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Mark and Dale Bruss

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Posts posted by Mark and Dale Bruss

  1. 12 hours ago, Tulecreeper said:

    Depends on who has the cheapest gas at the time I need to fill up.  I don't personally pay attention to which state I get gas in, I get it when I need it.

     

    The vehicle will never be able to say "where" I've driven or it would need to store GPS information along with miles driven.  At that point you're talking about a federal tax and not a state tax issue.  Imagine taking a vacation for a month and driving 3000 miles during that 4-week time period, crossing 18 state lines and 2 international borders in the process.  Who gets the tax money?

    Actually, the highway people have been working on per-mile taxation for well over 10 years.  Your car does keep information on where you have been and the work has been on how to easily read that information and forward it to clearing houses. Look at the toll road scanners clearing for multiple states each getting their share of the toll money.

  2. 14 hours ago, Tulecreeper said:

    A 'per-mile' tax to the state would make the assumption that you drive 100% of those miles within the state borders.  I live 15 minutes from the border of the next state to the west of me and I spend a lot of time on the other side of that border.  How would they make that tax equitable...the state I live in, and the state where I spend 30% of my driving time are both going to want their share.

    Do you equally buy gas is both states? 

    The per-mile taxation would be based upon information from the computer in the car which would provide miles driven and where.  Each state would get their share of miles driven,

  3. Okay I agree that EVs should contribute to highway maintenance.  I am in favor of the per mile taxation with the removal of the gas tax.

    The problem with the Texas law is in the math.  The fee for an EV is $200 a year after the registration, while the report stated that the average ICE vehicle pays $130 a year is gas taxes. A new definition of fairness.

    I have a Mustang Mach-e EV and I live in Texas and the proposed fees are more like I was driving a dually and not a compact car.

     

  4. Battery combiners are relays that are set you open when the direction of current is not what you want.  They can be set to transfer current either way.

    There are many battery combiners like Amazon.com: Victron Intelligent Li-ion Battery Combiner Cyrix-Li-ct 12/24V - 120 Amp : Sports & Outdoors

    The advantage of battery combinators over diode isolation is that diode isolation always drops .6 volts across the diodes.  When the contacts of the battery combinators are closed. there are 0 volts lost.

    Discussed in Battery Combiner (dmbruss.com)

  5. Just finished a 2,000 mile trip to Hutchinson KS for the National HDT Rally from Mission TX and back.  Only area without a plethora of charge locations is far south Texas.  If you have been to far south Texas, you know why.  We have to go through Laredo (west of Mission) to get a charge to make it to San Antonio.

    We use DC Fast Charger most of the way except in eastern Kansas where we stopped to see a friend and left the Mustang Mach-e at a campsite hookup using the 50 amp receptacle.  That is an overnight type charge.  If you count almost all campgrounds with electric, the country is covered with Level 2 charge stations.

    Most of the charge stations we used were Electrify America (Walmart Superstores) , a couple of ChargePoints (Super Tourist Stop , Harley Davison) , and a couple of Francis Electric (connivence stores) in Oklahoma.

    Our Mustang is limited to a maximum of 150 KW/hr charge rate and usually we encounter 80-120 KW/hr. Say we need 60 KW per stop at most, that is 30-45 minutes each.  Hardly enough for lunch sometimes and just about right for the wife's potty stops.

    Electricity isn't free.  At the charge stations the rates vary depending on how they charge, by minute, by KW.  I estimate that our cost per mile is less than half the cost of gasoline in Texas which is pretty cheap compared to the rest of the country.

  6. There are these videos by a fella named Munro who has torn a Mach-e and a Tesla Model Y apart and has a lot to about the EV industry.  His analysis of the Hydrogen/Elecric story is that long range trucks using hydrogen canisters will the introduction of hydrogen and may the sole use.  Trucks could load a set of canisters that can be rotated out on the road giving the range between stops needed for OTR trucking. Too complicated for cars where batteries will be fine.  The trucking industry almost has an independent energy structure already.

    P

  7. Very few states require any licensing to drive large Rvs, just like the Coast Guard has little requirement for a piloting a boat too large for ther operator.

    Way back in 2006 when Maryland tried to enforce the Class B requirement for RVs that had been passed in 1996, I was in a meeting with the legislature, dealers  and the RV standards folks uncovered the problem of how to license.  Dealers do not want licening as it would deter sales.  A CDL test requires you to be accompanied by an already licensed CDL driver and to have accompnied by a licensed CDL driver while learning to drive.  Not hard for a company hiring you and having you learn, or a driving school.  Real problem for an RV.

    There is no question that some kind of license endorsement, like a motorcycle endorsement, should be required for large RVs.  Knowing the dynamics of 40.000 lbs in stopping is only reasonable.   And the knowlege of the dynamics of trailer in tow should be known.  You know how many diesel pusher drivers do not know what the buzzer alarm for air brakes mean? 

    These enddorsements should be mandatory and could be implemented with written tests.  No need for driving tests.  The LEOs and the insurance companies with handle the actual driving.

     

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