Nerds On Tap

Horsepower to Kilowatts: The Shift to Electric Cars

• Nerds On Tap • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Explore the world of electric vehicles (EVs) with enthusiast Colby Sullivan on Nerds On Tap! We discuss the nuances of EV technology, address range anxiety, and highlight the perks and incentives of EV ownership, such as smartphone access and tax rebates. Our chat also touches on the groundbreaking impact of Tesla in the EV industry. Beyond cars, Colby shares insights on solar panels and their financial benefits. Strap in for an enlightening journey into the realm of electric mobility!

Sponsors:
Digital Boardwalk Managed IT Services
Smarter Web

Special Guest:
Colby Sullivan, Senior Implementation Engineer, Digital Boardwalk

Beers in Order of Appearance:

  1. New Belgium Brewing Voodoo Ranger
  2. New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire
  3. New Belgium Brewing 1554
  4. New Belgium Brewing Trippel

EV Mentions:

Other Mentions:
Graham Conway & The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles TedxSanAntonio
Out of Spec Reviews
Electrify America
Charge Point
Meraki Solar
Tesla Powerwall
Tesla Autopilot
Tesla Summon
Tesla Rebates & Incentives

Thanks for listening!
Visit us online at www.thenerdsontap.com
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Tim Shoop:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nerds on Tap. I'm your host, Tim Shoop, and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this nerdy adventure with all of you. So grab your favorite brew, because things are about to get exciting.

Tim Schaffer:

Three two, one go.

Tim Shoop:

Welcome to Nerds on Tap. Hey everyone, welcome to episode two of Nerds on Tat, where we blend entrepreneurship, business and the infusion of technology into our everyday lives, and in between questions, we are going to sample some good cold brews. So welcome to the show. Today's show is sponsored by Digital Boardwalk, your favorite IT department managed services across the country, and Smarter Web, Pensacola's favorite marketing department, so check them out at digitalboardwalkcom and SmarterWeb. net. Also, before we get started, you can go to thenerdsontap. com and check out the trailer for our show, and we also have merch on there, so you can get one of these great shirts or hats or stickers or anything else that we have on there. So again, welcome to the show. Today we have Mr. Colby Sullivan. Welcome to the show, Colby.

Colby Sullivan:

Thanks, I appreciate it. I've been looking forward to being on this, so thanks for having me.

Tim Shoop:

Colby is an EV or electric vehicle enthusiast a pinball aficionado.

Colby Sullivan:

Technically, I'm a professional pinball player.

Tim Shoop:

Professional pinball player. How many pinball machines do you have?

Colby Sullivan:

I've got three at home right now. Now, why do you say professional? Just because I'm in a league and we put in money and stuff and we can win money.

Tim Shoop:

So technically, yeah, so when you invite friends over to play pinball, do you make them put quarters in?

Colby Sullivan:

No, the games are all on free play. It's $10, buy in and basically you know play the tournament and all that.

Tim Shoop:

Cool. Well, back to Colby. He's also a University of Alabama college football fan, war Eagle.

Colby Sullivan:

I'm just going to go Just kidding Colby and his friends and Auburn fans.

Tim Shoop:

So it's all good, I don't hate 'em and his favorite beer is a I think the proper pronunciation is a scofferhofer grapefruit heffa vice. And I was calling it a Schofferhofer because of the German pronunciation but. I checked it out online and they're calling it a scofferhofer".

Tim Shoop:

Okay, so I've never heard it actually pronounced Well in Germany and my German heritage, I would think it would be pronounced Schofferhofer, yeah. So again, welcome to the show. Today we're going to cover three segments the ABCs of EVs, understanding the core technologies of how an electric vehicle works, especially with the ramp up with all the car manufacturers right now, with the government push to move to green technology. Then we'll go into the Tesla phenomenon and you know how much further ahead they are in regards to everything EV, from batteries to software engineering. And then we're going to cover the intersection of tech and EVs and we'll go into electric vehicles and lifestyle. So let's go ahead and get started. So, colby, you haven't been on the show. This is only episode two, but just to kind of give you the rundown we're going to - Before we get into anything, we have to sample the first beer. So we're going to get right into the IPAs, because I know someone told me you hate IPAs.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah that was me. So, suds, why don't you give us the scoop? We're going into a variety pack from one brewer today and go ahead and give us the background on the brewer and the first beer we're going to sample.

Suds:

Alrighty. The brewery is the new Belgium Brewing Company, founded in 1991. Interesting thing there, the Fat Tire their signature beer. The founder created this beer after taking a bike ride through Belgium, from brewery to brewery. He called it fat tire because people made fun of the fat tires on his mountain bike as he was riding through Europe. The first beer is the Voodoo Ranger. It's a juicy, haze IPA, packed with bright tropical aromas and citrusy flavoring that ends with a smooth finish.

Tim Shoop:

Well, let's see if it ends with a smooth, smooth finish for you, colby.

Colby Sullivan:

Cheers everybody.

Tim Shoop:

And here we go.

Tim Schaffer:

I've had it before and it's honestly one of my favorites.

Colby Sullivan:

If you had given me this and I didn't know that it was an IPA I would have no idea it was an IPA. It's not bitter at all.

Tim Shoop:

So it's got some hops, but it's not as hoppy as a lot of the IPAs that I'm used to, and the aftertaste is definitely smooth, more like a lager, but it's got a slight bite as it's going down but leaves you with a nice smooth, refreshing taste. So we'll sip on that while we go through the first segment. Let's talk about EVs and let's get into the evolution of EVs.

Colby Sullivan:

The battery technology has come so far. I mean Tesla. When they got over that 200 to 300 mile range breakthrough with the Model S I think was their first one they came out with A lot of lithium ion batteries. You don't want to go too high all the time, usually 60 to 80. Yeah, you can set it in the car. You can choose how high you want the battery to charge too. Kind of like your cell phone nowadays if it goes to 80% and you have smart charging turned on, it'll hold it there for a couple hours and then charge it to 100.

Tim Schaffer:

I think that was the main reason of changing to that, just so you could go to 100 and not have to worry.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, most people are just going to do that, naturally. Anyway, you know Tesla can say hey, don't charge over 80% unless you're going on like a road trip or something. We'll still just do it and it leads to battery degradation and stuff like that. You know where, instead of getting to 100, you may only get to 90% on kind of stuff. LFP's they're designed to go to 100. Tesla will tell you hey, if you got a new Model 3, charge it to 100%.

Tim Shoop:

All the time. They've come out with some new software updates and we'll get into that in the Tesla segment and talk about how that's been a game changer. As far as the autonomy, it's good, right, that's what this show is about, right, we're not just talking about tech and business, but we're turning you on to some really good brews. So hopefully, you know, after the show is over and we put it out on all the podcasts, we also put it out on social and we will tag the brewers. So if you watch our show or go back to watch the recorded segments, you'll be able to go back and find these brews.

Tim Schaffer:

And I'm sure this is expanding far more than just the cars, obviously on just battery tech alone. Do you know any other examples of a good way of using?

Colby Sullivan:

these batteries, depending on what manufacturer you're talking about. With the cars, they all just about have one sort of flagship EV. You know, like Hyundai has got the Ionic 5, which is kind of like a very weird. You notice like Hyundai has gone to that kind of angular look lately. I kind of like it. Yeah, it's weird Like you look at it and you're like what is this?

Colby Sullivan:

weird looking kind of reminds me of going back to the 80s. Yeah, if you were to take like a Volkswagen Golf and just like size it up a little bit.

Tim Shoop:

Hey, speaking of Volkswagen, I was just reading in 2026, they have bought the rights to the Scout. Everybody remembers the Scout.

Tim Schaffer:

You guys may not, I don't, I don't know because you're.

Tim Shoop:

You're a little younger than me.

Tim Schaffer:

I don't, but what is that, oh man.

Colby Sullivan:

I know, I know of it. I'm not super familiar with it.

