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Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
You know me ... I am trying to find hard things which could be wrong with it, but so far nothing. The operation has been flawless and it's a perfect 2nd city car for us. It's a snail when compared to Bolt or Tesla, but I have to tell you that I am definitely driving faster than in my ICE cars. I have to watch it, like really a lot ... I hate to be the fastest object on the road, but often I am. That's probably the only negative I can find about the car ... LOL ... Not sure how people do it in Tesla or Bolt without tickets.
Got the electrical bill yesterday for Dec 15 - Jan 15 ... must say the naysayers were "right". All kinds of hidden charges resulting in me paying 5$ so far for 2000km of city travel. That's ********, if you ask me ... it's not supposed to be that cheap, is it? ... LOL
I might have to buy some extra km's at the end of the lease ... because we will use the car more than I thought. Which is good, because it will produce even more fuel savings ...
Got the electrical bill yesterday for Dec 15 - Jan 15 ... must say the naysayers were "right". All kinds of hidden charges resulting in me paying 5$ so far for 2000km of city travel. That's ********, if you ask me ... it's not supposed to be that cheap, is it? ... LOL
I might have to buy some extra km's at the end of the lease ... because we will use the car more than I thought. Which is good, because it will produce even more fuel savings ...
Oh, stop throwing logic into this argument - on a hydrogen car heat is generated by butterflies and fairies, everyone knows that.
Real world testing proves otherwise...
https://www.greencarreports.com/new...ld-weather-performance-of-hydrogen-fuel-cells
But, but .... Hydrogen is the most abundant element around us. It's everywhere, literally, even water has it. So blasting your heater, thus blasting through your tank of hydrogen doesn't matter because it takes only four a half minutes to refill. So I hear ... are you saying it's not true?? I am getting confused about this hydrogen thing.
Problem with that is there's no meaningful dirt refill station infrastructure anywhere yet. I mean some will try refilling from home but the earth moving equipment and conveyor belts add a significant price premium to the base vehicle purchase price. That's the problem.
Don't think so .... It might seem like that at the first sight. Your plan clearly has holes ... LOL
Riceburner
Well-known member
I don't need Premium dirt, Regular is fine.
Anyhow.
Just noticed my tripmeter since my last fill up just went past 1000KM last night, so I did some calculations.
In that time I did use 7.6L of gas for a few drives outside my electric range. That was more than I would have used (by pretty much double) in the summer months due to the brutal cold, but hey, I'm still not complaining.
On gas alone, 1000+KM, 620+ miles = 336MPG, 0.7L/100KM, tank is still 3/4 full, and with my driving patterns I should only need to buy gas about once every 2-3 months. Probably only once every 3-4 months in the summer, actually.
When you blend in the cost of the electricity, the numbers are still spectacular. Over those 1000KM's I figure there was roughly 20 full charges, almost exclusively at off peak rates, so it would have been somewhere in the range of $15 in electricity.
I did the math based on the $15 in electricity this would have used, and about $9 for the gas (based on $1.20/L) I did use when I drove outside the battery range those 1018KMS, and the total cost would be around $24 total. If you compared that to a gas-only car, again using $1.20L as an average gas price right now, that would be the equivalent of 20 Liters of gas for that distance, calculating out to 1.96L/100KM, or just over 120MPG when you combine the cost of the electricity and gas together.
The more you focus your miles on electricity, the better those numbers get. Had I not used any gas at all in that distance I would easily have been north of 200MPG electric equivalent. I expect in the summer months with increased battery range (Yes, the brutal cold conditions has certainly effected my EV range, but I expected that), given my driving patterns, I will be in the combined 1.0L/100KM equivalent (probably less, actually), or 235MPG combined gas/electricity equivalent.
I really, really love this car.
Just noticed my tripmeter since my last fill up just went past 1000KM last night, so I did some calculations.
In that time I did use 7.6L of gas for a few drives outside my electric range. That was more than I would have used (by pretty much double) in the summer months due to the brutal cold, but hey, I'm still not complaining.
On gas alone, 1000+KM, 620+ miles = 336MPG, 0.7L/100KM, tank is still 3/4 full, and with my driving patterns I should only need to buy gas about once every 2-3 months. Probably only once every 3-4 months in the summer, actually.
When you blend in the cost of the electricity, the numbers are still spectacular. Over those 1000KM's I figure there was roughly 20 full charges, almost exclusively at off peak rates, so it would have been somewhere in the range of $15 in electricity.
I did the math based on the $15 in electricity this would have used, and about $9 for the gas (based on $1.20/L) I did use when I drove outside the battery range those 1018KMS, and the total cost would be around $24 total. If you compared that to a gas-only car, again using $1.20L as an average gas price right now, that would be the equivalent of 20 Liters of gas for that distance, calculating out to 1.96L/100KM, or just over 120MPG when you combine the cost of the electricity and gas together.
