Davoud:
Speaking of ground transportation, my impoverished self just bought a
new Prius Four Touring (cash, no loans) to replace my 2006 Prius, which
gets recycled to my niece.

Chris L Peterson:
Nice. We're still hanging on to our semi-ancient cars in the hopes
that a suitable electric vehicle for our needs will materialize soon.
Maybe before my own car finishes its return trip from the Moon (it's
about a quarter of the way back now).

You beat Elon Musk to the punch and sent a car around the Moon!?

Since you brought it up, here's the rest of my story, quoted from a
post I made in another forum:

****

"I spent a month studying the feasibility of buying an EV with a view
toward buying a Tesla Model S.

"I drove two cars, talked to several owners, visited the showroom in
Owings Mills, MD, joined and studied the forum at tesla.com, etc.
Wonderful car in many ways.

"But I noticed something about a very substantial number of Tesla
owners. They are sufficiently wealthy that their Teslas are a hobby
item, one of a number of luxury cars they own. I have owned a number of
hobby cars over the years, and they mostly became burdensome after a
while. For some, their Tesla hobby includes making long trips, well
beyond the battery range. Such a trip requires careful planning and
considerable patience, and even then may go wrong and engender
considerable inconvenience. All part of the adventure, I am told.

"So I took a negative approach to the car in order to balance my fever
to own it. It's got the quality and it would surely be fun to own in
many ways. What can't it do that I need a car to do? Well, it turns out
that the trip my wife and I made from our home near Annapolis to see
and photograph the 2017 eclipse in Tennessee would have been impossible
in a Tesla. A round-trip from our home to my hometown in rural SW Pa.
would be impossible; there is no charging infrastructure there. A
round-trip to visit family in rural NW N.J. would be impractical or
impossible for the same reason. That has the Tesla making trips to the
mall and supermarket and to other places where one might hope to
impress people (except that Teslas are by now a bit too numerous in my
area to make people ooh and aah). Tesla owners charge their cars at
home 90% of the time.

"I looked at the Chevy Bolt. Pretty impressive technology, to be sure,
but a cramped interior that appears to be made of thrift-store
materials and no navigation system available.

"So, no EV for me until two things happen: a breakthrough in battery
technology and a significant increase in charging infrastructure. I'm
replacing my 2006 Prius with a 2018 model this very day (and giving the
2006 to my city-dwelling niece). And I have a new-generation Lexus RX
that proved to be a very comfortable and competent long-distance hauler
of astronomical equipment on our trip to Tennessee."

****

Good luck to you and to me. I fear that I was born too soon to benefit
much from the coming revolution in EVs. If they arrive in my lifetime
I'll probably already be driving the latest in electric wheelchair
tech.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm