Steve_S
Offgrid Cabineer, N.E. Ontario, Canada
Yup, your oar seems to stir the pile... consider that.
Political manure belongs elsewhere.
My daughter is shopping for an ev she is looking at a bolt
- Thread starter Supervstech
- Start date
Political manure belongs elsewhere.
DougfromdaUP
Solar Enthusiast
Remember what Burns said about the best laid pans of mice and men.
HarryN
Solar Addict
I went back and asked my buddy with a prius about this.
This is just one source of info and I didn't double check his info, but his comment is that low rolling resistance tires like are on the prius are inherently noisy.
DIYrich
Solar Wizard
The seats in the Bolt and Leaf were not comfortable to me. The Aptera Motors car is interesting if they ever make it to production. Otherwise, I suggest phev (plug in hybrid).
I would think the same applies to Solar for most people if they have the grid available. Wrong forum?
Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 21,304
If net metering is available, GT PV can be 10% to 40% the cost of grid power.
For some drivers with some utility rates (or PV), EV can be considerably cheaper than ICE, I think (but I'm not as up on the numbers.)
I think it is less likely EVs are a financial win for the incidental driver. But could be if cheap used, out of favor. And they save on maintenance (hopefully.)
For some drivers with some utility rates (or PV), EV can be considerably cheaper than ICE, I think (but I'm not as up on the numbers.)
I think it is less likely EVs are a financial win for the incidental driver. But could be if cheap used, out of favor. And they save on maintenance (hopefully.)
May not be in the price point but I decided on getting the wife the rav4 prime for her to use running about to keep the miles off the bmw's.
I can use the solar to keep it charged too and it has enough range on ev only to handle her driving to work.
I can use the solar to keep it charged too and it has enough range on ev only to handle her driving to work.
wattmatters
Solar Wizard
Our grid energy costs range between 33 c/kW and 61 c/kWh depending of time of day.
Meanwhile our solar PV energy costs us ~ 5 c/kWh to generate. It's a complete no brainer to have solar PV where we are.
We mostly charge our EV from our grid-tied PV. When I do that the car's energy cost per km is ~20% that of our fuel efficient diesel VW Golf. With the newer lower grid feed-in rates we'll get this year the energy cost per km will drop even more. DC fast charging is expensive though.
That said our EV wasn't about saving money, it's because we were 100% reliant on foreign oil, while every kWh of grid energy, or our own solar PV, is generated here. We had an AdBlue supply crisis here not long back which nearly brought the diesel trucking industry to a standstill, and my other car at the time also used it. While AdBlue can be manufactured here, it was a sharp reminder of just how vulnerable our fuel supply is.
Convenience wise I just plug the car in at home and the charging system looks after all the optimised and automated charging for me.
Like I said for most people, and I was thinking USA. Solar cost more here and electricity is cheaper here, apart from California and maybe a few other states.
Few states have worthwhile Net Metering programs and that number is shrinking.
wattmatters
Solar Wizard
The USA is not most people. But I accept this is a forum likely dominated by readers from the USA.
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
I ran some numbers for charging EV through new solar + buffer battery (off the shelf, not DIY) at those rates (basically what we have in California effective Jan 2024), and breakeven was within 5-7 years for the off-peak $0.35/kWh rate.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
Just in the car, ... her car. Ejecta-puke only in grandpa's car, or the family ride. When friends start pairing and having children attitudes often change. I thought my daughter was never going to have kids, she was mid-30's, and is now 2 and done... I tell you kids born these days are just huge with all the improvements in pre-natal care. I'm not sure if it's that great for the mothers. We shall see. I can only say, you are never ready to have children, and I've never regretted having children.
pollenface
Solar Addict
Ignore the advertised range. So many environmental/behavioral factors dictate an EV's driving range. You will get better or worse depending on the outside temperature, inside temperature, wind, driving style, how many passengers, how much luggage, whether or not you're towing a boat, etc. What I believe one should pay attention to is the miles/kwh readout as this is a direct reflection of your battery capacity and how far you can go.
When asked how long my EV takes to charge I say "as long as you like" as again, there is no straight answer. It could be 20 minutes to 20hrs depending on battery percentage, battery temperature, charging rate, etc.
