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Phev Truck - Workhorse

RSchneider

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PLUS, how long do you think it will be before Ford puts chargers at every dealer they own? GM has stated they will build a nation-wide charging network. Well, actually, they are having a third party company do it. Actually, that third party company is looking for investors to pay for the charging network they will build for GM... I suppose GM nor the third party company want to invest their own money in a charging network. It'll be interesting to see how Ford approaches this.
At least Ford and VW are teaming for a truck. Then we here in America is forcing VW to spend their own money to set up 950 charging stations in the US. I assume that will work out for Ford/Rivian/VW/Audi/Porsche. I guess GM is doing what they do best, hope for the best and someone else do it for them.
 

RSchneider

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That's just the 110v charger they give you with the car, I have to pull some 8 gauge wire to the corner of the house for a 40 amp charger.
I have a 16 amp charger for the Fiat, but my wife wont park in that spot. Get this, if I were to charge the Kona from 0% on 110v it would take over 60 hours!
110v takes a long time. Then you better have a 20 amp circuit but normally everything in a house is 15 amp which realistically means about 13. I was lucky to have the breaker box in the garage and right by the doors. So I wired up 220V 50A. The plug to the circuit breakers is like no more than a foot of wiring. Then after that I just plug in and can charge it from the inside of the house or just out in the driveway. I tested out the 110V just to see and it's way too slow. I guess if I wasn't going to drive it for a day, then it would work. With the 220V the longest charge I've had was 6 hours. I ran the battery down as far as it would let me just to see what would happen.

Mine is set on a timer and it charges at night when I have cheaper electric (11pm - 5am). Then if I know I'm going somewhere, I have it precondition (it runs the HVAC system and either warms the car up or cools it off). I like that option because then I don't care if it sits out all night.
 

bowers baldwin

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110v takes a long time. Then you better have a 20 amp circuit but normally everything in a house is 15 amp which realistically means about 13. I was lucky to have the breaker box in the garage and right by the doors. So I wired up 220V 50A. The plug to the circuit breakers is like no more than a foot of wiring. Then after that I just plug in and can charge it from the inside of the house or just out in the driveway. I tested out the 110V just to see and it's way too slow. I guess if I wasn't going to drive it for a day, then it would work. With the 220V the longest charge I've had was 6 hours. I ran the battery down as far as it would let me just to see what would happen.

Mine is set on a timer and it charges at night when I have cheaper electric (11pm - 5am). Then if I know I'm going somewhere, I have it precondition (it runs the HVAC system and either warms the car up or cools it off). I like that option because then I don't care if it sits out all night.
Right now I have a 3.8 kW charger, but I do plan on a 7.2 kW (hence the 8 ga wiring plan) I've had the Fiat for about a year and I've never needed to use anything other than the 110v charger, that being said it's only a 24 kW battery. But now having to rely on an EV entirely it makes sense to invest on quick charge options. By the way that 258 mile range is with AC/Heat, it will actually go ~308 miles if you baby it. I'm not sure about off peak prices but I pay about $.08 kW hr. I may look into it, but even so, it's less than gasoline anytime. BTW what kind of EV do you have?
 

RSchneider

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Right now I have a 3.8 kW charger, but I do plan on a 7.2 kW (hence the 8 ga wiring plan) I've had the Fiat for about a year and I've never needed to use anything other than the 110v charger, that being said it's only a 24 kW battery. But now having to rely on an EV entirely it makes sense to invest on quick charge options. By the way that 258 mile range is with AC/Heat, it will actually go ~308 miles if you baby it. I'm not sure about off peak prices but I pay about $.08 kW hr. I may look into it, but even so, it's less than gasoline anytime. BTW what kind of EV do you have?
Sounds like you do what I do. Plan out your trips. I never really did this because I never thought about it. With the i3, I just plan out all of the trips for the day and do then where i crank out less mileage and all at once. In the end, I have found that my regular trips around town has seen a 20% reduction in mileage as opposed to when I had a gasser for those trips. It's funny because I stress efficiency constantly for what i do at work yet just threw it away when I was just driving around. My old TDI would crank out over 500 miles of city trips before I needed to fill it up. That thing gave 42 mpg in the city, thus i just drove it everywhere and didn't care how many small trips I made.

In the end, having an EV does make you think about what you are going to do and plan it out better.
 

johnsnownw

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In the end, having an EV does make you think about what you are going to do and plan it out better.

That's true for low range BEVs, but we give absolutely no consideration for planning daily driving. Both of our Teslas are 250+ EPA, and when you can plug in at home you simply don't have to consider it at all.

Not to say that driving more efficiently isn't a positive, but it's just not something we really have to consider.
 
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KD

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That's true for low range BEVs, but we give absolutely no consideration for planning daily driving. Both of our Teslas are 250+ EPA, and when you can plug in at home you simply don't have to consider it at all.

Not to say that driving more efficiently isn't a positive, but it's just not something we really have to consider.

I am still enjoying the daylights out of my 2014 Volt. For my daily work commute, it's all electric. When we decide to go on long trips, there are no issues with where to charge, we will burn the fossil fuels to our hearts content at 42 mpg. It is still an absolute blast to drive!

I have an outdoor outlet in the carport for my 120v daily charging pleasure, but have 240v in the garage when I am blessed to park in there!

My interest in getting Elio up and running is still high, but the reality is it doesn't seem to be coming to fruition.

You can bet yur boots I'll still get #18,706 if it ever rolls off the line though!

Geaux Elio!
 

Coss

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At least you know you have options for your commute dollar.
If you get stuck, take an extension cord. Someone should loan you an outlet enough so you can charge to get home.
Or look for an outlet on the outside of a building you can "borrow"
 

RSchneider

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At least you know you have options for your commute dollar.
If you get stuck, take an extension cord. Someone should loan you an outlet enough so you can charge to get home.
Or look for an outlet on the outside of a building you can "borrow"
I've done that before. One of my customers in NJ has a Tesla. At his shop he lets me pull up and charge because he set up one there. Other customers just let me plug in with the 110V plug. If I'm there for a day of work, why not just charge it up as much as possible?

With the old TDI, it was 500 miles and took 5 minutes to recharge. So it didn't matter how many trips I took or if it had 250 miles left on it's recharge, I could set out to go 450 miles out in the middle of Nowhereville, OH (which has pretty much no recharges for EV's) and do a 5 minute recharge while going and then make it all the way back without recharging. Even with the best Tesla or EV that exists, that can't happen (I could get 750 on highway mileage). You have to plan out the trip. There are limitations no matter how great we think EV's are right now. Especially when it's really cold and snowy or when construction season has started and you creep along in the middle of summer on I-80 or the GSP and it's 95 degrees out. That's the real world mileage on an EV where I live.

On the other hand, I can't do the marathon drives like I did when I was younger. So every few hours I take a break no matter what. So an EV is more suited to older people that just need a break and relax for a bit. I do this when I plan a trip and it goes past the BMW HQ in NJ. They have the fast chargers, so I get a coffee, relax and whip out the laptop and get some work done. Best one is the BMW Master parts warehouse in Easton, PA. They have a charger and a lounge for BMW owners (that has free coffee).
 
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