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Thread: electric cars catching on?

  1. #11
    Typically, if you have a smart meter anyway, night time (off peak hours) electricity is cheaper than day time.
    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.

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by DHC6twinotter View Post
    Ken, has have you had any substantial changes in your home electric bill?

    I actually really like the idea of having an electric car for daily driver duties, along with an SUV for longer trips. I'd buy a Tesla if I could afford one, and I'm curious to see what their new cheaper car will look like.
    Clearly, I agree with you completely Dan! Most of my driving is within the range of the Leaf and for everything else, there's the 4Runner. And trust me, anyone driving a Leaf was wishing they were driving a Tesla; those cars are amazing in every way.

    To answer your question, I have only charged at home twice in the past 1,200 miles. But using actual numbers from my car and my daily commute, I drove 459.3 miles from January 18 (day of purchase) through the end of the month and used 105.9 kilowatts of electricity to drive those miles. Had I charged at home, I pay 10.8 cents per kilowatt hour, so 105.9 kw x 0.108 = $11.44. (2.5 cents per mile.) A Prius costs about 3X as much to drive per mile, so it's extremely economical.


  3. #13
    Yeah, that's not bad at all!

    I find that "CO2 Tailpipe Emission Reduction" readout kinda funny.
    -Daniel2000 4Runner Sport | V6 | 5spd | 4x4 | Leather | 265/75-16 BFG AT/KO | OBA | BudBuilt front skid

    1990 4Runner SR5 | V6 | Auto | 2wd | 3.90 rear | Cobra CB | 265/65r17 Bridgestone Duelers H/Ts | '08 Tacoma 5 spoke rims | Has an 11:1 crawl ratio! SOLD

  4. #14
    ^^ I make up for it with the 4Runner. :-)

  5. #15
    Ken,

    I was reading on the airplane that there is a website now where private home owners register and open their homes/charging plug to other electric car drivers. I don't recall how they cost share or whatever, but some people (the article was saying) really go out to accommodate other drivers to the point of having coffee with them while they charge up. Great idea, huh?

  6. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob98SR5 View Post
    Ken,

    I was reading on the airplane that there is a website now where private home owners register and open their homes/charging plug to other electric car drivers. I don't recall how they cost share or whatever, but some people (the article was saying) really go out to accommodate other drivers to the point of having coffee with them while they charge up. Great idea, huh?
    Hi Bob,
    Yeah, the website/app "plugshare" that I showed above will display homeowner charging stations. It's particularly useful in places that lack good charging infrastructure or in places where a private plug not far off a freeway could allow driving an EV where without it, the trip wouldn't be possible. The Leaf supports CHAdemo quickcharge, which is 480V charging that will fill a Leaf from empty in 25 minutes. Another option is stopping at an RV park and charging off their 240V. Charging at 240V will put 23 miles of range back in the car per hour of charging. Not super fast but it can be done.

    I just got my 240V outlet installed in my garage today for my Level 2 charging station. I wired it to support 50 amps to future-proof for the next generation of electric cars, which will presumeably have larger batteries and even quicker charge options.

  7. #17
    I love the commercial for the Leaf, "what if everything was gas powered. What if it everything wasn't?"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn__9hLJKAk

    Notice the Chevy Volt in line to get fuel?

  8. #18
    List of currently available 2014 Electric cars:
    -Chevrolet Spark EV
    -Fiat 500e
    -Ford Focus Electric
    -Honda Fit EV
    -Mitsubish iMiEV
    -Nissan Leaf
    -Smart Fortwo
    -Tesla Model S
    -Toyota RAV4 Electric

    For anyone interested in an electric vehicle, I recommend you do a little reading on the subject of "compliance cars." California requires that carmakers of a certain size ensure that at least a small portion of their volume comes from zero-emission vehicles (ZEV)--either battery electric cars or fuel-cell electric vehicles. These compliance cars are much lower in production volume as they are intended only to meet the ZEV requirements.

