Author Topic: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020  (Read 203401 times)

jondrums

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #225 on: November 19, 2020, 03:51:11 PM »
I don't know how I missed this thread for so long!  I'm a huge electric vehicle nut, having worked in the industry (specifically electric vehicles) for a dozen years.  I bought one of the first few Tesla Model 3 ever made and would never dream of using it as a surf vehicle.  It'll be the ultimate classic car by the time I'm ready to pass it down to my grandkids. I daily drive it, but I do take good care.  Do I want salt water dripping onto the roof or into the trunk from my wetsuit - NO WAY.  I don't baby it, but it won't be used as a surf vehicle.

I like the look of the newly announced Ford Transit EV - that one could be a winner as a local surf vehicle.  I wouldn't think of roadtripping in it.

We've all seen the videos/movies/photos of oil spills, "No Blood for Oil", and all that, is there a similar no "Blood for Batteries" movement or issue, wars being fought over lithium or similar?

Clay, unfortunately yes there is.  Not lithium though.  The biggest issue today in batteries is Cobalt.  It is still mined in absolutely horrific conditions in third-world countries.  The industry is very aware of this and working to design chemistries with less cobalt as well as funding a number of new sustainable cobalt mining operations.  The problem has been that these mining operations take incredible capital and time to get going - and of course the cost will go up significantly due to not using slave labor.   This issue is incredibly troubling, but I do see that the automakers are quite serious about addressing it - though it isn't fixed yet.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #226 on: November 20, 2020, 02:07:46 AM »
I like the look of the newly announced Ford Transit EV - that one could be a winner as a local surf vehicle.

Yeah, that would be a winner if it had a bit more range.  Roosevelt and back is a must for us :).  I am really looking forward to some e mini vans.  Those are just way to convenient and easy for foiling gear. 
« Last Edit: November 20, 2020, 03:57:42 AM by Admin »

PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #227 on: November 25, 2020, 08:53:53 AM »
I've been wondering what was holding up Lithium battery recycling since it's obviously important and certainly a high potential margin operation. Lots of green money looking for someone to do it at scale. It turns out there has been a lot of investment and major projects underway, a bit under the radar.  JB Straubel, who was Tesla's CTO and a co-founder of the company, stepped down in 2019, and went off to found a company called Redwood, to do exactly that at a gigafactory scale. Interesting tech, and of course all the green funds are putting money into the venture. They've built two substantial recycling plants as a large-scale pilot that have a larger scale and broader reach than the recycling facility Tesla built in Nevada. I get the Evannex newsletter but somehow missed this one back in August. https://evannex.com/blogs/news/tesla-co-founder-jb-straubel-ramps-up-his-battery-recycling-startup

It's an obvious way to close the loop on what will become a tidal wave of recyclable batteries over the coming decades. All the useful materials are present after use in many times the concentration with almost none of the waste material of refining from ore, regardless of the state of the battery. There are successful examples of closed loop manufacturing already--lead acid batteries are mostly made of recycled materials--99.3% of LA batteries are recycled and 80-90 percent of the lead and plastic in new batteries come from recycling. Lithium batteries have far more valuable constituents and should be nearly 100 percent recyclable including the shell and possibly the insulators. 

It's an absolutely necessary element of shifting to storage as a major piece of meeting energy requirements. And the money side is obvious, 50 to 75% of the cost of a battery now is materials. In the early days it was manufacturing labor and capex, now that's shifting quickly as highly automated manufacturing comes on line.

« Last Edit: November 25, 2020, 09:04:10 AM by PonoBill »
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FRP

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #228 on: November 25, 2020, 07:00:52 PM »
I don't know how I missed this thread for so long!  I'm a huge electric vehicle nut,....  Do I want salt water dripping onto the roof or into the trunk from my wetsuit - NO WAY.  I don't baby it, but it won't be used as a surf vehicle

We've all seen the videos/movies/photos of oil spills, "No Blood for Oil", and all that, is there a similar no "Blood for Batteries" movement or issue, wars being fought over lithium or similar?

https://surfbunker.com/blog/testing-a-tesla-model-3-is-it-for-surfers



The Tesla model 3 may be a reasonable electric surf vehicle. The key card is waterproof, credit card sized and should be easy to stash in a wetsuit. Lock your phone (off or in airplane mode) in the car.  The frunk can be used for wet neoprene and several short boards can fit inside the car with the back seats down. An 8’ board will fit but protrudes up between the front seats. There is a roof rack available. I am not sure how the vegan “leather” is going to hold up but a seat cover and towel is likely all that is needed. Right now I can ride my bike to the local beaches but if I want to go a bit farther into the park to Long Beach or Florencia come the summer our M3 will may be my only option. My wife however may not be very happy with the idea.

Cheers

Bob
« Last Edit: November 25, 2020, 07:02:35 PM by FRP »
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PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #229 on: November 25, 2020, 08:05:17 PM »
Model Y will be better if you can get one, but ultimately my surf vehicle (and everything vehicle) will be the cybertruck. They can't build that soon enough for me. It has everything I want in a vehicle, including the ability to load motorcycles without a separate ramp, lots of lockable storage, 4WD, 500 miles of range. monster inverter, compressor, and towing capacity. Not to mention stainless steel construction. A stainless steel surf rig? What could be better?