Tim Shoop:

So you know how they brought back the Bronco and kind of redeveloped Jeep and did all these things. Well, the Scouts going to come back fully electric, okay, and they're building. From what I understand, there's going to the roof is going to be a solar panel. That's cool. I don't know for sure, but it's supposed to release in 2026 under the VW brand because they bought the licensing. But the Scout was a. It's a four wheel drive vehicle, it was an off road vehicle. Now obviously they're going to miniaturize it a little bit to meet the EV standards.

Suds:

Okay.

Tim Shoop:

You know how it works in the. You know when they bring back these kind of these, these retro cars they look different.

Colby Sullivan:

They're bringing back the bus to. They're calling it the buzz. You know the buzz. I'm excited about that. That's cool, dude, like it looks. It looks exactly how you'd imagine a like 60 70s VW bus to look like in an EV Round it.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I've seen the buzz. It looks really cool. I would totally own one. Honestly, I mean like there's a lot of like surfer guys. I could totally see having these, these EVs. My favorite VW model of EV right now is actually the ID4. It Is your like, if you were to take a traditional crossover SUV, like something like in the Nissan Rogue or grab for line and just sort of chisel an EV out of that, you would have the ID4 for and it's supposed to be kind of like their answer to the, the EV for the masses, and they want to, they want to bring EVs to, you know, to the people. And it's just a real cool looking car and 45, 50 grand. I mean cars are expensive now but the ID4 for is is really cool. I like that.

Tim Shoop:

The interesting thing, this is a great conversation because, well, first of all, we have gone from human powered cars to fossil fuel powered cars, to EV human powered flint. I don't know if anybody remembers.

Colby Sullivan:

I got you.

Suds:

Okay, you got. You got the hook on that.

Tim Shoop:

But I was talking to a gentleman that owns a car dealership not that long ago about their service centers and they're worried. You know they're worried. They buy all this real estate for car dealerships. But EVs the neat thing about EVs it's a computer on wheels. So you've got tires, you've got brakes, charging controllers, you know basically a computer and batteries and the battery is being probably the most expensive thing in the vehicle and then adding in the solar panel. So eventually these cars are going to blow up into the same, you know, multi configuration that fossil fuel, gas powered cars are today, because we've got all these sensors and all these controllers and all these things in the vehicles. But right now it's really just four to five major components, so there's less to break. So they're worried about having all these service centers and not needing them.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, yeah, I've talked to a lot of people that that own EVs. I don't own one right now, as I'm, you know, hoping to in the future, but I've talked to a lot of people that have them and the maintenance fees are significantly less. I mean, they just are less moving parts. No oil changes, you know. No like engine, you know rod problems to worry about all that stuff. All you have to really worry about is replacing your tires every now and then, because EVs are heavier than traditional cars so you, your tires, wear down a little faster. But other than that and brakes, I mean air filters, stuff like that the maintenance is significantly less on an EV. That's the biggest thing for me is to not have to deal with those which you know repetitive maintenance tasks. Like I don't. I just I hate oil changes. I understand the need for them. Like I'm not one of the people that lets my oil light turn on, like I do them like every three, four thousand miles, but like I'm so tired of it.

Tim Shoop:

I haven't changed my oil since my since my teenage years when, yeah I mean, my first oil change was on a 72 VW Super Beetle. That was my first car. Yeah, man, I love, I loved it. I was a big, big VW fan growing up, probably like the ID4 for man.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, it's super cool looking, I know.

Tim Shoop:

I've been following it for years and I'm like when are they gonna come out with the damn thing, you know? But let's kind of stay on task here and let's talk about the charging technologies. My hold up has been two things with EVs. Now I will tell you, I am about to buy an EV, I am getting very close and I will probably have one within the next year, and I'm steering more towards Tesla because of the software development and the battery technology and you know, native to Tesla, but let's talk about that.

Tim Shoop:

My hold up with EVs has been two things distance, right, I change anxiety. Well, three, let's say three things. Distance, my impatience with things I don't want to. You know, I've talked to people that say, yeah, I've had to stand there and you know it takes a lot longer. You can't just pull in, gas up and leave, sure. And the third thing would be well, just, you know kind of what overall, kind of overall, just overall fear of hey, where's the thing going? Now that it's going mainstream and I'm glad it is I think everybody will be driving an EV, are?

Tim Schaffer:

we all glad it, we are moving more towards batteries than we are.

Colby Sullivan:

There are a lot of people that are just steadfastly against it. Yeah, are you like that? Oh, I'm fine, I mean, I get it Like there's a lot of people that just love their V8 engines. They want that throaty sound, they want their you know turbos and all that.

Tim Shoop:

Well, I get it, you know wait so, listen, I'm kind of so, I've been, I've been on the fence with it. I love the idea of EVs. The problem I've had, you know, is the way and I'm not going to point the finger at government or anything I don't want to talk about politics, I don't want to get in all that, but I want to improve the green footprint, you know, the carbon footprint. I want to do all that, but I go in, I listen and I watch TED Talks and I go into a lot of things and I educate myself. I don't just listen to what the government or whoever is, you know, pushing. I do my own research based on an agenda. I do my own research.

Tim Shoop:

So, ted Talk, Mr. Graham Conway, I actually just pulled it back up here. This is a TED Talk that I watched a while back and we'll tag it in the show, but he did a talk about the carbon footprint in regards to the old days of horse and carriage versus gas powered, versus hybrid versus electric and, of course, with a, with horse powered. And I'm not going to get too deep into this, because I want you to go watch that TED Talk, because it's 15 minutes of fascinating information and the way he presents it is incredible, but it basically talks about a horse. You know, when a horse puts methane or you know it puts that puts it out into the universe. It comes back in the form of plants and things like that and regenerates. But when you're talking about gas and hybrid and electric the manufacturing life cycle of those you're putting it out there and it's not necessarily coming back and recycling.

Tim Shoop:

The only part I'm going to put out regarding fully electric vehicles, what he says in that talk and I highly recommend you go watch it is that hybrid vehicles right now, in today's time stamp, is actually more green than going fully electric Because of the manufacturing process. He does say that it takes 90,000 miles in an electric vehicle just to break even on that carbon footprint. Yeah, who keeps a car for 90,000?

Colby Sullivan:

Totally. I mean, there was a study done last year I wish I had the link I could show you guys, but there was a study done that basically said that even with all the EV sales and all the other like green sales we've started to go towards we've only saved two days worth of carbon emissions on the entire planet, and it's like it's just because fossil fuels are so just ingrained into human society.

Tim Schaffer:

Yeah, you know. I got a question. I don't know if y'all know this, and I'm unsure. As I'm asking is electric cars are basically just going to be better when you're using a battery in terms of not putting so much carbon. But when you put out carbon, it makes the earth technically greener. It just technically damages the atmosphere on a level. So there's basically just a battle of like are you wanting to damage the atmosphere? Are you wanting to damage the greenery more? It's my understanding on how it works, but I'm not sure I'm not sure.

Colby Sullivan:

Honestly. You know I'm not a scientist. When it comes to my interest in EVs, you know I don't want this to sound insensitive, so I'll try to. I'll try to phrase it the right way but, like, the environmental impacts good or bad with EV wasn't really a thing that I was considering. Tesla definitely leads the way with over the air updates. I mean they have maintained their software just repeatedly over the years. I mean there are people that you know own a 2017 Model 3 that have the current software that basically makes that car a 2023. Now there are some differences with hardware radar, camera, sensor, stuff like that but the software package is basically going to make it the same car over the life of the vehicle. I mean they bug fixes, they release updates for new features. They can increase horsepower with software. I mean it's, it's, it's amazing.

Tim Shoop:

Colby, let's get into charging. Let's talk about charging stations, because that was my number three, that's earlier in the in the podcast I was talking about my three holdups. My number three is actually the lack of charging stations, so let's talk about that.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, the supercharger network is basically everywhere now. I mean, tesla has spent so much time getting their infrastructure in place because it doesn't do them any good if they have all these cars on the road and don't have any way to charge them. So they really took the you know they. They did it the right way and got the infrastructure in place and then started exploding with sales. The range of anxiety is a thing, man. I mean I get it. You don't want to be on a road trip with your family and have to worry about when you're going to run out of battery and stuff like that. But Tesla specifically, they make it very easy to find the nearest you know supercharger that's close to you or they, even if they have to reroute you. The trip planner in the car basically will just tell you hey, you've got this much battery you need. You need this much to get there and it basically tells you where to go.

