Mr. TimeHorse's Wild Ride and how he tried to save the Virginia Environment

On Tuesday, 3 February, 2015, members of the Virginia Advanced Energies Industries Coalition (VAEIC) will be gathering in Richmond, Virginia for Clean Energy Lobby Day (CELD) 2015.  The event is in co-operation with Virginia Clean Cities and the Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association (MDV-SEIA)—who produce the rather repetitive and wordy Solar Flare newsletter.  A number of industries in the energy sector are also sponsoring CELD, including Dominion Virginia Power, Solar City, Prospect Solar, Standard Solar, and Columbia Gas of Virginia; a complete list of sponsors is available on the official CELD page above.

The Trip

Unfortunately, none of the bills under consideration in the Commerce and Labour committee solve the many problems Electric Car drivers face in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which I hope to summarize in a subsequent article.  None the less, it's my desire to be a part of events like this, but usually I need to be at the job and those silly AdSense ads (sorry about those) aren't gonna pay the bills.  However, due to some abuse I received at my job to which I reacted exceedingly poorly I happen to have the day off so it's absolutely my plan to be there tomorrow.  That is, to drive to Richmond… 115 mi (185 km) away… in #CO2Fre Nissan LEAF… which is lucky to do 80 mi (130 km) on a good day… at 05:00 in the morning… in 20℉ (-7℃) weather… and naturally no heater…

Not only that, but in the evening I'm planning to meet some friends in Laurel, MD—land of the $35 cab to go 3.5 km (2 mi).  Needless to say, if I'm to try anything as ambitious as 320 mi (515 km) in a single day, I'm gonna need some quick charging; I'm gonna need CHAdeMO.

Fortunately, thanks to the folks at NRG eVgo, various Nissan Dealers and Greenlots (not to be confused with Gringotts, though they can be just as pricy), I have some hope.  First, I plan to use ECO routing to get to Pohanka Nissan in Fredricksburg, VA.  From there I should be able to get straigt to Richmond, however, it's possible that the Level 2 plug at the Richmond Omni Hotel will be in use (I plan to call from Fredricksburg to make sure), so as a backup I'll hit the CHAdeMO at Mac's Service Center in Ashland, VA, which is part of Greenlots.  I should therefore arrive in Richmond around 08:00, or so I hope.  Fortunately, the Virginia General Assembly building should be about a 5–10 minute walk from the Omni.

I should be able to bring #CO2Fre to 100% charge at the Omni by 12:30, so if anyone needs the EVSE I'll be happy to move my car during lunch; I need enough charge to get back to Pohanka and have some left over for my next two stations.  Once I'm charged at Pohanka the second time, I plan to drive all the way up to the Alexandria, VA NRG eVgo CHAdeMO.  Then, it's all the way over to the Gateway Overlook in Elkridge, MD for a third CHAdeMO session.

My hope is, after the CHAdeMO in Elkridge, I should have enough energy to visit my friends in Laurel and then drive straight home.  At least that's the hope…

Relevant Legislation

Anyway, as I was saying, I'm planning to go down to the General Assembly on Tuesday, with a focus on a couple of environmental bills before the Commerce and Labour committee.  Specifically, I'm focusing on 2 bills before the committee.

HB2237: Electric utilities; costs of solar energy facilities

Electric utilities; costs of solar energy facilities.  Authorizes an investor-owned electric utility that purchases a solar power generation facility located in the Commonwealth consisting of at least five megawatts of generating capacity to recover the costs of acquiring the facility, with an enhanced rate of return on equity, through a rate adjustment clause.  The rate adjustment clause for recovering such costs may be based on a market index in lieu of a cost of service model. The measure also states that (i) the construction or purchase by a utility of such a solar power generation facility and (ii) planning and development activities for solar energy facilities are in the public interest.

The idea of this bill is to give an incentive to electric utilities which buy solar power facilities within the Commonwealth.  It sets a minimum capacity of 5MW so that trivial purchases don't qualify for these incentives.  The only problem is that it doesn't say much about third-party interests in terms of the initial construction of a solar generating facility.  But otherwise, this seems like a good thing and something I'm happy to support.

SB 1331: Natural Gas Conservation and Ratemaking Efficiency Act; cost-effective programs

Natural Gas Conservation and Ratemaking Efficiency Act; cost-effective programs.  Requires the State Corporation Commission, when determining whether a natural gas conservation or energy efficiency program is cost-effective, to base its determination upon an evaluation of a portfolio of programs as a whole and not upon an evaluation of a program or measure on an individual basis.

The idea here is that we want the elimination of non cost-effective programs to be based on whether their elimination would make the whole package of incentives and benefits more cost-effective rather than subtracting one element and because it's removed some other benefit is hindered and thus the net effect could be worse than keeping the seemingly single less-effective subsidy in place.  By allowing the State Corporation Commission to take the entire package into account, it's hoped that conservations programs can be added and removed with a guaranteed overall net benefit.  This is why I support this bill.

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Of course, these bills aren't the only reason I'm trying to make this insane trip to Richmond, Laurel, and back again.  In July, I'm planning to go to my 5×5 joint High School reunion, up in West Hartford, CT, a 360 mi (580 km) journey with, hopefully, no 4½ hour stop-over like in Richmond.  Now that's gonna take some planning!

Being Green on Arlington Weekly News

Last week, my friend Denis Dineen and I were interviewed by the lovely Miriam Gennari for a taping of the Arlington Weekly News at the Arlington County Independent Media studios in, naturally, Arlington, VA to appear in one of her wonderful Being Green segments.  We were there chiefly to promote the International Plug-In Day event on 28–29 September of this year.  The episode is schedule to premier today, Thursday, 22 August at 18:00 (6 pm), with repeats Saturday, 24 August at 10:30 (10:30 am) and Monday, 26 August at 20:30 (8:30 pm) as well as 3 overnight airings.  Arlington County Independent Media can be recieved on Comcast Channel 69 and Verizon FiOS channel 38 for Arlington residents.

Denis drives a Chevy Volt and is always prepared to give folks advice about electric cars.  Feel free to email him at virginiavolt@yahoo.com; he's more than happy to answer any questions as a Volt driver about how great it is to drive an electric car.  He has a wonderful information sheet he loves to share with folks that I should likewise share here at some point.  He often encourages me to write a similar sheet for CO2 Fre, but then, isn't this website enough??  ☺

1,500 mi (2,400 km) on just $25

In my interview I quoted my estimated mileage cost as 1,500 miles per month and a household electric bill on the order of $25.  My regular readers may remember my excitement for and analysis of the current Dominion Virginia Power Time-of-Use (ToU) power rates two years ago.  Since then, I've picked up my Nissan LEAF and driven over 34,000 miles in 21 months of ownership and have a much better handle on how much it costs to drive electric.  As I announced that October, I went with the Schedule EV dual meter rate plan.

