Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Is the Cybertruck really bullet proof? News Updates
365 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to the Plug In For More podcast! Mike, Tom, and Bryant are here to help you on your journey to an Electric vehicle future. Each episode we discuss current events, trends, and a specific topic of education related to EV's. We bring together a diverse experience set, and pair it with guests who are experts in the field. For even more information on EV's, check out www.EVUniverse.com.
In this episode we're blessed with the return of Renee to giver her thoughts on the Rivian R1S and the Hummer EV. We talk about the Mustang Mach-E recall, Bryant's new tires, and discuss the problems around Tesla shooting their Cybertruck.
Be sure to follow PIFM on our various social media platforms, for more exciting content on EV’s
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pifm_podcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PIFMPodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqXpv3fnOcv-robjLbDINFQ/featured
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & EV News
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to the plugin for more podcast in today's episode. We're going to talk about a handful of news stories. We're going to hit on the Mustang Machi recall the Tesla Cybertruck updates and Bryant gets new tires for his EV six.
00:00:14
Speaker
This particular intro went off the rails and we recorded it together. We got interrupted by Renee Bryant's wife and hope you enjoy her contributions to our podcast. Also, when you get a chance, please rate and review our show wherever it is that you're listening to your podcast. Those reviews do help us immensely and we love to see your comments and suggestions for future episodes. Enjoy.
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to Plug In For More, brought to you by evuniverse.com. EV Universe is your one-stop shop for all things related to the electric vehicle. Here on this podcast, our goal is to educate, inspire, and hopefully make your transition into the electric vehicle marketplace a lot less intimidating. And now, here are your hosts, Mike, Tom, and Bryant.
Renee's EV Observations
00:01:07
Speaker
Oh, wait, wait, what's going on here?
00:01:09
Speaker
We have a special guest. Oh, so special. Oh my goodness. Renee's back. Can we interrupt the Maki story for a second? Sure. So Renee had a fascinating drive home last night. She drove home behind the new Rivian SUV and right in front of that was the EV Hummer. So I wanted to invite her on the podcast to get her
00:01:31
Speaker
Reflections are on which one she liked the best and we all know that she loved that Evie Hummer like to death But now that she's seen the Rivian RS one in person like following Well, I want to ask come on. It's got bad headlights. Everyone knows this. Yeah, I got you know the truck but oh Sorry, sorry, but that hurts my soul. It's just bad headlights. So anyway, Renee What what were your thoughts following those vehicles for 20 miles last night? I
00:02:00
Speaker
My thoughts are I like them both. They're great. So the neighbor has the Hummer, which is pretty exciting that it's a neighbor like right there, right around the corner. So I don't know this neighbor at all, but I'm one. Exactly. Who just said that? Tom? Okay. You are my new best friend. Yes. So yet, because we're going to be acquainted because I want to take that one for a ride.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah, last podcast time was definitely not your friend at all. I mean, you know, offense, Renee, but you're jumping friends like, like crazy here. I mean, I don't know. Yeah, he's never been very nice before. So this is, this is good trend. We'll set this up. We'll keep this going. All right.
00:02:49
Speaker
Anywho, yeah, that thing is sweet. You all know I've been wanting a Hummer ever since I knew they were coming out as an Eevee. I love that thing, but I was pleasantly surprised by the the Rivian SUV following that home. I know not a whole lot about it, but by the looks of it, it was pretty sweet. I did tell Mike through text or maybe I was thinking it. I can't remember, but the headlights don't bother me that much.
00:03:18
Speaker
That's what I think a lot of people with the SUV are more comfortable with the overall look versus the truck. And it seems like they're they're more popular. I mean, in in North Carolina, they're everywhere now. I see them a couple of times a day. Of course, I was following it. So I saw the rear more the entire way. But it was pretty it was really sharp looking overall. I thought it. Yeah, I'd be happy with that as well. Bryant.
00:03:46
Speaker
I think that you should get both.
