Are you gonna get an electric car anytime soon? (Or do you already have one?)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I'm surprised it could do 80 mph with all that extra weight strapped on. It wasn't exactly a representation of real automotive power. I like the music score too, I know I heard that live at the CSO in my younger years, but can't remember what it is...

Also, let us not forget the Chevy Vega Wagon!! If they had used this car there would be no explosion hazard, plus they'd have a cargo bay! It was of the same automotive time period...

[Leo Enticknap]

I'm sure that the Pinto was a wonderful car, as long as (a) no-one rear ended you in one, and (b) you didn't try to turn it into an airplane:

Shortly after this film was made, it disintegrated in mid-air during a test flight, killing both of its inventors.

[Jason Speers]

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[Mark Gulbrandsen]

My sister had a Pinto. She never had a problem with it.

[Gordon McLeod]

As the Ford Pinto episode demonstrated, ICE-powered vehicles have the potential to do that as well. The difference is that we have a century and a quarter's experience of mitigating and managing down the risk (of uncontrolled ignition) incurred by sitting in close proximity to up to 20 gallons of gasoline. We're still at a much earlier stage with BEVs, and I suspect that the risk won't be managed down to a level that most would be comfortable with until li-ion and li-poly are in the rear view mirror, and more stable battery chemistries have gone mainstream.

What Lyle saw explains, I suspect, why insurance costs for EVs are so much higher than those of their ICE-powered equivalents: accidents involving them tend to be a lot more pricey.

Actually at the end of the day the Pinto was not the fire trap that the book Lemonade claimed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orM-EExql24

[Randy Stankey]

Well... It sure does run, all right!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yes! Jay has one of the few drivable Stanley Steamers left...

[Randy Stankey]

Oh! By the way... As most people know, Jay Leno is an avid car collector with something like 150 vintage and antique cars in his garage.

He also holds the dubious distinction of driving the oldest car to get a speeding ticket on California highways:
https://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/28/...er-than-yours/

"I have the record for the oldest vehicle to be done for speeding. It was a 1912 Stanley Steamer, and I had it cranked up to 75mph on a freeway. ..."

"I'm kind of proud of that, especially considering the engine is steam-powered and makes less than 10 bhp. The cop who issued the citation was remarkably straight-faced and unimpressed with my feat, which I thought was a little unimaginative of him. How could you seriously issue a speeding ticket to something with the same engine as a small steam locomotive?"

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yea, make sure you have the "Full" rental car insurance!!

[Mike Blakesley]

My F150 might not get great gas mileage but with the 36 gallon tank I'll get over 550 miles range on the highway and be able to fill it up in 5 minutes.

I have that same situation. The longest "miles to go" after a fill-up I ever got on my F150 was 715, that was after I'd been highway-driving all day. Usually it's around 600.

someone who spends most of their life in a rural area and only has to drive 8-10K miles a year stands a much better chance of achieving half a century of accident-free driving than someone who, like me, is required to drive 30-40K miles a year for work alone, and furthermore has to do so on some of the busiest, congested, and accident prone roads on the planet.

I'm one of those rural-dwelling people, and true to form I've gone a long time without a wreck. (Most of my vehicular mishaps have been a result of stupid deer bolting out in front of me.) But, I did have a close call in Denver -- I went to change lanes on I-25, and my vehicle's radar went nuts beeping and flashing, and I realized I had almost merged into another car which had come up fast in my blind spot. In my previous vehicle that would have definitely been a 70mph crash.

[Mike Blakesley]

My F150 might not get great gas mileage but with the 36 gallon tank I'll get over 550 miles range on the highway and be able to fill it up in 5 minutes.

I have that same situation. The longest "miles to go" after a fill-up I ever got on my F150 was 715, that was after I'd been highway-driving all day. Usually it's around 600.

someone who spends most of their life in a rural area and only has to drive 8-10K miles a year stands a much better chance of achieving half a century of accident-free driving than someone who, like me, is required to drive 30-40K miles a year for work alone, and furthermore has to do so on some of the busiest, congested, and accident prone roads on the planet.

I'm one of those rural-dwelling people, and true to form I've gone a long time without a wreck. (Most of my vehicular mishaps have been a result of stupid deer bolting out in front of me.) But, I did have a close call in Denver -- I went to change lanes on I-25, and my vehicle's radar went nuts beeping and flashing, and I realized I had almost merged into another car which had come up fast in my blind spot. In my previous vehicle that would have definitely been a 70mph crash.

[Lyle Romer]

The way I look at the EV situation is that if you can charge at home and pretty much never use it for a round trip more than 200 or so miles from home then an EV can work for you and you may end up saving money in the long run.

I can't fathom trying to do any kind of long trip with an EV. The time added to the trip for charging would be too much for me to handle. At least once a year I'll do a 1000 mile-ish each way road trip. The thought of having to sit around charging for 45 minutes every 250 miles makes me cringe. It's even worse if the chargers are all in use and you have to wait for one. I just don't have the patience.

Even if chargers were available at rest stops and places I was stopping to eat (which they usually aren't), it doesn't take that long to use the bathroom and when I stop to eat on a road trip it's fast food and I'm in and out in 20 minutes.

My F150 might not get great gas mileage but with the 36 gallon tank I'll get over 550 miles range on the highway and be able to fill it up in 5 minutes.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Yeah? What about cars with EXTERNAL combustion engines? Do we really need to indicate "internal"?

I'm still waiting for a model with a PICE: A Plug-In Combustion Engine...

[Harold Hallikainen]

You're right, Leo! I did forget one accident maybe 30 years ago. I was in a rental car in Dallas. I was stopped at a light. A city bus pulled into the left turn lane next to me and ripped off the left outside mirror of the rental car.

[Randy Stankey]

Stanley Steamer: External Combustion Engine

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