Colby Sullivan:

Other manufacturers are going to be able to use the supercharger network soon. Tesla is basically being forced by the government to do that. I suspect two or three stalls at each supercharger will be allocated to other EVs. I think it's a good thing because electrify America and some of the other. You know, non-tesla chargers are finicky at best. So I think it's good that other EV owners are going to be able to use the supercharger network. The Tesla connector is a different physical connector than the main North American one. It's called CCS. It's just the type of connector that they use. That's the beauty of standards there's so many to choose from. You know, I absolutely hate that we can't get a lot of proprietary technology right. Yeah, I think ultimately they will settle on one. If it's not Tesla, they'll. They'll just adapt one together. But if you don't have a Tesla and you or you're not, you don't want to get a Tesla, for whatever reason, and you want to shop other EVs, most of them are going to use this company called Electrify America.

Colby Sullivan:

You may refer to them as EA not the video game company, but like EA charging, there's also a smaller one called Charge Point, which it's my understanding that Charge Point works a lot better, like just Tesla superchargers you plug in, you pay, you go, and that's how a charge point is very reliable. They're just a very small footprint. They are your charging infrastructure for EVs. If you don't own a Tesla, you know you go out and you buy a Chevy Bolt or a ID4 for or a what was Tycon, I think, from Porsche.

Colby Sullivan:

You know they're going to use that type of charger and I mean they're all over the place now but they aren't, as you know, seasoned as the supercharger network, so they can be finicky. People have reported problems with the connectors not working or seeing the battery controller, payment issues, that kind of stuff. So it's a learning process for them. I think most people are happier with Charge Point, but they have a very small footprint. Ea seems to be the guy, so to speak, with the non Tesla network, so we'll see how it goes. You know the fact that Tesla is opening up their supercharger network to other manufacturers could play a lot or a big role into how things go in the future.

Tim Shoop:

Electrify America and ChargePoint.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, those are the two main ones. Ea is, like you know, 80% where ChargePoint is smaller. So I mean EA is kind of everywhere.

Tim Shoop:

All right, we'll go ahead and tag those in the show too, so our audience can go ahead and get educated on the different companies behind the push on the charging technology. Now that brings me into range anxiety. I mean, range anxiety is was one of my holdups. Now, you know, I'm seeing cars. Now I'm seeing some of these, these EVs. They've got a 500 mile range.

Colby Sullivan:

Now, obviously, that's not if you're in ludicrous mode, but let's talk about that, yeah, Tesla's new semi truck that they're coming out with has, you know, a range of 500 miles. Yeah, and to be able to have that amount of torque in a semi truck, to be able to climb steep grades and just pass people with ease and not have to worry about range, is a huge benefit. I mean, for a while, when EVs came out, I mean they weren't even able to break the the 50 mile barrier. The very first EV I wrote in was a Toyota RAV4 and I think it got 40 miles on the battery. We've made improvements since then with battery technology and things like that. Right now, on average, if I had to guess I mean I don't have the numbers in front of me, but if I had to guess I would say that most EVs are about 250 miles, which I mean that is a lot, especially with if you're in a Tesla and you can just stop at a supercharger anywhere.

Colby Sullivan:

There's newer EVs that are coming out. The Tesla semi truck is apparently supposed to be able to get 500 miles on a battery, which I believe that when I see it. But that battery pack is huge. I know they're doing a lot of stuff with the cyber truck. I don't know the exact range on that one. The problem with the cyber truck that recently is they've made so many little revisions to it. I mean, I've seen pictures of like 20 different cyber trucks on the road and they're like all different, you know, they just look like slightly different variations.

Colby Sullivan:

The battery, if I would say that if they can get 350 to 400 miles easily on a cyber truck, those things are going to sell like like hotcakes, even as crazy as they look. There are people out there who are going to be like I want one of those. Man, I would totally own one if I felt like I, you know, wouldn't feel self conscious about it. It just looks so silly, I think, but I also think it looks cool. So I don't know, we'll see how it goes. Most people are going to take, are going to have, less than a 10 mile commute per day, Right? So that's me.

Suds:

Yeah, that's what I am.

Colby Sullivan:

So, if that's the case, ludicrous mode all the way, all the way.

Tim Shoop:

yeah, for sure, yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

Just over the bridge. You know autonomy, autonomy mode but you know you can charge that with just your regular 110 outlet. You know you only get like two miles per hour charging on that type of infrastructure, but if you're only going 10, 15 miles, that's fine. As far as range anxiety, I mean, you just have to plan it out, like again, we keep bringing up Tesla, but like they are the leader in this space for a reason, you can just program your route, you know, or route if you're one of those, and your car will just basically tell you hey, you know, this is a four hour trip. We've got superchargers here here, here we recommend two, three stops here here.

Tim Schaffer:

Boom, you know it's just so I want to talk on that, if I can, because I just did a few months ago went to Tennessee with the Tesla, and so I wanted to see how it works. This was model three, okay, okay, and my biggest worry going into it was just like what, if I'm just in between states, I can't find a charging station and I'm just stuck on the side of the road, right, I guess that's what everyone's thinking. Yeah, there were so many there are so many.

Tim Schaffer:

Each city, right, even a small little town, had at least like one. Yeah, I was surprised in this area what is there - three? And then I want to say, like every time I was going I could have pulled over at any moment and charged and I would purposely try to see if I can go, but they will show you the entire time you're driving where the next one is charging times for you guys looking at. I say 30 minutes I've heard. 30 minutes is about the 45 minutes if we want a full right cool.

Tim Shoop:

I was. I was in Nashville at a MSP conference, actually at exchange Nashville recently, and I was hanging out with a bunch of other MSP CEOs and things like that and a lot of them had Tesla's. One of the guys he said he had an eight hour drive or an eight hour commute. He had the Tesla Model S and he had the full autonomy package and all of that and with the new software updates apparently they've improved a lot of that.

Tim Shoop:

And he said he said he was in autonomy mode pretty much the whole time. He was kind of hanging out and he didn't really drive the whole way. The car will exit when it you know when you're when it needs to charge. It'll take you straight to the charging station, yada, yada, yada. But he did say you can also program it to maybe go a little over the speed limit, just like you would drive your normal gas vehicle. And he had it six miles over the speed limit and he was dozing off full autonomy mode, I know right, and it took an exit, and an exit that it was supposed to take, but it took it at six miles over the speed limit and it's, he said it whipped him awake because he freaked out. It was going around with this barricade and just whipping around this corner. He said it was perfectly fine, it handled itself perfectly fine, but it was enough to make him not want to do that again.

Tim Shoop:

So there are and you've heard the stories about these vehicles and these, these batteries in, you know, in the early days of Tesla, where you know the autonomy was not seeing things correctly, I heard about a story about it going under a semi truck and a guy getting decapitated and things. But I will tell you, from what I understand with AI and the improvements in AI over the years, I think that might be a thing of the past, unless one of my biggest fears you know in the cybersecurity realm and knowing what I know about cybersecurity is if one of these car manufacturers gets hacked, these cars pull in updates from the manufacturers for their software. What if somebody hacks, pushes a car update to make the cars go a thousand miles or, you know, 200 miles an hour in a municipality and next thing you know you've got public chaos.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I mean it's definitely a valid concern. I think that if you're going to drive an EV and then do any kind of autonomous driving, you're going to have some inherent trust in the, in the system. You just you're just going to have to. If you're not comfortable with that, no one's going to force you to use it. Or I will say that I know Tesla specifically, like with their autopilot, which is different than full self driving. But if you just put it on autopilot and don't touch the steering wheel, within like a minute and a half the car will just pull over and disable itself, you know, safely. Until you, you know, turn put, you have to let it sit for a few minutes and reset and put your hand back on the wheel and go.

