Michigan utility Consumers Energy wants to have its share of the reluctant auto boom. For that, you need to buy an electric vehicle. What did you say? Range? Consumers Energy has an answer: An app for your iPhone.
You probably already have something like that in your navigation system, but a little redundancy can’t hurt. Chargebud offers “an easy-to-use interface to find the location and details of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging stations across the U.S.” Available through the iTunes store at no charge, the app promises to lower your anxiety by navigating you to the next hot plug.
Looking at the Chargebud-supplied map, an all-electric trip from Detroit to Chicago is conceivable – if you have brought a lot of time. Those purple 240 VAC chargers will require an 8 hour stopover at the local Motel 6. Where are those level 3 quickchargers when we need them?
Tip of the Tyroler hat …
Compare gas cost to 8 hour stopovers in motel 6 every (50? 100?) miles.
I don’t think that is a win…
I like the concept of the electric car more than most. Tried to build one while I was still teaching. However, the only way they work is to build them with a self contained charging station. The most efficient I have read about was also one of the first. A lawnmower engine and a generator when he needed a longer trip. Mother earth news archives, search Dave Arthur’s amazine 70 (or 75, I forget) mpg car.
Anyway, if he could do it the car companies can. Less is a ripoff.
An “electric car with a self contained charging station” is already available. It’s called the Chevy Volt.
Long trips are conceivable but that’s about it. Drive for 1-2 hours, stop for 8 hours, repeat. Hopefully that Level 2 charger is in a decent place, surrounded with plenty of things to do for 8 hours…
With enough real-world data collected over a reasonable amount of time, it should be pretty easy to find the optimal locations for all of those level 3 chargers.
In the mean time, I think I have a business idea.
How fast do level 3 chargers do it in, 30-60 minutes? If so, I can see truck stops/restaurants peppered along more main-stream highways every 50 miles or so with some chargers being an option, but unless the price of vehicles goes down that still equates to a pretty expensive method of travel. Unless they could put D&B’s all over the place…?
That’s it! A Dave and Busters every 50 miles. $5 to charge your vehicle and it comes with a $5 “game token.”
The only problem I see with this idea is, here in Northeastern Wisconsin if I were to travel highway 29 to Minneapolis, at least half of that journey is spent being in the middle of NO WHERE.
Aw shucks. Someone beat me to it:
http://www.realacpower.com/Mobileevquickcharge.html
“(Mar. 6, 2012) Indianapolis, Indiana – Real Power, a division of Contour Hardening ,Inc. (CHI) of Indianapolis, Indiana, unveiled the production version of their Mobile EV Quick Charge Vehicle during the 2012 National Work Truck Show (NTEA). The first Mobile EV Charging units were delivered to customers prior to the Work Truck Show.
The self-contained system allows for Level 3 DC fast charging of compatible electric vehicles and uses Real Power‘s patented PTO-driven generator technology. It can deliver a full Level III DC charge in 20-30 minutes while using less than one gallon of fuel!”
geez louise, all electric cars are not practical for long trips. period. they are designed for intraurban transportation. that’s one of the reasons they are small, with few frills. it is basic transportation at its simplest.
you want range in a mostly electric vehicle? then try an electric motor hooked up to a diesel engine just like a freight locomotive. in the meantime consider gas/electric options
+1 Sheesh…
Why do you guys keep imagining trying to use an EV for cross country travel? They work for the commuter. I have a coworker that uses a Leaf every day without a hitch year ’round. Back and forth to work and around town for errands. They have another car for out of town trips.
They use whichever car is appropriate for the task.
Do you guys use your electric shavers/bear trimmers to mow the yard? Dremel tool to puree your ingredients in the kitchen? Paint houses with a toothbrush?
Most people own only ONE car. If they choose to buy an EV, it has to be able to meet all their needs, even if it means a cross-country trip to grandma’s.
My brother unloaded his Leaf because it didn’t work for them in Manhattan, but that was mostly due to charging issues in his high-rise.
He conceded that a Prius would have been a better choice but has no plans to buy one now.
Most people in >>Manhattan<< probably own one car.
For the rest of us there is typically one car per driver in a household.
