Tag Archives: Electric

Tesla X Falcon Wing Doors, Gimmick or Great Idea?

Maybe a bit of both?

Yes, you can put your baby in a car seat without having to bend over.

Yes, you can get out of the car in a really tight parking space. Or can you?

Last time I drove a car I sat in the front seat. Unless your freakishly tall I’ll bet you did as well.

And the front doors on a Tesla X open the same way car doors have opened for years.

I see a little bit of BS with their example of getting wedged between two cars and implying that it doesn’t matter.

It might be easier than crawling through the lift gate on the tail but still not the answer they are implying it is.

Since I haven’t seen a X in person maybe I’m missing something but from all the videos I have seen I don’t think so.

 

What if everyone started using electric cars?

In the U.S.A., what would happen if everybody started driving electric cars?

About 9 million fewer barrels of oil would be used each day.
If you  have a car that gets 28MPG and drive it 10k miles per year, you would use just over 300 gallons of gas and produce 5.6k  pounds of CO2.
My Ford Focus Electric gets about 4 miles to a kWh. The worst coal produces 2.17 pounds of CO2 per kWh. So 10k miles per year produces 5.4k pounds of CO2.
So whats the big deal? Looks like a wash, right? No. It takes about 6kWh to distill one gallon of gas. So burning the coal to produce one gallon of gas produces about 13 pounds of CO2. Multiply that by 300 gallons of gas and you get another 3.9k of CO2 a year just making the 300 gallons of gas.
So by eliminating the gas engine and the process of refining oil into gas, you eliminate a duplication of effort and excess CO2 production.
You also eliminate the extra toxic pollution from burning gas, and the production of gas produces all kinds of toxic substances on top of the toxins burning coal produces.
Produce the electricity with natural gas and you get less CO2, but, there are  still many bad side effects in the production of natural gas. Fracking uses lots of clean water and turns it into toxic water.
Produce the electricity with solar or wind and get rid of all the by-products of combustion of fossil fuels. Then the only pollution is from making the solar panels or generators.
Lets also take a look at how gasoline gets to market.
Oil is extracted from the earth and transported long distances by ship or pipeline. By ship requires burning more fuel to move the oil over long distances.
Once the oil is refined, it gets put on a tanker or pipeline again, to get to it’s next destination. More fuel is burned for transportation. And all along the way there are many opportunities for leaks and spills. That doesn’t even include the potential leaks, spills and disasters at the point of extraction. The Gulf of Mexico, Exxon Valdez, waste from tar sands piling up on the south side of Chicago. The list goes on and on.
Most Americans have electricity in their home. Most Americans drive less than 50 miles per day. All they would need to do is plug in their cars at home each night like they plug in their Smartphones. You don’t need to add a huge new infrastructure like you would for hydrogen.
If every car in the USA were electric we would use 374 million less gallons of gas per day. That’s 811 million less pounds of CO2. Wait, we figured that the CO2 burned in gas was close to the same amount used to produce the electricity needed by burning coal. OK, that’s a wash.
But, if it takes 6kWh to produce 1 gallon of gas and 2.17 pounds of CO2 is produced per kWh then the amount of CO2 produced is actually 6 times 2.17 or 13 pounds of CO2 produced or 13 times 374 million gallons of gas. Thats 4,862,000,000 more pounds per year of CO2 than our hypothetical all EV Nation needs. That’s a massive difference.
What else could go along with that. No oil changes. No air filters. No spark plugs. Fewer brake pads. That’s just a few benefits. No pollution controls needed on an electric car. No emissions inspections. I’m sure you could find a few more.
So lets sum it up.
Air polution, less.
Water pollution, less.
Noise pollution, less.
Oil Spills, less.
Carbon Monoxide deaths, less.
Burn Victims, less.
Lower Hospital Costs.
Fewer wars? Probably not?
Where’s the down side? Fewer gas stations? High School kids can’t put sugar in the gas tank of their  ex-girlfriend?
Next year almost every carmaker has at least one if not more hybrids that can actually run on electric 90% of the time.
If you can afford a car that is partly or fully electric you should buy one.
It’s time to actually conserve the resources we have.
It’s time to stop polluting our air and water.
This is not a political issue anymore. It is a financial issue. It’s cheaper to burn coal to make electricity to drive a car than to make fuel to drive a car.
It’s cheaper to  drive an electric car than pay for hospital costs for people with diseases related to air pollution or water pollution.
If you want make solar panels and wind power the political issue, go for it. It is still 3 times the cost of coal if you don’t price in the pollution and medical costs caused by coal. We are maybe 3-5 years away from cost parity with coal.
We are probably 3-5 years away from your next car being electric as well.
Maybe it’s time for electric companies to embrace people putting solar on their roofs instead of fighting it. But that’s a subject for another post.

