Another good experience I have with my EV is driving in snow.  Even with standard tires and front wheel (no limited slip), I can provide such exacting throttle input to get the car moving from a stop without wheel spin or TC.  While other ICE AWD and 4X4 just spin there tires because of the nature of torque delivery with old school ICE.

39 minutes ago, CO2Neutral said:

just spin there tires because of the nature of torque delivery with old school ICE.

I never had the problem, with either front wheel drive or rear wheel drive, manual or automatic transmission. You could get the tires to spin, but it was very easy to keep them from it.

Hook

PS. Let me give two examples.

1968 Chevelle SS 396 with automatic transmission. Due to accelerated wear on the rear tires, I ran racing slicks. No problems the couple times I experienced snow in Texas while I had the car.

1976 VW Scriocco, front wheel drive, manual transmission. I drove this one in Washington DC and drove in snow many times. No problems at all. Once I drove it DC to Dallas and experienced driving on ice across the entirety of Tennessee. The 18 wheelers were running normal speed, so I did too. It was a little like piloting a boat. I wouldn't do that again today.

PPS.  OK, here's why I never had any problems.

My first car was a 1963 Ford Falcon, manual transmission, in Texas. At the first sign of snow, which happened fairly often in those days, I'd take it to an empty parking lot and practice driving in snow and ice. Starting and stopping, recovering from skids, the works. By the time I drove home I was ready for anything.

I did the same thing with other cars. In the Scirocco, after some practice I'd lock the rear wheels with the manual emergency brake. On ice and snow, it wasn't any different from having the rear wheels unlocked.

H.

Edited May 25, 20251 yr by LHookins

Growing up in Canada, you just learned how to drive in the snow...or you were forced to stay home on date night!  🙂

My first car (in high school) was a VW 411 (type 4) wagon. Ran summer radials all year round and never had an issue going up to the ski hills. Of course, that car was light in the front and had the weight over the transaxle. (Also having the optional "aushwitz" designed gas turbine heater certainly made the mountain trips much more comfortable...the heater was either on/off and temperature control was rolling down the windows!)  🙂 

My next car at Uni was a 1978 Ford Fiesta (front wheel drive). I did put snow tires on that one to go up skiing...still, no issues and no chains required.

The only vehicle I won't drive in snow is a 2WD pick-up...too heavy on the front end and no traction on the rear. I drove plenty of conventional V8's since and never, ever had snow related issues...the key was running very narrow snow tires.

I can't count the number of Teslas I've seen in the center median or off the side during snow days since I've moved back to Canada. Like anything else, driving is a skill...some people just can't drive in snow having not acquired the skills to do so.

1 hour ago, rmeier said:

The only vehicle I won't drive in snow is a 2WD pick-up...too heavy on the front end and no traction on the rear.

I knew people with pick-ups who carried a couple of bags of cement or similar in the truck bed to give more traction.

Lotta pick-up trucks in Texas. 🙂

Hook

6 hours ago, LHookins said:

Lotta pick-up trucks in Texas. 🙂

I was surprised to see several Fiat 500e cruising on the I-10 and I-45.

6 hours ago, LHookins said:

I knew people with pick-ups who carried a couple of bags of cement or similar in the truck bed to give more traction.

That's just because they don't put winter tires on during winter, bags of cement for the rare snowfall is an economical solution

1 hour ago, Luis Hernandez said:

I was surprised to see several Fiat 500e cruising on the I-10 and I-45.

I don't get out enough to see those. Once upon a time it seemed like half the vehicles on the Texas roads were pick-up trucks.

 

46 minutes ago, Matthew Kane said:

That's just because they don't put winter tires on during winter, bags of cement for the rare snowfall is an economical solution

Exactly.  I don't know anyone who owns snow tires here, and I doubt many own chains.  I suspect the extra weight is generally for mud.  I used to claim we got snow twice a year whether we needed it or not.

I don't remember having snow during the times I only owned motorcycles.  I'm pretty sure I was smart enough not to try to ride in snow. I did ride in 17 F weather once, without problems, and I rode in rain all the time.

Hook

4 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Exactly.  I don't know anyone who owns snow tires here, and I doubt many own chains.  I suspect the extra weight is generally for mud.  I used to claim we got snow twice a year whether we needed it or not.

We don't have snow tires in New Zealand either and we do get occasional snow. I do have one snow sock for one tire which is all you need to get you up the mountain when you go skiing, that is the $50 solution and it actually works

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_socks

 

 

He runs through the pros and cons, here...

 

 

These guys really do some nice job. However, if I understood properly, they only handle the electric conversion. The restauration of the car to put it back into perfect shape is done by another company.

I love what they did with the two Ferrari TestaRossa, now named "TeslaRossa". The video of their road trip from England to central Switzerland made me quite jealous. The thing is, modern sports cars are ugly and vintage sports car are both very fragil and unreliable, plus when they work they demand tons of maintenance, and you know you just wear them a bit more every time. With the electric conversion, that worry is gone. Of course I know you can also replace the ICE engine... and the transmission... and this and that. But the parts won't be available forever.

With an electric conversion, the only replacement that you have to expect in future is a more modern/efficient battery.

