Category Archives: Electectric vehicles

Secret to Success

Posted in Air Conditioning, Electectric vehicles, Electric Automobiles, Elon Musk, EVs by

Despite my initial hesitation, I’ve observed a striking pattern among truly successful individuals that compels me to share my insights.

During a recent interview, Elon Musk, currently recognized as the world’s wealthiest individual, shared an intriguing insight about his automotive design philosophy. What initially seemed like a casual remark caught my attention: he candidly explained that he designed his car primarily to suit his own preferences. At first, I chuckled at the statement, but upon reflection, I realized the profound logic behind his approach. By creating a vehicle that perfectly matched his personal tastes and requirements, Musk intuited that others might find similar appeal in a design crafted with genuine passion and meticulous attention to detail.

Throughout my extensive automotive experiences, I’ve observed that none of the vehicles seemed to reflect a CEO’s direct creative involvement or personal touch in their design.

The leadership disconnect becomes apparent when product design reveals a fundamental lack of real-world experience. When a vehicle’s shortcomings are glaringly evident, it suggests that key decision-makers have never truly tested the product beyond a superficial demonstration. While executives may conceptualize innovations, the absence of comprehensive field testing exposes a critical gap between design and practical functionality.

For example, one crisp morning, I slid into my car, immediately feeling the sharp bite of winter’s chill. Seeking refuge from the cold, I pressed the dashboard’s recirculation button, hoping for instant warmth. Momentarily, a wave of tepid air enveloped me, only to be quickly replaced by the frigid atmosphere outside. Glancing down, I noticed the recycle button had deactivated, while the fresh air indicator now glowed brightly, betraying my brief attempt at comfort.

The recirculation button stubbornly resisted my attempts, requiring multiple presses before engaging. The Nissan engineer’s design philosophy seemed to prioritize a constant influx of outside air, challenging my preference for a controlled cabin environment. Their vision of comfort diverged sharply from my own, forcing me to adapt to their predetermined ventilation strategy.

While my electric Nissan is a joy to drive, there are a few design choices that could use improvement. (No spare) Additionally, I find the complex button interface less intuitive than a straightforward lever control. A simple lever would not only simplify air circulation settings but also allow me to easily blend fresh outside air with recirculated air, enhancing the overall driving experience.

As I listened to the comment by Elon Musk, I couldn’t help but wonder if Teslas have buttons or a lever. Either way, I cannot imagine him struggling to get warm air. If he did, even once, an engineer would certainly be clearing out his desk immediately, if not sooner.

As an aside, heating the outside air takes more BTUs. Considering electric cars use heat pumps instead of engine heat, that amounts to a real significant impact on the environment as well as the wallet.

Oh! By the way, it also effects the range.

My One Year Evaluation on the Nissan EV

Posted in Electectric vehicles, Electric Automobiles, Uncategorized by

So many things to say and I have no idea where to start. So I guess I will just start.

First, I would not recommend this car as a primary family vehicle. If It truly had a 210 mile maximum range, maybe. However, this is optimistic at best. If the weather is good, it would likely make it. However, on warm or cold days, the electric power of the environment system would use maybe 10 to 15 percent of the battery power, more for short trips. I will say, I wished I had the resources to buy the model that had the 300 mile range. It also had hands free driving. Unfortunately, it cost 10,000 more, which I did not have.

A minor point, but very important point. They highly recommend that you don’t charge the battery past 80% and that you don’t recharge it until it is below 20%. This means, if you follow the recommendations, you need to stay within the 60% in between. Moreover, they recommend you don’t use the high speed charger too frequently. The batteries last longer when they are charged slowly.

Now let’s say you want to use the car to drive back and forth to work. You start out with a full battery and when you get back home, you check the battery. 48%. Now, do you recharge early or do you just run out of energy on the way home from work the next day? I don’t know about you, but I would recharge the battery every day.

The above assumes that you left to work on the first day with a full battery. If you start out with 80%, then when you arrive home, you will only have about 20%. I guess that makes it work. Still, I’d just as soon not cut it that close. Given the number of chargers around, I get nervous when the indicator shows I have less that 40%. Besides, it all needs to be recalculated if you get the 300 mile model.

Now. Let’s look at another scenario. Your car has 41%. You need to go on a 50 mile trip. That means you will need to go 100 miles total. Do you want to recharge the battery before you leave, early. Or do you recharge it before you leave. If you recharge to 80%. then you will have 120 mile range. That will give you a forty mile margin. If you follow the guidelines, you start off on your trip and drive there and half way back. Sorry.

For me, and likely many retired people like me, it’s a good car. I think I spend about half what I would spend on gas. I don’t change oil or change engine air filters. I don’t know what a filter goes for nowadays, but I would guess I could go a few hundred miles by paying for the electricity instead.

Don’t make any mistakes. The original cost of the car is a lot. You will have to drive a lot of miles to save enough to overcome the original difference in cost. If I had bought the equivalent gas powered car, I think I would have saved about 15 thousand give or take.

