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OT - EVs
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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3712
Location: Brooklyn, NY

12/17/20 12:28 PM

OT - EVs

Anyone here get an electric vehicle yet and able to share your experience?

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 12:36 PM

I have two close friends with.

One on his second Bolt after a 2004 Prius he gave my son.. I wired his 220 charger for him. I visited when he was grafting a dryer plug onto his charger that needed 1/2 the amp of the dryer circuit. Anyway, we setup a new proper circuit off the panel.

Another more recently got a used $16k Leaf after his new Solar roof system with huge Tesla power wall upgrade. He just txted me the other day that he has a used Tesla S incoming and he is trading in the leaf.

I can relay questions, or perhaps hook you up via txt, suggest with the Bolt owner, Peter. He has longer experience than John does.

Also know folks with an S and the Gul wing SUV Teslas. But more acquaintances in that case.

I could probably help with questions for the charging at your residence info...

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

12/17/20 1:08 PM

Yes

I got a Tesla Y in July and absolutely freakin’ love it. Granted I’m not driving that much, but the car is great. I originally kept my A4 as I thought I might want a backup, but shortly sold the A4.

The car drives great, has a ton of room, 315 mile range (nominally anyway, I haven’t tested it), I can fully charge it in my garage every night. And there is very little scheduled maintenance.

The dashboard is basically a big iPad. Great nav system, voice controlled.

Fun stuff like on cold mornings you can turn on the climate system with your phone.

I didn’t get the performance version, but mine gets to 60 in 4.8 with instant torque everywhere.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 3:28 PM

Dan, is the charge 110 or 220? I'd guess 110, except with that range not so sure about it. ;)

How is it in the snow BTW? ;)

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

12/17/20 4:07 PM

Volts

I believe the wall charger is 240, though I’m no electrician. I had an electrician experienced with Tesla chargers install it.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

12/17/20 4:23 PM

0-60 in 4.8 is faster than my hi-po Mustang was. I think it was 6.0. I want a Tesla..

If your electric is around average i think an EV is way cheaper per gallon/mile than a gas car. Dan did your electric change much?

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

12/17/20 4:54 PM

Electric bill

I haven’t noticed a big difference but I haven’t really looked for one. I haven’t been putting on big miles and I use e- for heating part of the house and AC so the bill varies widely depending on how much those are used.

Time is $ and you spend 0 time in gas stations, and outside of rotating tires, the first maintenance is to check the brakes after 1 year.

Id like to put in some solar if I ever get around to it.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 5:02 PM

"Id like to put in some solar if I ever get around to it."

Quite possibly future benefit better given likely future admin agenda?

How was your State with moneys on car purchase? Oregon is VG.

I assume you got 7500, or will be getting from gov.?

We considered before the Fit got got. I could not get the numbers to work for us.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

12/17/20 5:38 PM

Is not electricity cheap in the PNW? Maybe the cheapest in the us?

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 5:50 PM

Yes, even cheaper than TN. Which was pretty cheap.

Gas has been stable and mid 2s for a while. If it was 4.00 probably be worth us getting one.

One car does 12k yr [Fit @ 40 MPG] the CRV gets near no miles with Covid, and short trips to bike ride launches otherwise.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

12/17/20 6:00 PM

Rebates

Zippo, federal or state. Teslas have sold too many to qualify for federal rebates and this one (and at least most current Teslas I think) doesn’t qualify for a state rebate based on cost.

But I think it’s a better car than a gas car I could buy for the same $.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 7:12 PM

OR shows 2500.00 for Y and 3. Not all states have state tax withheld, OR has no sales tax.

Federal for Teslas ran out last day 2019 apparently.

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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3712
Location: Brooklyn, NY

12/17/20 7:43 PM

Federal has run out for GM cars too.

Range is important to me. I need 300 miles.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/17/20 9:29 PM

"Range is important to me. I need 300 miles."

Make sure to research temp/range ratio effect.

Range in Arizona in winter VS Canada different...

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

12/18/20 9:48 AM

Does range decrease as the batteries age? I would assume so there 300 miles would need to include a comfortable extra distance for you. I cant imagine anything worse than worrying about the batteries dying all the time.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/18/20 10:19 AM

I am looking at a Pacifica PHEV today. We are going to be fostering in addition to the greyhound we already adopted. We had the Town/Country Stow and got van when we got here with the two big male hounds. Both fit 4x8 sheets hatch closed with seats folded. Well the PHEV with middles removed. The stow/go space for the middle seats is where the Battery pack is, so no mid seat stow/go PHEV.

The Pacifica qualifies for both fed 7500 and state 2500 tax credit$. So the CRV may get traded. If not for the 10k off sticker and the 10k freebee, I doubt I'd be looking.

I don't expect the PHEV to much on trips, but 90% my use is well in the 30 miles it should go before the gas motor kicks in.

Research is showing juice costs @ 4.128 per kWh from 10:00pm to 6:00am is, with .722 credit for first 1k kWh used after 10:pm. Battery is 16 KWh small for a EV, usual for a PHEV?

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/18/20 10:52 AM

PGE here is .4128 after 10pm with
.722 cent credit first 1000 kWh according to web site.

