~ {{ Pix & Video of 2020 Slingshot (2021?) Next Generation Slingshot.

Quote from edwardaneal

Electric might be great for a family car, but I am not sure I would like it in a slingshot - seems boring that there would be no performance mods and personally the one thing that makes the vanderhalls a no go in my book is front wheel drive - - I hate front wheel drive. one of my greatest joys is stomping on the gas in my sling and power oversteering through a corner

Considering electric cars are breaking all the performance records on the books right now, I don't think they should just be family cars. Although true, you are dealing with front-wheel drive, the fact that you are only sitting 4 inches off the ground combined with the lack of obnoxious noise of an exhaust system as well as annoying belt system means you are enjoying a driving experience on a totally different level compared to the slingshot.

Having that instant torque along with the agile high-g turning that a 1400 lb chassis provides means one hell of an exhilarating driving experience that I am happy to sacrifice the stick-shift and rear-wheel drive for. It's hard for anyone who has not driven a high performing electric car to understand this so I understand the misconception of it being boring.

In the end, it's just you, the sounds of the wind/tires, and an insane level of acceleration and sense of speed (remember you can literally touch the ground with the palm of your hand when sitting in the thing) that the slingshot simply will never be able to deliver. I will gladly trade my batmobile in for that.

wokka

Its only Achilles heel will be it's range (for long distance travel) and recharge times when not at home. Advertising a 200 mile range is a stretch, realistically I don't expect more than 150 miles range (120 when driving hard).

No issues for me since my preferred driving habit is to cruise through ritzy neighborhoods and scenic areas around town at low speeds with my dogs who love taking in the sights and smells. Being able to do this without hearing the wailing of the gearbox and noises of drive belt will be an effing pleasure each and every time.

Seriously Polaris should have named the slingshot the "banshee" cause the gearbox howling noise blows big time. And no, changing the gear oil will not get rid of that damn noise. There is a harmonic resonance going on at around 15 mph and you simply can't avoid it. It's should have been called the banshee.

For those that are curious, here is a short promo video. I am keeping my fingers crossed that vanderhall is not having production issues with their electric variant. Morgan threw in the towel two years ago due to battery supply issues and there has been nothing but crickets for Edison 2 news in the past year.

I really really want this fun toy now that I have had my slingshot craving satiated.

Quote from neostar

Considering electric cars are breaking all the performance records on the books right now, I don't think they should just be family cars. Although true, you are dealing with front-wheel drive, the fact that you are only sitting 4 inches off the ground combined with the lack of obnoxious noise of an exhaust system as well as annoying belt system means you are enjoying a driving experience on a totally different level compared to the slingshot.

Having that instant torque along with the agile high-g turning that a 1400 lb chassis provides means one hell of an exhilarating driving experience that I am happy to sacrifice the stick-shift and rear-wheel drive for. It's hard for anyone who has not driven a high performing electric car to understand this so I understand the misconception of it being boring.

In the end, it's just you, the sounds of the wind/tires, and an insane level of acceleration and sense of speed (remember you can literally touch the ground with the palm of your hand when sitting in the thing) that the slingshot simply will never be able to deliver. I will gladly trade my batmobile in for that.

wokka

Its only Achilles heel will be it's range (for long distance travel) and recharge times when not at home. Advertising a 200 mile range is a stretch, realistically I don't expect more than 150 miles range (120 when driving hard).

No issues for me since my preferred driving habit is to cruise through ritzy neighborhoods and scenic areas around town at low speeds with my dogs who love taking in the sights and smells. Being able to do this without hearing the wailing of the gearbox and noises of drive belt will be an effing pleasure each and every time.

Seriously Polaris should have named the slingshot the "banshee" cause the gearbox howling noise blows big time. And no, changing the gear oil will not get rid of that damn noise. There is a harmonic resonance going on at around 15 mph and you simply can't avoid it. It's should have been called the banshee.

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I guess we all like different things - - one of the things I love the most about the slingshot are the smells and the sounds, takes me back to the days when I built mini bikes and go karts - - - gasoline, exhaust the visceral feeling of being connected to everything the slingshot is doing

I love it - - if I had wanted clean quiet and sanitary I would not have wanted a slingshot in the first place - or any other motorcycle for that matter

but hey - this is just me, and the great thing about all of this is that there are different options for all of us

Quote from SlingLow

Polaris won't go electric until they can make money from it. 5 years is a reasonable estimate. But I wouldn't put money on it...

The Indian brand will get an electric motorcycle first. Polaris has already commented on this based off the purchase of Brammo. It will be within 5 years and will be aimed at pleasure and performance riding rather than city commuting. 120-140 mile range. They already offer an electric Ranger and have a small electric city .