Colby Sullivan:

So I mean there are safety things that are in place that are designed to permit this kind of stuff. But I mean some of the stuff you read about, you know, is kind of scary. I can say the technology, I think, is only going to get better as we get, you know, more detailed maps of the roads and things like that. It doesn't help that we're always going or undergoing construction, but these cars are so smart and able to determine the difference between a parking lot cone, like parking cone, versus a child versus a, you know, normal sized human versus a an animal. It can differentiate between cars, trucks, vans. You know, they're very smart and I think they're only going to get better. I feel like, like this day and age, there's just a certain amount of, I guess, inherent trust that people just have to have.

Tim Shoop:

I mean, if you don't want to do it, you know, a lot of people have the misconception that an airplane is fully driven by the pilot. Right, yeah, pilot does everything. Well, they don't I mean the landings to take everything. There. There is a backup for your AI system, your.

Tim Schaffer:

AI driven system when I was driving the Tesla. Every 20 seconds it makes you grab the wheel and mess with the wheel.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, because there's a difference in what's called autopilot, which is essentially auto steer. Like, when you're on the interstate and you put it on autopilot, it will adjust speed depending on you know the amount of space between you and the car in front of you. It can change lanes, but that's not fully autonomous driving, Like, yeah, both self driving is still technically in beta right now. I mean, there's some, there's plenty of YouTube videos where you can watch people just filming and they're just sitting there.

Colby Sullivan:

If you do that, you can take over, you can take over at any time with full self driving, right, exactly, yeah, if you put it on autopilot after like a minute and a half, like it will literally just stop and be like look, you can't drive the car for five minutes until you right now it's not going to just stop in the middle Everybody crashing, it's going to pull over for you and then one of the main channels that I watch on YouTube with regard to EVs is a channel called out of spec reviews.

Colby Sullivan:

It is run by this you know younger guy named Kyle, I believe. He is based out in Colorado and he just tests all kinds of EVs and he puts them through, you know, like 10% to zero tests. As far as battery, he goes from 100 to zero. He does these these very scientific tests, where he will use the same interstate road. He tries to film it around the same weather pattern, so there's not too many effects there. He'll go 70 miles an hour on cruise and he will turn around and use the same path over and over until he runs out and he's.

Colby Sullivan:

He knows these cars like top to bottom. He knows which ones have battery buffer and which ones don't, because some of them they show you zero but they may have 10 miles left and I've seen him back into a charging station with literally zero battery remaining and as soon as he stops the car turns off and like he just knows these cars right and he's very knowledgeable about them and will tell you how to use them. Yeah, it's just a really good channel. I would check him out.

Tim Schaffer:

So you can tell he's being genuine and not being biased towards this and that Absolutely.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, he's got tons of videos on ID4, model three, model Y. He drives a model S-Plad, you know there's. He did the video where Tesla came out and for free replaced his Yoke steering wheel with the more traditional rounded one, because that was a big point of contention with some of the Tesla owners with the model S and X is the steering wheel Yoke. The Yoke felt way different than a traditional steering wheel. So yeah, out of spec reviews is really good. There's a couple of other ones I watched where they're just showing you like their personal Tesla, but I would check that one out for sure. Kyle's an awesome dude.

Tim Shoop:

All right, so we're going to segway into our next beer tasting. You need to down that IPA before we get into it. Did you drink yours? Did you finish yours? Oh yeah, we've been you're behind. So now we're going to get into the next one and I think is this a lager Suds? What do we got?

Suds:

It's another ale. It's the Fat Tire ale. This is their signature beer. Flavor profile takes inspiration from 1930s Belgium. Fat Tire blends a subtle malt presence with a slightly fruity hot profile and crisp finish to create a bright and balanced beer that drinks easy. Cheers, cheers, cheers.

Tim Shoop:

Oh yeah, that's smooth. It's so smooth, so that would be a good go to beer for every day.

Colby Sullivan:

This one. I'm like if people have it and I'm out and about or whatever. Yeah, these are very good.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, no, I like that. That's a beer I can drink on an everyday, like Stella almost. Yeah, a little bit. Maybe not as kind of a crispness as a Stella, but a little bit lighter, but more of a smooth finish.

Tim Schaffer:

Speaking of Stella, that's actually my favorite go to, in terms of just where you go to a normal bar and they just have the standards. Stella is like my favorite thing. Take the knife and like.

Tim Shoop:

So, guys, let's get into the Tesla phenomenon. Let's talk about what we've been talking about this whole show, even though we've talked about lots of car manufacturers. We've talked about battery technology, the evolution of the EV, and we got into some tech regarding it. Tesla has led the pack in regards to. Some of us thought Elon Musk was crazy in the early days, but come on, this guy has accomplished a lot. Let's see what he does with Twitter or X and all that next, but I'm most excited about what he's done with SpaceX and he's evolved using AI, the way the rockets can be reused and recycled. I mean that was a huge thing. But sticking on the EV on this episode, what he has led the pack with in regards to EVs has been nothing short of a phenomenon. So let's get in it. What makes Tesla unique in the EV landscape?

Colby Sullivan:

the network is built into the car, meaning the car knows exactly where they are, it knows how to get there. It based, you know, based on driving mechanics and weather, and all that in traffic. It knows how much range you need to get to that Before.

Tim Schaffer:

I took my trip it told me every spot I could go with the supercharge and it would just on fly and recommend you know new routes for you, that kind of stuff.

Colby Sullivan:

I mean, you just got to change your mindset a little bit, Like, instead of getting gas, now you're just getting, you know, electricity, while you, you know, use restroom, get some food, get some lunch, whatever.

Tim Schaffer:

You can watch Netflix in the car while you're charging, everyone thinks you got to charge to 100 or even charge to 50.

Tim Shoop:

Treat it like gas, so can you watch Netflix while you're driving. No, no, well, we need to hack that?

Tim Schaffer:

Yeah, because they have games that you can play with your friends.

Tim Shoop:

You got to be stopped and in park.

Colby Sullivan:

Right, you got to be in park to do that. See, yeah, see, look at like just their technology. Like what keeps them apart in the space is what you asked earlier. Tesla literally has a thing called dog mode. You leave your, you know, you go to the grocery store or whatever, you leave your car it's off, but like the AC is on, and then on the screen it tells people hey, my owner will be back soon. The AC is on, I'm fine, Don't break the glass, you know it's.

Tim Schaffer:

You can go with your phone and be like hey, I want my AC to come on right now because I'm going to go to my car in about five minutes. So what's?

Tim Shoop:

your favorite model, I mean, I know so, oh man, I'm torn between the S and the X, and the reason I talk about the X, well, I, got picked up.

Colby Sullivan:

I get it, I'm the exact opposite. But not to go ahead.

Tim Shoop:

I got picked up in one in Vegas and I was blown away. You know I was standing too close to the door. The guy was like, hey, you got to step back, these doors are going to open to go. They went straight up, yeah, yeah. And then when I was in the car and we were sitting at a light you know just the autonomy part of it I was watching on the screen in front the people walking in front of the car and how the car was identifying the humans walking back and forth and to me. You know I was blown away by it.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I mean so you, you know you asked my favorite models definitely the three in the Y. Yeah, so the S is Tesla's performance sedan. I mean it is definitely for people who like to to drive and hug the road. I mean it's a, it's a air suspension, you know, very smooth ride. To be honest, I feel like it's just too much machine for me. I would, I would not feel safe driving one of those, not because the car is dangerous, but just I wouldn't trust myself.

Colby Sullivan:

The X is basically the same thing as far as the performance, but in a, you know, bigger style SUV. I do like those doors and everything, but for my current lifestyle I feel like the Y would be, would be best. It's the number one selling car in America right now, beating the Corolla and Camry after like two decades of their dominance, so they're definitely really popular. A Y is just a bigger model three. The model three is just a standard sedan that you know most people are using as like a commuter car, that kind of stuff. The Y is just a enlarged version of that. Like they literally took the model three seats and put them on to a riser and just bolted them in. They didn't even redesign the seats, very minimalistic interior and I don't know man, I just I like the look of the Y. It has that really cool futuristic teardrop shape without being too flashy. So that's my pick. You know, the Y is kind of like a crossover SUV.

