Electric vehicles during a disaster

[Torvy]

Then why do you not have a hybrid right now? You want someone to give it to you?

An EV starts from home with a full charge (or as full as you desire) every morning. With 200-250 miles in the battery you will have no trouble going several "30 minutes each way" each day. Then you will spend 15 seconds connecting the EVSE umbilical at night, another totally wasted 15 seconds unplugging the next morning.

I do have a hybrid. I've owned 3 different ones since 2006. My oldest still drives the 2nd one (2013). The current edition is a 2020 Prius Prime. It goes 30 miles or so on a charge. I work 8 miles from home, so the daily commute uses about half a charge. I plug it in every other day. However, if my daughter in Lubbock needs me, I can drive the 300+ miles on gas and get her with almost half a tank to spare. If I had most EVs, I couldn't get there without a stop. I haven't checked, but given the roads from Ft. Worth to Lubbock, I doubt there are many super chargers along the way. Not practical to start building them either.

We will soon be trading that in for a Tundra with bad gas mileage and great reliability. The Prius is not much good for towing or driving in our rural property. Though, I would consider trading my Outback for a Rav4 Prime.

I'm no engineer, but my son is. I don't think you are supposed to charge your EV until it is closer to empty. My understanding is that the battery will degrade if you do it like that. Of course, if you do it that way and then there is an emergency, you could get stuck.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

My Prius had an 11.9 gallon gas tank.

Our Prius C has 9.5 gallon tank and144 volt traction battery and 100 MPH.

 

[Torvy]

My Prius had an 11.9 gallon gas tank.

Sorry I was imprecise. The Prime has an 11.4 gallon tank. The 2006 had 11.9, the Prime has considerably more range in real life conditions.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I do have a hybrid. I've owned 3 different ones since 2006. My oldest still drives the 2nd one (2013). The current edition is a 2020 Prius Prime. It goes 30 miles or so on a charge. I work 8 miles from home, so the daily commute uses about half a charge. I plug it in every other day. However, if my daughter in Lubbock needs me, I can drive the 300+ miles on gas and get her with almost half a tank to spare. If I had most EVs, I couldn't get there without a stop. I haven't checked, but given the roads from Ft. Worth to Lubbock, I doubt there are many super chargers along the way. Not practical to start building them either.

We will soon be trading that in for a Tundra with bad gas mileage and great reliability. The Prius is not much good for towing or driving in our rural property. Though, I would consider trading my Outback for a Rav4 Prime.

I'm no engineer, but my son is. I don't think you are supposed to charge your EV until it is closer to empty. My understanding is that the battery will degrade if you do it like that. Of course, if you do it that way and then there is an emergency, you could get stuck.

Charge when the spirit moves you.

 

[Grumpycat]

About twice a month I travel 200 miles each way to visit my mother. About half of that time is on the interstate, travelling at 70-80 mph. I have calculated the savings vs driving at 65 mph; at 5$/gallon I would save about 7 dollars, but it would take another hour each way. My time is worth more than 7$/hour.

Your math doesn't add up.

If you drive 80 MPH for X miles 1 hour faster than if you drive 65 MPH for X miles then solving for X we get 346.6 miles which is much longer than your 200 mile trip.

 

[Grumpycat]

Another hour each way? Something's wrong with the math there...

200 miles at 65 mph = 3.1 hours.
200 miles at 70 mph = 2.7 hours = 4/10 of an hour faster = 24 minutes.
200 miles at 80 mph = 2.5 hours = 6/10 of an hour faster = 36 minutes.

If your traveling 70-80, you're probably saving half an hour at best.

Correct.

X is the distance driven at 80 MPH, we only know it is less than 200 miles.

X/80 + 1 = X/65
X = 346.6 miles

 

[Grumpycat]

The ability to produce that much electricity will not catch up...the people who push EV only also do not want nuclear power. The number of charging stations is irrelevant in the larger calculus. There is a place for EV, but it is supplementary.

I love nuclear but I'd caution nuclear is a good example of exactly why the government is incompetent at managing electric vehicles.

Power grid still has a 50% surplus in generating capacity at night. An EV is a perfect place to put that capacity. The EV only needs power when parked and doesn't matter when it charges. All but toy EVs are networked to control and monitor charging. All have timers to supplement the network. Give me a discount and I'll let the utility control when between 8PM and 6AM my EV charges.

 

[Grumpycat]

Irony: Relying on electricity to operate gas pumps is the same as needing a gas generator to charge your EV.

Tornados of April 2011 left me without power for 7 days. Without cable, telephone, or internet. Not even cellphone for several days.

Took local gas station about 3 days to bring in a generator and wire it up.

My new house will have battery-backed solar.

 

[Jstpssng]

Uphill both ways in winter with one shoe

Oh, it sounds like you've been here!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Heard the tail end of something like "Ford is recommending not using the heater in their new ev truck to save battery power"....

Glad I don't have to worry about getting stuck in a snow ditch down here.