Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thank you

Well it's been just over two months here at blog central for ksnogas. I wanted to take the time to say thank you.

Thank you to the friends who have stopped by to read the random thoughts that I've posted to the ether.

Thank you to the followers on Twitter.

Thank you to all the techy followers following the blog via readers who are missing the Link of the Day options.

Thank you to the two commenters who've posted comments back.

It does my ego a lot of good to review the statistics and realize that I'm not just shouting out to the darkness. Someone out there actually is listening.

So again, thank you. I hope to continue to provide thoughtful and interesting posts.



Signing off for today
KSNOGAS
-------------
Try reading a book, it's a novel experience.

Monday, November 12, 2012

trip addendum

And now I remember the last point I wanted to include on my trip blog and thanks to Dave for triggering my memory.

Things that ran out of juice:

1. Car - while I had enough power everywhere the VLB warning in Manhattan was an 'almost out of juice'
2. Phone - the wife was concerned that I didn't know what I was doing and so she turned on the locator on the phone to track me. That means the phone used more juice than normal and had to be recharged. I recharged it by plugging into the usb jack of the car.
3. DVD player - the portable dvd player lasted for all of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone and part of the Prisoner of Azkaban. Fortunately when the first one died under warranty they didn't ask for the battery back so we had a spare battery to finish off the trip.
4. Laptop - co-pilot brought his laptop to play FTL and it ran out of juice and I wasn't going to plug that energy hog into the cigarette lighter so it was down for the count.

Things that didn't run out:

1. My tablet - my Nexus 7 powered through Men In Black and still had plenty of juice but wasn't used after that movie.
2. My Kindle - my third gen Kindle never even got close to running out of battery. Of course I didn't use it either I used my phone since it was handy and the Kindle was at the bottom of the bag underneath the dvd's.
3. Good weather - the good weather stayed all day long. And it was awesome.


Signing off for today
KSNOGAS
-------------
Try reading a book, it's a novel experience.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Over hill, over dale, and it was a dusty trail


Well, I'm back. The advertised trip to Abilene required modification. We had to abort the final destination of Abilene and stop heading west in Manhattan. We also started a little late because I wanted a car wash and donuts before leaving Lenexa. The trip covered a total of 237.7 miles and approximately 18 hours.

The first stop was Lawrence, KS, the home of the University of Kansas. I took old K-10 because the speed limit was 55 mph which meant going 45-50 mph on what was essentially an abandoned road was not a problem. That early in the morning I passed exactly 1 car once I got outside the 'burbs and into the more rural area of the county.


It's really hard to see in the picture but that is KU in the far background. This is about 10 miles east of Lawrence. As you can see, yes Kansas is indeed flat. KU is on the top of Mt. Oread ( or ee add ) and you can see the dorms and Fraiser Hall from quite a distance away.


The first charge of the day was at the University of Kansas Center for Design. It's a standard public 240 volt Schneider EVSE.  The parking around it was not what I expected. Gravel drive up to two concrete pads is not what you typically find. Off to the west of the building was a wind turbine spinning like crazy. This would be the second time that I know of where the electric supply to the EVSE was provided by a wind turbine. <<edit -I've been informed there are also solar panels on the actual Design Building to the west of the barn.>> During the trip the wind would blow almost exclusively from the south around 25 mph sustained and 40 mph gusts and yes, there were small dust storms created as we passed farms and construction areas. It was also about 68* that morning and the forecast was for a beautiful day.

We arrived in Lawrence after travelling 36.5 miles. The miles per Kilowatt hour were 5.0. The car said that a 100% charge would take 3 hours and our average speed for this leg of the trip was 45 mph. I have to say average because I didn't set the cruise control.

After we plugged in we started hiking from the far west side up campus up to the dorms. I regaled my co-pilot (youngest son) with my experiences as a student there in the late 80's and early 90's. We crossed campus and ended up at the student union. This killed about an hour and started a really nice set of blisters on the balls of my feet that would last all day. We headed back to the car and I estimated that we had enough charge to get to Topeka and beyond. But there was no Pepsi on campus. I guess Coke got a campus-wide concession and I wanted Pepsi. So on the way out we stopped at the Hy-Vee nearby and plugged in again and got some drinks. Even though it was only 10 minutes of charge, this would later prove to be fortuitous.



We headed out west again along US HWY 40 from Lawrence to Topeka. Again due to the lower maximum speed limit I was able to go slower than nearby I-70 which paralleled my route. I also saved the $.75 toll. Of course as fate would have it, we ran through a localized rain shower. It was so localized that it didn't rain on the interstate less than half a mile from where we were driving. Talk about a waste of car wash.