Mazda MX-5 ND or Tesla X?

With the release of the new Tesla X why a I writing about the lowly gas powered Mazda MX-5 also known as the Miata?

Well, today I attended a Ride and Drive that Mazda invited me to. I’m not sure how I got on the list but since I own a 1999 Miata and a Mazda 6 as well as having  owned a 2011 Miata the odds are pretty good I’m on a mailing list somewhere.

The event was not well attended. In the 2 days and 12 hours they had about 160 people according to a couple of the employees I asked. BMW gets almost 10 times that number at their Ride and Drive events.

That could be because BMW lets people drive all their cars. The MX-5 has a small but very loyal following.

But the reason I am writing this isn’t because I think the Miata is a great car. It is. What it isn’t is an Electric Car.

Since I have owned my Ford Focus Electric car I am pretty much spoiled. EV’s are a just more fun. If what you want is instant performance and a fun driving experience you really need to go out and test drive one of the many Electric Vehicles out there.

Not a Hybrid like the Prius or Honda Accord where the electric motor is an afterthought but a car where the electric motor is the primary source of power. One where the gas motor, if it has one charges the batteries and you get all that instant torque.

There are quite a few today and many being added in the near future.

While most of us mortals can’t afford a Tesla and it’s Insane Mode along with its insane price there are many EV’s now days for less than 30k and even lest than 25k after tax breaks.

Walk in to your Chevy Dealer and try the Volt. Don’t like Chevrolet. Ford has the C-Max and Fusion Energy as well as the all electric Focus.

BMW. The i8 and i3.

While Volkswagen might not be trustworthy with their diesel technology they do have the eGolf. Maybe they will release their hybrid Golf in the States soon now that they can’t sell their diesels.

In the next few years even with cheap gas people will learn that electric cars are fun. They have lower costs to maintain and 90% of the time you will never burn gas in the Extended Range models.

If you are in the market for a new car give one a try. If you are in the market for a used car many are now hitting the used market and at ver reasonable prices.

Don’t try one because they are the environmentally responsible option. Try one because they are fun. Lots of fun. So much fun I have a Mazda for sale. Maybe two.

My next car will be a Telsa 3, That is unless there is another car make that can make an electric car I really like. Something like a Mazda 6 even a eGolf with a 200 mile range with a 35k or less price tag. At that price I wouldn’t even need a tax break. Just those HOV Plates.

 

Should you buy or lease a hydrogen car? No, in my opinion.

My opinion on why hydrogen cars are not going to be anything more than a compliance car or a diversion of money that could be better spent building out the electric infrastructure.

I have a Ford Focus Electric. And while Ford might disagree it looks to me like it’s just a compliance car. A car that is sold in only a few States and in limited numbers. Yes, they do have some dealers in non compliance States like Arizona but try to find one on a lot somewhere in AZ. I looked for months and when one did come in it was either pre sold or sold in less than 5 hours.

So if you read any of my previous posts about it, I went to California to get it. Then I had it shipped to AZ. It couldn’t make the drive because there were no chargers for 200 miles of the route and the car only has an 80 mile range.

So then why did I still buy it? Because I do have electricity at home. So do all my neighbors. I also have a place to charge at work, for free and many of the places I shop have a charger as well.

Although for the 6 months and 4000 plus miles I have had it I have never had to charge anywhere but at home. I do charge at work but not because I have to but because it is free to charge. I have also plunged it into a pay charger a couple times but only because I wanted to be sure I could and new how to do it. It’s not rocket science but you do have to set up accounts to do it.