A month at MOM's

Once I signed up for the ToU rate plan, I asked the electrician who installed my Clipper Creek CS-100 to split my EVSE's (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) subpanel from the main subpanel in order to be hooked up to the second, electric-vehicle-only meter to be installed by Dominion, which would happen later.  MOM's Organic Market in Herndon had just opened, replacing the vacant suite that had many years ago hosted the only Hard Times Cafe near my home—I was gutted to see this restaurant go and for the space to be empty for so many years.  Had it been any other store than MOM's which would have replaced it, a boycott of the new occupant would most assuredly be in place!

Now, MOM's is a very EV (Electric Vehicle) friendly business.  Employees even get a $5,000 rebate towards a qualified electric car like the Nissan LEAF.  Part of MOM's commitment to EVs is that at most of their stores, including Herndon, they have free EVSEs where a patron can charge his electric car.  So I went over to MOM's and introducing myself and explained my situation.  That's when I met extremely affable and helpful store manager JP Exon who was more than happy to have me leave CO2 Fre plugged in over night while I waited for Dominion to install the second meter.  I needed the EVSE at MOM's because I drive almost 70 mi (113 km) a day, which is most of my Nissan LEAF's battery pack.  Because a wall outlet could only charge my car to about 90% of the amount used in a day in the 12 hours I'd have it plugged in at home, it meant I had to use a full, Level 2 EVSE with at least 3.8kW power.  Thank goodness, therefore, for MOM's!

So in early December of 2011, my EVSE was disconnected, after just over one month of at-home charging, and I started to plug my car in every night at MOM's in Herndon, then walk home.  In the morning, when I couldn't get a ride, I'd walk all the way back and then drive my car to work only to do it all over again the following night.  This went on for weeks while Dominion dragged its feet about installing my second meter.  As the year drew to a close, and Dominion still hadn't scheduled my second meter install, I started getting anxious.  After a number of calls and e-mails they finally installed my second meter just before the end of the year and I could finally plug in at home again.

20 Months of 30-minute ToU Data

As a part of Dominion's Time-of-Use EV Rate plan experiment, I'm able to view my electric usage in 30-minute increments in terms of both net energy and peak power since the meter installation.  Recall that the 2011–2012 Nissan LEAF has an inefficient 3.8kW charger that in turn feeds the battery at merely 3.3kW, meaning up to 500W of energy is wasted in the process.  Since the power is measured at the plug, these numbers don't reflect the energy the battery receives, rather they reflect the energy used including powering the EVSE and the LEAF internal charger.  Because the increments are in half-hour intervals, the total energy is half that used in an hour, or about 1.9kWh at most for a given interval.

As you can see from the chart, my power spikes at around 01:00 (1:00 am) because that's when the Super-Off Peak rate begins.  There's a small component before that when I want want to get a little extra charge to cover a severly depleated pack but for the most part I start at 01:00 (1:00 am) and finish by 06:00 (6:00 am) on weekdays, just before Peak rates begin, or 05:00 (5:00 am) on weekends, just before the regular Off-Peak begins.

One interesting aspect of my ToU data is there's always a gap at 02:00 (2:00 am) when Daylight Savings begins.  The data has blanks for the two periods from 02:00–02:30 (2:00 am to 2:30 am) and 02:30–03:00 (2:30 am to 3:00 am).  Interestingly enough, when we gain an hour by going back to standard time, there's no corresponding double entries for those same hours.  What my power utility and EVSE are doing then, I have no idea.

For any reader interested in the full, massive data set of charging events, please send me a note and I'll be happy to share it.

My Ride Just Keeps Getting Cheaper

One thing I've noticed over time, watching how my itemized electric bill has changed over the past 21 months is how in general, at least in the short term, my costs for driving CO2 Fre have more or less been steadily decreasing.  So while my fuel cost was $28.32 in January, 2012, my most recent, July 2013, cost only $23.61.  So while I may have averaged $25 per month early on, I'm now paying slightly less.  The following table summarizes all the Riders associated with my Electric Bill and how they've changed over time:

Dominion Virginia Power Electricity Riders

Description	Rider	Initial	Current	Change
Table 1: Schedule EV Distribution Constants
Basic Customer Charge	EV	$2.90	$2.90	Unchanged
On/Off Peak	EV	2.5200¢⁄kWh	2.5560¢⁄kWh	Increased on 2012-12-01
Super Off peak	EV	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0360¢⁄kWh	Charge instituted 2012-12-01
C1	EV	0.0110¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Phased out on 2012-12-01
Peak Shaving Increment	C1A	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0070¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-05-01 at 0.0100¢⁄kWh; Decreased 2013-04-01
C2	EV	0.0250¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Phased out on 2012-12-01
Energy Efficiency Increment	C2A	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0460¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-05-01 at 0.0240¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Schedule EV Supply Constants
On Peak	EV	10.7690¢⁄kWh	10.7690¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Off Peak	EV	1.4290¢⁄kWh	1.4290¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Super Off Peak	EV	0.6840¢⁄kWh	0.6840¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Transmission	EV	0.9700¢⁄kWh	0.9700¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Fuel
Fuel Charge	A	3.2890¢⁄kWh	2.9420¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-07-01 to 2.6970¢⁄kWh; Increased 2012-10-15 to 2.7060¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-07-01
Other ESS Rider Constants
Biomass Conversion	B	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.0230¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-04-01 at 0.0120¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Bear Garden Generating Station	R	0.1460¢⁄kWh	0.1470¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-05-01 to 0.1420¢⁄kWh; Increased 2013-04-01
Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center	S	0.3730¢⁄kWh	0.4660¢⁄kWh	Increased 2012-07-01 to 0.4740¢⁄kWh; Decreased 2013-04-01
Base Rate Credit	BRC/BRX	-0.1320¢⁄kWh	0.0000¢⁄kWh	Decreased 2012-10-15 to -0.1850¢⁄kWh; Ended 2012-12-31
Transmission	T1	0.0000¢⁄kWh	-0.2670¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-08-01 to replace Rider T
Warren County Power Station	W	0.0000¢⁄kWh	0.1560¢⁄kWh	Instituted 2012-04-01 at 0.0660¢⁄kWh; Incremented 2013-04-01
Tax Rate Constants
Sales and Use Tax	Surcharge	0.0500¢⁄kWh	0.0610¢⁄kWh	Increased 2013-01-01
Consumption Tax (< 2.5 MWh)	Tax	0.001520¢⁄kWh	0.001520¢⁄kWh	Unchanged
Consumption Tax (> 2.5 MWh; < 50 MWh)	Tax	0.000970¢⁄kWh	0.000970¢⁄kWh	Unchanged

