Friday, June 28, 2013

Common questions

If you're a frequent visitor or co-worker of mine you know that I'm....well, shall we say, enthusiastic about electric cars. Since I tend to get in conversations about EV's and mine in particular I've also noticed a tendency to answer some of the same questions quite frequently. There are plenty of FAQ's and websites dedicated to EV's so I'm not going to rebuild the steering wheel but I am going to put out some of the common questions and answers as well as some of the more humorous (i hope) anecdotes.

Q1. How far can you drive?
A1. The  estimated range is 50-60 miles all weather after 4 years of ownership. It will do more right off the log. YMMV (your mileage may vary). After 1 year of ownership I can still get 60-80 miles on a single 80% charge even with a year's battery degradation.

Q2. How much does the electricity cost?
A2.  About $2/day or 2.2 cents/mile. This means for a Prius to have the same fuel cost per mile that my Leaf has, gasoline would need to be about $1.10/gallon. For an older car like the Escort Zx2 I traded in, gasoline would need to be $.55/gallon for the same cost per mile and neither of those include oil changes.

Q3. So how much gasoline does it use?
A3.  None this is all electric

Q4. So you don't use any gas at all?
A4. Correct

Q5. Really?
A5. Really.

Q6. So where do you put in the gas?
A6. I don't. It's all electric but the charge point is here (in the front).

Q7. What sort of maintenance is there?
A7. Well here's a whole list of maintenance at 1 year - have a battery report completed (required to maintain warranty) and rotate the tires. Repeat every 12 months. Rotate tires every 7500 miles or as recommended by tire manufacturer. Yearly check for structural damage especially if you drive on rough roads or in Missouri <<chuckle>>.

Q8. You mean it's all electric?
A8. Yes, it's all electric. The only fluid is the windshield wiper fluid, brake fluid, a/c coolant, and the coolant for the on-board charger.

Q9. How long does it take to charge?
A9. I charge about 2 hours a night, maybe an hour longer if I've done a lot of driving but dead to full is about 4.5 hours.
A9.1 It takes about 1 minute a day to plug in and unplug the car.

Q10. Where can you refill/recharge?
A10. Anywhere there's a plug. However I usually charge at home with a 240 volt Schneider EVSE that is attached to the garage but there are over 70 different public stations in the KC Metro with more being added every month.

Q11. Is it running?
A11. Yes, can't you hear it? <<giggle>>.

Q12. So what do you do when you run out of charge?
A12. The same thing you do when you run out of gas. I call a tow truck. When was the last time you ran out of gas? (Out of gas, 1992 and 1999)

Q13. So you can't take it on long trips can you?
A13. Well, I did take it to Manhattan, KS and back in a day (took 18 hours). But how often to YOU take long trips? In the past year I've HAD to use my wife's Prius because I couldn't make the distance 3x and all were Scout campout related. If we were going to take a long driving vacation (2009 camping trip to Yellowstone) we would be renting a minivan or SUV anyway.


The question I wish people would ask but only one person has asked is "So where can I get one?"



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


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