Now let’s say that I really like the Toyota Miraj. I hear it’s a really great car and gets 300 plus miles on a fill up of hydrogen. I buy it. Fill it up and drive it home to AZ. From one of the 8 California dealers that sell it. Do they deliver it with a full tank? I should be able to get it home. Now what. Do I call AAA and tell them I’m out of hydrogen? Do they tow me back to Los Angeles where they have one of the 8 possibly working Nitrogen Stations that might be able to fill the car in 10 minutes or less. After all, Toyota is giving you free nitrogen for the first few years.

Are they going to build a Nitrogen Station at every Toyota Dealer? At least Nissan has a quick charge station at most of their dealers. Many of them even work most of the time.But even if they don’t you can charge your Leaf in your garage. For a few hundred dollars you can add a 220v outlet and charge your car from zero to full in less than 6 hours. I don’t even have a 220v outlet in my garage and I have never had a problem.

We rarely drive more than 30 miles a day. Only twice have I ever seen the warning that tells me I’m getting to far from home and I better turn back or charge at my destination. It was after a day of running a lot of errands before going to work and I was less than 3 miles from the charger at work and 20 miles from home.

Now the State of California is pretty committed to Hydrogen. They have earmarked $200 Million for building 100 stations in the next several years. In case you’re bad at math that’s $2 Million per station. Holy Crap Batman. $2 Million. That’s $2,000,000.00 And none of those stations have a soda machine or even a bathroom. I’m not even sure if they will have more than one pump. But if they only take 5 minutes to fill the tank I doubt they need more than one pump. At least if it’s working properly and the company supplying the hydrogen has kept the the station properly supplied.

Why would supply be an issue. Well? From the looks of it the hydrogen pump is sort of like a soda fountain dispenser. A supplier has to bring bottles of compressed hydrogen from the factory where they make it and hook them up to the complicated machine that compresses it and then cools it before it’s pumped into your car. At least CNG can be filled at home or a station that has piped in supply. Not Hydrogen. First they have to make it. Usually by using CNG. Why not just eliminate the middle step and just burn CNG in your car?

Now why would I think this is a waste of money. We do need to get off fossil fuels. Not just because of global warming but because we need clean air to breath as well.

Because the economics of battery electric cars make more sense.

Right now there are about 143,000 battery electric cars in the State of California. Every single one of these cars can drive anywhere in the Country and find a place to plug in. Ever since the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930’s pretty much all of the USA has electricity.

While it takes $2 Million to build one Hydrogen Fuel Station it only takes $50 Thousand to build one Electric DC Fast Charger. And that price is even less per extra line. So you can build 20 DC Fast Chargers for the cost of one Hydrogen Fuel Station.

But it gets better. Most people who drive Electric cars don’t need to fast charge. They rarely even need to slow charge. Most people could plug in anywhere they stop or shop and pick up just a mile or few if they need them. The cost for this. Just a plug on a lamp post or the wall near a parking spot. Most people could charge their car like they charge their phone or laptop at the airport. Just park near a plug and the equipment that comes with your car is all you need.

Right now my car has been parked at the airport for the last 3 days. It charged on the fast charger in two hours but it didn’t have to. I’m not going to be back for 4 days.

Where we do need fast chargers, are near highways and rest stops. Just like Tesla is doing. This would allow people like me to drive from L.A. to Phoenix if I really wanted to. Not that I’m planning on taking my Ford Focus Electric on a long trip but I might want to move from Arizona one day and I don’t want to ship the car. For most long trips I get on an airplane and rent a car if I need one. Sometimes I use Uber.

That’s pretty much why I see hydrogen cars as a waste of time and money. Why build a whole new infrastructure that still requires building stations that cost millions and keep you tied to having to buy your fuel like you buy gas now? Maybe that’s the answer. You are still tied to the same old model of buying fuel from a distribution system that puts your money into the pockets of the same companies we do now. No solar panels on your own roof providing your own clean energy. Just hide the dirtiest part of the process so you think that your doing something for the planet. Yes, there is still a lot of electricity made from coal but it is still cleaner than gasoline or all the fossil fuels used today to make hydrogen and transport it to the stations.

My money is on Battery Electric and Hybrid Electric like the Chevy Volt or Ford Cmax Energy Systems. While Toyota had a pretty good idea with the Prius and the Gas Extender Vehicle it’s now the time of the Battery Extender Vehicle. To be followed by the Long Range Battery Electric Vehicle.