For me, I did the right thing. It is what I wanted and I’d do the same today. However, I would have done it much differently. I would have made sure I could charge the car at a Tesla charger. Moreover, if possible, I would have bought a smaller car. It would have been less expensive on the front end and would use less electricity. With just the two of us, we don’t need anything that big.

Considering I am retired, a smaller car would have been fine for us. Perhaps the one thing I really like the most is that, the first time I raised the hood was to put window washer solution in it. That was about 10 months after I bought it. I charge it. I drive it. That’s pretty nice. I guess it will be a while before I lift the hood again. If you like a car that does not need a whole lot of maintenance, it’s just almost perfect. My guess is that I won’t ever replace the battery. I doubt I will live that long. If I do, it will likely be 7 or 8 years. I will be over 80. I don’t know if I’ll still be driving.

I do find some to the controls frustrating. Operation of the cruise control does still aggravate me from time to time. I turn it on and let up on the “gas” and the car starts slowing. Then I realize, I forgot to turn copilot thing on first. Or, maybe I forget and turn the copilot thing off, thinking I am turning it on. I still don’t know about some of the controls. Learning how to charge the car off my house current was a hit and miss thing that really caused me a lot of grief. They should have told me how or they should have made it easier. At least they could provide a small pamphlet explaining it.

You might think this trivial, but, to me it is frustrating. The cup holders in the console are one in front of the other, not side by side. Okay. That hardly deserves a mention. The problem is that with them as they are, my wife keeps stealing my drink. Then she gets angry when I correct her.

Speaking of consoles. There is hardly any storage in it. Maybe they couldn’t put any more storage there. It just is, if there is going to be a console that large, it would be nice to have some storage in it. If not, do away with it. As something of a big man, I’d just as soon have the space.

I don’t know about others, but I find it difficult to enter destinations into the GPS system. It seems to assume I know the address of the destination. As an aside, it was of very little use when I tried to find the Social Security office in Hernando. I spent 45 minutes looking for the place.

I guess I can’t complain a lot about that. When I mentioned it to people at the Social Security office, they said everyone else that uses a GPS has the same problem. The crazy thing kept sending me down I-55 to Coldwater. I used a lot of battery trying to find that place.

The car heats up to 120-130 degrees in the hot sun. Nothing new there. However, it really taxes the air-conditioner for a while. Maybe a good exhaust fan would be in order to run 90 degree air though it for 5-6 minutes. It would also use a lot less energy. Much more efficient to cool 90 degree air than 120 degree air…faster too.

I will say this about the car. With the environment system off, with the radio off, when I go down the road, it seems I am coasting. I don’t hear anything but the air going by at 70 mph. (well maybe 72)

There is one more thing I am eventually going to have to find out. How much the windshield will cost. I didn’t even see it happen. However some rock came in contact with the window and don’t like that. They didn’t even let the car last out the year. It’s just not right.

Just thought of two more things I wish they put on the car that wouldn’t have cost them much. First, a readout on the current cabin temperature. Not much but I guess I will need to buy something.

Second, while the car is charging, there is no way to see the charge level without turning the car on. Sort of inconvenient.

It does make me wonder, did they leave these things off out of choice or did they just not think of it? Would they pay any attention to me if I suggested it?

Quick Word of Thanks to Nissan

Posted in Electectric vehicles, Electric Automobiles by

I was a bit confused the other day when added windshield washer fluid. There are three other things that look like they need attention from time to time. Well, Nissan did send me an Email telling me it’s time for a yearly checkup. So I put the wife in the car and we went up to have the car checked.

Before anything else, I asked about all the things that look like they need attention. I asked, what are they. How do I know they need new fluid. Finally, what kind of fluid do they need.

One is for the breaks and uses regular break fluid. One is for the motor and one is to cool the batteries. The fluid for the batteries and motor is the same type of fluid and I can get it at a car parts store. The good new is that, once I got my head in the right place, I could see they are right at the top.

After all that, I found out that the car needed no attention. After another 2000 miles, I need to have the tires rotated. However, in spite of not needing any attention, they cleaned all the leaves that collected in under the hood and vacuumed the interior. No charge. Not a bad deal.

However, they were all interested in how I liked the car. I asked if they are still selling them. They said they just sold one a couple of days ago.

If I have any regrets, it’s that I didn’t get the one that was 10000 more but I just couldn’t afford it. I likely would not have been able to finance it. With it having 100 mile more range, I would not be as hesitant to a little farther than home. (140 miles instead of 85). Also, it has a self drive function. Still, for 10000, I think I’ll drive it myself.

One Year

Posted in Electectric vehicles, Electric Automobiles, EVs, Uncategorized by

Just got an E-mail from the dealer. My Nissan EV is no longer new. It is a year old. Since I bought it, I refilled the window washer fluid once. Other than recharging it, that is it. On the other hand, had I not bought it, I would have had to put 6,000 dollars maintenance into my Chevy. (steering, gaskets, tail light and likely, a few more things.

