Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

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SunnY S said:
oakville plant wont be closing anytime soon.....

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Ford's Oakville, Ontario plant to undergo EV transformation in 2024

Ford is investing $1.8 billion to turn its Oakville facility into an electric vehicle manufacturing plant.
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Article fails to mention how long the employees will be laid off for during the reconfiguration...
One of my employee's mom has worked there about 6 or 7 years and it sure is bumpy, every other time I ask him, she's laid off for a week, hours cut down, hours back up, laid off for 3 weeks, leaving halfway through her shift because there are no parts, and on and on...not very stable (pandemic didn't help) I guess the more seniority the better you will fair, but still not something I would want to deal with every other week signing up for unemployment. Also, not sure if this is true or not but he said she will be laid off for a year or more once the reconfiguration starts.
 
GreyGhost said:
Ultra-low overnight rate is coming May 1 (2.4c/kwh) to some areas (surprisingly not Hydro One). To get it you need to accept higher peak rates. I don't hate that idea as it makes the economics of local battery storage to take advantage of arbitrage more cost effective. I haven't run the numbers to see whether it is worth me switching. Hopefully the website will make it easy like they do with the current two plan options.
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Those new rates are patently stupid. Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about their energy usage patterns and amounts consumed will quickly see that any potential savings for most EV owners will be completely gobbled up by those crazy shoulder rate periods.
The only exception would be those who have massive battery banks and can basically go completely "off grid" during the majority of those increased rate periods and just recharge at night, but that group is virtually zero.
 
In unrelated news, last weeks return of the nice temperatures also means return of peak battery performance, and lookey lookey, my 2011 is still rocking it, exceeding it's factory range by 6.4km. And this was with some 401 driving mixed in - I know for a fact that if some of it wasn't high speed 401 driving I could easily have broke 70km.


range.jpg


Yay for my "horribly engineered POS GM vehicle" (/s, most here get the joke) with almost 200,000KM on it.
 
Mikedezo44 said:
Article fails to mention how long the employees will be laid off for during the reconfiguration...
One of my employee's mom has worked there about 6 or 7 years and it sure is bumpy, every other time I ask him, she's laid off for a week, hours cut down, hours back up, laid off for 3 weeks, leaving halfway through her shift because there are no parts, and on and on...not very stable (pandemic didn't help) I guess the more seniority the better you will fair, but still not something I would want to deal with every other week signing up for unemployment. Also, not sure if this is true or not but he said she will be laid off for a year or more once the reconfiguration starts.
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Not to worry.
There's no signing up for pogi, it's automatically taken care of for unifor (oakville) members. Sit back and collect it along with sub pay.
Get sent home early in the week.....40hrs guaranteed.
The up coming year off is like getting on the gravy train. No loss in income......FOR AT LEAST A YEAR!
But. When the new plant(s) are up and rolling, it'll be minimum 48hrs/week.
(I've been retired from there for a piece, but I keep in touch).
 
PrivatePilot said:
In unrelated news, last weeks return of the nice temperatures also means return of peak battery performance, and lookey lookey, my 2011 is still rocking it, exceeding it's factory range by 6.4km. And this was with some 401 driving mixed in - I know for a fact that if some of it wasn't high speed 401 driving I could easily have broke 70km.


View attachment 60344


Yay for my "horribly engineered POS GM vehicle" (/s, most here get the joke) with almost 200,000KM on it.
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Very nice to see! I’m hitting the 80km on the GOM so I’m quite happy with that. Warmer weather again and should be within the 90-100km range.

However, still looking at that CLA35 AMG as a last ICE romp vehicle. Depending on final price I may buy it, run it a year, and then flip it for a full EV.
 
mimico_polak said:
Very nice to see! I’m hitting the 80km on the GOM so I’m quite happy with that. Warmer weather again and should be within the 90-100km range.

However, still looking at that CLA35 AMG as a last ICE romp vehicle. Depending on final price I may buy it, run it a year, and then flip it for a full EV.
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I knew nothing about the CLA35. I listened to a video. It made me sad. It is missing the absolute bonkers noise and power of its larger siblings. It may be a fine vehicle but personally I'd rather have an older bigger brother. Now, power is less important as your full ev will smoke almost any of them but for a last hurrah, I want that noise (and a stick but I don't think that's an option).
 
GreyGhost said:
I knew nothing about the CLA35. I listened to a video. It made me sad. It is missing the absolute bonkers noise and power of its larger siblings. It may be a fine vehicle but personally I'd rather have an older bigger brother. Now, power is less important as your full ev will smoke almost any of them but for a last hurrah, I want that noise (and a stick but I don't think that's an option).
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I need to drive it still to see if I actually want it. But the offer sounds good, and will also depend on what I get for my Volt (2018LT with 115km).
 
I ordered a Torklift hitch for our Gen2 Volt today.