I could be wrong but I don’t think the Japanese have made this big a mistake in backing the wrong idea since Pearl Harbor. I wonder why the Germans aren’t all in on hydrogen? Maybe something in their past?

Don’t let that test drive in a Prius keep you from trying and Electric car.

There is a trend of Prius owners who are not buying a new Prius Hybrid when they are ready to sell their old car. Why?

Have you ever driven a Prius? I have. A brand new one at that. A 2015 Prius V with every available option on it.

O.K. It’s really not a bad car. It’s actually a really nice car. It’s very roomy, especially the back seats. Even with me driving (I’m 6 feet tall) with the seat all the way back the back seat passenger has plenty of leg room and the back seats partially recline. Something most cars cant do.

It gets an average or 38 MPG. Compared to my Mazda 6 that averages 30 MPG doing the same kind of driving. The Prius V also can carry more cargo. I can get 4 18x18x16 boxes in the back of the Prius with the back seats up. I can’t even get one box in the Mazda. The boxes are to tall to even get them in the opening. The Mazda will fit 3 golf bags. The Prius V is all about the cargo room. That’s why my mother bought it. That and she really likes Toyota’s, she’s had one for the last 15 years. A 2000 4Runner. It was a very reliable and a great SUV for all those years.

Back to the Prius. The back seats are way more comfortable than a Rav 4. That’s probably why so many Taxi Companies buy them.

It also has one feature I really love. Adaptive Cruise Control. This is a great feature for driving on the highway. Set the speed limit you want and it keeps you a safe distance from the car in front of you.

But, yes, there is a but. I enjoy driving the Prius about as much as I enjoy driving a forklift. Yeah, I have one of those. It’s also a Toyota. The Prius is an appliance. It does what it’s supposed to do. It gets you from point A to point B efficiently.

It’s not fun to drive. It’s not peppy when you accelerate. And it’s not as cool looking or as nice an interior as my mid trim level Mazda 6.Both have fake leather but the Mazda has more soft touch plastic surfaces.

While the Mazda is not really a fast car with only a 2.5L engine it is really fun to drive. The Mazda does 0-60 in about 8.9 seconds. The Prius will get up to 60 in your lifetime, It also sounds like it’s going to blow up if you floor the gas pedal. What it does do really well is sneak up on people. If you are a teenager or the Von Trop Family you can get it down the block without making a sound without having to push it. As long as you don’t go over 15 MPH.

For some reason Mazda is not well received by the public yet it is highly praised by the automotive press. I really enjoy my Mazda 6. They have exceptional gas milage with their Skyactive engines and are fun to drive. There’s a lot of the Miata DNA in all of them.

As for the Green Cred of the Prius. The difference between 30 MPG Mazda 6 and 37 MPG Prius V is only $188.00 per year if you drive 12,000 miles per year and gas costs $2.50 a gallon. And the Prius costs almost $10,000 more than the Mazda out the door with comparable features. If you drive lots of highway miles you’re probably better off with one of the many Diesels out there. I really like the VW Wagon if a diesel is what you need.

Are you confused yet? I started out by telling you don’t let driving a Prius turn you off from buying an electric car. That’s because out of my 5 cars I like my Ford Focus Electric the best out of all of them.

Why? I find it is the car I choose to use the most. Not just because it has the lowest cost per mile of all my cars. Not because it can fit 2 adults, 2 middle schoolers and both their back packs, trumpet and snare drum. And not because it looks pretty cool with it’s 20 inch wheels.

It’s quiet. Really quite. It has instant torque when you hit the “gas”.  It handles well and is really a pleasure to drive getting groceries, picking up the kids at school and driving to work and back. Especially during rush hour as it’s ZEV status gets you HOV lane access plates if you are by yourself which I am most of the time.

Even if I didn’t get HOV plates, it is the most fun to drive. It’s almost as much fun as my Miata.

So if you are looking at a second car, go rent an electric car. A Leaf S or Ford Focus Electric can be had for about $20k or so new after tax credits and even less used.

The only way to see if one of these will work with your lifestyle is to rent one or drive one for a week or so. One or two days is not enough to let you realize that you really don’t get range anxiety when you own one.