Bryant's New EV Tires
00:03:49
Speaker
You deserve both. This is great. We are best friends now. Right. I know this. I support you and your endeavors to have multiple EVs. Thank you. I have one more question for Rene. There's new tires on the EV six. Did you know that?
00:04:08
Speaker
Did I know that? Well, I knew you were getting them. Have I noticed any sound change in the vehicle or anything like that? Have I noticed any difference? No. So that's good, right? That's good. We'll talk about the tires in a minute, but I was just curious. I did not prompt her with that question. That was right out of the blue. That's a great question. It's a really good question. Hard hitting. Yes. And when Bryant only goes 25 miles an hour, that's probably why you don't hear or feel any difference. Wait, you know that about him?
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. I grew up with him. I know. Like I'm so serious. He yells at me all the time. I know what, what for going the speed limit. I know it's difficult, but for going the speed limit. Yes. I've just found myself, she's going like 85 and the range is like dropping off a cliff. And that's what I'm talking to her about. Don't go 85. That's too fast.
00:04:59
Speaker
My point is what is the point of having an EV then if you can't go the speed that it was made for? Like that's just lame. If you don't worry Renee, we can cut out Brian's comments. No one will hear that. So it just, it frustrates me so much. That's like, that's the whole thing with EVs. I could talk more people into them. If we could just get all of them a little bit more to their range, I think.
00:05:23
Speaker
There's a guy at work who gives me crap every day about EVs, but I finally had him admit today that if more of them had a bigger range, he'd be all for it. All right. Thanks. Anything else? It was good to see you. I'm sure it was any time. Okay. I'll leave it to you. Wow.
00:05:48
Speaker
So that happened. Where do we go from there? Well, it's your life. So Brian, I know that you've got those new tires that Renee mentioned those cross climate. What do you think it's Michigan in the fall? So we haven't hit, you know, I haven't got any snow yet, but do you like them louder, better road feel? What do you think? Yeah. So I did a poll on our, uh, key V six Facebook group that we, that we manage and.
00:06:16
Speaker
There's a lot of tires thrown out there. The original tires I have in my car have 26,000 miles on them. They're the Kumos that come with the vehicle, specifically filled with foam for EVs to keep them quiet. So the highest recommendation from our Facebook poll was the Michelin Cross Climate 2. They have a good, and then I did a ton of reviewing. They really are supposed to do good in the winter.
00:06:39
Speaker
But they're not a full winter tire. So I've had them a week. I've only put about 400 miles on them. But I would say so far, I'm actually very surprised. They're not an EV specific tire, but they're an EV compatible tire. So I'd say if, listener, if you're looking at tires, make sure it's EV compatible, that I think will help cut down the noise, but they're very, very quiet. I don't notice a difference between them and the stock OEMs. The traction and wet is way better. We haven't had snow yet.
00:07:09
Speaker
Um, and the range has not been affected. In fact, like these ones I'm actually optimistic because Volvo uses these on their EVs. Um, so that made me more comfortable. I'm taking a thousand mile road trip this week to Indianapolis. So after that, I'll be able to report back a full, uh, range impact, if any, and road noise at 75 80. But as of this week, four or 500 miles on them, I think they're killer. I highly, highly recommend them. Very cool.
Tesla Cybertruck Updates
00:07:35
Speaker
Awesome.
00:07:35
Speaker
So we are all aware of mike's multiple reservations for the cyber truck and i know that you're anxiously awaiting some sort of idea or some sort of notification that yours is getting delivered or configured or something but where are you out with that. Well that's a good question so let's talk about how the reservations are being handled or supposedly being handled in what order and that kind of thing that's been a big thing that.
00:08:00
Speaker
Some companies are putting out different lists of you know where you stand on your reservation number and that kind of thing so it's really when those came out, they are the reservations opened up, everyone got their reservation number. And it's looks like there's well over a million reservations of those things so
00:08:19
Speaker
where you are in line really matters if you're hoping to get it soon. Especially because the production is not going to be anywhere near the demand of the next few years. So if you want one soon, either you're going to have to really pay up on the aftermarket or hopefully you're early on in the line. Now, there's a couple of different tools out there and I'm not going to name names, but they supposedly say when you're going to get your vehicle based on a couple of factors.
