Tag Archives: ev

EV Update

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As an electric vehicle enthusiast, I’ve been sharing my journey with my Nissan EV since its purchase two years ago, offering insights and real-world experiences to help potential buyers make informed decisions about sustainable transportation.

For electric vehicle enthusiasts considering a purchase, my experience offers valuable insights. The car delivers impressive performance, though its practicality depends on individual driving habits. As a retiree with limited daily mileage, I find the 200-mile range sufficient for local trips. However, potential buyers should carefully evaluate their driving needs. Extended daily commutes or frequent long-distance travel might challenge the vehicle’s battery capacity, especially when climate control systems are in use. Extreme temperatures can notably impact range, so it’s crucial to factor in heating and cooling requirements when assessing the car’s suitability for your lifestyle.

Electric vehicle efficiency varies significantly with temperature. In mild conditions, my car achieves an impressive five miles per kilowatt-hour. However, during a recent cold snap of twenty degrees, the range dropped to just 1.5 miles per kilowatt-hour. Short trips compound this challenge, as the cabin heating system consumes energy before reaching the destination. Personal comfort settings play a crucial role in energy consumption. While I maintain a cozy 75-degree interior, those who can tolerate lower temperatures around 68 degrees will experience improved overall efficiency.

Unexpectedly encountering a nail in my tire revealed a critical flaw in my vehicle’s emergency preparedness. The absence of a spare tire, even a compact temporary one, coupled with the lack of a jack, left me stranded and vulnerable. This realization has prompted me to proactively address these shortcomings before another roadside mishap occurs, ensuring I’m better equipped to handle potential tire emergencies.

The vehicle comes standard with an air pump and liquid sealant, featuring a surprisingly efficient compressor that can rapidly inflate a tire from 37 to 42 psi in just 2-3 minutes. However, a notable drawback is the requirement to have the car running to power the cigarette lighter outlet. During a recent cold spell, I needed to adjust the pressure in all four tires, which unexpectedly drained a significant amount of battery power. The process seemed unnecessarily energy-intensive, potentially consuming double the electricity required. As a result, I plan to purchase a standalone electric pump that can be plugged directly into a wall outlet for more convenient and efficient tire maintenance.

A compromised bead seal renders sealant application futile and prevents the small pump from effectively addressing the problem. I’m seeking recommendations on acquiring a compact spare.

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.

EV Update

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It has been well over a year now since I purchased my Nissan EV. So far my experience has been very good, though my 200 mile max range does have its frustrations. I would strongly urge, if you do a lot of driving, get a car with at least 300 mile maximum range.

As a little reminder, 200 mile max range is misleading. They suggest that you not normally charge it past 80% to make the batteries last longer. Also you should get it recharged on or before it goes below 10%. This really only gives you a 70% range, effectively, that 200 mile range becomes 140 miles.

Generally, this is not a problem for me as I rarely go more than 10 miles on any one trip. Mostly the 200 mile range is fine for me. However, there are times I need to go a distance of over 50 miles. In such cases, I rent a regular car.

Secondly, the ambient temperature has a large effect. Last autumn, I actually made a ten mile trip where the computer reported that I got 5.1 miles per KW Hour. It was because my speed was a relatively constant 45 MPH and the outdoor temp was about 65. I needed neither heat nor cooling.

So how does that figure in theory if I could always get that kind of milage? Yep. I ran the numbers. Almost 450 miles on one charge. Now I could live with that.

Most of the time, the mileage is between 2.5 and 3.5 miles per KW hour. Well, I’ll let you figure that one out. I don’t much want to. The hitch is… I have not a clue how that converts to miles per gallon.

Whatever, oddly, the cold seems to effect it more than the heat. My best guess, a lot of energy goes into defrosting the windshield. I’m working on that. I might start keeping a hair dryer in the car. That way I could heat the car as well as clarify my windows before I start the car.

Perhaps my most irritating discovery is that the FOBs are very expensive. I know. I tried to replace a lost one. You want to know, don’t ask. I asked about getting one on the internet. They said they didn’t always work. I interpreted that as, they will make sure it won’t. In other words, they have the monopoly on the things.

Might I suggest, make a third FOB a part of the contract. That does not just mean EVs but all makes and models that have FOBs. At any rate, either don’t lose the FOBs or don’t get a car that uses them. Hate to say it, but they really have the owner over a barrel. In the case of my Nissan, without the FOB, what I have is a big piece of steal. At least with my old Chevy, I can go back to using my key, which I did.

Nonetheless, I have not given up yet. I have found the FOBs on the internet for 80 dollars. All I need to do is find someone who will make an honest effort to connect the FOB and car.

By the way, if I knew about the FOB problem, I would not have bought the car. I don’t like anyone doing business like that with me.