We arrived a short time later at the Kansas capitol. Westar Energy has EVSE's at their offices to charge their fleet Volts and they are mostly publicly available. In the case of this device they even worked with the city to provide unmetered parking.

If you look closely enough in the picture and get out your magnifying glass you can see my reflection in the windows.







Around the corner is the Kansas Capitol Building. You can clearly see our tax dollars at work. What you can't clearly see is the blue port-a-john at the top of the scaffolding where they're working on the dome.



















Near the Capitol there was a sculpture of a Meadowlark, our state bird. There was also a sculpture dedicated to the pioneer women who helped shape our state.

















The time spent charging here was about an hour and a half. We arrived after a trip of 26.2 miles and the miles/Kwh were 4.7. I drove at 50 mph with the cruise control and the car said it was a 3 hour time to charge to get to 100%. This is where the extra 10 minutes spend at Hy-Vee in Lawrence are going to come into play.

We left the middle of Topeka and headed out the north side of town. Down along the train tracks there is an industrial park. This park is near the US HWY 75 and I-70 interchanges. I decided to check the charging station here during the day to ensure I could find it later that night. I felt this was a better place to charge in the middle of the night than in the middle of town where there are bars and problems.

So it was about 12/1230pm and we're on our way to Manhattan. As before I avoided I-70 and it's 70 mph speed limit for US HWY 24 and it's 65 mph limit but limited traffic so going 50 mph wasn't a problem. Passing through St. Mary's was no problem. Passing through Wamego was no problem. Doing math and getting an actual % state of charge of the Leaf, now that was a bit of a problem. The stretch from Wamego to the Nissan dealer in Manhattan is 17 miles long. When we passed through Wamego the GOM registered 24 miles. When we got halfway between Wamego and Manhattan, 8 miles, the GOM registered 17 miles and 2 battery bars. Now I'm really starting to get worried. The wife chastised me for not having a back up plan in case I ran out of energy. I explained I had roadside assistance and that I was not silly enough to leave without enough energy to reach the destination. Well hubris had other ideas. I did some quick math and felt that my earlier calculations were inaccurate and I slowed from 50 mph to 40 mph and paid attention to what was going on behind me so I could put the emergency blinkers on to alert the drivers coming up behind me. However, due to silent running I didn't want them on all the time because the constant click click was already annoying me. As we got closer to the outskirts of Manhattan  the anticipated Low Battery warning and light were activated. The GOM indicated 8 miles and the battery was down to one energy bar. I didn't have a perfect address for the Nissan dealer so I couldn't get the miles to go. I just knew where it was. Fortunately we got into Manhattan and I was able to slow down to 30 mph and no annoy too many other drivers and that also allowed me to hit the traffic lights green so there was limited start/stop. The GOM was now down to 4 miles and I was starting to get a whiff of the impending Very Low Battery warning. But, in the distance there was a large sign. NISSAN. Yeah, I was there....almost. I had to drive past the dealership to get to the turn off and pass under the road. At the end of the off ramp the Very Low Battery warning appeared and the GOM started flashing --- . This was the third Low Battery and the very first Very Low Battery warning I've experienced but I felt sure I could go the quarter mile to the dealership and you know what? I was right.

Remember that extra 10 minutes I spent at Hy-Vee? Those extra 2 miles were the difference between arriving or not arriving and calling roadside assistance.

Anyway, we made it. We were now 59.2 miles from Topeka and the car said it needed 6.5 hours to charge to full. I achieved 4.7 miles/Kwh and drove 50 mph most of the way there. It was now about 1:45. I introduced myself and my son to Cole Bachamp the Leaf salesman at Briggs Nissan in Manhattan. He assured me they would leave the power to the EVSE as long as I needed it and offered the hospitality of their waiting room complete with donuts, granola bars, and soda. I explained my son wanted to catch a movie and we needed a place to eat as well. He recommended Willie's bar and grill which was right next to the theater.

So we made it to the theater in time for all but the first minute of Hotel Transylvania. It was a really good movie. We both enjoyed it. That was followed with lunch/dinner at Willie's. I had the John Madden Burger and my son had the Muss Burger. We then went shopping at Home Depot and watched the Christmas displays. After that we went back to the dealership and killed time until 7pm at which point we left for Topeka.

I made sure we left Manhattan with more charge than we left Topeka with so arrival in Topeka was uneventful if with only two battery bars left and about 10 miles on the GOM. That leg was 52.4 miles long at 50 mph and 4.5 m/Kwh. We charged in the industrial park for 2.5 hours, watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and took a nap. This was also the third wind powered charge. Ironically there is a nice sized wind turbine in the back yard of Governor Brownback who wants more coal electric plants in the state instead of more wind power.