Tim Shoop:

How much is the model Y?

Colby Sullivan:

Uh 50,000 for the for the, uh, the all-wheel drive long range variant. You can get them for like 45, you know, plus the three in the Y. Right now, I mean this time of filming they. They still have a $7,500 rebates.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, but till the end of the year. So does the Y. Can you put it in? I forget what the mode is, but can you make it dance?

Colby Sullivan:

You can make it dance.

Tim Shoop:

The well, the X you can make dance.

Colby Sullivan:

Oh, with the doors and stuff.

Tim Shoop:

And yeah, no flaps, yeah, and does not.

Colby Sullivan:

I mean hey, that was sold yeah. Like I said the Y is a is a model three, that they just like it like it's a bigger model three that's more of a crossover SUV. Like yeah, it can fit what?

Tim Schaffer:

seven people?

Colby Sullivan:

I think that's one that's you can get this you can get the seven seat variant in the Y. Yeah, for sure.

Tim Schaffer:

And cargo space. There's a lot of cargo space in there.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, so what about the ecosystem that Tesla's developing? Let's talk about their power wall and their oh yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

You know they. The power wall is really cool. Um, for those who aren't familiar, it's a battery that you can use to sort of supplement your, your power. So, um, if you've got solar on your roof, you know, or.

Tim Shoop:

Similar to an inverter, but in a bigger format. Yeah, it's, it's yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

Instead of like. So, if you have a solar grid tie in, but don't have batteries, you know, whatever you don't use gets gets fed back into the grid, or whatever. But with batteries, during the day it's the solar is charging the batteries and then at night the batteries are powering your house. Yeah, Now they can't last forever, but you can basically offset your entire power bill if you build it right that way.

Tim Schaffer:

Um, eventually start making money. If you can do it, smart panel yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

So we can probably get into it. You know a little bit. If you want, um, I'd like to hear about it. So I had to replace my my roof. Um, a couple of years ago from Hurricane Sally, uh did some some pretty hefty damage on it, so I had a new roof in place. I've wanted solar panels for a while because I want my house to be ready for an EV and got the solar panels put on the roof. I decided not to go with a battery system around here.

Colby Sullivan:

Our power grid is fairly reliable. I was able to spec my system to be big enough to where I can produce more power than I than I use, and I've not had a power bill since we did this. We turned on the solar panels in January. So it's cool because I'm going to have a full year's worth of data to refer back to and know what months are good, what months are bad, and honestly, I haven't had any bad months. I mean I look at my app all the time and I get some really good production. Super excited about it. I mean it's great feeling that I don't have to worry about that. I'm paying $125 less a month paying back my solar loan than I was paying the power company. So I've got about an eight to 10 year ROI on that and then for 20 years the solar panels are just going to produce power for free for me, which is super nice, looking forward to being able to charge my EV for free.

Colby Sullivan:

Essentially, I spec my system appropriately with Meraki solar. I don't know if you guys are familiar with them, they're all over the country. I worked with them to build my system the way I wanted it. As far as offset, you know I didn't want to have too little, I didn't want to have too much. I have not had a power bill since I went with solar, with the exception of the $25 meter fee that you just have to have for having the. Uh, that's incredible Now for me personally. I took out a loan to zero down, you know, to do the solar. My loan is about $125 a month, cheaper than I was paying on average for power. So I was averaging about 250 to 75.

Tim Shoop:

But when will your return on investment match up, and how long do you think that's going to take? So for me, 20 to 30 years. No, it's way less than that.

Colby Sullivan:

usually, like I did the math and for me it's about eight, so I'm saving like $125 a month. So, yeah, I'm going to stay in that house. So me and my wife sat down and looked at the numbers you know, we shopped around for some local vendors here.

Colby Sullivan:

Um, I, you know, had a couple come by and it's it's funny. We've had them installed for nine months now and I still have people knock on my door asking if I'm interested in solar, because of how our house is oriented and where the solar panels are like. You cannot see them from the street. So it's actually kind of cool. You know, we did the research, we got a loan and we uh talked to some people who already have it some people on our streets and people that I know and, honestly, for us it was just really a no-brainer. Tesla, uh, their solars is they have a thing where they will basically price match anybody, like yeah, so yeah, I decided not to go that route, just went with the local company, or so we're.

Tim Shoop:

We're going to jump into the intersection of tech and EVs and finish it up with electric vehicles and lifestyle and what you know what people are experiencing now, but first we're going to let Colby catch up with us again. Yeah, yeah, one step behind, I think we're jumping into something a little bit darker Suds, take it away. All right, this is the new Belgium 1554.

Suds:

Although dark in color. 1554 is not a porter, stout, schwarzbier or Boch. Rather it is a style called Zwert, which is Flemish for black. It uses root for bittering includes a variety of special dark malts, a dash of liquor fruit and a European logger yeast that's fermented at ale temperatures and group, which is spelled like fruit. If you look it up on Wikipedia, it's a very interesting history on how local places kept it a secret and charged taxes on it. So this beer takes me back to my 20s.

Colby Sullivan:

It's smoky at the end, yeah.

Tim Shoop:

No, I'm getting the smoky tones. It takes me back to my 20s, when I was drinking Guinness and Newcastle, and you know those were my go-tos. It's definitely a darker beer. It's a sipping beer. It's something that's going to sit in front of you for a while before you finish, unless you were. Well, I was going to refer to one of my friends. I don't know if I'll finish this one personally but it's Well you're on the show and that's part of being on the show.

Tim Shoop:

You just got to finish. What's on your flight? I meant like. I do have some upcoming folks coming on the show that do not want beer on here. They want wine or cider, and we will do that. But you know we're going to have to make fun of them on the show.

Colby Sullivan:

I'll drink it. This is what I should have. What I meant was it's not something I would really order. No, I wouldn't either.

Tim Shoop:

I would have in my 20s.

Tim Schaffer:

I'm definitely different than you all. This would be what I would get more than those Nice yeah, I'm a lot older and when you get older you tend to you. Palette changes a little bit Like as a kid, like Like to me. I'm like whoa, this is so flavorful I couldn't stand Brussels sprouts or broccoli as a kid.

Colby Sullivan:

Now this is like dude, fry them up. You know so good.

Tim Shoop:

So, colby, I'm going to lean on your experience as a senior implementation engineer at digital boardwalk, and my 10 years is coming up?

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I know.

Tim Shoop:

And I heard from the CEO of that company that you're going to get roasted this year, yeah, so you're going to hit your 10 years, which is a big milestone At digital boardwalk. So there's going to be a roast and you're going to be you're. I think you're the only one. Nope, it's you and one other person, kathleen. Right, yeah, but I can't talk about it here because if she listens to it, she's meant that.

Suds:

Please don't roast me at the Christmas party. You're only supposed to. Please do. She's in for a surprise, but no, congrats.

Tim Schaffer:

I mean, the good news is the good news is Tim, we're going to know if she watches this show or not, because if she, does? She ain't watching, she's not going to know.

Tim Shoop:

So, kathleen, if you're listening to this, let me know, because you're getting roasted at this year's Christmas party. Whether you like it or not, she's not going to show up now. So tell me how, pulling from your experience at in cybersecurity and and IT and tech, how that intersects with your love of EVs and and why you know why EVs are. You know why EVs just resonate so much with you.

Tim Schaffer:

That's a great question, dude. Before you say anything, my biggest guess would be we're computer dorks, right? And what you were mentioning earlier the less moving parts, the better, right, and Tesla is doing is all about that. Like it in the computer mindset, we would want this, so you know what I mean.

Colby Sullivan:

Like we've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle, right the whole, just everything that, especially with Tesla. You got your phone in your pocket. Your phone is your key, you walk up to it and unlocks it. You get in, you don't even turn the car on, it is on.

Tim Schaffer:

I mean, can't you drive your car with your phone?

