Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 3
Foolish Assumptions 4
Icons Used in This Book 4
Beyond the Book 5
Where to Go from Here 6
Part 1 Getting in on the Popularity of Electric Cars 7
Chapter 1 So You're Thinking About Buying an Electric Car 9
Why Buy an Electric Car? 11
The Disruption of Better Tech 12
Acronyms and Abbreviations That Make You Sound Smrt 15
Drawing the Line between Electric and Gas-Powered Vehicles 17
Yeah, but Gas Cars Aren't Going Anywhere for a While - Wait, What? 21
Where gas cars are going in Europe (and especially Norway) 24
Where gas cars are going in the US (and especially California) 26
Why predictions are unpredictable 29
TL;DR: Your Top Questions about Electric Cars, Answered 32
How long does an EV take to charge? 33
EVs can't get me where I need to go? 34
Aren't EVs expensive? 34
How long until I have to replace my EV's battery? 34
Why can't I find somewhere to charge my EV? 35
What happens if the battery runs out of juice while I'm driving? 36
Aren't EVs worse for the environment than gasoline cars? 36
Chapter 2 The Fascinating Tech That's (Sort of) Under the Hood 37
Recognizing That Induction Motors Mean Instant Energy 38
Seeing What Happens When You Hit "the Gas" 40
Comparing Torque and Horsepower 42
Letting Physics Do the Braking 44
Knowing how EVs make energy while driving 44
Seeing what happens when you let up on the "gas" 45
Making More Room for the Fun Stuff 48
Knowing What to Do When There's (Almost) Nothing Under the Hood 50
Driving an iPad with Wheels 53
Faster and further - all by changing a few words 54
Predicting the future of OTA updates, and the car as a computing platform 56
Chapter 3 Electric Vehicles and a Safer Drive 59
Why You Might Be Under the Impression That EVs Are Unsafe 60
A Brief - and Instructive - History of ICE Vehicle Safety 62
A Short History of Everything (Car-Safety-Related) in 2 Minutes 63
Examining Safety Features (and Statistics) for Electric Vehicles 66
What's NHTSA's line, anyway? 66
The 5-star safety rating 68
Exploring the Possibility of a Car Fire (ICE versus EV) 72
Car fires by the numbers 73
Calculating the risk of an EV catching fire 75
One caveat to all this EV fire talk 75
The leading cause of vehicle fires 77
Okay, but what if I have a pacemaker - you know, electromagnetic motors and such? 79
A Car That Gets Safer Over Time 81
EVs will get safer over time 81
Your EV will get safer over time 85
Part 2 Buying Wisely 87
Chapter 4 Consider the Cost (of an Electric Vehicle) 89
The Price of an Automobile: An Analysis Using Numbers 90
Gas versus Electric: A Comparison Using Numbers 92
So, about that price parity thing 92
Estimating the cost of gas for ICEs 94
Estimating the cost of electrons for EVs 95
Price parity: The wait is over 97
A deeper dive (into the fuel tank) 98
The French-Canadian connection 101
EVs and Maintenance: An Estimation Using Numbers 102
Whoa - EVs Seem Expensive! Maybe We Should Look at the Numbers 103
Bottom Line: Estimating (Using Numbers) the Total Cost of Ownership 104
Chapter 5 Researching Your EV Options 109
An Overview of the EV Market 110
HEVs 111
PHEVs 113
BEVs 116
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff 119
Hatchbacks 120
Midsize sedans 124
Luxury/performance sedans 126
Crossovers 132
SUVs 136
Pickups 140
Others 144
Deciding When (or Whether) to Buy a Used Electric Car 148
Verifying battery life 149
Start practicing Zen meditation 151
Living with no (or very few) incentives for used vehicles 152
Chapter 6 Buying Your New Electric Car 155
Exploring the Differences between Buying an ICE and an EV 156
Navigating (or Avoiding) the Dealership 156
So then what's the deal - why can't I buy a Tesla in Texas? 158
Remembering that no states have banned EV car sales 160
Buying an EV from a dealer 162
Handling EV-specific issues at the dealer 164
Choosing between buying and leasing 166
Leveraging leasing incentives 168
Taking advantage of the option to buy 169
Taking the route of Costco or another wholesale club 170
Taking advantage of a corporate discount 172
Shopping for a used EV 173
Insuring Your Electric Wheels 177
Seeing why EVs cost (a bit) more to insure 178
"How to save 15 percent on …" (you know the rest) 179
Part 3 Maintaining Your Newfangled Horseless Carriage 181
Chapter 7 Charge 'Er Up! 183
Onions Have Layers, and Charging Has Levels 184
Getting Up to Speed with Level 1 Charging 184
Is Level 1 charging enough for your EV driving needs? 186
How do you use Level 1 charging? 186
What are some obstacles to Level 1 charging? 187
Level 1 Cheatsheet 187
Turning Things Up with Level 2 Charging 188
Level 2 charging at home 188
Level 2 charging in public 189
Should you install a Level 2 outlet at your home? 192
How do you use Level 2 charging? 193
What are some obstacles to Level 2 charging? 195
Level 2 cheat sheet 197
Getting a Wicked-Fast Charge with Level 3 Charging 198
Fast charging plug connectors 200
Examining Level 3 charging claims from EV manufacturers 201
Identifying the players in the DC fast-charging business 204
Level 3 Cheatsheet 204
Chapter 8 Protecting the Battery (and Your Investment) 207
Seeing Which Batteries Actually Power Cars 208
Looking at battery form factors 210
Looking at the advantages of cylindrical batteries 211
It takes a village 213
Battery pack capacity 215
Counting Up the Kilowatt-Hours 216