I'm sure they have discussed this many times.

Quote from Bigdog

Rather have it higher and more toward the front...sorry.....that ain’t sexy or even fun to look at....

That depends on if you are a junk in the trunk guy or not....

Quote from edwardaneal

I guess we all like different things - - one of the things I love the most about the slingshot are the smells and the sounds, takes me back to the days when I built mini bikes and go karts - - - gasoline, exhaust the visceral feeling of being connected to everything the slingshot is doing

I love it - - if I had wanted clean quiet and sanitary I would not have wanted a slingshot in the first place - or any other motorcycle for that matter

but hey - this is just me, and the great thing about all of this is that there are different options for all of us

Agreed. Everyone has their prefs.

For me the smell of gas fumes can be nauseating when having been away from it for so long. I remember the first few days after buying the slingshot it was truly a shock to the system for me. I had been so used to not being immersed in gas fumes for years that it actually made me queasy at times sitting in traffic and sucking in the exhaust of not only the sling but the other cars around me. It took a few days to finally get used to it again.

Thankfully the thrill of driving does not require gas fumes and oil stains anymore. Now I can be one with the road and not suffer the crap that comes along with the 100 year-old tech that is the internal combustion engine.

All I want is to feel the rush of air, the sounds of rubber meeting the road and the exhilaration of the fast performance drive. Oil and gas not required.

As much as I love my one of a kind look of the slingshot I am very much looking forward to an electric alternative next year.

An electric Slingshot would just be a hopped up golf cart.

I'm in favor of a diesel front wheel drive Slingshot, which mine will be if the four banger ever let's go.

LC

Quote from LargeCar

An electric Slingshot would just be a hopped up golf cart.

I'm in favor of a diesel front wheel drive Slingshot, which mine will be if the four banger ever let's go.

LC

I think I ran into a few super fans of diesel recently. They like to remind me of their superior diesel engine use by unloading a ton of exhaust when I am behind them in my sling. Really classy group. I try to catch up to them to get their autographs but alas they are too fast for me. All I can do is daydream of meeting them in person and being in awe of their superior intellect.

Yup, there are the idiots that like to "roll coal" as they call it. I been telling them for years all they are going to accomplish is getting tickets and making stronger pollution laws. I have never been a fan of smoking diesels, none of mine do and I seem to out run/pull the others. My jetta is a consistent 50 mpg getter, the sling is around a consistent 27 mpg getter. So I think a jetta diesel in a sling could give somewhere around 60 to 65 mpg, and be a snappy front wheel drive ride.

LC

Well right now in my 2nd gen leaf, I pay $6.67 for 240 miles of transportation whereas the sling costs me around $27 bucks for that exact range. Oh and my leaf is a snappy FWD (0 to 60 in under 7). Not bad for a 4k lb sedan.

No combustible fuel will match the efficiency of electric and if and when the cost of electric fuel goes up because of demand, I will simply invest into solar panels and get my gas for free (after it pays for itself of course). Can't do that with combustible fuel.

Also in case you haven't notice, diesel is slowly phasing out for non-commercial vehicles. Ever since VW got caught cheating on pollution standards for their "clean" diesel line they have quickly adopted electric propulsion. The other car makers are following suit. The fact that 18-wheelers, school buses and city buses are all being electrified should be a sign for the naysayers that Diesel/gas days are numbered.

Quote from neostar

Well right now in my 2nd gen leaf, I pay $6.67 for 240 miles of transportation whereas the sling costs me around $27 bucks for that exact range.

No combustible fuel will match the efficiency of electric and if and when the cost of electric fuel goes up because of demand, I will simply invest into solar panels and get my gas for free (after it pays for itself of course). Can't do that with combustible fuel.

my wife and I thought about getting a Tesla for her next car, love that the model S comes with lifetime free charging at supercharging stations, but decided that at this time the charging infrastructure is not yet sufficient. its great for around town, but if you want to take long trips you need to be willing to map every trip out such that you hit charging stations and on top of that you have to be willing to spend the time it takes to charge at each stop - in other words many times you route might not be as direct as you would like, or as scenic as you would like and you will spend more time sitting waiting and not driving.