Given that, here is the breakdown of my monthly electrical usage:

Table 2: Monthly Electrical Usage

Month	On Peak (kWh)	Off Peak (kWh)	Super Off Peak (kWh)	Cost
January 2012	3	95	296	$28.32
February 2012	7	79	351	$30.69
March 2012	0	60	330	$26.57
April 2012	2	44	351	$26.81
May 2012	0	41	376	$27.70
June 2012	0	37	350	$25.97
July 2012	0	33	376	$25.27
August 2012	0	30	324	$22.13
September 2012	0	17	175	$13.06
October 2012	0	30	356	$22.70
November 2012	5	34	342	$23.21
December 2012	7	47	354	$25.24
January 2013	7	29	224	$17.70
February 2013	5	29	219	$17.30
March 2013	7	35	322	$23.38
April 2013	7	37	364	$26.02
May 2013	7	26	275	$23.22
June 2013	7	22	343	$23.64
July 2013	7	15	340	$23.61
Totals	71	740	6,068	$452.54

Vampire Power

On 30 October 2012 I finally became a member of the EV Project.  My good friend and absolute favorite elecrician, Sean Ryan, came out that day to add a second circut to my sub panel and install the free Blink charger from ECOTality.  Obviously I'm biased but not a better electrician could I ever recommend, so thank you Sean!

Now the Blink unit is a great charger, apart from perhaps a overly flimsy connector.  With it, I can schedule a charge on the EVSE and leave the LEAF set to always charge when plugged in.  And I can schedule the EVSE timer remotely so if I need to make a change I don't have to walk down to the car, turn it on and fiddle with the timers.  The only problem is the LEAF doesn't realize it's plugged in and then sends me pedantic and eroneous text messages to tell me to do so; so bad is this that when I do forget to plug in I neglect the message because more often than not it's in error.  When I get up the next morning, let's just say the shock and horror on my face would make you think I was in the scariest movie possible.

Of course the disadvantage of being able to schedule a charge remotely is that the Blink EVSE is always on.  In itself this isn't a problem but the unit is even on during Peak Time-of-Use rates.  As you can see in Table 2, since the install I've consistently had to pay about a dollar a month to cover the cost of the EVSE's daytime power.  Since this is power I'm not actually taking advantage of, it's called Vampire Power, indicating that it's power being sucked out of my wall in order to feed a hungry device.

Interestingly, last week I plugged in CO2 Fre to find my Blink unit in a constant rebooting loop.  I called ECOTality to let them know about the issue and since then I've been using my Clipper Creek CS-100 again, so at least the Vampire Power should be low next month.  But now that I'm back on the car's timer, I need to be extra cautious to press the charge timer disable button when I want to charge at a public EVSE.

One year, 19,000 mi (31,000 km)

On 2 November 2012, CO2 Fre celebrated her first birthday!  🎂  For that entire year, apart from a fortnight spent visiting the favourite landing spot of the TARDIS, the birthplace of the Beatles and home of Nessie—for the first time in my life I got to watch Doctor Who live: Asylum of the Daleks and Dinosaurs… On a Spaceship!

Yes, this author is a huge Doctor Who fan and runs a mailing list, a facebook group and a meetup site dedicated to it.  Let it not be said I'm only interested in Electric Cars and I'm well aware and have been psyched about the fiftieth anniversary special, and have been since around the twenty-fifth and Silver Nemesis!  And for the record, Peter Capaldi is going to be the best Doctor ever.  All that said, my heart will now and forever still be with Project Kronosphere.

In any case, since my first 19,000 mi (31,000 km), I've added another 15,000 mi (24,000 km) for a total of over 34,000 mi (55,000 km).  And of course 19,000 mi (31,000 km) divided by 12 months comes to about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) per month of average driving, which is where my favorite statistic derives its other value.

$25 a month for 12 months does not equal near $200

Folks, this is a round-about way of getting to a correction I wanted to make in my broadcast interview.  I somewhat erroneously stated my annual electric cost was near $200.  Clearly $25 × 12 months is $300, not $200.  But then, as you can see from Table 2, I actually pay a little less than $25 per month, and thus less per year, which is why I was thinking about $200.  In fact, if you sum the last 12 rows of the table, you get an exact cost of $261.21, closer to $300 than $200, to be sure, but then that's what I meant by near, as long as near classifies about 31%.  ☺

$261.21 doesn't equal $486.66

Back in October of 2011 I estimated my annual cost to run CO2 Fre would be $486.66.  As you can see above, however, it's turning out to be substantially less than that.  Part of the discrepancy stems from not taking into account vacations like my UK trip or CO2 Fre's stint in the D.C. Auto Show earlier this year.  Falling Electric Fuel costs have also contributed, but the main effect is that I just drive less in my EV than I did in my old ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) Vehicle.  I do probably drive just as much or even more around town with my LEAF, but when you cut out the odd trip to New York or Asheville, NC, you cut out a lot of the miles I used to drive in my old car.  Those kind of trips are just too impractical in my LEAF.  I could, to be sure, probably make it to Rehoboth Beach, all be it with about a 5 hour layover on the way, maybe 2, but the number of 5 hours stopovers to get to New York are just not practical.  Maybe with more CHAdeMO, this'd be different—and thanks to eVgo more CHAdeMO is coming to the area, and quickly—but for now, my range is about 70 mi (113 km) one-way from my home for any comfortable day trip.  But even then, I'd not be charging at home so those costs wouldn't be reflected in my Dominion data.

Conclusion

I just hope even if you can't see my segment on the Arlington Weekly News that everyone, whether you have an EV or not, try to make one of this year's International Plug-In Day events!  This is your Northern Virginia PiD Captain, signing out—take care and let those electrons roll!

International Plug-In Day! Bring out your Plugs!

Generous readers, I'm happy to announce it's that time of year again!  Time to show your friends, neighbors and general passers by our shared love for Electric Vehicles.  Yes, it's International Plug-In Day, the day we all go out and display our love for cars powered by the ubiquitous plug.

This year, Plug-In Day is a two day event, and here in the greater Washington, D.C. area, we're taking it to the neighborhoods!  So mark your calendars, 28 September 2013!

View Plug In Day 2013 in a larger map

Because we have 2 days of events, we've decided to have regional events on Saturday and one huge event in downtown DC on Sunday.  We hope everyone can show their support at their local Saturday event and then everyone come down to Washington for the regional event Sunday on the steps of the U.S. Capital.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Herndon, VA

Hello from your Herndon Event team captain!  As the organizer of this event, I hope it to be the biggest of all the regional events.  This is the only gathering scheduled for Northern Virginia.  As such, I hope folks from Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William, Manassas and even Stafford Counties and Cities can make it out to western Fairfax to join us in sharing our love for EVs.  Come and commiserate over our failed attempt for equal taxation regardless of propultion and the $64 tax we now have to pay for as both hybrid and electric vehicle owners.  We're planning to have LEAFs, Volts and Tesla Model S a plenty to show, as well as all kinds of electric vehicles.  Learn about Dominion Virginia Power's Time-of-Use Rate Schedules and the Green Option for energy credits.  And teach folks about the around 50% Personal Property Tax discount for Electric Vehicles in Arlington, Prince William and Loudoun Counties.  (Sorry fellow Farfaxians, we still have to pay full price for our tax in our unprogressive county.)

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Waldorf, MD

Overall Waldorf event organizer and my friend Mark Czajka from MDVolt (the current source for LEAF Meetup events).  Ironcially, Mark doesn't own a Volt—he has a Ford Fusion Energi—but is an amazing event organizer and without him this year's Plug In Day wouldn't be nearly as amazing as it's turning out to be.  The MOMs in Waldorf is in a beautiful, new building and will be an amazing place to discuss all the exciting things going on for EVs in Southern Maryland.  This is a must-see event for anyone in the area, I guarantee.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: College Park, MD

The College Park event in suburban Maryland, just on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., is at one of my favourite MOM's Organic Markets, being about half-way between work and the normal EVA/DC meeting in Silver Spring, MD.  Word of warning that the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) stations at this location, two out-of-the-way units around the left side of the building, are often either broken or occupied by a completely occupied by an often full electric vehicle.  However, anyone needing a charge just contact my friend and Team Captain Lanny Hartmann who will help you find a unit that's available and working as well as work to make sure these units are function come Plug-In Day and beyond.

Saturday, 28 September 2013, 10:00–14:00: Timonium, MD and Baltimore

The Timonium event is our closest planned event in the greater Baltimore Suburbs.  Located in Central Maryland, the event is just north of the Baltimore Beltway and just off of I85.  As such, I've never personally been there since getting my LEAF, which was before MOM's in Timonium opened.  However, my friend Barry Larkin is hosting this event and I've every confidence he's going to do an amazing job so please show your support Baltimore and bring out your EVs!

Sunday, 29 September 2013, 10:00–16:00: Washington, D.C.

For the regional Sunday event, we're extremely fortunate to be getting permission to have our display right in front of the U.S. Capital building, on Third Street SW, in front of the Reflecting Pool and near the US Botanical Gardens.  This is thanks in no small part to the work of Maryland's Senior Senator Barbara Mulkulski (D).  This website would therefore like to express their personal thanks to Senator Mulkulski.  We're working on sixty spots to display our EVs so that visitors to the Capital can see just how affordable, obtainable and ubiquitous Electric Cars have finally become!

Everyone Welcome

At each event, we hope to have opportunities to test drive our electric cars including, in Herndon and Washington, CO2Fre, yours truly's very own Nissan LEAF.  So come one, come all, see how easy it is to plug in your car at the 2013 International Plug-In Day events!  And if you'd like to show off your car, just click on the link at the start of each event to register with the Plug-In Website.  Hope to see you there, and thank you!

Changes for a Better EV Life: Trickling Gasoline

What would you do if every gas station in your area was limited to dispensing gasoline at only half a fluid ounce of fuel per minute?

As ridiculous as that sounds, that's what the average charge time for a Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt is when compared to a Toyota Prius.  The math is simple when you consider the Prius may be getting 50 mpg or more (I got up to 66.6 mpg when I rented one while CO2 Fre was being repaired a couple weeks ago).  Compare that to about 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh in the average LEAF or Volt during Winter when our batteries are straining to keep their capacity.  When you consider LEAF and Volt both fuel at about 3.3 kW it's clear that 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh×3.3 kW is 13.3 miles per hour of charging.

Now, if that same 50 mpg Prius was fueling at a rate of 13.3 miles per hour, or 0.222 miles per minute, with each 50 miles representing one gallon of fuel, then 50 miles would take 50 mi÷0.222 mi per minute or 225 minutes (3¾ hours) to fill just a single gallon!  Since there are 128 fluid ounces in an American Gallon, dividing 225 by 128 gives 1.758 minutes for each ounce or the reciprocal 0.5688 ounces per minute.

And a 30 mpg car wouldn't fuel much faster (the more fuel efficient a car the less gasoline it needs per mile and thus the less time required to fill up enough to go that mile).  If we replace 30 mpg in the above equations we get:

(4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh)×3.3 kW÷(30 mpg) = 0.9387 oz per minute.

And that's with a Level 2 charging station; at a standard, Level 1, US NEMA 5-15 wall outlet, 1.44 kW, the fueling rate diminishes to a mere 0.2458 oz per minute for the Prius or 0.4096 oz per minute for the 30 mpg Internal Combustion Engine vehicle.

Don't wait for your fuel, multitask!

If cars really took that long to fuel, no-one would question the EV Driver paradigm of park-and-fuel.  No-one wants to spend an hour to go just 10 or so miles.  Most cars sit for hours doing nothing, when they could be fueling.  Consider instead of going out of your way to get that ¼oz of fuel for every minute you wait when you'd much rather simply go where you need to go and trickle in your fuel while you're off doing other things, wouldn't you?

Many will read this and say that's why electric cars will never be practical.  But you miss the point.  Now you're imagining a small, fuel pump at every parking spot dribbling in fuel while you're at work, shopping, catching a movie, whatever.  Of course such slow gasoline dispensers don't exist.  But that's not true for an EV.  Remember, there are over 12,000,000 NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 electric plugs throughout the United States—there're only about 30,000 gasoline stations by comparison.  An electric car can trickle in fuel at any one of these outlets so park-and-fuel isn't just a pipe-dream, it's actually quite practical, and very inexpensive.  After all, standard electrical outlets are ubiquitous, not so gasoline pumps.

So really the only question is, why are so many places, like job sites and malls and movie houses so reluctant to allow EVs to charge given we can only fuel at less than a fluid ounce per minute equivalent and at only pennies per hour?  Sadly, this is chiefly due to misinformation about what it cost to charge an EV and miscommunication that we EV drivers are quite willing to pay those costs for the convenience of not idling our EV without multitasking a charge.

