Electric car questions - Page 2

stevej37 · 06-23-2021, 09:52 AM

^^^ I asked an employee at the cust service dept. He said they were a free service.
I thought that sounded strange. I did look close at the stations....did not see any screen to enter info...or don't they need one to relay the info?

Aerkuld · Aerkuld's Garage

1990C4S - Yes! The Engineering Explained channel on YouTube has some excellent videos. I consider his approach to be neutral and not biased either way for or against gas or electric. He uses some sound math, states his assumptions clearly, and presents some good information.

Free charging is definitely a thing. I expect it's something which will disappear over time, but for now it seems to be a good incentive for some stores, shopping malls, and businesses to offer free charging to bring in customers. My employer offers free charging at work for the handful of EV and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) owners on the staff. I can manage my commute to work and home again on electric with the PHEV. I haven't filled up with gas since February!

PorscheGAL · PorscheGAL's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ I asked an employee at the cust service dept. He said they were a free service.
I thought that sounded strange. I did look close at the stations....did not see any screen to enter info...or don't they need one to relay the info?

It shows on the screen in the car. You can see how fast it's charging and the cost.

stevej37 · 06-23-2021, 10:03 AM

Also...in GR, the city advertised that all their parking garages have free charging stations.
They aren't Tesla stations...but will work for any hybrid.

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra

Volt is an electric car with an onboard generator

Sort of. You can choose hybrid (ICE + battery) or battery power. It is most efficient to use the battery for in town, stop and go driving and the hybrid for steady state, highway driving. The ICE will not increase the level of charge in the battery, it will only maintain a charge level. So if your tooling around in town on battery and run it down to 30 miles of range, and want to save that for when you get to the next town, you can switch to hybrid mode and most of the power will come from the ICE. If you’re trying to maintain 75 mph up a long hill the system will tap the battery for power if it needs to, and the ICE will bring the charge level back to 30 miles range when the power needs are reduced.

PorscheGAL · PorscheGAL's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

Also...in GR, the city advertised that all their parking garages have free charging stations.
They aren't Tesla stations...but will work for any hybrid.

You can find free chargers in some government parking garages, some hotels and restaurants have them for guests. Was just in Blowing Rock NC and they charge a flat $5 per charging session

Tesla has attachments that allow them to be charged at any charging station but other EVs can not charge at a Tesla station

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

How are Volts supposed to get their batteries charged?

You don’t need a charging station, you have one on board. Charging spaces are for cars that rely only on batteries.

flipper35 · flipper35's Garage

The gas engine in the Volt only provides power to the electric motors when under high load or when the batteries are depleted and only enough to run the electric motor. The Volt still needs to be plugged in to charge. The gas engine is a range extender that works on the same principle as a locomotive.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by flipper35

The gas engine in the Volt only provides power to the electric motors when under high load or when the batteries are depleted and only enough to run the electric motor. The Volt still needs to be plugged in to charge. The gas engine is a range extender that works on the same principle as a locomotive.

Right the battery can be depleted. When my battery is depleted I need a flat bed.

MMARSH · MMARSH's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

My husband just bought a Model 3 performance:

To charge from 30miles of range to 280miles of range takes 15-25 mins at a supercharger (some superchargers have more amps than others). Here in SC, that costs about $12.

At home we have a Tesla Wall charger at 48 Amps. We tell the car how much of the battery we want charged and when we want to leave and it starts charging to accomplish the goal we set.

I must admit: I love driving his car. After driving that my Audi RS 3 seems like it is moving at snail speed. I have ordered a new Model S that is due to arrive in October.

We did just the opposite. I bought a Model S performance a couple of years ago and because my wife liked it so much, she bought a new model 3 a couple of months ago.

MMARSH · MMARSH's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

Those super chargers are not free. You are charged to a credit card on file

That depends, I have free supercharging on my Model S for life, my wife has free supercharging for a year on her Model 3.

https://www.findmyelectric.com/blog/tesla-free-unlimited-supercharging-how-to-check-if-you-have-it/

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

I also have free supercharging due to referrals.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott R

You don’t need a charging station, you have one on board. Charging spaces are for cars that rely only on batteries.

Why?

Steve Carlton · 06-23-2021, 04:45 PM

The Volt is a specific type of plug-in hybrid, that's all. They can use charging stations- there's no rule against that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by john70t

The Volt's long electric-only range makes it one of the most successful plug-in hybrids on the market. However, once the battery runs out of charge and it must rely more heavily on its gasoline engine, its fuel economy becomes modest. The Volt is rated to deliver 53 miles of EV range, according to the EPA, which is more than enough to get most people between home and work every day. It didn't quite live up to expectations during our highway test, where it yielded a 37-mile real-world highway range. The fuel economy of the gas engine also disappointed in our highway test. Once the battery was depleted, it earned just 39 mpg. [/I]

True about < 53 mile range if you drive it fast- that was my experience at 75-80mph. To say 39 mpg is disappointing is rich. Even if the gas engine drove the wheels directly (which it only did a little bit on the gen twos), 39 mpg is pretty damn good.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

The Volt is a specific type of plug-in hybrid, that's all. They can use charging stations- there's no rule against that.

True about < 53 mile range if you drive it fast- that was my experience at 75-80mph. To say 39 mpg is disappointing is rich. Even if the gas engine drove the wheels directly (which it only did a little bit on the gen twos), 39 mpg is pretty damn good.

At my building there is a rule against it, and that’s in Boulder.

masraum · 06-23-2021, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

There are several places where I've read the design life of the batteries is in the range of 300k to 500k miles, but who knows?

Lots of great info Aerkuld.

If anyone ever gets to NY city, you'll see that it seems like most of the taxis are electric/hybrid. I have to think that's the ultimate torture test for pretty much any vehicle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City

Quote:

n 2005, New York introduced incentives to replace its current yellow cabs with electric hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid.[57]
...The proportion of the taxi fleet made up of Crown Victorias has dropped over time. In 2010, it stood at about 60% of yellow cabs, as the number of Ford Escape Hybrid and Toyota Sienna minivans kept rising.[58] The percentage of Crown Victoria taxis in the city would be further undercut by the adoption of the similarly sized Toyota Camry Hybrids since 2010, and the Toyota Prius V. By 2015, the Ford Crown Victoria fleet would be nearly entirely replaced.

As of February 2011, New York City had around 4,300 hybrid taxis, representing almost 33% of the 13,237 taxis in service, and about 6,000 by September 2012, representing 59% of the taxis in service—the most in any city in North America.[63][64][65] By mid-2009, owners began retiring their original hybrid fleets after they accumulated between 300,000 and 350,000 miles per vehicle.[66][67]

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Here is some real world for you from today, I just got back from the office. You can see I’m at 201 and I’m charging to 284 on my home version 3 Tesla charger at 50 amps. It’s 2 hours and 5 min.