    Of the list above, the only cars that are available outside of California and NOT compliance cars are the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi iMiEV and the Tesla Model S. The other cars are gasoline-engined cars converted to run on batteries to meet ZEV regulations. You'll find the bodies and floorpans of the converted cars are stamped to accommodate exhaust systems and fuel tanks and the trunks are generally filled with batteries and inverters. The Leaf, iMiEV and Tesla have flat floors with the batteries located low in the chassis as they were designed to be an EV and nothing else.

    The biggest problem with compliance cars is the lack of a dealer service network to work on the electric vehicles. Nissan and Tesla have technicians and special service equipment to handle troubleshooting and repairs, while the compliance cars have a serious lack of dealer support. Generally when problems arise, someone has to fly-in from out of state to handle diagnostics, which means your car sits in the shop for extended periods of time waiting for repair. Toyota RAV4 electric owners are livid with the lack of support for their vehicles. Something to think about if you're in the market for one. If experienced EV technicians are unavailable now, imagine what level of service you will get with your Spark or Fit once the manufacturer has sold enough compliance cars to eliminate their production.

    The list of available EVs is growing, with BMW, Kia, Mercedes and VW expected to join the line-up later this year. I would only buy or lease one that is not a compliance-only EV.

  9. #19
    I saw a Rav 4 Electric the other day, first one I've seen since the early days. With the blocked out grill, it was even uglier than usual. I can't imagine they are very popular with competition from the Leaf, Volt (even though it is not an electric car, GM lies), and others.
    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.

  10. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Seanz0rz View Post
    I saw a Rav 4 Electric the other day, first one I've seen since the early days. With the blocked out grill, it was even uglier than usual. I can't imagine they are very popular with competition from the Leaf, Volt (even though it is not an electric car, GM lies), and others.
    Maybe Toyota will come out with an electric 5th gen and make it even uglier. Oh wait, I'm not sure that's possible.

    The RAV4 uses a Tesla drivetrain, so it has a nice fat battery in it, 41.8 kW versus the Leaf's 24 kW. Toyota owns a minority share of Tesla, somehow arranged when Tesla bought Toyota's old NUMMI plant in the bayarea.

    Tony Williams, a guy famous in the world of the Nissan Leaf, had this to say about his RAV4:

    "I'm getting tired of constantly driving it to the dealership for 5000 mile checkups, plus the MULTITUDE of failures that I've had on the car. The ongoing and seemingly never to be fixed charge timer issue. The replacement (Tesla) motor that is now starting to make noise just like the last one. Heck, I only bought the car because of the Tesla drivetrain and big battery pack with TMS. Virtually EVERY Tesla supplied piece of hardware has been unbolted from my car so far. The heater failed. The charge port melted (I blame Blink/REMA for that one, though). The car currently has a "Check EV System" failure and has been in the shop all week, and probably next week, too.

    The ride quality is not so smooth and the interior sucks for a $50k car. It's a phased out body style, and Toyota openly doesn't support EVs. No spare tire is just DUMB, too, but that seems to be the EV norm. 120 volt / 12 amp EVSE? Three miles per HOUR???? The same EVSE that Toyota uses in their 11 mile range Plug-In Prius (while Tesla supplies full 40 amp EVSE in their cars). Are you kidding me when there is onboard capabilty of a 40 amp / 277 volt charger? Yippee!! No DC quick charge option, even though Toyota is an official CHAdeMO member company.

    Gas gauge that stops at 80% full??? What brain surgeon thought that made sense? A resistance heater in a $50k EV ???... even the LEAF at about 2/3 the price offers a heat pump. Poor implementation of charging station mapping (only works with internet connected smart phone with app running), plus it doesn't come close to what I can just find on PlugShare. No mention in the owner's manual about long term storage for the $36,000 retail price traction battery?"


    Now, Tesla received a near perfect score from Consumer Reports for reliability and EVs are FAR simpler than an internal combustion car, but Toyota has done a terrible job at interfacing Tesla parts and their own parts. They basically slapped the RAV4 EV together and it shows.

    That's part of why I recommend not buying a compliance car, the manufacturer only wants to sell enough to meet the ZEV targets and have no interest in making improvements, fixing problems, etc. Toyota is doing an absolute terrible job on their new products and sad to say, I would not even *think* about buying a post-2009ish Toyota.
    Last edited by paddlenbike; 02-25-2014 at 10:59 AM.

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