Comments on: Nissan Offering $15,000 For New EV Quick Chargers Installed By December 31

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:58:00 +0000

For a lot of drivers a simple 120 vac outlet is all that would be needed for ordinary charging.

The LEAF will recharge 5 miles per hour off a normal 120 vac 15 amp outlet. The sort of outlet most people would have in their garage or on the outside of their house. If one is normally home 12 hours per night that’s 60 miles from plug in to plug out.

Given that the average daily drive in the US is ~35 miles well over half of all drivers should be find with a normal outlet.

I talked to one guy who had a LEAF and a ~40 mile one way commute. He plugged into a 120 outlet when he got to work so he was able to replace what he’d used on the morning drive. Gave him enough range to comfortably commute ~80 miles a day regardless of weather.

I’d turn your categorization around and suggest we have some Level 2, 240 vac outlets spread thinnly around the community for people who need a ‘pick me up’. If they had screwed up and failed to charge the night before they could pick up ~10 miles in an hour and go home wiser puppies.

By: Kyle Field

Kyle Field — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:34:00 +0000

Thanks for that perspective…that does make more sense. L3 = gas station style recharging…L2 = normal home unit L1 = emergency 110volt “better than nothing” charging

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:37:00 +0000

You’re utility companies are committing suicide by not promoting EVs.

With demand dropping due to efficiency and end-user solar utilities are suffering from lost business that stands to get worse and worse. They should be all over getting people to purchase EVs and create new market for themselves.

They should be figuring out how let people put solar on their roofs and plug in at work. There’s some money to be made by shipping power from one spot to another.

EVs could be great replacement for the business they are currently losing.

By: dwj

dwj — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:31:00 +0000

You don’t know how good you have it in the US.
In Australia there is no support for EVs at all. No federal subsidies, no state subsidies, no tax concessions or even registration concessions. In Melbourne (city of 4 million) there is one fast charging station (and that is inside a university) and only a handful of public charge points (I have never seen one). The Leaf is the only pure EV available, since they stopped importing iMievs, and there are only two dealers in the city which can supply it.
Situation dismal.

By: Wayne Williamson

Wayne Williamson — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:30:00 +0000

Thanks for the link…my normal go to place for info. Your right, it does show we’re going thru the growing pains;-)

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:09:00 +0000

There are at least two different systems, CHAdeMO and Tesla’s even faster rapid chargers. The CHAdeMO is something of an industry standard but I wouldn’t bet that it will necessarily be the final solution. We’re early in the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHAdeMO

By: Wayne Williamson

Wayne Williamson — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 21:32:00 +0000

Any idea how many different types of quick chargers there are. This seems like it will only work with Nissan. If this is the case, I hope someone steps in and standardizes them to work with any EV. It will probably be the EU, like they made Apple use a standard one and quit making up new ones(except in the US;-)

Of coarse I look at the related posts above and see Tesla is offering an adapter….

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Rapid (Level 3)chargers, ones able to deliver large amounts of charge very quickly, are expensive. We need rapid chargers in order to drive long distances in EVs.

Personal chargers are much cheaper and much slower.

Speed isn’t so important if you’re parked for 10-12 hours. But on a long drive we need to be able to grab a ~90% charge in <20 minutes.

I don't think we need many slow charge public chargers. A few for people who screw up and need a few additional miles in order to get home in places where there is not a rapid charge point available. We will probably need slow (Level 1 and 2) chargers in places where people park all day for work or school. Taht will provide parking for those who don't have a place to plug in at night and will let people with long commutes double their range.

We need subsidies for EVs until we're manufacturing enough to bring down costs. And we need to use government funds to help get our rapid charger system started. Increase manufacturing volumes and rates of use should let the government back away their support.

By: Kyle Field

Kyle Field — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:19:00 +0000

Not having a federal incentive to install public chargers is not good. We need a solid infrastructure of chargers more than we need incentives for the cars themselves (in my opinion). I’m surprised that public chargers are this much more to install than personal chargers (which I thought were around $2300 each for installs in existing houses or only $200 as part of a new build…per the article on Palo Alto’s new laws). Hmmmm