When asked how long my EV takes to charge I say "as long as you like" as again, there is no straight answer. It could be 20 minutes to 20hrs depending on battery percentage, battery temperature, charging rate, etc.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
Nah, All the EV's have LRR's. Maybe the ESS? I have the darn thing unplugged in my NiroEV. The Kona is much less obnoxious. The >2019 NiroEV ESS is notorious. The backup chime can be heard at 5AM throughout the neighborhood, it is louder than the stupid Sulfur Crested Cockatoo I had. I mean wake the dead at 5AM. The ESS makes noise ususally up to about 25MPH ish.
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
Regarding range & efficiency. For my Ioniq5, there are so many regen and intelligent cruise control settings you can play with. Since watching three videos covering how the regen settings work (yes, training videos to learn how to drive? lol) I've gotten 30% more efficiency on short local drives.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
EV's are worth it if your application fits the use case, and you have a way to charge it without paying commercial charging rates. You need to keep the cost of charging in the $0.10-15/kwh range to generate the saving for the capital ROI. The maintenance is near nothing, you will chew up more tires. For general commuting they are really hard to beat.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
I think aggressive regen is silly. I keep my cars at '1'. If you really want to one-pedal drive, more power to you, I'm old and I can't stand it. If you are agressively slowing down all the time you are wasting electricity, which means to maximize efficiency one-pedal, you have to keep pressure on the pedal easing it up to slow down. Let go too fast and your passenger is getting a seat belt rash. 'Hitting the brakes' "normally" is the same as regen down to about 3MPH or something, but unlike a gas car you do want to kind of 'ride the brakes' to take advantage of regen. In any vehicle you would save maximal energy if you could coast to every stop, not practical obviously. Level 1 regen is kind of like riding the brakes a little, so you slow down faster. If you anticipate stops you can then gradually apply the brakes to a smooth stop, and not po the guy behind you for slowing down too fast, keeping the regen indicator nice and steady.
Unfortunately for those of us graybeards, this is a hard habit to get into after getting scolded for riding the brakes as a young-un'. "Your tearing up the brake shoes makin' em hot son! Stop that". YMMV, no really, Your mileage may actually vary
Orangesauce
Seeker
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
- Messages
- 31
We lived for the last year with no L2 home charger. My EV has three years free charging at Electrify America so I would just take it there. My wife's got plugged into a 110v outlet whenever she was home. Her range is 200m on a warm day and she rarely had to top up at EA. When we got the L2 charger it was better for her of course because her range stopped creeping down as the week bore on. And in hindsight, we probably wouldn't have lasted the Colorado winter this year with L1 alone because the vehicle range goes down so much in the cold. All the same, wife is a first time EV owner and put 10K miles on the car this year. She has occasional range anxiety but I have the car set to charge to 80%.
When I charge my car at EA, I bring my laptop and work. The first seat memory is the normal driving position and the second memory is "office mode". The heat pump does its thing and the car is charged before too long. I probably only have to go every couple weeks.
So much depends on vehicle range, charging time, cost to charge and how often one has to do it. Like residential solar, it's possible to figure all this out for a specific lifestyle and equipment by doing a Manual J on the house, mathing out all the energy flows and coming up with a number, but it's a lot easier to live with a vehicle for a while and see what happens. It is similarly expensive to "see what happens" with the wrong size solar system as it is with the wrong car.
When I charge my car at EA, I bring my laptop and work. The first seat memory is the normal driving position and the second memory is "office mode". The heat pump does its thing and the car is charged before too long. I probably only have to go every couple weeks.
So much depends on vehicle range, charging time, cost to charge and how often one has to do it. Like residential solar, it's possible to figure all this out for a specific lifestyle and equipment by doing a Manual J on the house, mathing out all the energy flows and coming up with a number, but it's a lot easier to live with a vehicle for a while and see what happens. It is similarly expensive to "see what happens" with the wrong size solar system as it is with the wrong car.
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
My GOM (Guess-O-Meter) does pretty well on both cars, but it will adjust in real time based on conditions. I generally do much better than the advertised range on both cars. If you keep it under 50MPH you should see it dramatically better. Get it over 65 dramatically worse. Watch out for heavy rain, or anything that makes the road slick, it will literally kill it, as in cut your range in half. I am blessed here with dry roads, very little need for heat, and our commutes are mostly on 40-50MPH surface streets. I've run over 340 miles on a charge in the Kona, the GOM was '--' but it wasn't in turtle mode yet pulling in the driveway. Car is rated 265. I've run 300 in the Niro, same/same. Never had either car in turtle mode.
Rolling 65 down the highway, yea pretty much advertised range. Over that, not so much.
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