After that charge it was off again to Lawrence and a trip of 34.7 miles at 50 mph at 4.6 m/Kwh. We grabbed burgers at Freddy's Steakburgers and then charged at the Westar office on the east side of Lawrence. This was a one and a half hour charge. We killed time by watching a dvd of The Animaniacs Season 2.

The weather for the trip was beyond awesome. It was still 68*F at 1230am when we were in Lawrence. We also kept a family tradition of being chased across the plains by a severe weather front. In the rear view mirror I could see the lightning and when I woke up this morning I could see the freezing rain collect on the back deck. So I had 6 bars of battery heat at 0100 and it was 68* F. When I woke up at 0800 it was 40* and raining. When I got back from getting stuff for breakfast it was freezing rain.

The final numbers when we got home at 0130 this morning were a leg distance of 28.7 miles and another Low Battery Warning, 4.2 m/Kwh and I drove 55 mph. The CarWings telematics when we left in the morning my month-long miles/Kwh was 5.1. Upon our return it was 4.9. The whole trip made a small impact in my monthly statistics so I get a new high score of distance but I'll be lucky if I can get my m/Kwh up to my minimum desired results of 5.0+ m/Kwh.

It was a fun trip. I enjoyed spending time with my youngest son and we both enjoyed the movie. But I don't think I'll make a trip like this again. It was a very long day and a very long night.

Edit - 11/12
For those who may be interested this is a picture of the elevation changes between Lenexa and Abilene. There was one other thing I meant to include in this post and I keep remembering when I'm away from a pc but forget when I sit down. Sigh.....

Lenexa is on the left of the chart and Abilene is on the right. I used http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/# to generate the information.





Signing off for today
KSNOGAS
-------------
Try reading a book, it's a novel experience.


Friday, November 9, 2012

Kansas City...Kansas City here I .... go??

The advertised trip to Abilene has arrived. Tomorrow at oh dark thirty...well it will be a little light, we leave for Abilene. "We" because I drafted my youngest son as a co-pilot. Co-pilot defined as the person in the car with the tablet and dvd player for his entertainment. The general itinerary is:

0700 Leave Lenexa and drive to Lawrence using "old K-10" which parallels (mostly) K-10 but instead of 70 mph and arriving with a drained battery we'll be driving 45 mph.
0800 Arrive in Lawrence and charge at the KU Center for Design Research building.
0800-0930 Show my youngest around the KU campus since he may be going to school there in 5 years.
0930 Leave Lawrence via US 40, again using back roads instead of the interstate which takes a little longer but uses less energy.
1030 Arrive in Topeka and charge at one of the Westart Energy offices. I'm planning on using the one by the capitol  building so we can walk around and maybe through the capitol.
1200 Noon leave Topeka and head out to the Little Apple, Manhattan KS via US 24.
1330 Arrive in Manhattan and charge at Briggs Nissan in Manhattan. Thanks to Cole Bachamp who was pleased to provide the plug.
1330-1500+ Lunch for sure. We were planning on watching a movie but the theater only does afternoon and evening shows.
1500-1600 Leave Manhattan for Abilene via old US 40. Still bypassing the high speed interstates for better energy economy. I also checked the three routes, state highway, US highway, and interstate and the elevation changes along US 40 for that stretch are less than the other two options.

1630/1700 Arrive in Abilene. Unfortunately this will be after the Eisenhower Presidential Library closes. If the charging times are less than expected we might be able to make a tour of the library which would be awesome. The Truman Presidential Libary in Independence is great and it would make a neat bookend to follow the 2010 visit to Truman with a 2012 visit to Eisenhower.

Historical note for those who may not know, President Eisenhower was the president to follow President Truman. Interestingly the libraries are separated by less than 200 miles from each other.

After dinner in Abilene we will return to Manhattan for a charge then off to Topeka. I don't know the timing on the rest of the trip so stay tuned to Twitter for updates. It will be very interesting to see how the charge times line up with the expected times and hopefully home before 10pm.


Signing off for today
KSNOGAS
-------------
Try reading a book, it's a novel experience.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

And Now Tweetable

Google+, E-mail, Blogger, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, RSS, blah blah blah...

Ok so maybe not the best way to insert a blog post but the truth is there are so many ways to make a connection it seems you can spend all day just keeping everything updated. However, I did make the leap and in my old age set up a Twitter account. So those of you who would like the satisfaction of instant EV gratification can follow my gas free Twitter comments @ksnogas. I would also like to thank my friend Shawna for being my first Twitter follower.

Thanks Shawna.


Signing off for today
KSNOGAS
-------------
Try reading a book, it's a novel experience.