Electric Transportation

I’ve been remiss in adding to the blog on a regular basis. I can only say that it is not a reluctance to write, but rather a busy life that inhibits most casual activity online. There are too few hours in the day.

In any case, I need to get on with the title of this entry. It is slightly more than a year that I have been driving the Mini E BEV as my daily driver. The poor Civic sits in the driveway and gets spiderwebs around the wheels. I live in a town that, end to end, is only about 20 miles. As such, my 90-110 mile range in the vehicle does not even come close to being tested.

Electric driving has been a wonderful experience. I now have a first hand sense of what some of the interviewees were describing  in “Who Killed the Electric Car”. Obviously, this is an impression created by a very specific vehicle. Looking at the specifications for the various announced vehicles that are soon coming to market, I can say that the Mini E is both lighter and considerably higher powered (150kW motor) in both the absolute value sense and in terms of power to weight ratio (the most important statistic), than all the existing cars or announcements, save the Tesla roadster.

I consider the abovementioned to be very important from the perspective of early sales and public adoption. The psychology of fear of the unknown does not work in a manufacturer’s favor, so depending on an early and large customer base of mavericks is a long shot from the get go. In my opinion, if you add to that with poor performance characteristics or poor visual appeal, you will likely fail. BMW was wise in their choice of the Mini Cooper as their platform mule. It has a de facto “its sooo cute” image amongst the buying public. Simply due to size, it is also quite light. Perhaps it is my engineering sensibilities, but I see size / weight to be critical in electric vehicle design. If you have to slog a 3500 pound vehicle around electrically, simply to carry one person (usually), you are at an inherent disadvantage from the start.

Getting back to the Mini E, I would say that all of the car’s eccentricities revolve around being a Mini and not that it is electrically powered. So here’s a dose of reality for you – make sure you like living with the vehicle in question before you ever start worrying about its electric nature. The electric part is all mostly good.

In terms of environmentals, if you don’t have your iPod at max volume, you will notice that the most profound noise is that of the tires. The changes in tire noise depending on the road surface one is driving on have been quite the education for me. Purely as an experiment,  a tire shop owner / friend of mine changed out the wheels and tires with a softer compound rating that were not run-flats. I can definitely say the results were profound. Run-flats are noisy little devils, and given that everyone I know belongs to a roadside service provider, it would seem the need and the market for run-flat tires is diminishing. I personally would prefer the quieter tire.

Finally, and perhaps obviously, the maintenance on these vehicles is where you would like it to be. There are no filters or spark plugs to change. There are no petroleum fluids that need to be taken to the recyclers, and the only liquids of significance are the washer fluid and whatever you have in your cup holder. The brake pads will last for close to eternity due to the profound regenerative characteristics. If you think your hybrid has regen, you haven’t begun to experience the real thing. Perhaps 95% of the time that you need to change velocity, you can drive purely on the accelerator. The brake is seldom used.

And of course, the question – Would I buy this vehicle?  In a heartbeat.

Infrastructure to charge our cars

This is a thick topic that I won’t replicate the basics of herein. For now and the next couple of years, we need the quick solutions that are not necessarily the best, but that can easily be put into use.

First, the Socket

Hey, manufacturers… don’t dither, posture or politic the need for a universal connector to our cars. J1772 looks like a good start. If you need additional customized lines to the vehicle for some reason, I advise against it, and if you have to have them, make them a separate cable from the 240v (or 480v) line. I haven’t done a research study, but the Tesla and the Mini E are on the street and different.

Then the Juice

We have LP/SP and Avcon stations. Why don’t we have compatability converters to take advantage of them? Yes, you can take an inductive station and use it with the appropriate portable converter. That would be a start.

We have self-help networks of people willing to open their private charger to a stranger’s use. At today’s electric rates, we obviously need compensation and it is not hard to put a meter on the charger. I would even put in a second charger in my garage if this kind of thing could get off the ground. I’m sure others feel the same way. I have heard that a few Mini E people are doing this in LA. I realize GM doesn’t feel the need for the Volt, but I think BEV will be with us for good this time, even though there are range extended hybrids like the Volt coming as well.

