Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle? | Page 134 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

Brian P said:
On a related note ... I saw two different Hyundai Ioniq Electrics yesterday, one on highway 10 northbound towards Orangeville, one on Mayfield Road. Hyundai did a good job with those. I'm also seeing more of the new Nissan Leafs than of the old one. That one deserves an award for most-improved appearance. The old one looked like a turd. The new one looks pretty good. It's hard to believe that they use the same doors and window glass.
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Big +1 on the Leaf. the few new ones I've seen really caught my eye and stood out. GM could have taken a few cues on how to design a decent looking electric car. Bolt styling is so vanilla.

Hyundai did ok too styling wise, but still leery of their long term quality and durability. Esp with their second tier LG Chem batteries.
 
Well, my race bike is sold pending pick up.

After that I'll go Volt shopping, and once I've got a Volt I can sell my truck, and once I sell my truck I can buy a dirtbike.
 
Found a 2012 Volt Premium with 100k for $12.5k. I’ll be going to check it out on Friday.
- silver on black leather
- heated seats
- back up cam
- new tires (I hope they are LRR)
 
A decent article on the Clarity. Some upsides and some downsides presented.

https://www.autotrader.ca/expert/20180508/test-drive-2018-honda-clarity-touring/

This part blew my mind and is almost a deal breaker. Wtf Honda. Does the volt have a similar limitation?

" Canadian-market Clarities have a battery heater, but the car may not start when actual temps – not wind-chill factor – dip below –30 C, even if plugged-in, says the Clarity’s owner’s manual."
 
GreyGhost said:
A decent article on the Clarity. Some upsides and some downsides presented.

https://www.autotrader.ca/expert/20180508/test-drive-2018-honda-clarity-touring/

This part blew my mind and is almost a deal breaker. Wtf Honda. Does the volt have a similar limitation?

" Canadian-market Clarities have a battery heater, but the car may not start when actual temps – not wind-chill factor – dip below –30 C, even if plugged-in, says the Clarity’s owner’s manual."
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It's a limitation of lithium ion batteries. Your phone and laptop will stop working at that temp as well. Remember that the batteries are based on a chemical reaction that is affected by temperature. At that temperature the chemical reaction just can't occur. The cars with proper battery temp management will use power to warm the battery, but if left in -30c temps for an extended period of time they may not start.

This is why they say leave them plugged in when it's really cold. That way they can use power from the charging station to maintain a minimum temp rather than using the battery.
 
Lunatic said:
It's a limitation of lithium ion batteries. Your phone and laptop will stop working at that temp as well. Remember that the batteries are based on a chemical reaction that is affected by temperature. At that temperature the chemical reaction just can't occur. The cars with proper battery temp management will use power to warm the battery, but if left in -30c temps for an extended period of time they may not start.

This is why they say leave them plugged in when it's really cold. That way they can use power from the charging station to maintain a minimum temp rather than using the battery.
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The clarity specifically says even when plugged in you may be hooped. It is disappointing that it can run ICE only in this situation (at least until it can get some heat in the batteries).
 
GreyGhost said:
A decent article on the Clarity. Some upsides and some downsides presented.

https://www.autotrader.ca/expert/20180508/test-drive-2018-honda-clarity-touring/

This part blew my mind and is almost a deal breaker. Wtf Honda. Does the volt have a similar limitation?

" Canadian-market Clarities have a battery heater, but the car may not start when actual temps – not wind-chill factor – dip below –30 C, even if plugged-in, says the Clarity’s owner’s manual."
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I don't think the Clarity has liquid cooled/heated batteries. The Volt and Bolt do and this is what sets them apart, they'll use battery power to maintain battery temperatures whereas the Clarity battery would be heated/cooled by your cabin air temperature...

Someone can probably confirm this..
 
http://www.insightman.com/Clarity/index.htm

The Canadian version Claritys come with battery warmers from the factory.

Its well known that electric cars are crappy and limited in cold weather, esp really cold weather. Honda says, starting at -30c can actually DAMAGE the LI-ION battery. hence its refusal to start.


Also read somewhere on gas only, the Clarity gets 44mpg City. Thats still pretty damn good for such a heavy car.
 
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SunnY S said:
The Canadian version Claritys come with battery warmers from the factory.
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Failure to start is with the battery warmer and plugged in. Huge fail Honda. I would even be ok if it started the ICE and made you wait until the battery pack got above -30 before driving. Leaving me stuck because they were lazy is not acceptable.

Upon further research, it looks like the Clarity battery pack is not temperature controlled by liquid (although the sources are dodgy so that may be incorrect). I have very very little faith in the air-cooled systems as they age. I hope Honda got it right, but if they didn't there will be no saving the Clarity even if it has a nicer interior than the competition.
 
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It depends on car and ambient conditions it's operated in ... for example Arizona and Leaf, especially gen 1 do not match well. You want to DCFC charge anything on regular basis and live in Arizona and want to keep the car long term, you better get something with active cooling. Up here in Canada ..... we will have to see, how much battery life will the cooling add. The power requirement of the vehicle matters too. Mild powered car like mine (Soul EV) will surely not get the battery pack "cooking" as much something like Bolt or Teslas.

Regarding the Clarity PHEV ... I doubt there's any PHEV car with actively cooled battery pack. I would think that anything design of late would have a built-in warmers (if not that is dumb in my opinion). My car is 2013 or 2104 design (although 2018 model) and has warmers built-in ... but that's BEV. Big difference what tech goes into BEV vs PHEV .... PHEV is afterthought with huge price pressure to come at certain price and having to deliver both EV and ICE powertrain under one hood ....

FYI ... car can have built-in warmers, but does NOT have to be done so through liquid lines ...
 
Update:
Have had the car for about 2 weeks now, it's been great for us and the driving we (wife) do. Gen 2's are rated at about 85km but we've been seeing over 100km / charge for the last 1.5 weeks, usually around 105km of range on a full battery. No L2 charger installed yet, solely L1 charging at home and some L2 when we're somewhere that has it.

EOD today it will have 1,000km on it and out of that only 16km were on gas, only because the dealer hadn't charged it fully the first day we got it. Dealer had topped off the fuel and it's been sitting at the full mark since then.

Great car with quick acceleration, almost makes me wish it was RWD so it could get better traction off the line :)

We may go on some trips that should deplete the battery fully and switch to gas over the long weekend, if anyone wants, I'll let you guys know how it does.
 
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The volvo xc40 seems to be portioned and designed to work with a hybrid/electric version down the line.
Would certainly make the best looking hybrid/electric crossover should it ever come to fruition (in north america)
 
MSRP said:
The volvo xc40 seems to be portioned and designed to work with a hybrid/electric version down the line.
Would certainly make the best looking hybrid/electric crossover should it ever come to fruition (in north america)
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Any links for info?

I'm going to look at another Volt tonight. I went to see a 2012 on Friday but it turns out to be an American car (not a big deal) but it has a rebuilt title (kind of a big deal) so no battery warranty. I think given the accident damage/repair and the lack of battery warranty it is over priced at $12,400.
 
2019 in Canada, maybe .... nice good looking car, but really who wants to pay 50K out the door for 40km EV range car? The math is just not there .... I hate to NOT recommend any PHEV, because I feel like I am saying the wrong thing ... but sadly, there's of list PHEV's which are just a joke from EV standpoint ... pretty much any German PHEV (except for i3 extender obviously) at the moment. This car just joins the list, if you ask me. The V60 BEV will be obviously the right EV car ... but we are talking 2020 earliest and big $, like any Volvo.
 
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