Colby Sullivan:

on some models, so yeah, like, depending on what you know autonomous version that you get, I mean, your car can just find you Like you it's, it's a drive.

Tim Shoop:

I read about that. That's awesome If you're. If it's in a parking lot, it will literally come to you.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, nice, it's called summon. I think it's called. I have to have that because I'm literally just see your car, your own valet You're like 10 feet away from it and you just see your car back out turn come, pick you up like come on, that's awesome.

Tim Shoop:

I remember one time I was in a big city I think it was Chicago and I a lot younger ladies and gentlemen, and I couldn't find my car. I had been bar, I was on, oh.

Tim Schaffer:

I've been there before.

Tim Shoop:

Couldn't find my car, Couldn't think straight. It'd be cool to hit a button. Go come to me, baby, come to me.

Colby Sullivan:

Another thing I mean like you just can't put a price on the automatic over the air updates. Yeah, so you pay for. If you choose to pay for the premium connectivity, I think it's like $10 a month. Your car has internet, sweet, so you don't need your phone, like like you got like all of the stuff you do on Netflix or the routing, you know, with a super charger network or just planning a regular trip, that's all done over, just the internet built into the car. Yeah, super, super awesome. Plus, they're just cool.

Tim Shoop:

I mean, come on, Well, you know, when you talked about ignition striking versus push button, versus being all the time, always on, yeah.

Tim Shoop:

I was on a cross country road trip with my family this summer and we were in crossing through Ronan Montana and pulled in to get gas. My truck wouldn't start when I rebooted it or when I jumped it on my portable oh, this is awesome, it's my on, you know, battery jumper Got one. Uh, it jumped when I left. My truck would not shift out of first gear. I'm like, great, I'm pulling a camper.

Suds:

I got all this going on.

Tim Shoop:

I had to drop the camper. I had to drive three miles, uh cross town to go to a dealership for them to reset my vehicle. I needed a battery. Right, the battery was low, it needed a battery had to be reset. Here's why and this is how they explain it to me Nowadays, our cars are our gas powered cars are basically a network, like a computer network.

Tim Shoop:

There's approximately 15 modules in the car that communicate with one another. If one module, or if the voltage spikes aren't, or if the voltage levels aren't hitting the right voltages, those modules will freak out. Now, in this case, because my battery wasn't delivering the right power and it's a push button start, you think, oh well, that's awesome, it's a push button start. Well, guess what? That push button is controlling a module through a computer that's hitting another module. And when one of those modules freaks out, guess what? Because my voltage levels weren't regulating properly, my transmission wouldn't go out of first gear. I have an air system on that truck that goes up and down and the rear of it pumped all the way up and the front was down and I was pulling a camper and I'm like, oh my God, nice. So a battery, a bad battery caused all those problems, wow.

Colby Sullivan:

Now we're talking about EVs. Sure, yeah, there's definitely things that can go wrong. So one thing that's really cool about Tesla specifically and sorry, this is a theme of this episode they, uh, they have their mobile repair service where you know, if something breaks down, and they're you know their, their cars are not, you know, infallible. They're you know you're going to have problems, but they can actually come out to you and repair, you know, the issue, without having to bring your car in most of the time. You know, I saw on one of the out of spec review videos where Kyle had bought a Model S and it came with the Yoke style steering, you know, wheel, I guess and he didn't want that. He, you know, he wanted a traditional round steering wheel. Tesla came out, replaced the steering wheel and he was good to go.

Tim Schaffer:

Yes, it happens, but it's not something Employees in this area. How does that work? They?

Colby Sullivan:

have authorized, like Tesla repair people, that just got in a little Ford transit or something you know, and they just come to you and repair it and you know, go on.

Tim Shoop:

So this is going to be a shorter segment in our show today, but I do want to lean into your uh, your experience as a implementations engineer, and you know you've been with this company 10 years. It's crazy. You know the advancements in tech. How is that going to change? Uh, the future of EV and the landscape out there?

Colby Sullivan:

Well, obviously, you know, with battery improvements, with the range will, it will improve.

Tim Shoop:

I hope so. Now, and I'm going to ask you I drive a truck, I pulled a camper. Am I going to be able to do that with an electric truck?

Colby Sullivan:

Yes, um, but well, you can do it now. I mean, well, not very far. Yeah, the range definitely is affected. I mean aerodynamics when it comes to EVs is a big thing. Plus, you know, with the, with the trailer and all that, you're adding a lot more weight. I mean, evs are all about aerodynamics. I mean the model three, for example. You know you bought, you buy a model three. It comes with what they call the aero wheels and they are essentially just old school plastic hubcaps over like a regular rim. But those wheels are designed in such a way that they actually give you like 20 or 30 more miles per range. If you upgrade the wheels to a bigger wheel what they call I believe they're called the induction wheels If you get that, your range actually goes down because of aerodynamics. So that's what it's all about. They will increase battery range. I know the semi truck is apparently able to do 500 eat like fully loaded with a like fully loaded, you know, 53 foot trailer. So batteries are only going to get better.

Tim Shoop:

I'm a fan of the Rivian truck.

Colby Sullivan:

I love the way those things.

Tim Shoop:

look, I'm still holding off a little bit. I love the way they've got the space behind the between the bed and the cab. Yeah, yeah, and you can pull it and they have different configurations that you can pull out, like a portable kitchen and all that for camping. But you know, I do want to touch on this. I think I was reading in I don't know if it was wired or something years ago, so speaking about EVs and speaking about pulling campers and fifth wheels, they're catching up to that.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, that's good. I'm falling behind now because this isn't my favorite anymore Campers so let's talk about that. So EVs have motors that drive the axles or the wheels right, and those motors are driven by batteries and that's why there's so much torque, because you're going directly from the battery through a computer controlled to a motor Campers right, they're already doing it in Europe. They can put motors on these wheels in the campers that are driven by V and that assist, so that way you're improving your mileage that you can get by pulling them and you're not pulling the dead weight that you're.

Tim Shoop:

I mean because I pull about 8,000 pounds when I and that's a lot- to be traveling. I traveled 5,500 miles this summer If I was driving an electric truck and it had electric motors on both of the axles for the four wheels on that camper. Think about what I would be able to do down the road when they perfect that technology.

Colby Sullivan:

It's, like you know, manual pushmower versus self-propelled, like you can totally tell the difference.

Tim Shoop:

But electric cars. I hear they're losing money on electric cars to get them out into the mainstream.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, the manufacturing process for an electric car because of the battery technology is so much more expensive than you know what are called ICE cars, internal combustion engines but they're chargers, and once they get the cars out there and they're using their charging platform, that's where they're going to make their money back.

Tim Shoop:

Right, right, but that's Tesla, because they're ahead of the game, yeah.

Tim Schaffer:

One question Wouldn't an electric vehicle still be better than gas powered vehicle when it comes to pulling, regardless of any other scenario? As far as like torque you, mean.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, of course, long term, that's going to be the point. Yeah, the problem is is that, like I said earlier, like those, those batteries are specced for that car at that size, with those aerodynamics right, and also the driver has a huge impact on range, gas is just more efficient. When it comes to adding a trailer, um, it's all about aerodynamics, man, like you know. I mean like the weight does obviously affect it, but like, like I said, the Tesla semi truck, the only reason it's able to go 5000 or I wish 5000 miles, 500 miles, and pull all that stuff is because they designed it to do that. The battery on the thing is litter is like huge what do you think about the cyber truck Cause?

Tim Shoop:

I think it looks awesome, I think I think I love the cyber truck, but I heard that from a lot of the early like now that we're getting to see them versus there's so many little minute changes the panels and the parts having to fit together. Per se, you're seeing imperfections. If we lived in?

Colby Sullivan:

a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I would drive the car. I'd like to have one. Like I think it's cool. I seen the little four wheeler, the ATV that they that comes with it. Like they, they were designing an ATV that was supposed to come with a cyber truck. I don't think that's going to ultimately happen, but it was a smaller cyber truck and an ATV format. I think it's a cool idea. They are just way to like cyber.

Tim Schaffer:

Long way to go before they're actually useful. Yeah, yeah.