BEVs

I suppose in this section I’m being redundant, because all this has been said by many others, many times. At least 80% of vehicle miles traveled (VMT in the literature), is the commute. We don’t need to solve the general purpose transportation problems immediately. We can do as we do in business, and prioritize them, and whittle away at them. I, and the vast majority of americans, don’t need range extension to drive to and from work and the errand runs we usually integrate into that trip as well. As big a Volt fan as I am, 40 miles doesn’t do it, since the trust of the vehicle’s true range, for most people, is in the 25 to 30 mile arena. Even if I drive like a lunatic, I will get a solid 90 miles out of my E, and I can’t resist the pun – that’s the E ticket.

Why the above? We need an additional incentive beyond that it runs on electricity, and the BEVs already have that incentive. They are simple. Even non-engineers intuit that simple equates to easier and lower cost of maintenance and a longer life, all else being held equal. Electric autos (no ICE) will revolutionize the percentage of our personal budgets that go into transportation, all for the better. If any vendor or manufacturer tries to build a case for otherwise – be very suspicious. Correspondingly, hybrid vehicles as they currently exist are the “rocket science” of the entire industry. Nothing has ever been this complex in the history of personal transportation. While I have no particular issues with the Prius or the Civic just yet, those issues will ultimately emerge. I purposefully bought an 8 year ‘everything’ contract on my hybrid’s maintenance, because even the tiniest of issues will be $500 and the nominal ones will be thousands. Unless you pass on your vehicle every 3 or 4 years, so as to stay under that 6 to 10 year cycle of everything breaking, it is a topic worth considering. As an engineer, I live by the mantra of simple good, complex bad.

Batteries

My take is simple. We already have so much focus on developing energy storage, for a variety of reasons, not just transportation, that I feel the future is bright. Some of the Lithium technologies are already adequate. Some of the newer ones like Nickel Hydrogen and Lithium air, and perhaps even the EEstor EESU capacitor. If the last one is the latest ‘cold fusion’, then someone else will get there in a genuine fashion. Energy storage is going to happen. We simply need the most efficacious financial models for moving forward. Note to vendors considering battery leasing: If you try to do the latest version of captive audience / suckers can’t do math, like the cable TV industry and others, we’re going to call you on it. This is not the time for american greed and profiteering. A fair profit is your due. The world’s due is to get past a crisis that is potentially the largest since the dinosaurs looked up and saw a rock.

and Finally Herein

Whatever you think about Elon Musk, he followed the traditional business wisdom. It is alarmingly unlikely that one can create a new product sector that involves technologic innovation, and simultaneously commoditize it. One typically creates a non-mass market version that will appeal to early adopters, who almost by definition, can afford the costs of early adoption. The early use of one’s product by these people allows one to debug the systems one didn’t catch in the beta and refine the technologies and the manufacturing. This trickles into the next wave of products that build upon what one has learned. I applaud GM for its effort in the Volt, but truth be known, an easier row to hoe would have been the Converj coming out first. Its true that new car company startups have a dismal record, but thus far, the Tesla S looks like it will happen. As it penetrates into the market in 3 or so years, there will then be the next even less expensive design that will have been built upon all that was learned.

I have high hopes for BMW, because unless you’ve bought into the opportunistic ZEV in California argument, it is clear they are learning quite a bit in real world use while everyone else is still at the auto show.

Background

Context is important, and to that end, I am providing what I believe to be the relevent details.

Professionally, I come from electrical engineering and computing. Imo, I came late to the environmental consciousness in the mid 90’s (my mid 40’s). I am a native californian and have known environmentally concerned people my entire life, hence the assessment of  ‘late’. In my earliest memories onward, dad took us camping and hiking in the Sierras. Without having ever read John Muir, his words heard in Ken Burns’ National Parks most definitely resonated with me.

I clearly remembered the gas lines from the oil embargo and so initially focused on the economics of fossil fuels. This quickly matured into the study of peak oil. Due to my focus on investing in energy and energy related, considerable study was involved. I came to the understanding that peak oil was interesting in the technical sense, but not central to the largest problem – global warming. Quite simply, I saw that there were many issues, and in a bounded, sequential existence, issues get prioritized. For myself, global warming made number one.

Lots of things can be done, and obviously socioeconomic factors allow some to do more than others. Absolutely everything helps. I try to ride my bike, but its hard, particularly in the short days. My office is 45 minutes from my house and about 500 feet in altitude difference.