We currently have a solar home, 59 panels capable of producing 15.64 kW of power and it would be great to keep a little around town car charged and we currently feed enough extra into the grid each year to easily cover what an EV would use, but despite that we are not willing to spend 20 minutes for about a 50% charge or well over an hour for a full charge every few hundred miles when with gas we can get a full tank in under 5 minutes

Personally I am not convinced charging technology will ever be able to match what people are used to for fueling times - they might have to find a way where depleted battery packs can simply be swapped for a fully charged pack at battery stations, but this would require EV makers to agree on some universal design which is highly unlikely

Times are a changing. Tesla no longer offers life-time free charging for one thing. Fast charging rates are dramatically increasing year over year for another. If you buy the latest high-end electric like the Porche Taycan you are looking at insane charging capability to the tune of 250kW peak rate.

"While 90 percent of Taycan charging will be done at home or work, one factor that separates the Taycan from other high-end battery-electric vehicles is the speed of its fast charging. The 800-volt battery architecture allows charging at up to 270 kilowatts on launch. Future Taycan models with larger batteries could charge at rates up to 400 or 500 kw, Porsche said, while 400-volt vehicles are limited to roughly the 250-kw peak rate Tesla is now rolling out at its Supercharger sites."

This capability effectively negates long charge times during a long range trip.

Also this kind of capability will eventually trickle down to the mainstream electric market in a couple of years.

But for now, the rule of thumb for typical recent electric cars like mine is 100 miles between charge. Here's the thing that most non-electric drivers don't understand. If you are in a 60kWh plus battery car like mine, as long as you have access to a level 3 charger every 100 miles then charging times are no more than 20-30 minutes per stop. The reason for this is that your car's fuel state does not drop below 40% when you stop to recharge if you charge every 100 miles on your trip.

This means that your effectively recharging 40% of your battery each time (80% capped for heat issues) which reduces heat build-up (saves battery wear) and minimizes charge time at a given stop. This is only possible with large battery cars so even though my car has max range of 240 miles per charge I would never use it like that for long distance. I would use that range between charges all the time for daily local use.

Sure the driving studs out there will claim they don't need or want to stop every 100 miles (1h20 minutes of driving) cause they don't need to empty their bladders or stretch legs like normal people. Do you need a 20 minute break every 80 minutes or so of driving, of course not, but is it safer for driving long distances and healthier for your body, you betcha. Do the math, if you travel say 500 miles per day (typical normal person) then you would incur 100 to 150 minutes of delay for recharges in a given day. That's 1.5 to 2.3 hours lost per ~7.3 hours of driving vs. 50 minutes lost for gas stops.

And yes charging networks have progressed to the point where I have mapped out level 3 charging stations every 100 miles along the East coast on I-95. Ditto for the west coast. Cross country through remote areas, different story. But that's just one flavor of long distance travel and not the end all be all for car travelling.

As much as I applaud Tesla as a company for leading the electric revolution their cars are way too expensive to operate. Insurance rates are through the roof and replacement/repair is tedious and cumbersome. Nissan, Chevy and Hyundai are the car makers that are making reasonably priced and very capable cars for the mainstream in Today's market.

So yeah contrary to what you might assume, electric car long distance travel is very doable and enjoyable for those open-minded to give it a try.

Oh by the way, Tesla hyped up a battery swap tech a few years ago to much fanfare, but it's clear they abandoned it for logistical reasons. An Israeli battery swapping company went bankrupt before it ever got off the ground so battery swapping will not happen, ever.

well - my wife and I already took the plunge on solar for our home, with a system that exceeds 100% of our consumption by a good amount - usually our annual production exceeds consumption by about 5,300 kWh - - as far as an electric car goes we will wait, 20 minutes every 100 miles - - seriously? not acceptable

Quote from Edward Neal

my wife and I thought about getting a Tesla for her next car, love that the model S comes with lifetime free charging at supercharging stations, but decided that at this time the charging infrastructure is not yet sufficient. its great for around town, but if you want to take long trips you need to be willing to map every trip out such that you hit charging stations and on top of that you have to be willing to spend the time it takes to charge at each stop - in other words many times you route might not be as direct as you would like, or as scenic as you would like and you will spend more time sitting waiting and not driving.

We currently have a solar home, 59 panels capable of producing 15.64 kW of power and it would be great to keep a little around town car charged and we currently feed enough extra into the grid each year to easily cover what an EV would use, but despite that we are not willing to spend 20 minutes for about a 50% charge or well over an hour for a full charge every few hundred miles when with gas we can get a full tank in under 5 minutes

Personally I am not convinced charging technology will ever be able to match what people are used to for fueling times - they might have to find a way where depleted battery packs can simply be swapped for a fully charged pack at battery stations, but this would require EV makers to agree on some universal design which is highly unlikely

If I installed solar panels in my house I would only do it with sufficient battery storage (minimum 50kWh). This would allow me to keep my home powered and provide level 2 charging to my electric car. It would not be wise to install a solar panel system without battery storage. I could care less about selling excess energy back to the grid.