The more you focus your miles on electricity, the better those numbers get. Had I not used any gas at all in that distance I would easily have been north of 200MPG electric equivalent. I expect in the summer months with increased battery range (Yes, the brutal cold conditions has certainly effected my EV range, but I expected that), given my driving patterns, I will be in the combined 1.0L/100KM equivalent (probably less, actually), or 235MPG combined gas/electricity equivalent.
I really, really love this car.
Riceburner
Well-known member
What happens if you don't drive much? Have to keep it plugged in to maintain a float or can it sit for long periods and then have to be topped up before use?
Either or. It’s recommended it stay plugged in all the time to allow the systems to maintain things (and a tiny bit of power is used in subzero temps to keep the battery warm for better ev range) but it *can* be unplugged either full or dead.
My wife’s sits depleted and unplugged at work for 8.5 hours every day, no issue.
slowbird
Well-known member
This winter has been rough for my Volts economy. The snow plow covered the outlet I was sneaking overnight charges at work. So I leave work with less than 20kms of electrical range and get home with zero left. Not having a Level 2 charger at home means I don't get a full charge between shifts. I'm averaging about 4L/100kms lately which isn't as good as my usual 0-1L/100kms in the warmer months.
I also had an issue where I lost electric heat for a few days (during the coldest days we had of course) I was still able to get heat from the ICE though. The problem was accompanied by a hum and vibration when the HVAC was on. It has remedied itself though and hasn't come back yet.
I also had an issue where I lost electric heat for a few days (during the coldest days we had of course) I was still able to get heat from the ICE though. The problem was accompanied by a hum and vibration when the HVAC was on. It has remedied itself though and hasn't come back yet.
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Battery news. The next step appears to be lithium-sulfur (I've known about these for some time). Supposedly these are planned to go into production in late 2018 http://www.sionpower.com/
500 Wh/kg ... more than double the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. At that rate a 100 kWh battery pack (biggest Tesla) would weigh 200 kg. This is probably at the cell level; making it into an actual battery pack will make it weigh more. (The Bolt's 60-ish-kWh Li-ion battery pack weighs about 400 kg)
LG Chem owns that company. LG Chem is heavily involved in supplying EV components including for the Chevrolet Bolt.
The number of charging cycles still needs work but I'm sure they're not done development. Even at 400 full charge/discharge cycles, if that is 500 km per cycle which is plausible at that energy density, that's 200,000 km ...
500 Wh/kg ... more than double the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. At that rate a 100 kWh battery pack (biggest Tesla) would weigh 200 kg. This is probably at the cell level; making it into an actual battery pack will make it weigh more. (The Bolt's 60-ish-kWh Li-ion battery pack weighs about 400 kg)
LG Chem owns that company. LG Chem is heavily involved in supplying EV components including for the Chevrolet Bolt.
The number of charging cycles still needs work but I'm sure they're not done development. Even at 400 full charge/discharge cycles, if that is 500 km per cycle which is plausible at that energy density, that's 200,000 km ...
Remember the crappy old Gold Star TV's? yep, they are LG now. If LG battery quality is anything like their tv's and cell phones, I wouldn't be cheering too loudly.
Panasonic is the one to watch when it comes to batteries tech.
Interesting news, but I'm immediately out with that mileage estimate. The initial buyer is going to get decimated on depreciation. Any car with a ~200,000KM guillotine hanging over it's head will have the Hyundai/Genesis famous ~40% depreciation in the first year look mild in comparison - At anything over 150,000KM the car will have very little value on the resale market, and considering some people put 30-40,000KM/year on their vehicles, we're only talking a few years for some people before it needs a (presumably very costly) replacement battery?
I know that (ironically) many of the same arguments were ones that were used against the Volt itself (and many EV's) in their early days, but reality was that the cars were forecasted (and have proven) to be capable of 500,000+ KM's. Considering few vehicles make it to that many KM's to begin with, most EV's have proven themselves from a longevity standpoint now using current technology at least. BTW, LG makes the Volts battery, and there's one out there with 600,000+KM's on it now, and many more with 300-400,000KM's and still running on original batteries. They have proven hardy.
Here's hoping the technology gets better. Higher electric energy density is what's needed in the EV world, that's for sure.
Indeed, here's hoping. I know technology will march on, but as I said in an earlier response in either this thread (or one of the other 2-3 other related right now) I sometimes lean towards pessimism on energy storage technology having seen so many "breakthroughs" in the last 10 years that never got beyond the "big media release" stage.
Yes, I edited my response above with that tidbit for those who didn't know.
And yes, they have proven to be VERY hardy.
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