Electric Vehicles: General topics

[DT]

Oh, so here:

Post in thread 'The BMW Thread'

Friday at 9:13 AM

The biggest bummer with very likely dropping down to a single vehicle next year, is not having a super cruiser like the iX, combined with the option of the Wrangler which is the go anywhere / do anything. Yesterday, I turned in one road too soon for the parking area, which would've necessitated a big loop back around (one way roads) to get to the actual lot, since it's not connected by a road. But it was just a little 8" curb separating them ...

• DT

I was kind of lamenting the future loss of a more action-adventure curb hopping ride (we most likely will drop from two cars to one after a big move we're making), when we only have the current iX, a new iX, an iX3, etc., but this was a super cool concept, that takes a Lucid Gravity - and beefs it up

https://ir.lucidmotors.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lucid-gravity-x-concept-trail-ready-suv-designed-push-boundaries

Hahaha, love this!

FWIW, we still have the R2 and Scout on reservation, and still have both, as well as a next gen R1 on "The List".

 

[Herdfan]

Just use it however you like, people get too weird about charging. Your typical DCFC sessions are probably a small percentage of charging anyway, and if you don't have home charging (to avoid constant DCFC), you shouldn't be buying an EV anyway

Yeah, DCFC also seems much more expensive ($0.60 to $2.00) than L2.

She will only be able to L1 charge at home, but she has L2 (7kW) chargers in the garage at work she can use as well as too many to count in the area where she lives.

She plans on moving in December to a new complex that has L2 chargers.

She will really only need DCFC on trips.

 

[Yoused]

One thing I was wondering about was the possibility of having roll-up solar cells for travel. Obviously, the charge would be like L1, because it would be impractical to tote around enough of a panel to get much more than that (think camping for a few days). But I was wondering whether the DC connection would work at the lower input. Solar cells make DC, so inverting their current to AC so that the onboard charger could level it back to DC for the battery would be a waste. Is there a lower limit at which the DC input would just not work?

 

[DT]

Oh yeah, I always talk about "Home Charging" being a requirement, but that could be "Places you go all the time, daily, with L2 charging", i.e., work, school and it's probably not too bad of an experience (assuming they chargers are pretty available, not too costly / free).

Our FPL stations here in FL, outstanding DCFC, 350 support, are like $0.30, the ChargePoint we hit coming back from the Keys, was also in that price range. DCFC costs generally do flip the EV cost effectiveness though.

 

[diamond.g]

Yeah, DCFC also seems much more expensive ($0.60 to $2.00) than L2.

She will only be able to L1 charge at home, but she has L2 (7kW) chargers in the garage at work she can use as well as too many to count in the area where she lives.

She plans on moving in December to a new complex that has L2 chargers.

She will really only need DCFC on trips.

Demand charges don't help. Wonder when (or if) states will fix them.

 

[Yoused]

Demand charges don't help. Wonder when (or if) states will fix them.

My home rate is flat 0.14/kW, so I can charge at home at 3am or 4pm, all the same.

 

[Nycturne]

She will only be able to L1 charge at home, but she has L2 (7kW) chargers in the garage at work she can use as well as too many to count in the area where she lives.

Nightly L1 can certainly stretch the time needed to do a larger charge at an L2 or the like. Shouldn't be hard to get ~30mi a night on L1 which is enough for my daily commute, but it all depends.

 

[Roller]

Yeah, DCFC also seems much more expensive ($0.60 to $2.00) than L2.

She will only be able to L1 charge at home, but she has L2 (7kW) chargers in the garage at work she can use as well as too many to count in the area where she lives.

She plans on moving in December to a new complex that has L2 chargers.

She will really only need DCFC on trips.

I wonder about sharing etiquette in garages with multiple chargers. Unlike the typical home charger setup, you usually can't just plug in and leave it if demand exceeds supply. I once worked at a place that had a few chargers in a large parking deck. If you were lucky enough to get one on morning arrival, you were expected to unplug and move your car around midday, which was often impossible because the garage was usually full by then.

 

[Herdfan]

Demand charges don't help. Wonder when (or if) states will fix them.

APS in Arizona gives you a choice of whether or not you want a demand based rate plan or two choices of flat rates. I am on the Demand Rate plan because it is the cheapest, but we don't use much electricity between 4-7pm when the demand is calculated.

Nightly L1 can certainly stretch the time needed to do a larger charge at an L2 or the like. Shouldn't be hard to get ~30mi a night on L1 which is enough for my daily commute, but it all depends.

Yes, 2.5 miles per hour on the Mach-E. She only goes into the office 2 days a week and is WFH the other 3, so plenty of time for it to sit and build up charge.