To be sure, I did not save anything by paying 40 thousand for the new car, neither did it cost me the full 40 grand. No oil changes. As near as I can tell, it is a wash between gas and charging, maybe a tad more for for electricity.

Of course, being retired, I do only put 5 to 10 miles a day on it.

As far as I’m concerned, the only real concern is taking the long ride. I don’t have much confidence in finding a place to charge the for the long run. If I am going over 80 miles from the house, I’ll use the Chevy.

I think, ultimately, the EV just may find its niche, especially for folks like me that don’t drive much. I also suspect that smaller cars might be better for some. There is plenty of room for 7 in my car and I’ve never had more than 3 in it. The vast majority of time, it was just the wife and me. Sometimes, just me. Personally, I do like the size but others might not.

Yes, It is the Obvious Future for Electric

Posted in Electectric vehicles by

If more and more electric vehicles are purchased, it is obvious less gas powered cars will be driven.

If there are less gas cars on the road, obviously, there will be less road taxes collected.

It is obvious that state and federal govs will be in search of more revenues, especially for road maintanence and construction, especially as one must consider all the additional weight of the batteries.

I really hope someone has considered all this, and the load on the powergrids. Though my hopes are that they are prepareing, my experience tells me that they have no such plans, yet. That just might mean we will all need to drive around carrying generators while avoiding too much load on bridges.

EV Police Cars

Posted in Electectric vehicles, Going Green by

They are on the way. So far, as near as I can tell, Teslas are already in use. Ford Mustangs are being tested. England, Germany and Italy are looking at them.

Don’t ask me how the big problems will be solved. After an hour on the net, I found not one hint. As an aside, I found out one of those incredibly cold countrys, Norway I think has a purchase rate of over 90 EV. That’s right. Reread it 3 times. I guess they don’t like gas so much.

The only thing I can figure is that gas cars require heating for batteries and crank case and cabin when it gets 20 below. Batteries become useless unless they are kept warm and oil gets really thick below zero. I know a guy that lived in Alaska and he had to plug his car in before going in the store.

At any rate, my best wild guess. They are making massive improvements in batteries. Mainly, they are decreasing the weight and cost. I would guess they will double the batteries. With all that, they might get the range upto 500, maybe 550 miles. With that and a full charge at the beginning of each day might allow them to make it to the end of day without a recharge.

According to the web sites I saw, they will cost your local department a tad shy of 100 thousand. However, you will like it that they will be able to charge it by wind or sun, depending on the weather.

I Must Admit My Confusion

Posted in Electectric vehicles by

More moons ago, more than I want to count, I had a nice VW van, which I took into the mountains of California and about froze to death. Indeed we left early because the heater on the van could not keep up.

Since that day, I was confused; I wondered why it was that a vehicle designed in, well a very cold mountainous country, has such an inadequate heater. I don’t know. Maybe they just learned to bundle up.

Now, it has again brought to mind. Germany does make battery powered cars, VW, Porches, I think Audis. Do they have problems with their batteries when it gets cold as Teslas.

I don’t know. I haven’t heard one way or the other. I welcome comments. Does anyone with a German made car have problems in Chicago, or Green Bay?

I do have a curiosity, an interest in finding out.

Incidentally, the van heater was fine as long as I kept it out of the mountains.

EVs & Cold

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Took the almost Nissan Ariya out in the cold for the first time. Also, there was 7 in of snow. I must admit, I was impressed. Drove about 5 or 6 miles with no slippage, though I was driving very conservatively.

Because heating is by heatpump, heat was immediate, though not great. The heated seats helped a lot. The cabin is well insulted, so once it’s heated, it doesn’t take a lot to keep it warm.

If I must come up with a suggestion, it would be to improve the defrosting system. Then again, I will likely say that about most any car. If it was up to me, I would add a small electric defrosting element to them all. Then again, I don’t design them. I only drive them… for about the last 60 yrs.

Oh yes. One more note. Until the cabin is warm, the heating will consume about 1/4 to 1/3 of the power. Then again, I suspect that is normal for most EVs. The bigger the cabin, naturally, the more it will require for heating. My car does have a pretty large cabin.

I Agree

Posted in Abuse of Power, Awkward Situation, Crime, Electectric vehicles, Electric Automobiles, Going Green by

Anytime I get the chance I get the chance, I ask police officers what will happen when they have to go to electric police cars. I do consider it a valid question. According to them that knows, gas cars will all be phased out of existence by 2030.

Every official quickly dismissed my question out of hand. I agree. I don’t think we will go to electric police cars. However, at this point, I see no way to avoid it. If Detroit stops building internal combustion engines, I see but 2 ways to keep the gas guzzlers on the highway. 1. Build their own. 2. Keep repairing the old ones.

So, I am forced back to the question. What happens when Detroit is forced into going all electric?