Quote from Edward Neal

well - my wife and I already took the plunge on solar for our home, with a system that exceeds 100% of our consumption by a good amount - usually our annual production exceeds consumption by about 5,300 kWh - - as far as an electric car goes we will wait, 20 minutes every 100 miles - - seriously? not acceptable

Perfectly acceptable to me and thousands of others, also acceptable to large companies putting millions on the line laying down charging networks constantly and continuously as I type this.

I am just curious... right now how much does it cost to charge your car every 100 or so miles? Do you foresee this changing in the future... You know.. the free lunch thing.. Someone is going to want to make a bunch of money.

Quote from billythekidd

I am just curious... right now how much does it cost to charge your car every 100 or so miles? Do you foresee this changing in the future... You know.. the free lunch thing.. Someone is going to want to make a bunch of money.

Even though I am signed up to the two major charging networks on the East coast I don't know what the refueling cost would be exactly since I haven't done a long distance trip but I can say it would be more than charging at home but much less then fueling with the equivalent cost of regular unleaded. Matter of fact, competition would ensure the cost of electric charging would never be as high as petrol because the possibility of offsetting electric fuel cost with solar panels at commercial charging stations will always be there.

So power companies can't establish a monopoly like big oil has been doing for the past century. The threat of renewable tech will keep that in check. No more BS excuses to jack up prices of fuel like in the past, i.e. random refinery explosions, increased tensions in the middle east, opec decisions... etc etc.

Matter of fact, the reason why we aren't seeing gas prices soar with the recent middle east flare up is because big oil knows they can't get away with it anymore because it would further accelerate the electric car market share. Sure you can credit Trump's administrations use of the oil reserves all you want but big oil won't let gas prices spike like they use to do 6-7 years ago. It would speed up their inevitable demise. In fact your can credit the threat of electric cars for the relatively stable low gas prices we have had for the past 4 years for this very reason. Big oil was hoping by keeping gas prices as low as possible that the electric car demand will dwindle away and the electric car makers would go bankrupt, hah! We have electric SUVs and Trucks on the way so the oil barons have lost the war.

In case you are wondering, it costs me 11 cents per kilowatt of energy at my house. To fill up my 60kWh battery (the car gives me an avg of 4 miles per kwH)

the cost for a full tank is thus $6.60 for 240 miles of range.

Looking at a typical sedan with an avg mpg of 25 @ $2.75 per (premium) gallon a full tank of say 10 gallons would cost me $27.50 for 250 miles range.

So basically my electric car fuel bill is 24% the cost of a comparable gas car.

I estimate paying for commercial electric fuel (for the occasional long distance trip) would cost between 40% to 60% of the equivalent gas bill.

Remember the rest of the time you are paying 24% the cost. That's not factoring savings from no more oil changes, no more nickle and dime costs for complex ICE system wear and tear failures (pulley belts, radiator components, clutch replacements, more frequent brake replacements etc etc) and you can see why more and more people are starting to see the light about electric.

All these benefits and you will not compromise performance one iota. Matter of fact performance goes up not down with electric. My family car nissan leaf has more pick-up than any of my past ICE cars ever did (outside my Pontiac trans-am).

Will cost of electric car ownership go up? Yup, once local/federal govt. realize they need to make up for the loss of gas tax revenue, I expect to see increases in car property tax and/or car registration fees. It's only natural.

And don't think you are limited to only a handful of models when thinking electric. As someone already stated earlier, modding is a thing....

Electric cars are great for some, not so much for others. When they make a one ton dual rear wheel crew cab that I can hook my fifth wheel and slingshot trailer to (74.5 combined feet and 30 to 31k lbs) and drive from Oklahoma to Washington in two days I'll think about it. I can, and have, added dual accessory fuel tanks to my truck for extra range, can you add extra battery packs to any production EV? Of course the Slingshot is not for everybody either.

LC

Quote from LargeCar

Electric cars are great for some, not so much for others. When they make a one ton dual rear wheel crew cab that I can hook my fifth wheel and slingshot trailer to (74.5 combined feet and 30 to 31k lbs) and drive from Oklahoma to Washington in two days I'll think about it. I can, and have, added dual accessory fuel tanks to my truck for extra range, can you add extra battery packs to any production EV? Of course the Slingshot is not for everybody either.

LC

The keyword here is "when" not "if". If this bad boy is about to hit the market you know your dreams will be fulfilled in the coming years....

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/…freightliner-semi-trucks/