J. Patterson

True on a per mile basis but as a % or ratio of fuel usage I expect the 5% of fuel ( 1 gal adblue for each 20gal of diesel burned) might indeed prove to an accurate prediction. What is puzzling is how Audi and Mercedes and BMW and FCA all consumed adblue at approx a 1 gal to 100 gal fuel ratio unless others were cheating too.

audi40

The same law firm that's the lead in the VW class action also has a similar suit pending against MB - I bought my wife an ML350 Bluetec less than a year after getting my TDI because I was so enamored with the power and MPG. The way things are playing out with VW/Audi, I'm thinking it's setting a precedent for hopefully a similar settlement with MB, et al, although I've yet to read/hear of any accusations against BMW.

Bryans

You guys are killing me. Trying to compare adding Adblue to plugging in a Telsa is crazy. I'm sure there are multiple places to stop and charge a Telsa between you and your kids college.

Bryans

What kind of trouble is it to plug in a Tesla? You get out of your car and insert the plug into the charging port. If you own a Tesla chances are you have a charging unit at your home. I don't own a Tesla but I know it is WAY easier than adding Adblue to your car.

J. Patterson

Easy, I was kidding :-). But FWIW, we have four grandsons in Keller TX 685 miles away. In our TDI Q7 we can make that run in 11 hours with one fuel stop.
In a Tesla we would have to stop at two of the five supercharger stations along the way and charge for nearly an hour. Really not that bad but I CAN fill an AdBlue tank much faster than that and at worst we are talking about 1500 miles between fills.
Don't get me wrong, I don't look forward to that however.

A6forMoi

Yeah - kind of amazed that's not already part of the settlement - surely they realize AdBlue consumption will go up somewhat . . . it's not super expensive in bulk for Audi, and there's some labor involved, but the bigger hassle is for the owner.

Redd

"What is puzzling is how Audi and Mercedes and BMW and FCA all consumed adblue at "
IIRC, which I don't always, MB and BMW use a different technology or a different implementation and it is entirely possible that someone at Audi said "rig the numbers until we match the other guys". Or, totally coincidental. Time will tell.

Tesla's rosy future always makes me laugh. "Plug it in when you get home" simply won't work for urban drivers, who live in apartments, garage in commercial garages (no power stands) or more commonly on the public curb, where power stands ain't gonna happen. Which makes a very limited "suburban upper middle class and rural homeowners only" potential market for Tesla. If I decide to make a 300-400 mile (each way) weekend trip and I own a Tesla, either I spend the weekend on the road because I'm tied by recharging for longer than I'm driving, or what? Will Tesla pay my car rental bill when I need something with longer range? "Homey don't think so." It sure would be nice if Elon got that concept, because a friend of mine is thinking about buying electric (not Tesla but something way cheaper) and they'll need to make about four much longer (600 mnile) trips each year. They've got the luxury of a home garage to install a charger in...but still realize they'll have to kill hours going out of the way to rent a real car, four times a year. That could get old fast, once the time and the car rental fees are added up and translated in gallons of fuel vs electric savings.

Tesla has in past said their battery packs are designed so they can be dropped out and swapped for a "ten minute refueling" stop, but they've built no stations for that. Customers are stuck on "I had a new battery pack in my new car, I don't want some crappy five year old one on the swap."

Bryans

As someone who owns a Q7 TDI I can understand you are trying to defend the diesels. Look electric cars aren't for everyone. But a lot of what you are saying is way overblown. Running out of electric power is just like running out of gas. I heard the same thing when diesels first came out. I remember hearing that one would be on a road trip and can't find diesel and would be stuck on the side of the road. Funny how that didn't happen.

"Plug it in when you get home" simply won't work for urban drivers, who live in apartments, garage in commercial garages (no power stands) or more commonly on the public curb, where power stands ain't gonna happen." - Actually quite a few commercial garages, apartments, and public places have power stands. There are plenty of apps you can download on your phone to find them. You will be very surprised how many there are. I know I have been.


"If I decide to make a 300-400 mile (each way) weekend trip and I own a Tesla, either I spend the weekend on the road because I'm tied by recharging for longer than I'm driving, or what? Will Tesla pay my car rental bill when I need something with longer range?" - Just do some research on Tesla charging as you could easily make a 400 mile trip each way by stopping 1 or 2 times at a supercharger for 30 mins or so. The Tesla model 60 (smallest battery) has a range of over 200 miles.

mikemdd

"Running out of electric power is just like running out of gas". I agree. When you are in the middle of nowhere, there are lots of people with cans of electricity who can stop and help.

Bryans

Good grief.