00:08:48
Speaker
If it's anything like the Model 3 rollout or what I'm hearing from internal and Tesla employees currently, that is not going to be the case. You can take those calculators out and just throw them away. So there's a couple different things that are going to impact when you get your vehicle. One is where you are in your reservation, your reservation number. Number two is if it's like Model 3, if you have a previous Tesla, if you currently own one,
00:09:15
Speaker
where you are in the geographical area versus where they're going to distribute these things because they're not going to send a truck just one at a time out to some random place. You're going to go to service centers and obviously from there they're going to do full truck load. So where the most demand is and also probably closer to Texas where these things are coming from. And finally, it's also the configuration.
00:09:38
Speaker
And so all those things combined, trying to figure out if someone already has a Tesla, where that factors in and how Tesla is truly going to roll these out by geographical area. And if there's other criteria that they have in there, I think it's really anyone's guess when you're going to get that. I've got some pretty early reservation numbers, but being in North Carolina, I'm not that far from Texas, a lot closer than people in California, but I don't think I'm going to get mine.
00:10:04
Speaker
super, super early. I mean, technically I'm in the first 15,000 or so reservations, but time will tell. I'm just saying, if you look at those calculators online, take it with a huge grain of salt and look at it as maybe something fun, but it's not going to be, not going to be really accurate.
00:10:24
Speaker
So I listened to Tesla's earnings call on Wednesday, Q3 earnings call. We're recording this in late October. I want to just throw this out there. This is a quote from Musk. We dug our own grave with a cyber truck.
00:10:39
Speaker
It's one of those special products that comes along only once in a while. And special products that come along only once in a long time are just incredibly difficult to bring to market to reach volume to be prosperous. And then you continue on to talk about, I want to temper expectations for the launch, which will be on November 30th.
00:10:57
Speaker
He talked about there are going to be enormous challenges reaching volume with the Cybertruck because of all of the technology and in the shape of the vehicle, and then obviously all the components of the vehicle and obviously it being stainless steel. So I think you're right, Mike. I think obviously it's going to launch and there'll be vehicles out there, but I think Musk did a good job warning investors like, hey, this thing's not going to be like
00:11:21
Speaker
the Model X or Model Y that's producing thousands and thousands of these things a week or a month. Yeah. And as far as warning investors, I mean, the stock took a huge tank this morning.
00:11:34
Speaker
So, um, you know, just warn them all you, you like, it's still going to hurt the stock. So, um, you know, we'll see long term. I'd still think that the future is really bright for Tesla, but yeah, their stock did not like that. Um, that earnings
Mustang Mach E Recall
00:11:50
Speaker
call at all. And obviously they were retooling.
00:11:52
Speaker
plants and that sort of thing. And that obviously impacted their overall production numbers. Um, the Highland, the model three Highland, um, update coming out. And obviously we have the, probably the model Y doing the same thing in the near future too. So, um, lots of things impacting that for sure. Yep. I would agree. So Tom, um, the Mustang Mach E had a, had a recall and it was pretty much because people, uh, are flooring it. It looks like.
00:12:19
Speaker
and step on the accelerator and it's causing problems and it looks like there's also a charging issue as well. Can you, I want to expand on that. Any issues you're seeing with the Earmoc E?
00:12:28
Speaker
I have not had any issues of mine. Now this recall impacts the 2021, 2022 models. Mine's a 23. So I do believe that that issue was corrected before mine was made. But the issue that's at play is that the high voltage battery junction box just cannot handle the full power of that acceleration. So as you do with electric vehicle, like your wife, so eloquently pointed out, Brian,
00:12:57
Speaker
If you're not going to go fast, what's the point of it? That's probably the Mustang model, right? So it's a good thing they're getting that fixed, but I know there's been a lot of people that have been hit by that, uh, that, that error, and then they got to pull the car over and get it towed to Ford and get it fixed. But hopefully this will get it put behind us.
