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Thread: electric cars catching on?

  1. #21
    Honda is selling more Fit EV's than anticipated and today they reported they will stop selling the California compliance car after 1,100 models have been sold. This is despite high demand and a backlog of pending orders. I wish Honda had more interest in building EVs because everything they build is really high quality.

  2. #22
    Today marks 3 months with my all-electric Nissan Leaf. Earlier in the thread Dan asked how much my electric bill went up. Here are the statistics straight out of the car's telematics system:


    In those 3 months I have driven 2,734 miles and consumed 639.6 kilowatts of electricity. I pay 10.4 cents per kilowatt, so 639.6 x 0.104 = $66.52 total to drive over 2,700 miles. Assuming fuel is $4/gallon, that's the equivalent of getting 164.5 MPG. There is no incentive to drive efficiently, so I don't. That number assumes all charging is done at home and no free public charging is used.

    UAE and the oil companies can suck it.
    Last edited by paddlenbike; 04-15-2014 at 08:38 AM.

  3. #23
    That's pretty awesome! One thing that holds me back is waiting for my life to settle into a job. Military life isn't condusive to staying in one place.....or even in the states.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
    98 3rz 4x4 5spd- Monstalined, 99 Talls, 4.30 E-locker, Extra Lights
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  4. #24
    Nice! $66.52 for 2700 miles isn't bad at all! If you were in a gasser, you'd be close to an oil change too, if you change every 3k.

    If I could ever afford a second car, I'd have to consider an electric car. Somebody needs to make a cool looking, affordable electric car. It will be interesting to see what the new, cheaper Tesla will look like.

    Does the Leaf have any kind of fluids in it, or are the brakes, power steering, etc all electric?
    -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

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by DHC6twinotter View Post
    If I could ever afford a second car, I'd have to consider an electric car. Somebody needs to make a cool looking, affordable electric car. It will be interesting to see what the new, cheaper Tesla will look like.
    I look forward to Gen 2 EVs. Even the EVs being released right now (BMW i3, Mercedes Benz B-series, VW E-Golf) all have the same range as the Leaf. 125-150 mile range EVs at an affordable price will hopefully be coming in the next couple of years.

    Does the Leaf have any kind of fluids in it, or are the brakes, power steering, etc all electric?
    The brakes have fluid, but because the car has regenerative braking, the car uses the hydraulic system as little as possible (wasted energy). Because of this, brake pads last a really long time. There is a small radiator with coolant for two purposes, one to cool the electric motor and also to cool the inverter when quickcharging. Teslas do not have coolant in the motor or inverter but they do in the battery. Power steering is electric. Heating and cooling is via heatpump. There is very little to service though and considerably less moving parts than an internal combustion car.



    I like spreading the word on these cars as they are fun to drive and I like seeing reductions in reliance on petroleum.

  6. #26
    I think there is something to be said for the commuters going electric but I don't necessarily see a reduction in other industries like shipping until some dramatic improvements in the technology are made.
    98 3rz 4x4 5spd- Monstalined, 99 Talls, 4.30 E-locker, Extra Lights
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  7. #27
    The new BMW i3 electrics are now shipping.


    It's a cool little car, but in typical BMW fashion, a little pricey. Leases are $499/mo for the pure electric and $549 for the model with the gas range extender. A Leaf costs about half that.

    First customer, Ashlan Cousteau (married to Jacques Cousteau's son). She really makes EVs look good.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18xahNaszg8

  8. #28
    We've recently had the opportunity to car-sit for the past week and it's been a fun time. Paddlenbike delivered his Leaf to me at work as it's his normal transportation into work, I think he hitchhiked home. I come into work early so I can leave early. If I were to drive, the early-early schedule is nice because there isn't a ton of traffic. On the day I drove the Leaf home I was able to hold 70 in any lane of the freeway so I didn't benefit from the white All Access sticker. I did however benefit from the free charge thanks to the City of Sacramento.

    I didn't get to park in any Electrical Vehicle Only parking spots with the Leaf but that wasn't a big deal, been there-done that. Notice the other two cars are gas loving vehicles?


    Once home I had to play musical cars. I don't like keeping cars on the street so there was some juggling with 3 sets of keys to get the Leaf in the garage (to charge) and then there was the child seat swap, twice.



    I take Light Rail to work (~20 miles) and ride my bicycle home (~22 miles) so the Leaf was going to be driven by my wife. She works part time and has a work commute less than 25 miles round trip on surface streets. Her days off are with the kids running errands for play dates, shopping, etc that are all within town for the most part. On occasion she'll travel up the hill our towards the Bay for a day trip which would require charging (from a quick charge station at least once if not twice) in order to get back home if using a vehicle like the Leaf.

    During this last week she drove it as she would her regular car and it did quite well. She and the kids liked that it was a nice new and quiet ride. My daughter is 5 and understands things pretty well and it was fun to hear her explain to my 2 year old son about electric cars and how she thought they worked. My son would just nod but was very curious. He was wondering who's car it was and why it was plugged in. I had to make sure he didn't unplug it and/or shock himself. I've only got 120v in the garage (more on that later) so it was an easy plug and play.