I had a Uhaul hitch on it for towing our camper and that was doing the job, but a few months back my wife backed into a curb and bent the hitch, so now it has a pronounced downward angle to it. Uhaul refused to honor the lifetime warranty because the employee who installed the hitch at their location apparently pocketed the money instead of putting it in the till and entering the job in their systems, so now I have a hitch I don't trust anymore, and be ****** if I'm going to buy another from them after all that.

The new Torklift is insanely beefier and is their invisible model that comes through the rear bumper where the licence plate is (they include a plate flipper to raise it out of the way) so it should be the last hitch I'll ever need.

It cost 3 arms and 7 legs, plus the cost of Shippsy to bring it across (and taxes and duty blah blah), but it is what it is I guess. They ship anywhere in the lower 48 for free, but want something like $300 to ship to Canada, so the Shippsy route is better - it cost me about $75 all in last time I ordered the hitch from the same place for my Gen1.

Due to my concussion BS we cancelled a big trip we were planning out to BC this year (sigh), so it looks like some more camping might be in the cards instead, so getting the hitch thing sorted out was going to be necessary in short order.
 
Wow that’s a pain in the bum for sure @PrivatePilot.

I’m curious how you’d expect UHAUL to warrant a part they sold…but was damaged by the owner? Not sure they’d honour that either way.

And eff that employee. You have a receipt I assume, so it’s not your fault the guys a crook. That’s UHAULs problem…not yours.
 
Dont know much about hitches but Im thinking if it would bend that easy from hitting a curb it would bend under the weight of an attached trailer over a big bump, would it not ?

Im also guessing that if there is a receipt its not an 'official' UHAUL receipt since it wasnt entered in their system.
 
mimico_polak said:
’m curious how you’d expect UHAUL to warrant a part they sold…but was damaged by the owner? Not sure they’d honour that either way.
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Their "lifetime warranty" on hitches they install is specifically listed as covering accidental damage like this.

hdsomeday said:
Dont know much about hitches but Im thinking if it would bend that easy from hitting a curb it would bend under the weight of an attached trailer over a big bump, would it not ?
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The hitch in question hangs down pretty low, and don't underestimate the power of a 3500 pound vehicle backing up at speed and all that energy being focused onto a 1.25/1.25" piece of metal when it hits a solid object.
 
hdsomeday said:
Dont know much about hitches but Im thinking if it would bend that easy from hitting a curb it would bend under the weight of an attached trailer over a big bump, would it not ?

Im also guessing that if there is a receipt its not an 'official' UHAUL receipt since it wasnt entered in their system.
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I am surprised at the bend. Hitches I have installed will probably bend the mounting points before the hitch itself bends. Hell, the hitch on my wifes old suv was used by a tow jockey with a rotator to suspend the entire vehicle. He bent a safety chain eye but otherwise left no marks.

Maybe they voided sale after? I would be surprised if physical damage is covered but pp normally looks at the details so maybe that is allowed in the contract for peace of mind but they rarely need to pay out.
 
GreyGhost said:
am surprised at the bend.
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Two things to keep in mind:

- It's a class 1 hitch. They're pretty flimsy to begin with compared to a more traditional class 2 or 3>.
- The geometry on this particular hitch is terrible. The hitch actually mounts up behind the bumper but the receiver portion comes out below the bottom of the bumper, and then worse yet, extends rearwards. It basically makes a giant lever/arm, so the impact against a high curb was leveraged greatly.

Put both of those things together and you have a bent hitch from a rear impact.

Here's the draw-tite equivalent to the uhaul so you can see how lightly built it is. Pretty sure the Uhaul is just a rebranded draw-tite, actually.

It was right at it's limit for our camper but never showed any sign of stress. But again, 3500# car backing up at a walking pace or whatever at the time of impact...that's a LOT of force on a lever.
hitch.jpg
 
PrivatePilot said:
Two things to keep in mind:

- It's a class 1 hitch. They're pretty flimsy to begin with compared to a more traditional class 2 or 3>.
- The geometry on this particular hitch is terrible. The hitch actually mounts up behind the bumper but the receiver portion comes out below the bottom of the bumper, and then worse yet, extends rearwards. It basically makes a giant lever/arm, so the impact against a high curb was leveraged greatly.

Put both of those things together and you have a bent hitch from a rear impact.

Here's the draw-tite equivalent to the uhaul so you can see how lightly built it is. Pretty sure the Uhaul is just a rebranded draw-tite, actually.

It was right at it's limit for our camper but never showed any sign of stress. But again, 3500# car backing up at a walking pace or whatever at the time of impact...that's a LOT of force on a lever.
View attachment 60351
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The picture makes it obvious what happened. My wifes vehicles normally get class ii or iii and mine get class i but the geometry is more favorable (much less drop).
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