Allowing this basic, trickle charging access to an EV could mean hours saved trickling that same electricity, waiting, with nothing to do.  Because that's not the way EVs are supposed to be driven.  Park-and-fuel is all we ask, at whatever price.  Please don't waste our time waiting for the pumping of ½ oz of fuel per minute.  Thanks.

Open Letter: Eliminating the Gasoline Tax for the Commonwealth

McDonnell proposes eliminating Virginia’s gas tax

In a recent Washington Post article, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell called for an elimination of the 17.5¢ per gallon of fuel Gasoline Tax and an increase in the annual registration fees payed by EVs to $100 per year—I personally just paid a little under $400 in registration fees for CO2 Fre Nissan LEAF up through 2015 with a $150 penalty for driving an EV for three more years.  While he also proposes a $15 increase in the annual registration fees for traditional cars, he plans to make up the rest of the Commonwealth Transportation Fund's decreasing income—due to fuel taxes that are not indexed to inflation—through sales taxes.  In effect, what the Governor is asking is for everyone to pay for Virginia's roads but for EVs and other alternative fuel vehicles to pay more on top of a general sales tax.

Part of the issue is Governor McDonnell trying to stay true to his Norquist pledge to never raise taxes and to only derive revenue-neutral income sources.  However, a fee is technically not a tax and certainly not based on income so I do feel even if the Norquist pledge is ludicrous that it can be satisfied by moving to a gross weight and miles driven fee assessed at ones annual safety inspection as a part of road certification.  This would in effect bring the fuel tax back in line with its original goal: keeping the Virginia Transportation Fund solvent by assessing fees most harshly on the heaviest vehicles and the vehicles that drive the most, which are just the vehicles that cost the Commonwealth the most in terms of maintenance, repair and infrastructure.  I thus submitted this opened letter to the Governor's office last night:

Dear Governor McDonnell,

I couldn't agree more with that goal Mr. Governor, but I think you've not provided a logical way to solve the revenue shortfall caused by more hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles on the Commonwealth's roads.  Adding an increase to sales tax may have the potential of being revenue neutral but it doesn't balance the cost of repair with those who do the most damage.

Basically, from a civil engineering point of view, the main cost to Virginia of cars on our roads is the gross weight of the vehicles and the number of miles driven every year.  As such, the best way to charge an infrastructure tax is simply to base it on those two variables.  And enough of this tying it to registration!  Do not charge alternative fuel vehicles a more expensive registration surcharge when gasoline fuel cars would end up paying no taxes!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't say that strongly enough because again it's about road damage and that's about number of miles driven and the weight of the car.  It has nothing to do with its means of propulsion!  Don't charge any registration penalty on a vehicle just because it doesn't use gasoline, especially if you're going to forsake any revenue you'd be taxing on that gasoline.  Don't tax the alternative fuel vehicles something if your going to tax the gasoline cars nothing!  That's bad for the commonwealth because the alternative fuel vehicles mean, for instance, with electric cars or methane (natural gas) vehicles, that that energy to drive them could be coming right from here in Virginia, very domestic and local energy and not from refineries in Mississippi for oil from the North Sea and Venezuela or Saudi Arabia.  We need to encourage the money spent on car fuel to stay in Virginia and that's why if anything EVs and CNG vehicle should never pay *more* tax than gasoline vehicles and probably should pay less because they help encourage Virginia businesses and create Virginia jobs!!!

So again, the best approach is to simply apply a scaled fee as a part of a vehicle's annual safety inspection.  At the safety inspection the Commonwealth has all the information it needs to make the correct taxation assessment.  The mileage driven in a year is already logged with the Safety Inspection and the Gross Weight is already defined for any original equipment manufactured vehicle and must be registered for any conversion or custom vehicle.  Even trucks could be taxed this way based their weight!

Please, Mr. Governor, this is how you can balance the Commonwealth's transportation needs.  It means the heaver cars, like EV and SUVs, will indeed pay more, but the Prius will pay its fair share too because it's about weight, not how fuel efficient you are because the roads don't care about fuel efficiency.  They just care about Weight and Miles.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jeffrey C. Jacobs

The Washington D.C. SOC Meter Built-It Project

The parts list is derived from this MyNissanLEAF post and the tentative sources for each part is as follow:

• 7-Segment Display
  • Yellow Yellow - COM-11443
  • Blue - COM-11442
  • Red - COM-11441
  • Kelly Green - COM-11440 (And to again quoting garygid himself, "not recommended")
• Development Board Mouser Part Number: 909-AVR-CAN
• Project Box
  • All Electronics Cat# MB-132 (Black, cheapest and smallest)
  • All Electronics Cat# 1591-CTBU (Wider and Blue Translucent)
  • All Electronics Cat# 1598-ASGY (Largest enclosure, but narrow!)
• OBD Cable
  • OBD2cables Part number: 142601 (6-foot)
  • OBD2cables Part number: 142602 (9-foot)
  • Type B, OBD2cables PN 144507 (6-foot)
• Toggle Switches
  • On-Off-On SPDT mini toggle switch All Electronics Cat# MTS-5
  • DPDT mini toggle switch All Electronics Cat# MTS-12
• Pushbutton Switches
  • Radio Shack 275-1547 (Two Red, Two Black, so split between 2 people)
  • All Electronics Cat# MPB-1B (Black cap) (One)
  • All Electronics Cat# MPB-1 (Red cap) (One)
• Zener Diode: All Electronics Cat# 1N4733 (Five units split between 5 people)
• All Electronics Cat# DB-9S D-Sub 9-pin connector, Female (RS-232)
• Connector Blocks
  • 1×6 Connector Shell
  • 2×4 Connector Shell
  • Wires with Female Pins

Open Letter to the Arlington County Board of Supervisors

Tuesday, 27 November 2012, at around 18:15, the Arlington County Board of Supervisors plans to hear final comments on EV Taxicabs' proposal to add 40 100% electric Nissan LEAFs to the to the fleet of vehicles certified to operate in the County before a final vote planned for later that evening.

#1 Courthouse Plaza
2100 Clarendon Boulevard
Room 307
Arlington, VA

This is my open letter to the County:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board,

I address you today as an Electric Car driver with over a year experience with what an area EV driver can expect in terms of mileage and usage in our Northern Virginia climate.  You see, I live in Herndon, Virginia, quite near to Dulles airport—I often hear the planes overhead at my house—and generally drive at least 70 miles a day between home and work with no chance to charge my car in between.  In fact, I come to you today having driven from my home this morning to my job in Southeast D.C. and here thereafter with not a single opportunity to supplement my car's energy.  But I'm not worried about getting home because I drive the same car, a Nissan LEAF, which EV Taxicabs is planning to roll out in its bid to the Board.  If I could make it from my home near Dulles Airport to a point farther than Arlington County and back again on a daily basis, at mostly highway speeds, in rain or shine, under all weather conditions, and still have enough juice in my ride to go another 10 miles, I can guarantee EV Taxicabs can handle any average fare to the airport and still make it back with miles to spare.  And for the record, I've never run out of fuel and I've never heard of any EV driver who has.  We're well prepared for our daily needs and quite knowledgeable about how far we can go and where we can stop along the way if need be.