    I was able to drive it here and there picking up loads of chicken manure, jumping speed bumps, doing lawn jobs and racing over-sized dudes riding little scooters and it was fun. As has been mentioned before there is a bit of nervousness driving something with a battery gauge and no fuel. It's like a ticking time bomb yet I'm sure you get used to it. Because of this and the fact I didn't want to have to walk home I drove around with a little insurance.


    Needless to say I didn't need the 4Runner but the torque of the Leaf is nice for such instances.
    Last edited by 4x4mike; 05-28-2014 at 01:16 PM.

  9. #29
    My wife likes to live on the edge and since she's toting around my offspring I made sure the battery had a good charge on it. This was done with the 120v charger that comes with the Leaf. Ken has installed a 240v outlet in his garage and is in the process of building an EVSE charger as the charging times are much faster on 240v.



    With the little running around we did for the first few days an overnight charge was enough for the next day. To increase the overall life of the battery there is a setting that allows the battery to only charge to 80%. I charged it to 80% the first day or so but upped it to 100% on a day she was going to be doing some running around. Turns out some of that running around was to our local library which has a free quick charge station. Turns out they let anyone charge there.


    I didn't know she was going there but had mentioned there was a station there. When she saw the regular parking lot full and a Tesla pulling in she went for it. She even put the little charging door down just like Ken does. She didn't remember what the charge was before or after but it only needed a couple hours that night at home.

    Fast forward to yesterday. She was taking the kids to the Zoo and adjacent amusement park and there were no chargers nearby. I charged it to 80%, for a trip very similar to what the car is used to on a regular commute day (depending on driving conditions/style). On the way home she said the radio muted and a voice came on saying the battery was low. She sent me this picture and the first thing that went through my mind was Kramer from Seinfeld and his test drive with the low fuel light on.




    She didn't seemed worried but I made sure my cell phone ringer was on as I was expecting a call. She made it home and I think it said 10 miles left. I would have been a bit more nervous than she if it were me. About the time it was this low she was passing here, just opened: https://www.smud.org/en/about-smud/n...ge-Station.htm
    If we owned an EV we would participate in the program and would probably stop there often.

    We give the car back tonight. Because she's driving it to work I wanted it to be as full as it could be for use the next day. After washing the car, by the way it's pretty big and probably has as much surface area of sheet metal as a 3rd gen 4Runner, I plugged it in. To 80% it said 13 hours. The math checked out right but man that's a long time. At dinner I was thinking it might need a little more so I upped it to 100% before going to bed.

    This morning while donating blood at work I get a text saying the power is out at the house and that the car wasn't charging, the garage door wasn't opening, the kids were crying and they were running late. Crap! Had my wife's gas guzzler had car seats in it she would have hopped in it and left. Instead she got the door opened, ran back in to lock the garage door and dropped the kids off before work. She's not sure how much it charged but it was around 65% once she got to work. I'm sure there is an outlet at work but I don't want her to deal with it. There is a Tesla dealer nearby so that could be a bail out if conditions were worse.

    In all it's a great car and would fill most of our needs. The needs it doesn't fill are the reason we probably wouldn't get one as it would mean having three cars which is not going to happen. Little surprises like power outages (WTF, it's only gone out for 5 minutes once since we moved in 6 or 7 years ago), last minute errands, go-go days like we have make having a vehicle with more range really nice.

    To replace our AWD, turbo Subaru wagon we'd need more range without being too expensive. I believe most people who don't own or haven't looked into an EV feel the same way. The technology is here and is getting better so one day I'll need 240v in the garage.

  10. #30
    Just got home from a 2,800 mile trip (not in the Leaf, haha) and had fun reading your post. It didn't surprise me to see you returned the car very clean, in typical 4x4Mike fashion, but the fact that I have not located or smelled the rotting carcass of a dead fish under the seats did surprise me. I'm glad the car worked out for you and no one had to come home on the back of a tow truck.

    Your summary of the car was better than I could write. For most people, the current generation of EVs is only good as a second car, or perhaps even a third car. In our case, we only need one long distance car because if we are driving further than the range of the Leaf, we are almost always together in the same car.

    240V charging is almost a must. The charge time drops from 17 hours to 3 hours, from dead, and that adds a ton of utility.

    As far as range anxiety, it's something most people get over quickly. Hanna is so conservative that she gets nervous when the fuel tank in the Acura shows only a quarter tank remaining, even though the car is telling her she has 125 miles of range left. I wasn't entirely sure she would get used to the Leaf, but after we did a few long drives in it, she really has no range anxiety. Once the car tells you the battery charge is low and is only showing 18 miles on the range meter, the reality is you have close to double that. Every mile shown once you hit the low battery warning will get you closer to 2 miles. After a while, you just learn these things and realize the car is just very conservative, much like the low fuel light on my 4Runner that comes on with 5 gallons remaining.

    I've got work to do tonight; I'll probably add more here later.

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