We have two drivers and four cars. My parents have two drivers and seven cars, six of them ready for cross-country travel (Dad is a gearhead like me). Even our "a car is an appliance" friends (like my sister and her husband) have at least one car per driver b/c generally this spouse goes 10 miles one way and the other spouse may drive 10+ miles the other way. My sister and her husband have four cars – two daily drivers plus a well worn S-10 pickup and my mom’s old convertible.
My wife and I are the exception (despite owning four cars) and we carpool five days a week. The second car gets used occasionally to keep the battery up and as a backup for the first car in case it ever fails (and it hasn't in 235K miles) and because the second car isn't worth anything, Why not keep it? It's $1500 resale value despite being fully functional means it is a better backup car than bank account fattener. Our tween can drive it in a few years if he wants and WHEN it gets wrecked we won't cry much about it's loss.
The second car hasn't left our county in for over a year now. It could easily be our primary car and electric and keep our gas powered car as the go-to-see-grandma car.
Yes I agree if a person only owns a single vehicle, an EV is going to need to be one versatile beast of burden in order to have a place in that household if that family goes very far.
Still I see electrics to be a good solution for some people. Probably millions of people – only thye don't know it yet b/c electric cars aren't even on their personal radar yet and besides they are still so expensive. A Leaf would have fit the needs of my grandparents for the last 20 of their driving years. A Leaf would fit the needs of a teen easily but who'd send out a new driver in a $40K car? A Leaf would fit the needs of the average stay at home spouse. Maybe not in the frozen north or out west where it's a 30 mile drive across the prairies to buy milk but there are millions of folks who could make good use of an EV as we know them right now. But then the Leaf would make a 60 mile round trip on the prairie wouldn’t it?
I'd buy a Tesla S tomorrow. Or the coming Ford Focus EV. Both are good looking products. The Tesla S could carry our family over the mtns to see grandma for the weekend even. The Leaf is good but I keep cars for so long I have to appreciate how they look and the Leaf is a little too Star Trekky for me. The Tesla interior is a bit too much with all the displays (Volt too) but I love the rest of the Tesla. The Volt is nice but like the Leaf, I don’t like the looks of it.
What's going to have to happen is the early adopters are going to need to buy these electrics and then show them off to the appliance drivers who will see that the electric car works or doesn't for them. The appliance driver isn't likely to go looking and learning about an EV on their own. The EV doubters will be the hard sell folks who will not give the EV a thought until EVs have been around a decade or somehow the EVs become cool for even tough guys to drive. The doubters will need something more than the utility – it'll have to become nearly free to buy or own or become the fastest thing on the road or gas will need to jump to $12 per gallon and suddenly, the doubters I know,will buy an EV (used of course) and tell the world that it was best decision they ever made and that they led the way… ;)
I’ll ride my bicycle instead.
I did actually cover a lot of that territory on my bicycle, along Superior’s southern shore from Duluth to Sioux St. Marie, then into Canada, along the transcanadian, to Montreal… part of my bicycle ride from Seattle to Boston.
That’s Sault Ste. Marie. Pronounced Soo Saint Marie. And there is a Sault Ste. Marie in both Michigan and Ontario. They are connected by a bridge across the St. Mary’s River.
First off if you get a Ford electric you only need to wait 4 hours for a full charge at the 240v level.
Second long trips are possible in an electric vehicle. A friend of mine who is an EV enthusiast took his Tesla roadster for a 1100+ mile “long weekend” trip utilizing in part a quick charger along the way. He and his wife only own EVs besides the Tesla they have a RAV4 and a Leaf.
Another EV enthusiast friend took a home built S-10 based EV on a I5 border to border run in less than a week thanks to a “range” trailer they built to extend it’s normal 300 mile range.
So not only are long road trips possible in an EV there are already people doing it.
Eric: I have a hardbody with a frozen engine. Perfect candidate for that. If you have a link explaining how he hooked the motor to the transmission I would be interested. If it was a series motor he may not have used the transmission. I think I’ve seen you mention that before and possibly I read about it. Having a vehicle that would serve as the body for one makes it more appealing.
They made (or had made) an adapter plate to bolt it to the transmission. Of course for one of the 300 mile range S-10s they built they started off with a 4cyl truck put a huge motor in it decided to see just how quick it was by starting it off in first and proceeded to shatter the transmission. Unfortunately they have not documented the conversion on the web for me to give you a link.
Its a start anyway