As for fast charging using the CHAdeMO standard, which stands for stop and have some tea, this use case has already been well studied by EV Taxicabs and as an independent driver who writes extensively on the benefits and limitations of electric vehicles and the Nissan LEAF I wholeheartedly and unabashedly concur with their proposal.  EV Taxicabs has already attested through actual real-world analysis that a typical electric taxi will only need one CHAdeMO or Fast Charge per day.  But that said, it's Nissan itself that has said multiple fast recharges of their LEAF in the same day would be okay as long as the battery temperature stayed below a certain threshold.  This might be a concern for temperatures like they have in Arizona but in Arlington it doesn't get nearly that hot.  And again it's EV Taxicabs', and Nissan, who take all the risk if this be not the case.  Nissan is very interested in seeing the results of EV Taxicabs usage, including multiple fast recharges.  That's the only real test of a battery's longevity.  And Nissan is willing to stand behind this proposal.  And as far as where these fast charge stations will be located, EV Taxicabs has already planned that out too.  Put them where the drivers can stop and have some tea, metaphorically.  But not only will the cab drivers, we ordinary citizens will have access to these stations.  And I urge the Board to consider this indirect consequence: drivers like me who might never stop in the county now have an incentive to do so.  Now, instead of heading straight back to Fairfax County from work, I have an excuse to stop of in Arlington, buy a tea, coffee, sandwich, book and what have you and then be on my way to some other place rather than home.  You free me to travel farther and in return you generate more business in the County.  And it would cost the County absolutely nothing.  The risk is all EV Taxicabs and even if they fail the County gets to keep whatever CHAdeMO stations they leave behind so we can continue to have our tea in the County.

It's clear that somebody has to be first, but this isn't the case for EV Taxis.  EV Taxis have had great success in London, UK, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Toronto, Ontario Canada, Mexico City, Mexico and Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Even New York City is adding EVs to their very tightly controlled Taxi fleet.  And surely if cold New York and hot Sao Paulo can handle an electric taxi, Arlington can.  It's too late to have the pride of being first, but what EV Taxicabs proposal builds on the successes and failures of those other electric taxi corporations.  Their plan is tested and proven and good for the county.  And let's not forget this isn't a permanent assignment.  If they don't perform to EV Taxicabs expectations in terms of business, those allotments will revert back to the county in good time.  It's all EV Taxicabs risk to fail, the county and the county citizens won't have to spend a dime if these cabs don't perform.  That's a risk EV Taxicabs is willing to take, and one they and I feel very strongly about its success!

And let's not forget the potential tourism it could generate to say Arlington County, Virginia is the place to go to get an Electric cab.  If Congresswoman Janice Hahn or Senator Lamar Alexander were here, I'm sure they would agree with me, be they given a choice, that they would rather ride in a Nissan LEAF taxi than any other car.  Believe me, those of us who made the switch always feel a bit out of sorts when we're required to ride in a conventional vehicle.  That's an advantage EV Taxicabs has.  I even spoke with former Loudoun County Supervisor Stephens Miller and he agrees EV cabs would be good for the county.  That's the kind of press that gets guest at our Arlington County hotels and restaurants, and not in Bethesda or Silver Spring or Alexandria.

As for where a Taxi driver can charge his EV overnight, a quick search of the Plugshare database shows no less than 26 public charging stations are currently on-line in Arlington County.  While it's true that it's sometimes hard to get a dedicated spot for refueling ones EV, many of the Vornado properties do have dedicated charging stations available to their residents and what's more most of those 26 stations won't be occupied at night.  For the most part, they're currently used by daily shoppers and commuters who go home in the evening.  And please keep in mind the cars EV Taxicabs will be buying will have what's called 6.6kW charging capability, meaning they can go from empty to full in under 3½ hours, or half a night's sleep.  Although 26 public level-2 charging stations won't be enough to satisfy all 40 cabs EV Taxicabs is requesting, part of their business plan, as I understand it, will be to ensure that each driver is properly trained and has a location to house his or her vehicle while off duty.  This is thanks in large part to their diligent pursuit of contracts with Nissan Motor Corporation to obtain cars at volume pricing.  With that come jobs for local contractors who Nissan and Aerovironment will hire with to install as many level-2 stations as required by EV Taxicabs' drivers.  Nissan and Aerovironment have worked with customers from the beginning and will do everything they can to make sure drivers have a place to charge their vehicle at night.  After all, this is a demonstration project for them as well, and it behooves them as much as EV Taxicabs to get it right.

Finally, I would address that the questionable County Transportation Committee recommendation, which I should point out comes without even a Quorum, proposes no less than to give business to those who already have it.  Is it no wonder EnviroCab was recommended the plurality of cab allotments?  Are we really going to reward the more business to those that already have it?  Are we going to abdicate any possibility of further competition?  I would be willing to wager EnviroCab's tests of an EV were flawed because their drivers weren't properly trained.  This won't be the case with EV Taxicabs.  They plan to have all their drivers undergo a coursework at Nissan HQ for the car they will be driving.  I have no doubt these drivers will be as skilled as any of my EV driving colleagues.  Keep in mind EV Taxis will cost less to run which will allow the passengers savings and that's the type of competition we need to keep prices down for all fares.  I will grant that EnviroCab received a very respectable score of 83 in the 17 November 2012 Board Meeting notes, Appendix B.  Indeed, only one company scored better: EV Taxicabs with a score of 84!

It's for these reasons that I urge the Arlington County Board of Supervisors to approve EV Taxicabs bid for an allotment of up to 40 cabs.  Their proposal is good for the citizens of the county, good for County Business, good for visitors to the region and good for the County Government's bottom line.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey C. Jacobs
Electric Car Driver, Advocate and Writer

More Level 2 Charging coming to Maryland

Last Friday, a woman calling herself Amanda on the MyNissanLEAF forum posted an urgent request for help in organizing the distribution of one hundred Level 3 Charging Stations.  Needless to say, this caused quite a local buzz as these would be the first L3 Chargers South of the Mason-Dixon Line East of the Mississippi, outside of Tennessee and certainly the first in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Between that and my copy of the Diablo III Collector's Edition arriving it has been one incredible weekend for this EV Reporter!