So with 16 kWh pack all night charging all be
.04128 - .00722

If I still can do math that looks like $.035 kWh?

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

12/18/20 1:01 PM

Our existing car was written off in a severe hailstorm at the beginning of the year, and we replaced it with a Hyundai Kona EV. We're quite happy with it. The range is a nominal ~460km, and with regenerative braking, driving is mostly one pedal - as soon as you remove your foot from the accelerator, the car slows much more rapidly than an ICE vehicle, as the drive motor gets used as a generator to put power back into the battery, and a readout on the console shows the resulting additional range. We drove to the coast last weekend, and on the ~10km long 700m descent down the Clyde mountain to sea level, the available range increased by about 10km.

The service costs are negligible - one annual service costing around $A150, and as we charge it off the PV panels on our roof (we have 10kW of panels), fuel costs are negligible as well. For urban driving the car uses around 12.8kWh per 100 kilometres travelled, and our electricity supplier pays us 8c/kWh for what we contribute to the grid, so it costs us just over $1 in foregone revenue for each 100km travelled, about one eighth of what our previous car cost us at the bowser for the same distance travelled.

We installed a Zappi charger, which uses a CT clamp on the house mains lead to monitor current being drawn, and can be configured to either charge at its maximum output of 7.5kW regardless of how much the PV panels are producing, or can vary its output to match the PV panel output, so that no power for charging is being drawn from the grid. For normal urban use, in order to maximise battery life we put the car on charge when the battery drop to around 50%, and have the car configured so that it stops charging when the battery reaches 80%. Only when going on a long trip would we charge the battery to full.

Hyundai have had two recalls on the Kona since we purchased it - one to fix a problem with the battery management system that had resulted in some vehicle fires (I think about a dozen fires world-wide), and the other for a potential problem with the electronic braking system. Both were just a software update on the vehicle, and they were pretty quick with both of them from when the problems were first known about.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/18/20 2:21 PM

Drove it, boy that is a heavy vehicle. Probably going to procure it...

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

12/18/20 5:00 PM

Similar to Nick

The regenerative braking is a nice feature - you don’t need the brake very often. It seems weird for the first ride or 2, then seems normal. For my car as well I’m advised to charge to around 80% unless it’s a long trip. Tesla advises to keep it plugged in and charging as much as possible, and I don’t quite do that, but I plug it in most of the time. The charger is in my garage where I park anyway, so it’s no problem.

I’d agree with DanC that I’d not count on the EPA range without real world experience. I don’t know that it’s wrong, but I wouldn’t cut it too fine.

Cool to get software downloads. I get a notice on my cell, and just start the download.

Sparky asked how it is in snow. Haven’t driven in much snow, but it is sure footed in slippery conditions. I got the AWD model and put good snow tires on it. I am confident it will be fine.

As a dog lover, I like that the car has “dog mode” which keeps the car cool if you have to leave dogs in it for awhile. I never do that, but still like the feature.

When I first got it, I parked and walked onto a causeway to take some pictures, A guy walked past and asked how I liked it. I said I loved it. He said he’d had a 3 for 2 years, and “you won’t change your mind.”

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/18/20 10:50 PM

Today's PHEV beasty contestant:

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/19/20 1:44 PM

Dan Emery Pic:

Tesla and his spare? ;)

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/22/20 10:25 AM

Taking delivery today...

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

12/23/20 2:38 PM

"Taking delivery today..."

Wasn't it Gary Hart who said "the future lies ahead"(?), lol.

Took a ride in an S model recently and that thing felt like it had 500hp.

Currently getting 35mpg(hwy) in a 6-speed, 4-cyl 05 Camry, impressive for such a large car.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

12/23/20 8:20 PM

Hit the road this morning, entering this from Lake Shasta, CA.

Charged it last night with the Level 1 to full in way less than 14 hours it said.

Friend/neighbor I wired the Level 2 for is not here that often. Few days here and there. Going to borrow Peters Level 2 when I get back. I just have to put a different plug in the 220 circuit in the garage I used to use for the 220 4k heater that is out in the back shop now.

So going to see which is cheaper. It seems like @ 6kWh in the PHEV I can get it charged during the 4 cent kWh night window, just. But likely I will be charging it mostly not run all the way down.

The 6kWh battery is bigger than that. But that is the reserve for the 33 mile EV mode. Then it acts like a Prius, re-gens and motor start ups. Long pass descents it would charge into the EV mode up to 5% and the gas motor stay out of the equation even @ 70 MPH. I am a bit impressed.

The beast itself is quite the road vehicle for the purpose. And I sure missed this kind of space with the CR-V. I pulled the middle seats and stuck in the house, and stow/go stashed the rears in the floor. I read the Hybrid uses alloy frames for the seats, they were pretty heavy I can say.

The PHEV can't have stow/go middle seats, that is where they stuck the hybrid pack... We had a Stow and go Touring Chrysler we got for the move to PDX in 2011, sold it 2013 I guess and got into the AWD SUV of the middle weight varies, that period is over for a while.

So far so good. It makes you want to hit the road and travel. You can fit a shit load of bike in it, the on e I brought was lost in there with all our other shit and the 67 lb Greyhound.

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