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Thread: electric cars catching on?

  1. #41
    The strobe picture is mine. The crashed one not. We're experiencing a drought and I think it's only rained once since Ken bought his Leaf.

  2. #42
    I just completed building a 240V charging station for our Nissan Leaf, based on open source code and kits available online. I started by adding a dedicated 240V outlet in the garage. I got lucky in that my electric service panel is on the outside wall of the garage, so the wiring run was very short, only 3 feet. This won't be my last electric car, so I future-proofed through use of a NEMA 14-50 50 amp outlet with 6/3 wiring.

    The charging circuit on these cars is very simple.


    There are two poles that provide 120V each to total 240V, a ground pole, and a control pilot where the charging station (called an EVSE, Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) tells the car what kind of amperage it can provide and the car's onboard battery charger responds by telling it how much it can accept. A Leaf can take 6.6kW, which is 240V at 27.5 amps. The EVSE is basically a box with fuses and a logic circuit that makes that control pilot information exchange, then closes relays to provide the charging power. Charging stations used to be $1,000 but people much smarter than me open-sourced the code and priced these DIY kits at $250, which has effectively brought the retail units down to around $600 in price.

    Here are the internals of my completed build:


    240V in on the left, through some fuses and the latching relays which are controlled by the microprocessor, then out to the car on the right.

    And here's the finished product.


    The display is just for added bling, but it does let me adjust the charge rate, do diagnostics and set charge timers so the car can be plugged in but not start charging until the middle of the night to take advantage of off-peak power rates. (The Leaf has these options built into the car too.) The screen changes color based on status--green is EV not connected, blue is charging and red is fault.

    My wife's car and the 4Runner get the garage, so the Leaf is parked outside. Most EVSEs are indoor rated, so I needed to find a way to get the charge cable outside, and the routine of carefully passing it under the garage door and not smashing it got old quick. I ended up drilling a 1-1/2" hole through the stucco and interior sheetrock and used two electrical LB fittings (one inside, one out), with conduit in-between, to get the cable outside. I then mounted a dummy charge receptacle on the side of the house, which also makes a nice place to hang the cord.



    Now the Leaf is truly easier to refuel than a gas car. Come home, plug in when needed, no trips to the gas station.

  3. #43
    That's legit man! I hope they aren't doing proprietary plugs or any nonsense like that. My wife and I are watching the plug in market. Won't be anytime soon but I like the idea for a commuter car.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
    98 3rz 4x4 5spd- Monstalined, 99 Talls, 4.30 E-locker, Extra Lights
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  4. #44
    ken,

    amazing work as always. you schoooo schmaaart!

  5. #45
    Great thread guys. I can definitely see an EV in my future, especially as the 4Runner gets more built up. My commute is just over 20 miles round trip with no highways, and my office offers free charging stations, so I'm a good candidate for electric. Also, my wife has a car we could take on longer trips so range really isn't too much of an issue.
    The Tesla III has just been announced, which is a very attractive option, but a 2016 delivery for around $35k sounds a bit too optimistic.

  6. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob98SR5 View Post
    ken,

    amazing work as always. you schoooo schmaaart!
    Nope, you can learn it all on youtube!

    Quote Originally Posted by jaydee914
    Great thread guys. I can definitely see an EV in my future, especially as the 4Runner gets more built up. My commute is just over 20 miles round trip with no highways, and my office offers free charging stations, so I'm a good candidate for electric. Also, my wife has a car we could take on longer trips so range really isn't too much of an issue.
    The Tesla III has just been announced, which is a very attractive option, but a 2016 delivery for around $35k sounds a bit too optimistic.
    You are a perfect candidate. I commute 36 miles round trip daily and also have free charging at work. These cars seem too good to be true; the car is free after gas savings and that doesn't include any of the other perks like free charging, carpool lane access and the fact that I'm not adding miles to the cars we own.
    We leased this car until 2017 in the hopes that the $35k Tesla with 200 miles of range comes to fruition. It seems too good to be true, but so is the Leaf. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

  7. #47
    I'd love one. I commute about 50 miles round trip with no charging at work, so I would need something with 75 mile range.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  8. #48
    Hmmm... Gotta talk to the wife about this. "But baby, it's pretty much FREE!"

  9. #49
    Sean, 50 miles would be no problem, and I actually do that quite regularly when I go places after work. 75 miles would be outside of my comfort range for daily driving. (The Leaf is rated for 86 miles of range.) Next year the Leaf will get a significant bump in range that will be worth waiting for.

    Oh, apparently Leafs are trail rated. I just read about a guy that drove 127 miles on a charge to the top of Slate Peak in Washington.


    I don't see any charging stations up there, haha.


    And no, don't expect to get that kind of range unless you're hypermiling or something.

  10. #50
    UC Davis released a new tool to see how much you would save by driving an EV. You give it your home and work address and select some cars for comparison. Here is my wife's commute comparing the 4Runner, our TSX, a Prius (just for comparison) and the Leaf. The website has an option box for "work charging," which assumes half of the energy is from your house and half from work, which is precisely the case with my wife's commute.


    The site knows, for example, that the TSX requires premium fuel and you can adjust both the fuel economy of the vehicle, the price of the fuel for each grade and your home electricity rates. Surprising that even our 31 mpg TSX costs 7.5X as much to drive as the Leaf.

    No car will replace the 4Runner. However, like me, you might find your fuel savings pays for the lease on the car so you can turn the 4Runner into a dedicated exploration vehicle. :-)

    Give it a try. http://gis.its.ucdavis.edu/evexplorer/

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