Amanda reported that the stations in question will be the ChargePoint Level 3, CHAdeMO / SAE J1772-DC dual-gang equipment as pictured.  While the QuickCharge Wars rage between TEPCO's CHAdeMO and the SAE's J1772-DC extension heat up, this unit hedges its bets by supporting both, making everyone happy.  Great choice!

After a bit of digging I found more information about the company Amanda represents.  Thier full name is actually EV Green Stream and they're a Baltimore-based company.  I spoke with Zack at EV Green Stream and he confirms they're looking for homes for about 30 or so units, but nothing is concrete until contracts are signed.  However, some urgency must be added because they need to have signed documents by 1 June so it behoves us all to help out and make sure those wonderful L3 stations find homes that our Nissan LEAFs and Mitsubishi iMiEVs would like to visit!

But wait, the title says Level 2, not Level 3!?

You are very astute or just read the comments and realized that we were in fact being taken for a ride.  You see, on Monday, after I'd posted this, Amanda amended her request to say that in fact it was one hundred Level 2 stations being installed, not Level 3.  Yes, she confirmed Level 3 on Friday even after someone posted a link to the unit pictured above, but what's done is done, and now we know the truth.  Level 2, though great, is pretty common in Maryland and to a lesser extend in Virginia—less so in Washington D.C. since most of the units there are in garages that aren't even opened on weekends.  None the less, we should all help to give these Level 2 stations homes even if they're not quick charging.

But there is a catch; the locations must conform to the following rules:

1. They have to be installed in the State of Maryland somewhere.
2. They have to be accessible to the public (this is supposed to be infrastructure buildout.)
3. It cannot be in an automotive dealership.
4. It has to be a commercial business.
5. We will charge for the installation but the charger is free.
6. We have to have a signed contract on installation by June 1^st.

So, no locations in Virginia, Deleware, West Virginia or Pennsylvania!  Also, note that Amanda estimates the cost of installation to be about $3,000.  As for the electricity cost, we know the LEAF for instance takes about 20kWh to go from 0% to 80% on a quick charge (more like 16kWh according to some posts in the MyNissanLEAF forum) and at 13^¢⁄_kWh that's only $2.60 at Level 2, the Nissan LEAF draws about 3.8kW of electricity so in one hour that represents about 49.8¢ based on 13^¢⁄_kWh, the regional average rate.  For the Ford Focus Electric with its 6.6kW charger, it comes to about 85.8¢ but most EVSEs can't put out more energy than that so at $1.⁰⁰ per hour, you won't be making the LEAF and Volt (3.3kW) drivers happy but at least the Focus Electric folks are getting their money's worth.  Overall not a huge loss for the free advertising you get on sites like PlugShare.

Now, for me, my main goal would be to see them put in at the National Harbor, where they held the first Nissan LEAF event in the area and as the perfect first rest stop on the I95 corridor in Maryland going North.  I've also suggested Maryland House and Chesapeake House—need to contact HMS Host about that— but they don't really make sense for Level 2, only Level 3 as people don't stay there for hours.  Others on the MyNissanLEAF forum have suggested the US Route 50 corridor and I would add the I270 / I70 corridor and a site around Bethesda.  Finally, I'd suggest one in Silver Spring where we hold the EVA/DC meetings, though alas not the Library as the Library isn't a commercial business—and hopefully not The Blairs if they're gonna have the same connectivity problems the current EVSEs there do.  What would you suggest?

Oooh!  So excited!  Squee!

Manassas City Utilities Public Comments

My friend and fellow Nissan LEAF enthusiast Kayne Karnbach maintains a wonderful blog about electric vehicle.  In his latest entry, he investigates the charging infrastructure in Prince William County and Manassas city.  I believe Kayne is right about location but would add that movie houses and all those strip malls on VA 234 Business would also make great locations.  The sad thing about the railway station parking is most people will be leaving their cars there for 8–10 hour stretched which would fill even a LEAF from empty.  Seems to me the perfect situation where valet parking would be an advantage, where a Volt could get the first 4-hour shift, and a LEAF the second 6-hour shift on the same outlet, with the Volt coming from thirty to forty miles away and the LEAF from seventy to ninety.  And is the usual case will be much less, the time at the outlet could be even more greatly reduced with the valet managing how long to charge each one to a minimum of need.

Manassas City Utilities Public Comments

Last week I took the opportunity to address the Manassas City Utility Commission regarding their public charging stations.  Manassas has recently debuted public charging stations for EVs and PHEVs.

Here’s the gist of my address.

Don’t trust that data!  Two years from now, the city of Manassas will review usage data on each charger.  The conclusion that data will lead decision makers to is probably one of little or no benefit to having public charging available.  If reached, that conclusion will be wrong, and here’s why.  Public chargers are being installed with little thought on where and why to install them in the first place.  Because of this, EV owners will neglect to use the stations, since they don’t fit their charging needs.

Why don’t they meet EV owners’ needs?  EV owners are looking for places to charge that allow them to be plugged in for at least two hours, providing the kind of charge that will allow for at least 30 miles of range.  Plugging into a charger for anything less will result in 15 – 20 miles of range, hardly a reason to make a special trip to Manassas.

The only viable placement of public charging in Manassas at the moment is in the parking garage at the Virginia Railway station.  It is conceivable that someone could plug in while parked in the garage, presumably during work.  While this does make sense, it assumes EV owners are driving to Manassas from a distance of + 45 miles, since anything less wouldn’t necessitate a charge to make it home.  That would be the equivalent of someone driving from Front Royal to Manassas.  Not likely.

Almost made the 100 mile club…

Coming back from the EVA/DC meeting yesterday I almost achieve what I thought impossible: entry into the elusive 100 mi club.  Normally when I attend the EVA/DC in CO2 Fre Nissan LEAF I need to top off but thanks to my LogCARWINGS.py script I was able to verify after a half-hour of battery leveling my LEAF settle on 70.091 mi (112.800 km) range under normal drive (though I drive ECO) or 58.876 mi (94.752 km) with climate control.  In the spring I generally don't use climate control and a quick check on Google showed that the trip home with the stop off in Silver Spring would only be about 54.1 mi (87.1 km) so I should be able to make it.

This, after all, is the ideal option because when I charge at Silver Spring, I have to use the Sema Connect stations at the Blairs and pay $3.00 for three hours of charging when I only need about one.  Of course, that assumes they're actually able to communicate with the network that night, otherwise I don't get to go home!  And yes, that had happened but my friends at the EVA/DC had helped me out so of course I had arrived home and am able to tell you about it.  Thanks to Bryan and Rob (that's Bryan's Volt in the picture to the left), we had been able to get CO2 Fre the necessary electricity even though the sun had long since set at the solar EVSE at Suntrust in Bethesda.  Needless to say I don't like those EVSEs at the Blairs.

