$1.49 unleaded. It may bee time to unplug the Clarity...sigh...

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craze1cars said:
Well, it's official. My Costco is selling gas today at $1.49. I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime in my area...when I bought this thing electricity was, and still is, a relatively cheap commodity at less than 11 cents per KW. But here we are. I am now spending more money when plugging this car in, than I am if I were just to let it run on gasoline 100% of the time.

There are only 3 reasons now to plug this car in:

1. Because it sucks around town listening to the unrefined engine...so plug it in and pay extra as a luxury.

2. To reduce emissions.

3. To not touch gas pumps and die of or transmit our new and novel disease.

All are worthy reasons. And for those reasons it'll still be plugged in and I'll pay the small premium. But my primary reasons for buying this car were the financial savings in propulsion fuel, along with curiosity of the technology. As I am now approaching 2 years of ownership the curiosity is satisfied, and now the financial incentive of using electricity as a propulsion fuel is gone...

Sorta a bummer. Luckily wife still likes the car and it's her primary driver. So happy wife happy life. We keep it. And gas prices will probably go up. Someday. Not likely real soon though.

One thing's for sure. This cheap gas is going to HURT ongoing EV sales, and even hybrid and fuel-saving ICE sales. Many car buyers are financially driven, and price of gas is no longer a driver.

Edit: Bee? Oops on the typo in the title...
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It could be worse. You could have purchased your car a year and a half ago for your long commute and free charging at work, only to have been laid off a week before the virus hit. Then youd be paying $600/month for a car that idles in the driveway with no new job to take it to anywhere on the horizon.

Like me:) But I am healthy and, not to sound like a cliche, that's the most important thing.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time:) I am just venting.
 
@Geor99 ,

You may have brought up the most important point in this entire thread. Best wishes, and I sincerely hope that we all get through this with our health, financial security, and our unique vehicles intact! This too shall pass...

Tailwinds,
Cash
 
Heck yeah. It's not possible to offend me or make me take anything personal! I'm not all that active here anymore...but suddenly have some spare time to blow due to world events, so here I am rambling stream of consciousness just for something to do on the old 'puter while I burn my 400 CD's to FLAC files in the background. Looking for more home projects all the time.

Despite catching up on errands, I do have 4 personal friends with this Covid thing confirmed via test. Several more who have been told "assume you have it based on symptoms, but we're not testing you." Thankfully all seem to be getting thru it, recovering, and doing fine, but it ain't much fun to have for sure. It's very real, no doubt, and front/center in my brain and I relish the opportunity for distractions. World is just scrambling to figure out how we're gonna live with it going forward. Eliminating it from earth is certainly a pipe dream as it is now confirmed in essentially every country...
 
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craze1cars said:
Off topic debate is GOOD in this case. I don't mind one bit! Forums Are Fun!!
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Ok, I’ll accept full responsibility for suggesting that we stay on topic. Please forgive me.

I’ve been on this forum since we bought the car last August. Prior to that the only other forum I’ve been active on, is an RV forum for that past 3-4 years. No Facebook, no Twitter, which I’ve heard can be ruthless.

On the RV forum, you have to post as though you’re corresponding with the Queen of England, otherwise someone will get their knickers in a twist and report you to the authorities who will issue warnings, and in the case of serious offenses, give points, which are bad.

The rules are very vague, which works to the moderators advantage as they can claim that someone has violated any rule they choose to create. They will never tell you what you’ve done that violated the unspoken rules. It isn’t even explained how many points are required to get kicked off the island. It has happened to many members, who simply rejoin under a new name. So it is all rather childish.

I’m happy to be among adults who seem capable of withstanding a bit of friendly banter.
 
Love it. Yeah I’ve been involved in a few like that...”fun”, eh? Let em have their forum.

I don’t really know if there are rules here or not...and I’ve seen little need for them here. But I can confidently say that if I start a post, or if Any comments are directed at me, I gladly accept them and encourage them. EVEN IF I DONT RESPECT the comments or the poster (directed at no one BTW). I still firmly believe in free speech, it’s super easy for me to ignore or not reply to something I don’t like, and it is EVERYONE’S right to speak their mind.

So I say let er rip! Congeniality is nice and encouraged, but IMO never mandatory. Lack thereof will simply make me silent. Maybe.
 
There are people here in Michigan driving around, looking for operating non-essential businesses and calling 911 on them. In response, the police are asking people to cool it on the 911 calls from vigilante business-monitors.

On this forum, however, we don't need to call 911. We have our excellent moderator, @Domenick, to keep us from going too far astray (usually only when people forget to be civil).
 
A poster put a chart on the Facebook Clarity page comparing cost of electric mileage vs. gas mileage.

With our electricity at $0.06 a kWh gas has to drop to below $0.85 a gallon to break even. I doubt I'll ever go all gas driving in the Clarity.
 
craze1cars said:
But a 10 to 11 year old Clarity battery swap? Gonna risk a 10 year old used battery transplant with the amount labor involved? Plus cost of a new battery?
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Putting a 10 year old battery in a 10 year old car may be a poor choice. Why not put in a new one?

Speculating on the future cost of LiFePo batteries, in 8-10 years, a new replacement HV battery for a Clarity may sell for 25% of what it sells for today. Or, there may be improvements in battery technology that allow for the installation of a battery with increased range and life expectancy at a price that is less than current technology.

AZLithium has offered individual Clarity batteries, a ~48V/1.2kWh unit, for around $250. 14 units would replace the entire 17kWh battery for $3500 plus labor. They obviously have the ability to disassemble the vehicle. More batteries will come to market as more Clarities are sold and wrecked.

Ace Hybrid Group in Stanton, Ca specializes in rebuilding and replacing Hybrid vehicle batteries. Clarity is not currently in their repertoire but it’s only a matter of time.

It could cost significantly less to replace the battery in 10 years than what you imagine today. Other factors to consider would be the cost of gasoline and electricity in 10 years in addition to any new legislation or regulations that may develop over that time period.
 
I put my Clarity in storage for the winter and suspended the insurance because I had the option to drive my daughter's car as the winter beater while she is away at college and not needing a car. I was looking forward to getting the Clarity out of storage as spring arrived, but now I'm not commuting due to state mandate and burning cheap gas in my daughter's car for limited driving for necessities. So it's not worth putting the insurance back on the Clarity, which is about double what it costs to insure my daughter's car. Not complaining because either way I am saving quite a bit of money combined between gas, electricity, and insurance. But I do miss driving the Clarity....
 
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