I wonder about sharing etiquette in garages with multiple chargers. Unlike the typical home charger setup, you usually can't just plug in and leave it if demand exceeds supply. I once worked at a place that had a few chargers in a large parking deck. If you were lucky enough to get one on morning arrival, you were expected to unplug and move your car around midday, which was often impossible because the garage was usually full by then.

The Ford Pass will notify her when the car is full. So she can go move it then. She said there are usually only 1-2 of the 6 in use at any given time.

I have read where some stations charge a fee after 5 minutes when people are waiting.

And DAMN that thing is fast. Scary fast. Told her to forget that "Unbridled" mode exists. LOL.

 

[Herdfan]

So she leaving to head back to CA this morning and I have to admit, I’m a little nervous. Probably more so than her.

The plan is she stops at Quartzite where there are over 100 chargers, then on to Palm Springs to top off. And then home.

Once home she won’t drive more than a couple of miles until Tuesday morning, so 36 hours on the L1 should get her to 80% or so.

 

[Eric]

So she leaving to head back to CA this morning and I have to admit, I’m a little nervous. Probably more so than her.

The plan is she stops at Quartzite where there are over 100 chargers, then on to Palm Springs to top off. And then home.

Once home she won’t drive more than a couple of miles until Tuesday morning, so 36 hours on the L1 should get her to 80% or so.

Traveling in an EV was a hard lesson for me, I'm even on record here as being excited about it prior to my trip. Unfortunately, it turned out that finding, waiting in line for, and actual charging sucked nearly a full day from my vacation plans. It sounds like your daughter is planning for it which is smart but that was the last time I'll ever use it for a vacation.

You all know I'm not much of a fossil fuel guy but spending 5 minutes at any pump on any roadside while getting over 500 miles of range is hard to beat. That said, having an EV locally is also just as awesome when you can simply charge at home.

 

[Hrafn]

Traveling in an EV was a hard lesson for me, I'm even on record here as being excited about it prior to my trip. Unfortunately, it turned out that finding, waiting in line for, and actual charging sucked nearly a full day from my vacation plans. It sounds like your daughter is planning for it which is smart but that was the last time I'll ever use it for a vacation.

You all know I'm not much of a fossil fuel guy but spending 5 minutes at any pump on any roadside while getting over 500 miles of range is hard to beat. That said, having an EV locally is also just as awesome when you can simply charge at home.

Hm. My most efficient car only gets 450 on a full tank. My daily driver gets 25 mpg with a 12 gallon tank, but I drive about 45 miles a day, so I pretty much have to gas up weekly. I looked at a used Nissan Leaf. Its battery was reporting errors, and it didn't have enough range.

 

[Herdfan]

Traveling in an EV was a hard lesson for me, I'm even on record here as being excited about it prior to my trip. Unfortunately, it turned out that finding, waiting in line for, and actual charging sucked nearly a full day from my vacation plans. It sounds like your daughter is planning for it which is smart but that was the last time I'll ever use it for a vacation.

She made it to her first planned stop with 27 miles to go. Everything there worked as advertised. She pulled up to a 62kW Tesla charger, plugged it in (with the adapter) and it popped up on her Ford Pass app and started charging. It initially said 1:20 to go from 11% to 100, but it hit 50% in 15 minutes and 80% in a half hour. Knowing charging would slow down from 80-100%, and she had enough range to get to Palm Springs, she left and will charge again there. So far, so good.

You all know I'm not much of a fossil fuel guy but spending 5 minutes at any pump on any roadside while getting over 500 miles of range is hard to beat. That said, having an EV locally is also just as awesome when you can simply charge at home.

Plug-In Hybrids seem like the best of both worlds, but they don't seem to really have traction in the market. Not sure why not.

 

[Citysnaps]

You all know I'm not much of a fossil fuel guy but spending 5 minutes at any pump on any roadside while getting over 500 miles of range is hard to beat.

I was all set to purchase an EV (and already had two 240v 50amp service outlets installed during construction). But after thinking hard about EV vs hybrid, and how I would be using the car, the hybrid won out.

Around 550 miles (both city and highway) on 13 gallons of gas was the deciding factor. Which takes around a minute or two to pump at a gas station that's a quarter mile from where I live. Something I do around once a month (or longer). That range would take me to Tijuana, Mexico from the San Francisco mid-peninsula.

 

[rdrr]

I rented a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid in New Orleans and drove it back to NH in 2017. It definitely got 500 miles between fill-ups. I remember this because I was impressed and noted it for my next car. Unfortunately, when I finally purchased a car in 2019, the Sonata got bad reviews that year.