On the positive side, I am very pleased with the wipers. This might seem a small thing, but I am rarely able to keep the same windshield wipers more that 3 or 4 months before they start streaking on me. I just had these replaced the other day and the original ones were holding up pretty well.

As far as the first year in wear and tear, it is as good as new. If I paid for a good detailing, it would be difficult to tell it from new. It could very easily out last me. Well, I guess that doesn’t say much. I am 78.

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?

The Real Problems With EVs

Posted in Electric Automobiles, EVs, Gas vs Electric, Going Green by

It’s not just how many charge stations there are, but what kind they are and how reliable are they. Where I am located, there is a wealth of charging stations for Teslas or Tesla compatible cars. For the type I need, not so much. I have looked at the maps showing charge stations, but I have found one common question, are they compatible.

So, I start out on my trip to Fort Smith say. A three hundred mile trip. That means, at least one stop to charge on the way, one charge after I get there and one charge on the way home. Okay. Fine. We can stop over to get a bite to eat while charging. That might work. I don’t know.

However, I get to that spot in Little Rock where they say there is a charge station. That gives me a fifty mile cushion which is fine. But when I get there, I find out the charge station is for Teslas. Now what do I do? Even more, are there any places in Little Rock where I can charge my car. I don’t know. I cannot find out for sure.

Maybe that means we only buy Teslas. Does that mean all other car manufacturer must just put the padlock on the door and close up shop. Remember, only electric cars in 20 or 30 miles.

I don’t know. I have had my Nissan for about six months now, and I have found it is difficult if not impossible to determine which chargers are compatible and which ones are not. Even if they are compatible, can I access the charger? I have heard that with an adapter, I can charge my car with a Tesla charger, but that has two problems. First their chords are too short. more over, if I could use a Tesla charger, as near as I can tell, it would only be a level two charger. I don’t know for sure, but I think that is a 5 or 6 hour charge time.

It’s beside the point. The real problem is that it seems no one wants to talk about it. I didn’t know anything about it until I started looking for charging stations. No one told me. I was told it was as simple as getting an adapter and plug it in. What if I am down to 10 percent and then I find out it doesn’t work?

I was told I can charge at home. It works. It really does. However, there are limits. At a 120 volts, it’s close to two days for a 10% to 80%. I can have a level 2 installed having 220. Only, finding someone to do it is not so easy. I haven’t had an estimate, but I know electricians do like to make a bunch of money. Moreover, I am not totally comfortable with the 120. I have to use an extension cord which gets a little warm.

The car is wonderful. I love it. I love driving it. I just wish I could feel comfortable driving farther than 80 miles from home.

I don’t know, but I would guess any charging stations will be along the interstates. So, I guess that means we who own electric cars will have to stay close to the interstates or carry gas powered generators. If it remains that way, the electric cars will fade, likely very fast. Now one will like a car that will not be able to carry them on a visit to Grandma’s.

Mostly, the government should post where and what kind of chargers are available. Those who hope to sell the vehicles should do what they can to make the same info available. My best guess. it would really be nice to have the chargers work with one car as well as another. Compatibility is one of the biggest problems in many industries. EVs are no exception. Can you imagine people buying gas powered cars if that can’t find gasoline?

A Little Outside of My Expertise

Posted in Electric Automobiles by

I might be wrong and I likely am. It just seems to me that the auto engineers have bypassed the opportunity to rid electric cars of one of the weaknesses of cars, the differential. Ever since cars have made their entry on the scene they have had a weakness. Getting power from both power wheels and still allow them to turn at different speeds. It is why it is called a differential.

Many things have been done to resolve this problem with some success. Even so, at best it is at substantial cost and reliability. Positraction helps in situations where one of the power wheels may slip. Some of these possibilities include sand, ice or even loss of contact with the road.

As far as I know, all or most electric cars have one electric motor for each set of drive wheels. The 4 wheel drive cars use two motors, one for each set of wheels. At least this has some advantage. Power is delivered to the front and rear wheels separately which does permit maximum torque for front wheel and rear wheels independently. However, in this situation, there are two differentials, on each on the back and front wheels.

So, when they came up with electric cars, why one motor? Why not one motor for each wheel?

Well, as I said, it’s outside my knowledge. Still, it does make me wonder just how successful a car would be with two motors. I guess, a single motor failure might be a problem, but how often is that going to happen. Moreover, the car could be designed so that if one motor quit, the other one would too.

Then the question comes to mind, is the cost of two motors more than the cost of a differential. Also, the differential does add weight and reliability considerations.

The one thing I certainly have no understanding of, how would the car drive with two motors, with perhaps different torque to the wheels. Perhaps, tests would have to be made on the motors to get two matched motors. That in itself would add costs.

I don’t know. My wife is always telling me I think too much. Maybe I do.