Tim Shoop:

All right, guys, we're going to go into the last tasting and then we're going to follow it up with electric vehicles and lifestyle and we'll close out the show at that point. So suds you are, on what kind of beer are we going to finish this fascinating show with Colby Sullivan and Tim Schaefer and myself shoop dog.

Colby Sullivan:

Uh, sorry, it's on the office. It's labeled. I mean it's like yes, yeah, Not like it's a surprise.

Tim Shoop:

Tell us about the beer suds. All right, our final beer for tonight is the triple.

Suds:

That's a trippel Belgian style ale. Opens with a blast of spicy, noble hops that gives way to fruity aromas, before delivering a dry finish. Won the gold medal for the best Belgian style trippel at the 2021 great American beer festival 8.5%.

Colby Sullivan:

Okay, this one's a whole bunch of real quick suds question. So the name of this beer is trippel and it's a Belgian style ale and it won the award for the best trippel at the Belgian.

Tim Schaffer:

That's correct. It's own category, okay, all right.

Tim Shoop:

All right, I want to show how many beers were in that category, and how?

Suds:

much competition did it have. Trippel is the category and they call it trippel.

Tim Shoop:

Okay, all right, here we go, this one, this one, just smelling it, uh, burned all my nose hairs.

Colby Sullivan:

Oh, it's not bad at all, it's actually really good.

Tim Schaffer:

Hey, hey, for real, for that percentage. You know what that tastes. Better than the rest. That's the best one, yeah.

Tim Shoop:

So it's what's your opinion on this beer?

Suds:

I went down pretty smooth for that high alcohol percentage.

Colby Sullivan:

It tastes how it looks but not the way he, not how he described it. Yeah, right.

Tim Shoop:

What, Suds, is off camera drinking all these beers. He gets all the leftovers, so he's got a lot more beer than we do. So I have a feeling.

Tim Schaffer:

Is this?

Tim Shoop:

even is this show even being recorded, yeah.

Tim Schaffer:

No, for real, that that is delicious. And now I want, like I'm going to start buying these, these, back there drinking all the beers.

Colby Sullivan:

Suds. I've had anything I can't even describe that after taste.

Tim Shoop:

All right. So our last segment is electric vehicles and your lifestyle and how it will change the way you work, live and play on a daily basis and instead of just driving the same old thing that we've driven for decades. Yeah, so my first question is how owning an electric vehicle changes your lifestyle.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I mean. You know, if you're interested in EVs, I would just say that make sure that they fit your current lifestyle. They're not for everybody. I tend to think that most people can make the adjustment once. I've heard it said that once you do something for two weeks repeatedly, it becomes a habit. So instead of going to the gas station, you're just plugging your car into your house every day. I don't think that's that big of a deal. People aren't going on road trips all the time. I will say, you know there's lots of resources out there. I mentioned out of spec reviews earlier on YouTube. Definitely check him out. Kyle is awesome. He would love for you to subscribe to this channel, like his videos, all that stuff.

Colby Sullivan:

You know, I have some friends that have EVs and I've talked to them and every single one of them said look, you know, if these came out, I wish these came out 20, 30 years ago. I would have switched a long time ago they're. You know, evs have changed your life. You know I used to always talk about how, in 2008, around there, I got an iPhone and people are like what is this toy? And I'm like guys, I'm telling you, a smartphone will change your life man, so will an EV. The only thing you want to be aware of is, like there's different types of charging levels. So, like there's what are generally agreed on three levels of chargers right One would be like just plugging into a standard like one 10 outlet in your garage, right? Level two would be utilizing like a, like a NEMA 1450 outlet, which is like your dryer type plug. Right yeah, a lot of people will have those installed in their garage. Tesla again makes a particular charger that they call the Tesla wall connector.

Tim Shoop:

So they've got two right, they've got the wall connector, and then they have the one of them is like $200 and some dollars, and one of them is like $400.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, so the more expensive one is the wall connector where basically you hardwire that cable directly. The $200 one's mobile.

Tim Schaffer:

It's called the mobile connector. Okay, yeah. But, now my energy bill is going up. To be honest, I'm going to use the third option and just treat it like a gas station. So here's the thing, and then once a week I go and charge.

Colby Sullivan:

Here's the thing you know, you spend so much more money at the public charging stations, like, on average, most people who charge an EV at home. It's one. Take a gas a month, right, if you're like it cost. It cost about $30 to charge an EV at home a month. Now, that was one of the main reasons I wanted solar at home. I wanted to be ready. When I got an EV, I could just essentially charge it.

Colby Sullivan:

So they're charging more per kilowatt. Yeah Well, plus you pay for the convenience of just being able to charge and go Right At home. You know you may not have a fast charger, that's the thing. So I touched on one and two. Level three is your Tesla supercharger, your ACS connector for electrify America, that kind of stuff. Those are public chargers, right? Nobody's got a level three charger at their house.

Tim Shoop:

Right. So Colby, with solar panels and, you know, wall power, and an EV with the wall charger and all this stuff, what are you going to spend your money?

Tim Schaffer:

Yeah, is the money still less than what buying gas would be?

Tim Shoop:

Will you spend your money Because obviously you're not going to be spending it on anything?

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I'll answer that in a second. Electricity is way cheaper than paying for gas. It just is Okay.

Tim Schaffer:

Like I mean, I've never sat in charge of Tesla overnight, just plugged in the side of my house, right. So I don't know what the cost technically In a lot of areas you can get different ways of paying for electricity.

Suds:

Where electricity is cheaper at night because less people use it, yeah, a lot of people will get on that Nice.

Colby Sullivan:

That metered plan or whatever where, like you know, it's off off peak hours or whatever where it's way cheaper at night.

Tim Schaffer:

Okay.

Colby Sullivan:

And or even the reverse, where you could charge during the day or whatever, but, like with me having solar, I'm just going to plug my car in when I need it, charge it to 80% or 100 if I've got an LFP battery and just you know, be good with it.

Tim Schaffer:

Because it will go till 99 and the Tesla will be smart enough to slow down the charge, just like your phone.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, so, okay. So it's between level one and level two.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah. So level one is your standard, like 110 outlet, right, like your, you know your laptop, whatever you know North American standard, right? Level two is the like 40 or 50 amp charger, a dryer yeah, like a washer and dryer or a dryer is going to use that type of connection. The wall connector literally just hangs on the wall and is hardwired to that 240 circuit there. So plug your car right in when you're done, you hang the connector up on the wall, on the wall adapter, and you're done.

Tim Shoop:

So an electrician's involved in the wall?

Colby Sullivan:

Yes, that depends on local things, but most people can get them for like $500, $1500 installed about like that $500 to $1500 installed ladies and gentlemen, yeah, yeah, I kind of slurred that one, sorry, and you know I'm four beers in and yeah, see, that's what I like about the show.

Tim Shoop:

If you stick around for the third or fourth segment, usually our guest is as my mom. Uh, rest in peace. I love my mother, as she would have said. He's kind of loopy, yeah yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

Like, like you said earlier, if you're just driving to 10 miles to work, plug it into your, your outlet, in your garage. I mean two, two miles an hour, you could charge 10 miles and you know just a few hours. I mean that's not that big a deal.

Tim Schaffer:

Yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

Most people are going to benefit from a level two charger just because you know they may drive more at work.

Tim Schaffer:

I think a lot of people are scared because when okay, they're so used to going to the gas station getting gas, and then it's like, well, if I go and have to charge it, I have to sit there and wait 30 minutes, or an hour for the full charge. That's only if you want the full charge even. Yeah, what's stopping? You, I had that conversation so do these and moving on With uh, tesla going.

Tim Shoop:

No, I had that conversation with somebody recently. Rick, I know you're out there, I hope you listen to this so you'll know. But he said he doesn't have he and he races cars. He races Porsches on the track, Cool.

Colby Sullivan:

He doesn't have the patience to wait for the charging when he pulls in, you don't have to, and that's his hold up on EVs and he said I'm just too old for that.