If you really need a car that can travel 300 or more miles once in a while look at a Chevy Volt or Ford Energy. These cars have a reasonable all electric range where most people will hardly ever have to put gas in the tank if at all.

And the part you will like most about a car that runs in electric mode all or most of the time, they are fun to drive.

The most fun to drive all electric car is a Tesla. But if you wait till the affordable Tesla comes out in the next few years you will miss all the fun you could be having now.

What a difference 3 years can make.

One of the great things about the web is it’s really easy to find media reports from years gone by. That is unless it was you doing something in the past you want to forget about or worse want to deny so you can get elected to public office.

In this case I’m talking about a couple of episodes of AutolineNetwork (Click here to watch it) on youtube. This one from 2012 is trying to explain why the Chevy Volt is such a big disappointment. One guy is from the Wall Street Journal, another from a Conservative Think Tank and another who was an engineer on the EV-1 project now turned auto journalist.

Two of the guys are totally dissing the Volt. The other two have driven it and say how much they love it. Their only real issue they have with it is the price.

The WSJ guy and the Think Tank Guy have nothing good to say because all they see are political reasons to not like it. They don’t believe that the government has any business giving rebates and subsidies to help it along. They don’t believe it would exist without CAFE rules or CARB regulations. And while I might agree with the latter the former is reasons are just plain selective amnesia.

How many things do we have today because the Government took an interest in something. The internet didn’t just pop up in the mind of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. The Interstate Highway System wasn’t the brain child of Ford or GM. The Cellular Network and even the TV Broadcasting Networks were only built because the Government gave certain Companies assurances of exclusive license to build those networks.

We have seat belts and more crashworthy cars because of Government intervention or that hated word regulation. Something that all of the guest somehow like. Maybe it’s not popular anymore to say your against saving lives. Yet they still rail against CAFE standards and CARB rules. It’s not popular to tell people they should drive cars that get good gas milage. Why?

There is another episode with Csaba Csere, the former Editor-in-Chief of Car & Driver magazine and Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics. In this episode they once again talk about how great the Volt is and the Tesla. When you boil it down their only objection is price. Yet by listening to them you would think GM and Tesla had adopted a Marxist Ideology doomed to fail only to fall to the one true economy. The really high horsepower ICE engine that gets 20MPG instead of 12MPG.

Now fast forward to just a couple of months ago. On this episode they have on one of the main engineers of the Gen 2 Chevy Volt. They don’t have a single bad thing to say about the car. You would think GM hit a home run. It has yet to sell but now the car guys are coming around. I have no doubts if they invite back the WSJ guy his only dislike will be the $7500 tax credit.

I have said it once before. The EV is going to follow the path of the cellphone. And oddly enough the company that invented the EV-1 only to scrap it back when we as a Country also scrapped solar panels (bad move) will be the company that actually made the car that starts mass adoption of Electric powered vehicles. Not Nissan or Tesla. Especially not Ford.

While Nissan has sold the most EV’s of any car maker it is still a niche player. You really have to accept some major limitations to drive a Leaf. Think Apple Watch Sport.

Tesla proved that if you spend enough money and make something nice enough you can find enough buyers to spark interest. Think Apple Watch Edition.

The Gen 2 Volt on the other hand can get 50 miles on a charge. That covers 90% of most suburban Americans. The car gan go 400 miles on a tank of regular gas. That cover the other 10%. The only obstacle is the car is a Chevy. One body style. One company with a past of making bad decisions. The Volt is not one of them.

Ford may get caught sleeping on this one. While they have several Hybrids and a couple of plugins they don’t really seem to be taking the market that seriously.

Even if you don’t buy an EV or a Range Extended Hybrid like the Volt there is something you can do to reduce our dependence on oil.

It’s something else that has been around since the 1970’s but the auto press and automakers  has taken this long to finally accept the reality and benefits. Synthetic Motor Oil. Go back over the years and you will find hundreds or articles on why synthetic oil was a waste or even detrimental to your cars health. Today with automakers having to get better gas milage and people owning cars longer and expecting more reliability from their cars those same automakers are putting synthetics in their higher priced cars at the factory.

They have finally been dragged into accepting reality. When you use synthetic motor oil your car gets better fuel economy, runs cooler, last longer and is actually cheaper since you can run it for up to a year in most cars.

