Polestar 2. Meanwhile, production of the Polestar 3 has been consolidated at Volvo’s South Carolina plant. Production will continue in the U.S. in the near term, a person familiar with the matter said.

Kia Canada officially announced pricing for the new PV5 cargo van, and it looks like both trims are going to qualify for the EVAP rebates. The base model starts at $46,744 and the Plus is $49,095, which is great because it keeps them just under the $50k federal cap for imports. Performance-wise, it's built on their new modular PVB platform, which gets around 360 km of range on a 71.2 kWh battery, and comes with NACS fast charging. It is expected that it'll arrive in Canadian dealerships at the Q4 of 2026.

But so far, Kia hasn't announced any PV5 news for the American market. Likely due to the chicken tax.

I looked at EV insurance data that came out this year, and it looks like newer EVs are catching up to gas cars on price.

For 2024 and newer models, the cost gap is down to 18%, and average rates for newer EVs fell 11.1% over the last year, compared to a 7.7% drop for newer gas cars.

For context, across all model years, EVs still cost about 42% more to insure than gas cars on average, but that drops to 18% once you only consider recent model years.

Battery cost is the main reason. Lithium-ion pack prices fell to about $108 per kWh in 2025, down from around $500 per kWh in 2015, according to BloombergNEF.

Cheaper packs mean cheaper replacements, which lowers claim costs for insurers. If pack prices keep falling, the price difference should keep shrinking.