Colby Sullivan:

Well, yeah, so on average, I, I'm pretty sure most people are charging for about 15, 20 minutes at a Tesla supercharger because, remember, the goal is not necessarily to get to a hundred percent battery, it's just to get you on your way to the next supercharger as far away as possible, which is going to be 80%. I mean these cars most of them these days can charge from zero to 80 in like 20 minutes. So it's not the end of the world, it's only going to get better. I don't think it's a big deal. Yeah, like the ID, for I brought that up before the Tesla models they have 350 kilowatt chargers for for superchargers. That's super fast, that's like 80 miles an hour. Yeah, you know.

Colby Sullivan:

So most people are just are just topping off If they're on a road trip. Get off the interstate, you're right there at a gas station or whatever Most of them have. You know Tesla chargers right there, just in a different part of the parking lot. You know you're going to the same place, you're just going to a different section. I think it's the same thing. It takes longer than getting gas, there's no doubt about that. But you know you're going to use the restroom, get some food, get a drink and watch Netflix while you're charging.

Tim Shoop:

So we talked about wall chargers and we talked about the impact that has. You got to spend the time and money to get that installed in your garage or whatever. But how is this going to really impact my lifestyle Otherwise, like the workflow or the change in my process when I drive my car?

Colby Sullivan:

Well, that's a great question. So EVs not universally, but generally you can benefit from what's called one pedal driving Most EVs. You don't ever have to touch the brake. You let go of the accelerator and they slow down, not aggressively like you're hitting the brakes, but they slow down to the point where, if you let go of the accelerator, I'm not going to say gas again because it's wrong. I have to make myself not say gas, but the car is going to actively slow down, not just go into, like you know, downshift like a traditional car would, and coast EVs are going to come to a stop if you let go of the.

Colby Sullivan:

Similar to a golf cart, exactly the same. So you know if you need to get on it really quickly, hit the brake, right. But most people can do one pedal driving and you just feather the accelerator, and so it's a little bit different. In Tesla's even have an option to enable what's called creep. You know internal combustion engines, right, you got the. You got the brake pedal pressed down at a stoplight. If you let go, your car is going to go forward, right. Yeah, tesla, you can turn that option on and off. It's called creep mode.

Tim Shoop:

Oh, that's cool. If you like, if you want to creep like a traditional? I don't think I would want to creep. I wouldn't. Yeah, I would hit some.

Colby Sullivan:

That's why they that's why they call it that so like if you want it to not move, you disable creep mode and you let go of the brake and the car doesn't go anywhere. That's awesome.

Tim Shoop:

So it's funny because my kids drive our golf cart around the neighborhood now and I always tell them hey, I'm prepping you for your future.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, I'm not saying that I'm driving because you know they're 10 and 12 and you know by the time they, you know they're our age, driving's just not really going to be. I don't think a thing anymore Now. That's just me thinking. I think everything's going to be autonomous my anxiety when I go to, when I go to conferences, and everything, because I know I can always get from point A to point B just by opening my phone.

Colby Sullivan:

You should check out the tapping it Uber drivers that are that are releasing their fully autonomous Teslas, and it's literally just picking the people up and just see. That's what I'm talking about.

Tim Shoop:

Somebody mentioned this on social media the other day. They said the future of vehicles in the future. You're not going to have two cars sitting in your driveway anymore Long term, you're just going to be picked up in an autonomous taxi. If you will, I'll refer to it as taxable. Go old school. But, Colby, we got to drive this show to a conclusion. So I'm going to finish this show by asking one more question. Let's talk about incentives, rebates, government programs, anything we can get into that might persuade our audience to go electric.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah. So right now, at the time of filming, until the end of the year, the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have a $7,500 tax rebate. It's not just those models. I believe your ID4 still has it. Chevy Bolts that kind of stuff, although I believe Chevy is stopping production on those for at least 2024, but it depends on how many they sell and there are certain thresholds that they hit where they can't give you the rebate. But as of right now, if you're interested in a Model 3 or a Model Y, you will get $7,500 back for your you know your tax rebate, which is really nice. I mean you could immediately just apply that to the principal and help pay down your car a lot faster or use it, you know, for something else. I mean, do whatever you want with it. It's your money. So if you buy a $40,000 Model 3, it's going to cost you $40,000, but you're going to get $7,500 back.

Tim Shoop:

You can immediately apply that towards the principal, or whatever, that's 20 to 25% off right there on a Model 3.

Colby Sullivan:

And I keep bringing up Tesla, but I mean there are other manufacturers that do the same thing. Yeah, 7,500 seems to be about the typical number. Do your own research on that. You know. Don't buy an EV just because of that, but that is definitely something that you can get incentivized for doing. You're definitely going to pay less just to maintain the car. Your insurance probably will be a little bit more expensive just full disclosure but you're still going to make that up on no gas, no oil changes, rebates, whatever.

Tim Shoop:

Any specific speaker or book that you have read that could tie in, Not anything specific.

Colby Sullivan:

I mean I mentioned out of spec reviews earlier. Honestly, that's my preferred resource for this.

Tim Shoop:

I mean, who is that say that? Again Out of spec reviews. Okay.

Colby Sullivan:

Out of spec reviews. Kyle will just literally tell you every single thing about the EV in question. If you're interested in it. He'll tell you how to, how to start it, how to you know, drive it, cause, like some of them have shifters, some of them don't, some of them have buttons. You know, that's honestly like I would check that YouTube channel out and just kind of go look at the the benefits of getting an EV, because, you know, remember when you know, 2008, 2007 circa, smartphones were coming out and I kept telling people like a smartphone will change your life, and people were like, whatever I'm in that dude, an EV will change your life. It's, it's a totally different driving experience than a standard internal combustion engine.

Tim Schaffer:

And I got one final comment before we go that will tie all of this up pretty well. The experience I had when I went to Tennessee and back with it is why I want it.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, I don't know what other endorsement you need you know, you know, because of that switch.

Tim Schaffer:

I'm seeing the way it handles it. It handles the way the acceleration works and break works, the way you're see the screen. The interface is incredible. It's like why people have iPhones compared to X, y and Z models of Android is because it just works, and works pretty much flawlessly. Yeah.

Colby Sullivan:

The interface is definitely the apple of the face, for sure.

Tim Schaffer:

The way you can see the other traffic around you. It will know if it's a semi, it will know if it's a car, it will know it feels a truck, a bus, whatever. It will show almost like a rainbow road. If you know you can go for a long time without oh, you're going to go for the next hundred miles and you have nothing to worry about, so just chillax, and it gives you this visualization as you're driving. The experience is the coolest part of why I want this test.

Colby Sullivan:

Plus, like cars nowadays are so over engineered with their, with their tech right, Like as far as the tactile stuff and the touchscreen stuff, whereas test and if you buy it in the wrong year, you feel yeah, oh, my God, the evolution of tech changes, and then you're stuck with whereas Tesla's like here's your big 17 inch screen.

Tim Shoop:

Here's a very minimalistic interior, so no antiquated technology when you buy a Tesla, because they will push the updates and everything. And going back to the analogy you guys used with mobile phone, it feels like apple. I had to rip the blackberry.

Colby Sullivan:

It's so hard for him.

Tim Schaffer:

I tried so hard. Did you have it? I have an apple, I'm like green bubble.

Colby Sullivan:

That's not a good sign. What is this, Yo, the pearl hey man, I got it, I know.

Tim Shoop:

Finally, I had to rip the blackberry out of my wife's hands to make the switch. But, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for enjoying another episode of nerds on tap. We'll see you next time as we talk with our next guest on AI in the online digital advertising space and how that has changed what you see and interact with online. I want to thank Colby Sullivan for joining us on our second episode of nerds on tap, and I think he has a buzz.

Tim Schaffer:

Thank you for coming on. It was awesome. Thanks for that.

Colby Sullivan:

Yeah, those aren't really available in North America yet.

Tim Shoop:

What's that Later?

Colby Sullivan:

I don't have a Volkswagen buzz.

Tim Schaffer:

Odor consultant says why there? What do you think? Good Thanks, David.

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