I met a very strange, very rich dude years ago who had two Ford F150's with most of the bodywork and all of the fasteners replaced with stainless steel. No idea what that cost him, but it must have been ridiculously expensive. He just didn't want his stuff to rust. His family owned most of Irvine, CA, so he could afford it, but the cybertruck will be much better.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #230 on: December 24, 2020, 04:16:09 AM »
This is in the news again this week with talk of an upcoming EV.  It will be interesting to see if Apple sticks with it this time and produces a vehicle.  https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/apple-car/

If they do let's hope for a Van :)


PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #231 on: December 24, 2020, 07:21:34 AM »
Giving Tesla a "run for its money" is certainly ambitious. I've seen what is supposed to be spy photos of the car, if that's anything like what they actually intend then the run will be a short one. Quite a few of the autonomous projects rely on Lidar as a shortcut as Apple apparently is doing, which is simply nuts. It can extend range (at least theoretically) of visual systems, but the ability to recognize hazards, signs, people, and changes in driving situations require visual systems. It's not just that it's how we navigate, it's the most direct path to meet the close range requirements of driving.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #232 on: December 24, 2020, 08:15:24 AM »
It is interesting that Apple would have chosen to compete with Tesla as opposed to just buying the company.

PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #233 on: December 24, 2020, 04:20:22 PM »
It's a little hard to buy Tesla these days. Apple might have an easier time buying Toyota, or certainly GMC or Ford. Actually, they could buy  Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, GM, Ford, Honda, Fiat Chrysler, and Peugeot all together for less than Tesla's current $650 Billion market cap, so that might be the reason for their reticence.

Apple's market cap almost doubled this year to $2.3 trillion, but still...
« Last Edit: December 24, 2020, 04:28:20 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #234 on: December 24, 2020, 11:32:36 PM »
Yeah, you can't help but wonder if Tim Cook is kicking himself for not taking the meeting with Musk. 

"During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting".

PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #235 on: December 25, 2020, 08:42:40 AM »
Yeah, you can't help but wonder if Tim Cook is kicking himself for not taking the meeting with Musk. 

"During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting".

I'm kicking myself too. I thought the stock price was being held low intentionally via lots of strange-acting short-sellers and nonsensical media. I thought it couldn't last, once the stock started to rise to the levels I thought it should reach the short-sellers would be toast no matter who was backing them. I wanted to make a substantial investment but backed down to something a bit less dramatic. As it is I made a nice chunk of change, but if I had invested what I wanted to I would have more than doubled my net worth.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #236 on: January 28, 2021, 04:50:23 AM »
Some pretty cool changes to the interiors of the Model S and X.  I like these a lot.  Clean jet fighter feel.  Digging that.  Crazy specs on the Plaid models.

https://www.motor1.com/news/482516/new-tesla-model-s-interior-plaid/


PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #237 on: January 28, 2021, 07:41:59 AM »
I think the Tesla stock will remain constantly volatile. The market is clearly insane. Gamestop worth billions? To whom? Shorted by more than 100%? How is that feasible, and isn't that manipulation? The SEC has to be sleeping in. Time to wake them back up.

The Plaid+ is totally nuts. 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds?!? Even the Long Range dual-motor like Diane's will snap your neck. Some goofball in a gorgeous silver grey 2020 Aston Martin wanted to race me yesterday when I was going to the grocery store (literally, a grocery-getter). He did a full-on launch control launch at a stoplight and left a few hundred bucks worth of rubber while I slowly pulled away like I had a cup of coffee in my lap and watched him go. At the next stoplight he did it again. I didn't do anything Ludicrous (Diane opted not to get it), just stood on it for two seconds and left him for dead. That's got to suck. My tires didn't even chirp.

And yes, of course Diane wasn't in the car.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2021, 08:18:59 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #238 on: January 28, 2021, 09:52:26 AM »
It took me a few weeks to actually floor it.  Chan said, "please never do that again".  Carson said, "I think my lip touched my ear". I said 3.something seconds worth of "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".

I think Plaid is cool in theory but I don't know who that would be for.   

Amazing that these are the safest cars on the road.

PonoBill

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Re: Electric Surf Vehicles in 2020
« Reply #239 on: January 28, 2021, 10:18:58 AM »
I think they scare the drivers into driving carefully. Diane drove her Porsche Boxster like she stole it. Other than a few tentative jabs she's never floored her Tesla. The handling is outstanding and the traction control in turns for the all-wheel drive is as good as I've ever seen--better than my old Ferrari 360. You'd have to be on some mighty slick pavement to spin it or otherwise lose control. That, plus the fact that you don't have the engine coming to visit you in the front seat in the event of a serious crash probably accounts for a lot of the safety record.

The new backup camera update that adds views from the side cameras is fabulous, and that backup camera floors me every time I look at it. Stunning picture quality.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

 


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