On 5/24/2025 at 7:04 PM, Christopher Low said:

Is it just me, or is anyone else not particularly inspired by electric cars?

While a lot of people are indeed more passionate about ICE engines, these very same persons tend to forget a bit too easilly how horrible some of them are actually to drive.

Yes it's fun to drive an ICE engine and shift the gears and everything... if you have an ICE car that is actually fun. I had a BMW 645 E63 with a naturally aspirated V8, and the fun to drive was close to zero. I leave in a region with some of the most beautiful roads of the country, and on these roads, there was just no way to push the rpms or gears. 2nd gear and it was over already, need to brake for the next curve. Pushing the 3rd gear ? Nope, you can't go that fast in there. Maybe on the highway... oh wait, we were looking for "fun"...

Also, there are a lot of mountain roads/pass around here. An ICE engine was fun going uphill... for 5 minutes. Then it was just annoying. And in the downhills ? Hmm the joy of ruining my clutch and my brakes...

Since a few years I'm driving an electric car. And finally I could re-discover the real pleasure of driving. And I'm not talking about going fast here, I'm talking about the pleasure of pure acceleration or deceleration, enjoying the turns, especially the headpins etc... The mountain roads became most enjoyable, as I don't need to ruin my brakes in downhills anymore (in cool cruising mode, I mean...).

Some people thing the only fun you get from a car is from the engine noise and passing gears... Truth is, most engines make a very ugly sound, and passing gears is annoying most of the times. Yes, there is a tiny fraction of the ICE cars that is actually fun to drive... you'll have fun for a few minutes, and the 99% of the remaining time it will just be annoying.

I am reminded of a Heinlein quote from Stranger in a Strange Land.

Quote

“Jubal, you talk like a harem guard trying to convince a whole man of the advantages of being a eunuch.”

— Robert A. Heinlein

Someone wants to drive an electric car?  Go for it!  Have a great time!  But DON'T try to sell me on it, especially by running down ICE cars.

Don't come to my house to try to convert me to whatever religion you've decided is the right one. Don't come to my flight sim forum and try to convert me to whatever flight sim you prefer by bashing the one I prefer.  And don't come around bashing the cars I've known and loved all my life.

You want to talk about electric cars? @rmeier did it right.

I think electric cars are interesting, but I do not worship at that altar. I will respect you enough not to point out the myriad down sides of them. Please allow me the same respect.

Thank you.

Hook

2 hours ago, LHookins said:

I am reminded of a Heinlein quote from Stranger in a Strange Land.

Someone wants to drive an electric car?  Go for it!  Have a great time!  But DON'T try to sell me on it, especially by running down ICE cars.

Don't come to my house to try to convert me to whatever religion you've decided is the right one. Don't come to my flight sim forum and try to convert me to whatever flight sim you prefer by bashing the one I prefer.  And don't come around bashing the cars I've known and loved all my life.

You want to talk about electric cars? @rmeier did it right.

I think electric cars are interesting, but I do not worship at that altar. I will respect you enough not to point out the myriad down sides of them. Please allow me the same respect.

Thank you.

Hook

Nobody is trying to "preach" you any religion, or trying to convince you of thinking anything here. Why are you so aggressive ? It's not your home or your church here, it's a forum where people are supposed to exchange opinions, remember ?

Somebody said that he was under the impression that nobody here was inspired by electric cars, and I tried to explain why I was. If you don't like that, just don't read it or ignore it. You love ICE car all of your life ? Good for you. I used to love them too, and now I love something else and I think I am still allowed to say why. And don't think for a second that I ignore the bad sides of it, I know them very well after all these years, thank you.

11 minutes ago, Daube said:

Somebody said that he was under the impression that nobody here was inspired by electric cars, and I tried to explain why I was.

What he said was, 

Quote

Is it just me, or is anyone else not particularly inspired by electric cars?

He didn't say nobody was.  Obviously there are people here who are definitely inspired by electric cars.  There's nothing wrong with that, and there's nothing wrong with not being inspired by them.

I have no complaints with people talking about liking electric cars. I even gave one example of someone who did it right. My complaint is with people bashing ICE cars.

Sure, tell me why you like them.  Tell me why you like your preferred flight sim.  Tell me why you like your preferred religion (but not on Avsim, it's against the rules).  But the moment you start bashing the competition, expect push-back.

You don't have to talk about the down sides of electric cars.  But don't bash ICE cars.  

Hook

27 minutes ago, LHookins said:

You don't have to talk about the down sides of electric cars.  But don't bash ICE cars.  

Hook

Bashing??

Bashing would be saying that all ICE cars are annoying to use at all times. It's not what i wrote, is it ?

I have described previously why driving an ICE car ((a normal/ average one and some of the higher range ones) was sometimes not enjoyable at all,  and how the electric car (normal one, not a RR Spectre and not the cheapest Chinese toy car) was providing a much more enjoyable experience in these situations.

I may not be as old as some people here but i think i have driven a wide-enough range of vehicles on a wide enough range of roads to build my opinion. If you disagree, just argue like a human being, instead of telling me to shut up.