Owners of electric vehicles, what are some of the consequences that comes with it?
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)Consequences: planning your drive a little better than with gas. Charging stations are fewer than gas stations, and charging takes longer than a fill up.
Unintended consequence: EV's are generally more performant than their gas equivalent. I.E. my Kia Niro really moves! I wasn't expecting such a boost in performance.
Another would be: I never want to drive gas cars anymore, unless they are really interesting.
Unintended consequence: EV's are generally more performant than their gas equivalent. I.E. my Kia Niro really moves! I wasn't expecting such a boost in performance.
Another would be: I never want to drive gas cars anymore, unless they are really interesting.
Not a long time user. But, I got my EV going a week or so ago. Still working out some of the benefits/issues.
I had an old lead acid converted pickup a while ago and it drove like a boat, and had the bed full of batteries. I ended up with problems that it was range was limited and not J1772 compliant. One trip I made a couple of side stops and ran out of juice. Then my tow rope broke and sent it into a ditch.
With the newer (2011) Transit Connect, range is up to about 60+ miles. I can get out onto the freeway, but tend to like to go a bit slower to conserve juice. So far all charging has been at home which is painfully slow at 110V.
Different parts of the USA have different amounts of renewable energy. Oregon is pretty good with about 75% renewable. So, ideally my charging can be with renewables. I may get solar panels installed if I can find a place I like the sunshine. Bonneville apparently likes late night power consumption. So, there may be society benefits of getting a hotter charger to recharge generally starting at midnight.
The Good:
I had an old lead acid converted pickup a while ago and it drove like a boat, and had the bed full of batteries. I ended up with problems that it was range was limited and not J1772 compliant. One trip I made a couple of side stops and ran out of juice. Then my tow rope broke and sent it into a ditch.
With the newer (2011) Transit Connect, range is up to about 60+ miles. I can get out onto the freeway, but tend to like to go a bit slower to conserve juice. So far all charging has been at home which is painfully slow at 110V.
Different parts of the USA have different amounts of renewable energy. Oregon is pretty good with about 75% renewable. So, ideally my charging can be with renewables. I may get solar panels installed if I can find a place I like the sunshine. Bonneville apparently likes late night power consumption. So, there may be society benefits of getting a hotter charger to recharge generally starting at midnight.
The Good:
- Better for the Planet
- With gas prices climbing it gives more "freedom". I don't drive every day, but less thought whether I actually want to do the trip.
- The Transit Connect is pretty spunky (although I drive conservatively to save juice), and has moderate cargo capacity. I'll probably try a trailer hitch sometime.
- The Transit Connect is smaller than my pickup, and I believe safer for general around town driving.
- My battery pack is now about 11 years old. And my estimated range per the instrument panel is close to the rated range for a new vehicle.
- The Transit Connect doesn't have the towing capacity or power to replace the pickup, so it can't be an only vehicle for me. There may be new EV pickups and small trucks on the way, but they'll break the bank. Still, I should be able to do most of my local driving with the EV.
- I am range limited to 60 or so miles. Maybe slightly over that. That should be good for about one local trip a day. But, I'm not ready to trust going out on the open highway. A 110 mile trip could be LONG.
- Right now I only have 110V Level 1 home charging. That means it takes about 20 hours or so to get mostly recharged, and 2 days to get a full recharge. OOF! However, things should settle down in a few weeks and I'll do OK. I'm working on getting a hotter 220V Level 2 charger which should help with doing a full charge overnight, as well as potentially a quick mid-day charge or top off.
- I think I'm limited to Level 2 charging, and I don't know the amps. So, I'm expecting a public recharge to take about 2 hours to get about 75% capacity. Maybe longer. Public recharge stations seem to be scattered around, but still are limited. So far never quite where I tend to shop, do errands, or otherwise would do a rest break.
- No company support. The conversion company (Azure) boomed and busted before I got the EV. Right now it runs, but there is no guarantee I won't break something big sometime.
- Each situation is a little different. A short range EV would certainly do well in a multi-vehicle family. Perhaps a vehicle for a youngster in school or college. Many people would do well with a mid-range EV (150 mile or so range), especially with fast charging options. An option for some would be to rent another vehicle for longer range trips.
- If one didn't need a full sized pickup or small truck, then there are a lot of EV options.
- For me, over 90% of my driving is well within my EV range. But I have some heavy hauling to do, as well as some long distance heavy hauling which may push the limits of the current generation of EVs. The new generation in the next 1 or 2 years may get close for the local work, but still might struggle with some of the longer trips.
- I have less than $10K invested in my Transit Connect. I'm not sure I'm ready for a $20K, $30K, $50K, or $100K vehicle just yet.
My situation is a bit niche but could be a useful data point. My car is street legal but primarily used for autocross. It's powered by a motorcycle engine and that definitely has been cool to me, but it's loud and it's got terrible torque. Even getting the thing moving from a red light is a chore, so the torque thing isn't just limited to racing. I can't gear it differently either because it's already over 6000 rpm on the highway. As for sound, I'm rebuilding the muffler every other race or else I'll get disqualified for going over 93 decibels. So, those are the main driving factors to me.
I will be the odd one: I don't smog it, but road use taxes doubled the registration which is more than my F250 now. I have 40 miles range so it gets limited to getting groceries, doctor visits, trips to the big box stores. There's always a tesla or two parked in the EV places, and they aren't even plugged in. When it breaks, I am the one that has to fix it. Nobody professional will touch it even for the stock parts. Kinda like owning a Chirac, awesome to look at, not really useful for building a house.
