Hello all,
I made a YouTube video, about half the length of my talk, leaving out the Skyline-specific material.
I will be giving a talk about recharging electric vehicles in Skyline garages in the Science-Technology lecture series on April 19th at 3:30pm. What follows is aimed at preparing for the Q&A after my presentation. I have been writing an eight-page “consultant’s report” as I recall details from my EV education a decade ago when recharging was more iffy. You can access a PDF of it at WilliamCalvin.com/EV/. Here is the last page:
Mindset Matters When “Filling Up” an Electric Vehicle
EV owners with assigned parking near an electrical outlet need to get out of their established gas-station habit of waiting until 1/4 full before refilling.
There are three different strategies for EV charging: one for slow 110-volt top-up charging, another for ‘full-tank’ overnight 220-volt charging, and a third for 440-volt Level 3 (supercharger) half-fills in 15 minutes for long hauls. Here are some mindsets to readjust when you become an EV owner:
“Wait to refill until down to quarter-full.” (But only for highway trips!)
Take your 15-minute rest stops at Level 3 DC Fast chargers (or Tesla superchargers). Around town, just top up every night using an ordinary 110-volt outlet.
“Fill the tank to Full” — except on road trips! (How non-intuitive is that!)
A fill-up makes sense with liquid fuels and also with overnight recharging—but the EV charging rate varies with how full the EV battery already is; doing ¾ to full takes much longer with an EV. The strategy for minimizing recharging time on a road trip is to routinely find a Level 3 changer or Tesla Supercharger when at ¼ full— but, when impatient, stop recharging at ¾ and hit the road.
“Refilling requires a weekly visit to a special parking spot, vacating it when done.”
That’s still true if one’s EV does not have an electrified parking space for 8 hours every night (or during the working day). Otherwise, simply top up overnight, every night—there will be a full ‘tank’ every morning, even with 110v charging. Unless one is just back from a long drive and about to leave on another long leg in the morning (that has happened to me once in the past ten years), one is going to be drawing many little sips, not one fast overnight gulp needing 220v Level 2 chargers. After you lock your car, hook up the Level 1 charging cable (dangling nearby) before walking away. It is just like those parking meters with electrical outlets that you see in Jasper, where cars need an electrical heater to keep the radiator and oil pan from freezing.
EV Economic, Health, and Safety Advantages
At least in Seattle, it costs about $5-10 to fully recharge a large EV to 250-mile range, versus $100+ to fill a gas tank.
EVs also have many fewer items to routinely service: no oil to change, no transmission, no muffler and catalytic converter, and infrequent brake pad replacement because most of the braking is done with recharging the battery, Prius style.
Some EVs, such as the Tesla Model S, were redesigned from scratch to better protect the driver and passengers with crumple space up front. Dual-motor Teslas are excellent at automatically recovering from swerves and skids. And because Teslas are designed to be bottom-heavy, they seldom roll over. Most other EVs, however, just fill the empty engine compartment with heavy batteries.
EVs do not produce tailpipe air pollution to breathe. Try to drive behind an EV whenever possible.
It isn’t just Tesla (though I still think they are the best). Here is a table of EVs.
