NFR EV's?

Non-fishing related
Evan B said:
Had a Bolt for two years now, I've driven it just over 20k miles . Love the thing. Great little car. Had nothing but a standard 120 outlet to charge on and have still only ever used a public charger once. Have taken a few trips to the coast and one up to Detroit Lake (from Gresham). Commute 20mi each way for work every day.

We also have a VW golf wagon diesel and F250.
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No special home charger? Just plug it in?
 
My Tesla model 3 has a 50 Kilowatt battery (my home uses about 15KW a day). It costs me about $15 per month to charge the car, I drive about 500 miles a month. My range is 180 to 200 miles without over charging or over depleting the battery. Tesla warrantees the battery for 100,000 miles. I charge at home with a 240v circuit. Charges at a Tesla supercharger cost $8 to $10. I've only done it twice on longer trips. Charging on 110v takes a long, long time. At 240, I charge 50% in about 4 hours, at night, on low rates.

EV's have about 5% of the moving parts of an internal combustion vehicle. There is no: motor, exhaust system, radiator, gas tank, drive train and gear box, no central hump for the driveline. There is just a lot less to go wrong. Oh, I almost forgot, there is no noise and no smell.

I have about 7500 miles on mine in a year and a half. I did have an issue at first with some cameras not coming on. They solved it at night by getting on the car's computer via my home WIFI. No trip to the dealer...
 
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How long do the public supercharger stations take for a full charge? Game changer if they can get 300 miles worth of charge under 30 mins.
 
Yard Sale said:
How long do the public supercharger stations take for a full charge? Game changer if they can get 300 miles worth of charge under 30 mins.
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Depends on the car, how low you let the battery go, and what percentage of the battery fill-up you're targeting.

Like the first 20% and the last 20% of the battery take a LOT longer to charge than anything in between. So optimally, you stay in that range. EV road trippers try to hit a station before they get below 20%, and charge up to 80% as that charge is much much faster than trying to go from 5% to 100%, even when factoring in maybe doing 2 stops vs 1.

A lot of the higher end EVs charge very fast on the right charger. My Bolt doesn't charge very fast.

(copy/pasted)

Chevy Bolt Charging Times​


Chevy Bolt charging times vary depending on the charging method that you employ:


  • Level 1 Basic Charging (120-Volt Portable Charger Cord) – Add 4 miles of range per hour
  • Level 2 Fast Charging (240-Volt Home Charging Unit) – Add 26 miles of range per hour
  • Level 2 Fast Charging (Public Charging Station) – Add 39 miles of range per hour
  • Level 3 Super Fast Charging (DC Public Charging Station) – Add 100 miles of range in 30 minutes
 
We have a Tesla Model Y Dual motor. Goes like a raped ape (0 to 60 in about 4.5 seconds) and a range of 300 miles. With optional regenerative braking (one foot driving) the brakes rarely are active, no oil changes, trans service, cooling system services etc. I'm thinking that tires, wiper blades and windshield washer fluid is the top of the cost list, other than a bottle of car wash soap;). All wheel drive, good leg room, rear seas fold down, and cargo capacity is about the same and the Mercedes GLC 300 we traded in. For the trips to the hills and fishing I have my 2007 4 Runner. Good warranty life for the batteries and I have a 40amp home charger to provide a fairly quick recharge. If I need to use a charge station the Super Chargers can give a full recharge in about 30 minutes.

Loving the Tesla model Y
 
Tesla Model 3 Charging Times

  • Level 1 AC (120V outlet at home): 20-40 hours
  • AC Level 2 (Third party chargers/Tesla chargers/Tesla home charger): 8-12 hours
  • Level 3 DCFC (Tesla Supercharger): 15-25 minutes
This is a full battery charge from a low point, probably 5 to 10 % left and up to 100%. I try to never go below 15% and never charge over 95%. That is 80% of full rated capacity. The Super Duper Tesla chargers (250KV DC). are really fast but kind of hard on batteries. Home charging (240 50 amp) is pretty gentle.
 
I might be interested in something like the bolt.. I'd be using it to commute around 70 miles a day 4 days a week.