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I converted my LandRover to EV about 5 years ago, it cost me AU$22,000 , thats about US$15k , all new parts & 28kwh LioFePo4 prismatics.. Before I converted it I'd drive it maybe once every 2 weeks, if that . Since converting its been my daily driver - local runabout. It is soo much better, easier & more fun to drive . Its only got 80km / 50 mile range but the majority of my daily trips are 25km, You don't need huge range on the odd occasion I need to go further , about once a month, I take a ICE car , simple. It basically costs less than noting to run as we have 2 PV systems feeding to the grid the grid pays more per Kwh than it costs to buy it back at night when I charge.
No negative consequences, being self reliant is huge & Not having to queue up for fuel is a bonus, I have not broke even yet but for me the finances are not a factor .
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No negative consequences, being self reliant is huge & Not having to queue up for fuel is a bonus, I have not broke even yet but for me the finances are not a factor .
Have a converted Karmann Ghia. I love the extra power, no oil dripping, no smells. Ever since I learned to drive I have almost always had an appliance car like a Toyota and a fun car. For me converting a fun car to electric is perfect.
With every home built car be it a hot rod or electric conversion there are always little things that go wrong. A hose or wire rubs and shorts or leaks. Little things that Toyota would have figured out by testing 1,000 cars but me with only one learns it the hard way.
The other thing is that I love playing with it and changing things. Right now I am busy making new battery boxes and moving the weight all over the car for better balance. It is a blast.
If I were going to have an EV as my only car I would buy from one of the major manufacturers, and use a rental car for a long trip. My KG has about 75hp, top speed is about 80mph, range is about 60 miles and that is fine for me for a fun car or daily driver.
With every home built car be it a hot rod or electric conversion there are always little things that go wrong. A hose or wire rubs and shorts or leaks. Little things that Toyota would have figured out by testing 1,000 cars but me with only one learns it the hard way.
The other thing is that I love playing with it and changing things. Right now I am busy making new battery boxes and moving the weight all over the car for better balance. It is a blast.
If I were going to have an EV as my only car I would buy from one of the major manufacturers, and use a rental car for a long trip. My KG has about 75hp, top speed is about 80mph, range is about 60 miles and that is fine for me for a fun car or daily driver.
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My first project was a PHEV. It's also a charge by road hybrid (ICE drags the EV and it brakes [heavily] with the E motor). I built it with a friend.
I live in a very small town. And I have enough charge to actually drive it to Ace Hardware, Autozone, Oreilly, etc. All less than half a mile away... then come straight home lol. After that, I have to turn on the ICE. But it's great.
My biggest problem is I can't tell people about it. I can't tell ICE people it's a hybrid. The only shop that will touch it, is a tire shop. And I can't tell EV people it's a hybrid. Almost everyone is biased against the other side. It sucks, a lot. I basically have to approach my questions online without telling people of either.
I went with this for performance reasons and costs. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't build a pure EV. Obviously, range isn't an issue b/c I still have a very capable ICE up front. But being stranded while far from home is still a serious fear. The other day I was goofing around with it on a full charge, and then it was stuttering and acceleration was very weird. Eventually, it just quit accelerating under EV power. The whole system appeared to be powered on, regen braking still worked, but the EV accel. pedal just did nothing.
Well, something a small as a little pin in the plug for the EV pedal came out. The little barbs on the pin weren't sticking out enough to hold it in. It took me over an hour to find this when I got home. A stupid tiny pin. On top of that, the pin was under interior panels that all had to be removed. If it was pure EV, and I didn't have my tools, I'd be calling a tow truck.
Right now, I'm building electric mowers and helping them with solar setups in their sheds. I'm on #4. I usually build the batteries around the yard size. So far, EV mowers seems to be the way to go. Only drawback is charging is slow with these small solar setups. And mowing a neighbors yard, same day, isn't optional. Same range anxiety as an EV I'd assume. But mowing very early or when it's dang-near dark (avoiding Tx heat) is much better now.
I live in a very small town. And I have enough charge to actually drive it to Ace Hardware, Autozone, Oreilly, etc. All less than half a mile away... then come straight home lol. After that, I have to turn on the ICE. But it's great.
My biggest problem is I can't tell people about it. I can't tell ICE people it's a hybrid. The only shop that will touch it, is a tire shop. And I can't tell EV people it's a hybrid. Almost everyone is biased against the other side. It sucks, a lot. I basically have to approach my questions online without telling people of either.
I went with this for performance reasons and costs. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't build a pure EV. Obviously, range isn't an issue b/c I still have a very capable ICE up front. But being stranded while far from home is still a serious fear. The other day I was goofing around with it on a full charge, and then it was stuttering and acceleration was very weird. Eventually, it just quit accelerating under EV power. The whole system appeared to be powered on, regen braking still worked, but the EV accel. pedal just did nothing.
Well, something a small as a little pin in the plug for the EV pedal came out. The little barbs on the pin weren't sticking out enough to hold it in. It took me over an hour to find this when I got home. A stupid tiny pin. On top of that, the pin was under interior panels that all had to be removed. If it was pure EV, and I didn't have my tools, I'd be calling a tow truck.
Right now, I'm building electric mowers and helping them with solar setups in their sheds. I'm on #4. I usually build the batteries around the yard size. So far, EV mowers seems to be the way to go. Only drawback is charging is slow with these small solar setups. And mowing a neighbors yard, same day, isn't optional. Same range anxiety as an EV I'd assume. But mowing very early or when it's dang-near dark (avoiding Tx heat) is much better now.
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