00:13:34
Speaker
Elon Musk has revealed on X, aka former Twitter, and it shows a cyber truck running on the highway with about 40 or 50 bullet holes in the side of the truck. I mean, it's ridiculous. And I will pause it and show the gentleman on the call here so they can see it. This is what they're driving around. Okay.
00:13:43
Speaker
get everyone else back on the road.
00:13:59
Speaker
Or maybe it's just a disgruntled employee. Yeah, that's always an option. Now, here's my prediction. And I don't like to even say this or guess at all. But if they're showing that out there of Cybertruck riddled with bullet holes, they've already said that the glass is not going to be bulletproof like they originally were planning with it.
00:14:27
Speaker
people are going to shoot these trucks just to see. I am guaranteeing this, like there's going to, it's not, not necessarily owners, but other people are going to do this crap. So listen, that's a bad idea. Listen or go to our YouTube channel and subscribe because when Mike gets his truck, Tom and I are going to fly down to North Carolina.
00:14:44
Speaker
shoot the crap out of it and see what happens. No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying. I think there's going to be just random people will shoot the trucks. That's what I'm saying. I'm thinking to me, this scares the crap out of me. I think they're going to do stupid stuff with this thing. If they're already promoting it like that, I could see that they're testing it. I don't know. It's problematic to that lowest common denominator for sure.
00:15:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Tom, do you have any thoughts being former law enforcement here? I was just thinking about what gun are we going to shoot your truck with when we get it? I mean, we could bring the 223 down. That'll probably punch through it. I'd be confident. But if it stopped the handgun round, that'd be cool. That's not what I was asking.
00:15:31
Speaker
I'm still on this YouTube idea of us shooting your truck when you get it. I know. I think this is one of Brian's best ideas, right? If we shoot my truck, I'm shooting your Mustang Mach-E. That's all I'm saying. Well, my Mustang Mach-E isn't bulletproof. Well, that apparently wasn't either. If you look at the side of that cyber truck, there's holes riddled through that whole thing. It didn't look very bulletproof to me. Yeah. No, I definitely could see that being one of those TikTok trends where people start doing stuff. And I mean, I would hope common sense would prevail.
00:16:01
Speaker
I mean, if people are eating like tide pods, I mean, what's the difference here? I mean, like, I'm just saying. Yeah. I mean, listener, we want you to weigh in, like let's convince Mike to shoot his truck. Like we want to hear from you. Like let's, let's, let's get like a groundswell going. Cause I want to shoot his truck. So I'll tell a quick story. Uh, when I, when I got my new tires on.
EV Battery Myths
00:16:29
Speaker
The woman asked me how I liked the EV at the tire change place at Costco, and I said I loved it, of course. She made this comment to me, well, it's going to suck in three years when you have to get a new battery because battery replacements on EVs are every three years. And I just smirked and said, well, the Kia EV6 has actually a 10-year battery warranty, and there's a law basically out there that all manufacturers have to provide these warranties. And then obviously,
00:16:56
Speaker
You know, we've been talking a lot on this podcast about battery degradation, but Tesla has a study out, um, you know, I love Mike talk about it cause he's had Teslas, but like, long story short, it shows like battery degradation is not nearly as bad as people are thinking. And Tesla is the only manufacturer really that's had vehicles out there in mass that are 10 plus years old. Like there's some Nissan Leafs and some others out there, but Tesla is really the one that can like talk about this and have credibility. So Mike, what is, what is it showing? What are these studies showing?
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, let's, let's kind of get the first elephant out of the room. So Nissan, Nissan Leafs, um, the original ones, they, they definitely did have some degradation issues. And I think let's kind of take those out because a lot of those vehicles are at 50% capacity and they've made a bunch of updates to them and there's, um, it's, it's a well-known fact. And so they kind of worked around that issue, but Tesla, you're right.