Kilowatt-hours in vehicle badging - that's so 2018 218
Getting down to the nitty-gritty 219
Recognizing That Too Much of a Good Thing Is a Bad Thing 220
Dealing with Battery Death 222
Going the Extra Mile 223
Seeing Where EV Batteries Go When They Die 224
Dirk Spiers and Spiers new technology 224
JB Straubel and Redwood Materials 225
Your EV recycling to-do list 227
Dealing with Battery Pack Replacements 229
When replacing a battery makes sense: The case for hybrids 229
Reviewing battery replacement options 230
Chapter 9 Keeping Your Car in Top Shape 231
Getting Your Hands Dirty (or Not) 232
Dealing with tires 232
Putting on the brakes 239
Dealing with batteries 240
Optimizing battery health 241
Tracking Down EV Service Locations 242
Finding service at a dealership 243
Going mobile (service, that is) 244
Benefiting from third-party services 246
Doing it yourself with DIY service (right-to-repair) 246
Keeping Your EV Exterior in the Pink 247
Opting for paint protection film 248
Wrapping up the exterior 249
Coating in ceramic 251
Keeping Your EV Interior Shipshape 251
Caring for your seat 252
Cleaning that big screen 252
Organizing your trunk/frunk 253
Knowing What You Don't Need to Do 255
Things You'll Never Have to Add to Your To-Do List 257
Part 4 Futurethink and Fun with EV Engineering 259
Chapter 10 Faster, Farther, and More Fun 261
Living Out Your Speed Racer Fantasies 262
Taking a good look at ICE power output 263
Comparing EV power output 264
Staying Out of Jail 266
Can an EV Power Your House? 269
Recognizing the challenges of V2H 270
Adding the challenges of V2G to the mix 271
Addressing challenges with a Smart Grid 272
Will EV Prices Ever Come Down? When? 274
Renewable Energy and the Electric Car World 276
Using a clean energy broker 277
Using your own solar power 279
Next-Gen Batteries 280
Next-gen battery objectives 282
Less expensive (and faster charging) 282
Solid-state batteries: Lighter weight (and faster charging) 284
Lithium-sulphur: Lighter, denser, cheaper 285
Faster charging (that is all, but that is also enough) 286
Chapter 11 Our Autonomous Future 289
Adding Up the Self-Driving Benefits 291
Listing the Key ADAS Benefits 293
Can These Cars Drive Themselves - or What? 294
Leveling up your self-driving knowledge 296
Level 0 No Driving Automation 296
Level 1 Driver Assistance 296
Level 2 Partial Driving Automation 297
Level 2 Examples 297
Level 3 Conditional Driving Automation 298
Level 4 High Driving Automation 298
Level 5 Full Driving Automation 299
Doing the Vision Thing 300
Tesla and Comma.ai bet on cameras 300
Waymo and Cruise add lidar 303
Other carmakers split the difference 305
Recognizing the Challenges 306
What's still really hard for autonomous cars 306
What's still really hard for humans regulating autonomous cars 308
Gazing into the EV Crystal Ball 309
Where AV capability is coming fast 309
Where AV has already arrived 309
Chapter 12 Other Vehicles That Are Going Electric 311
Going Mobile with Electric Buses 311
Seeing why battery-electric buses are fantastic 314
But, but - electric buses aren't all that fantastic, after all 315
Keep On Truckin' (with Electric Long-Haul Trucks) 317
Tesla Semi 318
Freightliner eCascadia 319
Volvo VNR Electric 319
Kenworth T680 320
BYD 8TT 320
Nikola Tre 322
Delivering the Goods (with Electric Delivery Vans) 324
BrightDrop 325
Canoo 325
Rivian EDV 325
Workhorse 327
Keeping things in perspective 328
I Sing the Lawn Mower Electric 329
Chapter 13 The Best Car Is No Car: Electric Bikes and the Morning Commute 333
Making the Trip by Bike 336
Improving fitness 337
Improving mentals 337
Enhancing your ability to explore new places (and more often) 338
Having access to faster and cheaper transportation 339
Putting money in your pocket through tax incentives 339
Looking at the Three Classes of Ebikes 340
Scouting Out the More Notable Ebike Companies 342
VanMoof 342
Gazelle 343
Aventon 343
Rad Power Bikes 344
Bird Bikes 345
Trek 345
Specialized 347
Hey! I'm Giving Away Ebikes! 348
Part 5 The Part of Tens 351
Chapter 14 Ten Countries Leading the Way - and What They're Doing 353
Norway 354
Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands 355
Germany 356
China 356
United States 357
California 357
UK 358
New Zealand 359
Mexico 360
India 360
Japan 360
Chapter 15 Ten Companies Leading the Way - and a Look at What They're Doing 361
Tesla 362
Xpeng Motors 362
Lucid and Rivian 362
Volkswagen 363
GM and Ford 363
Geeley/Polestar 364
Hyundai 364
BYD 365
SIAC 366
Everyone Else 366
Chapter 16 Ten Predictions from EV Insiders (with Plenty of Commentary and Opinion Because It's My Book There, Bub) 369
When New EVs Will Cost $25,000 370
When Robotaxis Will Make Their Grand Entrance 371
When Electric Planes (or Flying Cars) Will Make Their Grand Entrance 372
Which Companies Will Thrive (and Which Ones Won't) 372
Electric vehicle or EV-related companies that will thrive 373
Electric vehicle or EV-related companies that will likely go bankrupt by 2030 373
Electric vehicle or EV-related companies that haven't yet launched (or won't ever launch) production 374
When You Will See Electric Semis (and What It Will Mean) 375
Future Battery Tech for Your Car 376
When You'll (Hopefully) See an Impact on Parking and City Design 376
Connected Cars 377
The Last ICE Sale Will Take Place Sometime in 2030 - for California 378
Index 379