I bought CFLs when they first came out and have long since discovered the infant mortality they exhibit if turned on and off frequently. Unintended consequences. Perhaps the second generation is better. Perhaps LEDs, when the price becomes more competitive, will be the answer. I am a bit less quicker on the draw this time.

I bought one of the early high powered electric bikes in the second generation of such – Wavecrest TF750. Built like a tank and considerably more than I expected. What I didn’t expect? The NiMH batteries having a less than robust life span when you don’t care for them with a very sophisticated BMS. Cars are even harder.

Subscribed to Home Power long before I had any reason to, but it ultimately had the inevitable effect of my installing an off grid PV system. Yes, I live in an urban area. Engineering vs. business economics? Engineering won, and it was no contest. Sigh…

By now, the reader should be able to predict a bit more. Yes, I bought a hybrid a few years back. Its actually quite satisfying to see the extraordinary milage I can get. In its own way, a much more lasting positive feeling than putting the loud pedal down. One last item on cars though. I have owned quite a number of sports cars in my life, and still do. Most of them generated considerable lust in others. I can’t say whether that has helped me embrace what now gives me the most satisfaction since one can’t analyze oneself. Needless to say, I doubt I will buy another.

The Task at Hand

I became interested in the Volt from the moment I heard of its possibility. It seems like several years now. We have a potpourrie of acronyms, and for the Volt I will use Extended Range EV. A Battery EV with a range extender. Also a serial hybrid. This all resonated with the engineer in me. Where can I sign up?

Like most things automotive, it takes time – lots of time. Like most humans, I had an itch to scratch, and started shopping for RAV4 EV’s on Ebay. I was pretty close to spending a stupid quantity of money when I read about the Mini E program. Oh boy! Yep, got one. Biggest problem? Its the EV1 all over again and is definitely going away.

They did too good of a job. So far, it has had fewer issues than most vehicles I’ve owned. Example: I had a 1983 280ZX turbo once. It talked. What a pain! I notice cars don’t talk much these days. It turned itself off going down the freeway at 70 mph or so. It wasn’t an experimental car. Needless to say, the Mini E has better manners.

When you read about the Mini E experiment thus far, the focus is mostly on the infrastructure issues and not the car. I would say that Electric Vehicle 1.0 is most definitely upon us. They work as reliable, daily transportation. My poor hybrid has gotten cobwebs around the tires.

Now, to the infrastructure. Our society is sure one giant messed up patchwork quilt of disparate ideas about the nature of “proper” living. I had an 80 amp subpanel in my garage. Clean Fuel Connection came out one day and installed the charger and it took less than 2 hours. I understand that ymmv, depending on where you live. By definition, it shouldn’t be hard. If it is, its a social / governmental problem and not a technical one.

Oh yes. I’m in California. We don’t do coal and we already have a 20% renewables mandate priced into our rate structure. We haven’t fallen into the ocean. Too many people hand ringing about nothing, unless of course you believe that .05 kWh coal is essential to life as we know it in the USA. If you’re in that space… well the planet is screwed if you happen to be in the majority.

I can squeeze at least 100 miles out of the Mini E and more if I drive conservatively. That is way over what I will drive in any one day. I don’t even charge daily. Yes, I have enough PV, that most of my driving has been on sun power until the recent short days. I’m putting in more PV in anticipation of the car coming after the Mini E is taken away. One small problem is the old ‘bird in the hand’ one. The E is so attractive to me that I’ve been struggling with the announced characteristics of the various yet to be released electrics. I like the pureness of the BEV and the inherent simplicity of its maintenance. More on that subject another day, but a wave of change is upon us if we make cars simpler rather than more complex.

Charge or range anxiety? Never had it and I’m not sure how to reflect on it. I don’t become anxious when my hybrid is down to 1/4 of a tank. I understand how far that takes me. I don’t get anxious when the E is down to 25% SOC. I understand how far it will take me. Without a public charging infrastructure of level 3 chargers, I don’t try to make the car do what it was not intended to do. I don’t use the hybrid to go to Home Depot and pick up 1000 lbs of concrete blocks. I use the truck. The E solves the problem of the commute, and there is not only no penalty for this, but rather the most pleasant driving experience one can have until they invent quieter tires.

I’ve used the E as my real world example of the electric car. There are Tesla owners who can say more of the same. Yes, there are problems, but those are for the next post.