00:17:48
Speaker
So I'll give you, again, a real quick background on my Tesla owner experience. I still have a Tesla Roadster. It's at this point 13 years old, has about 15% battery degradation after that timeframe. It only has 12,000 miles, but a lot of degradation with the batteries, it's not only cycles, but it's also time.
00:18:08
Speaker
So that car has done very, very well. I've had Model S's, Model X's, a couple of Y's. I've driven a ton of 3's. So we've had hundreds of thousands of miles in tessels over the years, not including some of the Rivian and newer vehicles we've had.
00:18:23
Speaker
That being said, what this article is showing and I can attest to this from everything I've seen owning these vehicles is Tesla saying they're about in their, this is their 2022 impact report, a 12% battery degradation after 200,000 miles. So that means 88% of the original capacity.
00:18:44
Speaker
And that's really looking, um, I mean, they've got really good telematics is in how they're pulling that data. Um, and so I want, I am sure that's accurate information. And really that's, I think what we're seeing across the industry is that's, that's about right. It hits about 10% after two or three years, as far as degradation goes. And then it's really flat lined after that. Um, and two or a thousand miles, you know, obviously there's going to be a lot of supercharging in there.
00:19:15
Speaker
I mean, these batteries are holding up really, really well. I think there's some, something to be said for making sure the batteries in good condition. So it's not going to have a big failure. But as far as the degradation goes overall, know that it's going to have some. And this is probably where you're going to end up. But this whole thing about replacing them three years out, you get 200,000 miles, it's a big problem. And, you know, that's kind of it.
Winter EV Charging Strategies
00:19:40
Speaker
So I've been watching our Facebook groups and as winter approaches, always this time of year, people are asking what they should do in the winter. We've covered this on previous topics, but I want to ask this question of you guys because I think most EVs come with a recommendation to charge to 80%. Um, but then also it's cycle times, right? So it's a number of charges. So what I'm adopting in my EV sex, which I love to get your guys input. If you think I'm stupid or if you think it's good is if I charge to 90%.
00:20:09
Speaker
I just get that much more range where I can actually only charge it twice a week versus in the winter if I only charge it to 80% I have to charge it four times a week. I know that seems weird but that's the way that my driving style my math goes and so I'm actually charging it to 90% and only charging it twice and I'm actually getting rid of two charging cycles and I don't also let it go below 30% as well. So I'm going from 30 to 90 twice instead of 30 to 84.
00:20:39
Speaker
Um, what are your thoughts on that? Cause that's, that seems to make more sense for me. I'm eliminating two cycles a week, 52 weeks a year. I'm getting rid of a hundred charging cycles. What are your thoughts?
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, the traditional recommendation has always been ABC, always be charging and keeping it at a state level. So it's not a full cycle, right? So really it's a partial cycle. Um, I think it really has to do with the battery chemistry on that particular vehicle versus other ones out there. You know, as far as a charging all the way down and going back up to me, I would keep it 80% and just keep it always plugged in. That's probably how I would do it rather than hitting top of the range. Cause that puts more stress on the batteries from everything I've
00:21:20
Speaker
learned over the years. So even though you're going to be charging more, it's going to be for a lot less and put less strain on that battery because you're not hitting the top end. And for me, the four recommendations are to 90% and I just keep it plugged in all the time so that it charges to that. And then the preconditioning works out a lot better, especially in that winter time. Like I love being able to set my departure time for seven 30 in the morning or at noon. Whenever I know within reason that I'm going to be leaving the house again,
00:21:48
Speaker
so that that car is always warm and ready to go, and battery's topped off and all that good stuff we've talked about before. All right, gentlemen, thank you for taking the time to sit down for another conversation, and I look forward to talking to you again in a couple weeks. Sounds good to me. Bye, guys. See you. Thank you for listening to Plug In For More. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. In the meantime, check out the one-stop EV Marketplace, evuniverse.com. Until next time.