Amsoil Signature Series Motor oil can be run for 25,000 miles or one year in many cars. To learn more about extended drain intervals and Amsoil click here.

Ford Focus Electric car after first 2500 miles

I bought the 2015 Focus in March. After rebates, less than 20k out the door.

I have not needed a quick charger and there are very few anyway. At least in AZ near me. Of the two closest one is always broken. So if you are considering a Leaf over a Focus because the Leaf has the QC then you should ask yourself if it’s really important or just a want.

Only one person has asked me what it’s like driving an electric car. They saw it plugged in on my driveway. The Focus is so not noticeable as an EV. I am going to have it advertise my Amsoil synthetic oil business with a full graphics kit. I doubt anybody will notice the irony. A car that needs no oil advertising oil. But since the only way to use less oil with a normal car is use synthetic oil then why not. Amsoil can reduce you oil changes to once a year or every 25,000 miles.

I am glad I did not buy the Leaf. Not that the Leaf isn’t a nice car. It’s just far more expensive for what you get compared to the Focus.

Many of you who haven’t read all my posts may not know I decided to buy a Mazda 6 instead of a Nissan Leaf before I bought the Ford EV.. Which I love by the way. 30 MPG average and well worth the 25k OTD. Although I bought the Mazda first and the Ford second that 7k I saved not buying the Leaf paid for more than 1/3 of the Ford.

When I got my Mazda home i then started to notice most of my trips were 12 miles or less and very few were more than 65 miles per day. In the 2600 miles and 3 months I have driven the Focus there have only been 2 occasions where I chose the Mazda by necessity (round trip over 90 miles. And even on those 2 days I probably could have used the FFE had I wanted to stop and charge for a bit. Probably less than an hour. And I do like driving the Mazda. It a really nice car. The other day someone got in an asked if it was a Tesla. Really.

Today is actually the first day I needed to charge to get home. Half hour of Level 2 was all it took and I had 9 miles left when I got home. I got caught by surprise. I got called into work. It’s 22 miles from my house to work. I had 40 miles of range as I had used the car to do some things earlier in the day. About 45 miles worth.

There are chargers at work. I would charge overnight and have a full battery the next day when I got back. When I got to work they had already found another pilot to fly my flight so it didn’t delay waiting for me.

I saw two things that I had never seen in the time I have owned it. On the way to work when I had a range of 24 miles showing it told me I had reached a point where I should go back home (I don’t remember the exact words). And on the way home when I got to 10 miles left the battery symbol turned amber and I got a low charge message. That was about 4 miles from home.

When I got home I had 9 miles left. The power of regenerating brakes and taking a stretch of road where the speed limit was 45 and not 55-65 for about 6 miles.

I guess I didn’t have to spend the half hour charging to get home from the airport and they had Blink Chargers there. I guess I spent a dollar for insurance.

If there were an abundance of quick chargers around where you could drive anywhere like Tesla Superchargers and had the range to get from one to the next I might find quick charge necessary. They would also have to be competitively priced. $9 for a charge is excessive. You can drive a ICE car like my Mazda for 90 miles on gas for that.

I guess the Nissan would let you charge at their QC for free with their NCTC program but with only one of the two local dealers with a working charger and that one behind gates for 12 hours a day it is not really convenient. The Blink QC at the mall is the only other QC anywhere near me. I have never seen anyone using it. They should put a Level 2 There.

So far 2 thumbs up or 5 stars for the Ford Focus Electric.

Speak not of what you know not.

Originally posted by a naysayer when debating the merits of a new Corvette to a new Tesla S.

“It’s great until you run out of charge on your way to grandma’s house carrying five people and lots of stuff.

Teslas are great second cars to run about town. But then again I reckon the Corvette would be a second car too.”

A reply from a verified Tesla owner.

 

Speak not of what you know not.

I have a plain vanilla Model S 85 kWh hour battery version, that I got in December 2014. It’s my only car; the daily driver. It has 95% of the cargo space of my wife’s Highlander SUV. It does 0-60 in about 5.0 seconds, the Tesla that is.

This is THE BEST car I’ve ever owned, and that includes a BMW 535, and a Saab 900T, both of which were very fun to drive.