Yesterday I got home with 9 miles (14 km) left in ECO mode and one bar remaining.  I didn't even get to the first low battery warning.  But the car did report 6:30 of Level 2 Charging (18 hours of Level 1, 19 after the battery leveling 40 minutes later).  Since I try to keep my charge window at 01:00–06:00 to avoid higher electricity rates, my car finished charging with 30 minutes of Level 2 (50 minutes of Level 1) remaining and eleven of twelve bars.  Knowing that I could probably manage a normal commute with ninety percent battery charge I decided to risk leaving without topping off.  I'm guessing I should have no problem getting home as my car now reads seven out of twelve bars and 3:00 hours of Level 2 charging (8:30 of Level 1), more than half a pack.

The official registrar of the 100 mi / 161 km club is the MyNissanLEAF community which works on the honor system.  As I can't say what I started with nor remember exactly what I ended with even if I had driven 100 mi I wouldn't post it unless I could be sure.  But it's nice to know even with my mostly highway driving that goal is possible.  Who knows, maybe someday.

The Capital LEAFs is coming to Koons!

I've just got confirmation from Steve Osborne, GM at Koons Nissan in Falls Church, Virginia!  Mark your calendars for Tax Credit Weekend, Saturday, 14 April 2012 from 13:00 (1:00 pm) to 17:00 (5:00 pm) where we will have 3 chargers available and I am looking into catering.  I'll post more details as they become available.  Hopefully we can get everyone from Haymarket, VA to Glen Burnie, MD and have the biggest LEAF EVent yet in the Capital region!

View Larger Map

Changes for a Better EV Life: Where for art thou, CHADeMO?

Having driven CO2 Fre for over a month now, I feel I can now safely make some recommendations for change that would make my life infinitely easier.<  Some of these things I've been writing about long before I purchased my Nissan LEAF; I knew going in some sacrifice would be required for the greater good.  That's not to say there aren't great things like the burgeoning Charging Infrastructure and wonderful LEAF features to help get me through the day!  But there's always room for improvement and if you don't speak up, nothing will get done.

What about CHAdeMO?

Granted, the LEAF SL has a TEPCO plug and CHAdeMO support, so it can theoretically be charged from 0% to 80% in twenty-five minutes.  But CHAdeMO stations are few and far between currently and even with with the 350Green announcement of 47 new Charging Stations in the Baltimore and D.C. regions, if I recall only 5 of those will be CHAdeMo.

Fortunately, 350Green chose CHAdeMO as the Level 3 standard they and aren't going with the the odd-ball SAE proposal currently floating with the J1772 plus two prongs below it for the direct current connection of Level 3.  On the one hand, CHAdeMO is the de facto standard because it has the most stations and the most cars that can accept it.  But right now, those numbers aren't big and if the SAE comes up with something cheaper and car manufacturers or EVSE makers decide to take a risk on following the official recommendations, it's possible over time CHAdeMO could be the BetaMax over the SAE's VHS.

Changes for a Better EV Life: Slowest EV Charge Time: LEAF

Having driven CO2 Fre for over a month now, I feel I can now safely make some recommendations for change that would make my life infinitely easier.  Some of these things I've been writing about long before I purchased my Nissan LEAF; I knew going in some sacrifice would be required for the greater good.  That's not to say there aren't great things like the burgeoning Charging Infrastructure and wonderful LEAF features to help get me through the day!  But there's always room for improvement and if you don't speak up, nothing will get done.

Putting the LEAF Charger in Perspective

The chart above demonstrates how of the most popular EVs today, the LEAF takes the longest to charge from depleted to full:

As can be seen, the LEAF is slower by an hour even over the Tesla Model S and is clearly the slowest to charge of all; it's even twice as slow as the Focus Electric and Chevy Volt.  Of course, in terms of the amount of mileage you get from charging any of these cars can differ greatly so to be fair, compare them to the total pack size:

Obviously, the Model S has a lot more battery than the Nissan LEAF but still only takes about 6½ hours to charge.  And since most cars in the sample range in capacity from about 16 kWh to the LEAF's 24 kWh, yet most of these have much shorter charge times, it's clear that Nissan underestimated the competition.

Changes for a Better EV Life: The 6.6kW Charger (Part 1)

Having driven CO2 Fre for over a month now, I feel I can now safely make some recommendations for change that would make my life infinitely easier.  Some of these things I've been writing about long before I purchased my Nissan LEAF; I knew going in some sacrifice would be required for the greater good.  That's not to say there aren't great things like the burgeoning Charging Infrastructure and wonderful LEAF features to help get me through the day!  But there's always room for improvement and if you don't speak up, nothing will get done.

The LEAF Needs a 6.6kW Charger

I've written about this numerous times and even created a Facebook Group for it.  Put simply, there are two basic reasons I would pay a pretty penny for the 6.6kW charger.  The first has to do with situations like the one where I had to spend three hours at Rosenthal's Nissan/Mazda waiting for enough electricity to get home.  With a 6.6kW charger, that would have been a mere ninety minutes.  Put another way, with the 3.3kW charger, you only get about 10–15 miles (15–25 km) of driving per hour of charge.  Since my driving average comes out to 4.0 ^mi⁄_kWh (6.4 ^km⁄_kWh), this comes out to 11.52 mi (18.54 km) for me.  With a 6.6kW you double that!  And that means 45 minutes out at a nice restaurant like the Cracker Barrel in Manassas next to the IBEW Local 26/JATC ChargePoint stations would net about 20 mi (32 km), more than enough to get home on a near-depleted pack; with only 10 mi (16 km), I feel I'd be pushing my luck!

The other reason has to do with the new Dominion Virginia Power Time Of Use rate.  Specifically, by going to a 6.6kW Charger under Schedule EV, I estimate I could be saving $80 per year in electricity costs by limiting my charge time to the hours 1–5 am.  Now, if the 6.6kW charger costs $1,000 to retrofit into a 2011/2012 LEAF, as I once suggested I would still pay it gladly.  Sure, it would be a 12½ year return on investment, assuming current electric rates, but the time I don't have to spend at places like my local Nissan Dealer or Panera waiting for a sufficient charge to my car is quite valuable too.  By some estimates this could be as much as $40 per hour for a skilled software engineer such as myself, and at that rate it doesn't take long to equate an hour wasted waiting here, an hour wasted waiting there and before you know it, you've wasted a grand.