Electric cars make a lot of sense -some places. If you have cheap renewable electricity and a mild climate, it’s great. They are also a pretty good deal in places with high gas prices. I saw an awful lot of them out in California, but gas prices are silly there.
I hear stories about electric cars having a hard time in cold climates. It makes sense that a lot of that power is needed to keep the interior of the car warm. Cold temperatures reduce battery power by quite a bit. There’s anecdotal tales of cold temperate charging where the car loses power faster than the charger puts it in.
On the flip side of that, Norway is full of electric cars. Why don’t they have the same problems?
At any rate, newer battery designs promise to be less susceptible to cold temperatures. Of course, we have to deal with the technology we have available right now.
I wonder if we are concentrating on the wrong kind of vehicles? The focus has been on things like fast cars, powerful trucks, and huge SUVs. Perhaps it would make more sense to develop more cheaper smaller cars? More people would buy them and there would be more demand for charging stations. Just a thought. We need something between an electric Hummer and a golf cart.
Right now the most practical electric vehicle for the average person is an electric bicycle.
-Sixbears
An E-bike is a useful tool but two wheels and slipper roads? Not so much. Two (even 3 as Rad now makes a E-trike you should look at IMHO) wheels against an inattentive driver with a ton of steel wrapped around him-her?
ReplyDeleteWeather and impact issues are the problem with E-bikes.
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DeleteIs it my imagination or are drivers getting worse out there?
DeleteI have an electric car (KIA EV6) in a cold climate (SW Michigan). Yes, it does get lower miles in the winter. From 2 different issues. One is that a colder battery = less battery capacity. It warms up the battery to counter-act that issue. I go from about 330 miles full charge (20 miles higher than the EPA estimate!) to 260 on the average winter day. That's more than enough for my normal day-to-day driving. And if I'm going farther than that in a day, a fast charger can charge it up from 10% to 80% charge in ~15 minutes. That long driving, I'm going to need food/restroom break either way.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is keeping warm. Seat & steering wheel heat is generally all I need. It would be a bit more comfortable turning on the heater (which uses a heat pump instead of resistive heating. Still energy expensive, but a bit better). But unless I'm driving for long periods of time, the seat/steering heat is plenty, especially with a coat on. Think turning on an electric blanket instead of heating your entire house.
There are a few advantages not mentioned:
1) It is dramatically cheaper to charge vs filling a tank. I pay ~$6 for a full charge (when I'm paying for it. Most of the time free slow chargers are available). I'm planning on building out some solar to negate even that (more for self-sufficiency than the money savings. I can make electricity at home with solar panels, but not gas/diesel/natural gas/propane). By buying a much more expensive vehicle, I'm essentially paying ahead of time for a lower energy cost, like you mentioned buying propane in summer. This is the same, but much longer in duration (think 15-20 years. Even if the rest of the car dies, I can still harvest the battery pack). Same goes for maintenance. I need to do a coolant flush every 60k miles. New tires & windshield washer fluid as needed. Lot less to go wrong with essentially a giant battery and an electric motor. Electronics are more the worry, but that's true for any modern vehicle.
3) It is a 77kwh battery that can act as a whole house battery backup if/when the grid goes down. Plenty to keep your essentials going a week or more if you aren't splurging.
4) The weight is evenly distributed over the entire car. Add in the fact that it's very heavy, has an electric AWD and all the weight is down low makes slippery roads much more manageable. I'm still not going to go joy-riding in an ice storm, but black ice is still a thing.
I'm not saying it is for the every-man, at least until used EVs are showing up regularly in the market at reasonable prices. Some of the older non-heated battery/low range EVs were very rough to use in the winter. But with the newer generation EVs, winter isn't nearly the issue most make it out to be.
Actually, I just looked it up. The 2022 EV6 started at 42k. Average sales price on a new car/truck/suv in January 2022 was 46k. In July, it was up to 48k. Still don't think the average person is buying a new car if they can help it, but those are some staggering numbers.
Hey Mr. Bard. Thanks for this real world information. Your climate is similar to mine in Northern NH. 260 miles in the winter is a perfectly acceptable range. Heck, I remember the 70's electric cars with lead acid batteries. 100 miles was good with those.
DeleteI'd be interested in how you personally use your electric cars battery as a back up to your own home.
ReplyDeleteI googled the voltage and most are between 100 and 300 volts DC so the inverter needed must be custom.
Details please
I don't know the options for the KIA, but some vehicles are designed to put out house current just for that situation.
DeleteI've looked into the Ford F150 that has that option. Way outside my price range.
DeleteWhat other hybrid cars have that option?
The Kia has a 1.9kw/120v AC vehicle to load "Power Generator".
DeleteName of this car or power package. I've not found it on Kia site.
Delete"Onboard Power Generator" You can see the stats on page 11 of this brochure: https://www.kia.com/content/dam/kia/us/brochures/KMD22_10709_EV6_Brochure_r14_MED.pdf
DeleteA colleague of mine has an electric SUV. It was made in Germany and sent across the ocean. It's pretty darn cool. I've noticed the local hospital has a whole bank of parking spots rigged up for Ecars. I guess things are a changin.
ReplyDelete