I drive the Tesla (license plate [redacted]) regularly between Tucson and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (110 miles one way), Tucson and our place in Flagstaff (240 miles one way, Flagstaff and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (153 miles one way). Range and charging is never an issue, with the ability to charge easily at home, and then use Tesla Superchargers at either Casa Grande or Cordes Junction.

For example, the drive from Tucson to Flagstaff is 240 miles, but the real issue is the net 6000 elevation gain from the Phoenix area to Flagstaff. A Model S cannot make it non-stop in that direction even driving as economically possible. But I leave Tucson with 265 miles of rated range, and then drive the 160 miles at 80 MPH (that’s faster than max range speed) to the Supercharger at Cordes Junction. I get to Cordes with about 50 rated miles left. I do a 20 minute pee-break and sandwich stop. In that 20 minutes the Supercharger adds 120 miles of rated range to bring the rated range up to 175. The distance to Flagstaff is 85, and that much range lets me go up the big hill coming out of the Verde Valley at 80, and get to the Flagstaff place with 35 or so miles left.

Coming back from Flag to Tucson, I can make it non-stop at 65 MPH, but I usually drive 80, and then stop for a 10-15 pee break at the Casa Grande Supercharger. 10-15 minutes of fast charge adds enough range to let me drive the remaining 65 miles at 80 and get home with plenty of margin.

I’ve been to San Diego and Los Angeles, and with the Supercharger network (that’s -no cost- fast charging) the drive is a no-brainer.

Now, if you’re the kind of person who has to drive 4 hours at a stretch, 10 minute pee break then another 4 hours of driving, the Model S is not for you. But I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t mind a 20 minute stop every 200-220 miles or so.

This is a totally practical car for most people with average driving needs.

Volt Drivers! and some Tesla drivers.

While more Volt sales will be good for the environment it’s not really that good for the EV only population.

My workplace just opened a bank of 6 charge spots. They made the mistake of putting the cord where it can only reach 1 spot at a time. Not 2 or 4.

All of a sudden Volt drivers have found out and changed parking lots because of the free chargers. From closer to work to free charging. Talk about cheap! They are willing to take a train just for a few free miles.

In the other lot the chargers weren’t free, they were Blink.

If I don’t leave for work fully charged, and I often don’t since I usually go to work later in the day, I need to get at least some charge to get home. Volt drivers don’t. And if they had put a faster charger on the car you wouldn’t need all day to do it.

Volt drivers like to tout how many EV miles they get but they forget to tell people that they plugin like cigarette smokers take smoke breaks. Often. Although not as often as Plug-in Prius Drivers. All ten of them.

With the proliferation of Plug-in Hybrids EV’s are finding it harder to get a charge when they really need one.

It is also common to see Tesla’s and Volts using EV Only Spots like handicapped parking spaces. Some even have the nads to not even plugin. Some just put the cord in far enough to just make it look like they are charging.

How many companies do you think are going to keep putting up chargers when they expect some revenue from those chargers. I know your Teslas and Volts tells you when your done charging and if not the Charging Company does. They don’t put them there for the environmentally challenged driver.

Now that EV’s are getting into the mainstream or at least Hybrid EV’s you really need to teach your peeps some etiquette. Charging spots are to charge. Pure BEV’s while we are few really need to charge at these spaces. If you want to see more of these spaces as more cars hit the road the companies who provide the chargers need to see the revenue.

With more of these cars on  the road it will be you who won’t be able to charge. And while that may or may not matter to you since you have a backup engine I’ll bet it will. You will no longer be able to tout what great gas milage you get. Especially you Gen 1 owners. It will be because the charge companies don’t get enough revenue to support a charger. Will they have to resort to putting vending machines next to their chargers?

EV spots should be EV spots, not hybrid spots. While you usually don’t have enough capacity to get all your days charge at home and I do, when I need to charge on the road I’m not doing it because I want to, I’m doing it because I need to. Admittedly not all that often do I need to charge on the road but you need to move when your ten minutes are up.

When the EV becomes ubiquitous will the drives be as annoying as everybody on their smartphones in public?

Volt headed for the dustbin of automotive history?