Sorry tesla but a battery that costs tens of thousands to replace needs A LOT more than a 100,000 mile warranty IMO
 
I rode in perhap a half dozen hybrids and five or six Teslas (Uber) during our month long visit to SoCal. An electric car doesn't really fit my needs (yet?) but a hybrid may well do so (thanks @Dr. Magill for the explanation of "plug in"). I've been looking online at hybrids, both used and new. I can't find a new RAV4 hybrid on a lot within 150 miles, they're all "reserved". I'd like to test drive one before I buy one (if I buy one). Subaru seems to only offer a hybrid in their Crosstrek which I've never seen on the Wenatchee lot. I rode in a CR-V hybrid in LA, it was nice, but here's a car offered in FWD and AWD, living here in Central WA I'm not interested in FWD or RWD. Again, I'd like to drive one. Nice to not be in a hurry.

Great and timely thread.
 
Battery mowers, leaf blowers, weed whackers, drills, even my new chainsaw, etc, sure. Vehicles, nope for now…
 
Wife has a plug in hybrid.
Audi Q5
29 miles/ charge
She gets 150 miles/ gal or so.
Performance is a bit too good at times for this passenger.
The only issue has been with the bluetooth system and her phone synching. This is a real problem for me because I have never driven it. I may never drive it. The sound is really out of this world and I am a music guy. I am sure it will be fixed soon. She is sick of me whining.
She has a short commute so gas is only purchased for long trips to Seattle etc.
We have never used a public charging station. It's a hybrid so we may never use one.
Installing the plug in was easy. Need a 50 amp circuit if I recall correctly.
No maintenance needed so far except that damn synching issue. I need my damned music!
 
How significant is the reduction in range from running defrosters/heaters in cold weather (mid-teens to twenties) or AC in the 90+ ranges common in EWA? Our Leaf's at work were renowned for leaving drivers stranded under those conditions...but I know the Leafs were quite primitive EVs. Do you ever find yourself sacrificing comfort for range? Our fleet services folk hated them because they were constantly having to send out flatbeds to retrieve dead Leafs (Leaves?) especially during winter and summer.
 
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RE: range. In the Tesla, I see a slight decrease in efficiency during the winter, perhaps 3-5%. The AC seems quite efficient, could be different in Phoenix. Never left me stranded. I do keep the battery in the 15% to 95% range, however. I just set the temp at 71 and leave it.
If you do not pay attention and are a poor planner, running the battery flat will award you with a flatbed tow, at your expense. As the battery gets down, there are a LOT, of warnings on the screen. The computer works hard to prevent a dead battery. It shuts down non-essential things like Air Conditioning to prevent disaster. It is quite a nag. Tesla's are good about telling you how far you can go before charging.

EV's are different. You have to adapt and learn. It is probably like the Ford Model T's. A trip sometimes took some planning then. These things are, well, new. The charging networks are expanding exponentially and that will solve a lot of the angst.

But, if you are not comfortable, best stick with batteries in your weed eater.
 
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Youngest son can make it from his coastal bay area home to his vacation home in Sunriver (450 miles) with just one 20 min stop in Klamath Falls at a level 3 charging station, and has a level two installed in his SR garage.
 
FishyJere said:
RE: range. In the Tesla, I see a slight decrease in efficiency during the winter, perhaps 3-5%. The AC seems quite efficient, could be different in Phoenix. Never left me stranded. I do keep the battery in the 15% to 95% range, however. I just set the temp at 71 and leave it.
If you do not pay attention and are a poor planner, running the battery flat will award you with a flatbed tow, at your expense. As the battery gets down, there are a LOT, of warnings on the screen. The computer works hard to prevent a dead battery. It shuts down non-essential things like Air Conditioning to prevent disaster. It is quite a nag. Tesla's are good about telling you how far you can go before charging.

EV's are different. You have to adapt and learn. It is probably like the Ford Model T's. A trip sometimes took some planning then. These things are, well, new. The charging networks are expanding exponentially and that will solve a lot of the angst.

But, if you are not comfortable, best stick with batteries in your weed eater.
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I'm happy letting you early adopters work out the initial EV industry bugs before I take the plunge.
 
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