“The Chevrolet Volt, meanwhile, seems headed to the dustbin of automotive history, like GM’s original EV-1 and the entire Saturn division.” At least that’s what Alex Taylor, III of Fortune Magazine says. To read the entire article Click Here.

Actually I think he has that part all wrong. While the volt is heavy and slow and pretty much everything else he says about the car, it’s not going away anytime soon as long as GM doesn’t get cold feet.

Yes they stopped making the old Volt and have reduced prices to sell what they have left. That’s what technology companies do. And the Volt is technology as much as it is car.

But where the next Volt will succeed, it will not be in beating out the Tesla, because sorry folks, it’s no Tesla. What it is, a Prius Killer. That’s right, you heard it here first. Why spend $30k for a Prius Plug In that can go a whopping (sarcasm) 11 miles on the battery before you need to plug back in. And then it gets the same gas milage as a regular Prius, about 50 MPG.

The 2015 Volt gets 38 all electric miles while the 2016 is projected to get 50 miles on a single charge. That’s enough so most people will rarely if ever put gas in it. I should know. I currently drive a Ford Focus EV and rarely do I drive more than 50 miles in a day and I hardly ever drive more than the average 80 mile range.

Sorry but Toyota better watch out. And Tesla, they aren’t even in the sub $50k market, at least not yet.

This is a place where thanks to Tesla American Car Manufactures have the potential to really shine.

Toyota is betting that Hydrogen is the next big thing. Wrong. That’s why the Prius doesn’t get better, only bigger (Prius V) and Smaller (Prius C). They gave up on the Rav 4 EV. A car loved by almost everybody that has one. I know 3 people that have them. Sadly that’s actually a lot of people to know with an electric car. Two of them cut their EV teeth with a Nissan Leaf and one still has his.

The Prius is pretty much everything Alex Taylor, III says about the Volt. Heavy, drives like a washing machine. My mother has a Prius. I like riding in the back seat a lot more than I like driving it. Maybe that’s why cabbies or at least their passengers like them. (Edit) And as one person who read my post stated. The Volt is very responsive from 0-30 MPH. Actually most EV’s are. It’s fun to beat most cars from 0 to the posted speed limit of 45 or less. Be careful though.  You would be surprised how many kids in a Camaro or Mustang don’t like that.

By the way, I said the Prius was slow and heavy, Alex Taylor, III said the Volt was slow and heavy.

Tesla will continue to build the “BMW” of electric cars, at least as long as BMW keeps building half ass EV’s like the i8 and i3. Cool but not Tesla cool. Both way to expensive for mere mortals.

The Ford Focus EV is the only real EV Ford makes and it’s just a compliance car. Try to buy one out of a Compliance State and you will come up empty. The rest of the Fords are just Hybrids and Plug Ins and no better than Toyota. They need to redesign the Focus so the batteries don’t take up all the cargo space. Maybe they should ask Tesla for some help. The battery pack, the rear view mirror (needs HomeLink) and no moonroof are my only complaints. And that’s only because when my son farts in the car I have to roll down the windows to get fresh air.

Sorry Alex, The Volt is a great car technologically and is getting better in the next model. Greater range, both gas and electric. 5 seats instead of 4 and some more advanced driving safety options as well.

And, I almost forgot the best part. The price. It’s going to have a sub 30k price tag after the tax credit. That puts it smack dab in Prius territory. If you have ever talked to a Volt owner they rarely ever use the gas engine.

Right now I own one American Car. The Focus EV. While it’s heavy it’s actually fun to drive.  If the Volt handles as well and is as nice inside as my 2015 Mazda 6 I will without a doubt consider putting the Mazda to the curb and I love the car. It is everything Car and Driver says it is. Actually it would be really nice if it could have a Tesla conversion. Elon? The Volt may just do it. Make me want to sell my Mazda.

Then the only car to get rid of is the Honda Pilot my wife drives. The 18MPG wonder. With gas prices headed back up and global warming becoming more of a reality every day Honda better hope Elon doesn’t figure out how to make a sub $50k SUV.

Americans may have finally figured it out. Nissan may be the Japanese’s best and only hope. They have sold the most EV’s of anyone. And they are actually really good as well. They are just to expensive still.

The Volt is here to stay. If not we will be stuck with Pri-i. Is that what you call more than one Prius?

Remember when the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor?