Charging at College
 

Hey folks!

Last night was the first evening of my 3-credit "INTRO TO RENEWABLE ENERGY" course at the county technical college.

Many of the state technical colleges offer hand's-on renewable energy training, but this is finally the FIRST class offered at my local college.

In front of the industrial building are four large PV arrays, and they have classes on renewable technology, but WHERE are the EV charging stations. The parking lot is HUGE, but there is no place to charge up.

Before the class started, the head of the department was there to give a welcome, thanks for being here, glad you could come to the first ever renewable energy class at the school.

I asked him - "I know this is gonna sound weird, but it's a legitimate question: where can I plug in my electric car?"
He gave me his card, and asked me to e-mail him that, saying that they have considered EV charging stations when they re-did the parking lot. (I had noticed the pavement was brand-new...) However, internal politics, cost, etc. prevented it from happening.

Now, of course, I really don't need an "EV Charging Station" per se... I just need a 15 amp 120 electric outlet.

Since I had arrived at class a bit early, I went to check out the PV panels, which are arrays on large post-mounts, just off the sidewalk. That included me figuring out where the other end of the cables went to, and I discovered where the PV disconnects were. Those connected to the outside of a maintenance building in front of the building I have class in.
Directly off from the PV disconnects was an outdoor electric outlet. Too bad it's across the road and 250 feet from the student parking.

However, I did notice in the few parking spaces at the maintenance building, that NONE of the spaces were actually reserved or marked for school vehicles only. In fact, I didn't see any reason why I COULDN'T PARK THERE. There was a gate (which was open) that lead to that area, and it was still open when I left at 9:45 in the evening.

From the end parking space to the PV electric outlet was only 25 or 30 feet, although there was a chain-link fence in the way. No reason why an extension cord couldn't go over or through the fence though.

Unfortunately, the other issue I have to deal with is that the school is almost exactly 20 miles away - My maximum range on 72V from a full charge, in perfect weather with all the stars aligned, taking the batteries down to 80% discharge.

Worse yet, the class runs through the end of the year - into the cold and snowy season, which lowers battery voltage and increases rolling resistance.

So, even if I COULD recharge at the school, I would still need JUST a LITTLE more juice for the range.
Since my Electro-Metro is now rigged up for carrying small children, (Please see BABY ON BATTERY BOX) the back seat and cargo area are not available for additional batteries.

I DO have the propane generator that I experimentally got to run for about a minute or so a while back. I still need the proper regulator and gas shut-off solenoid to make that thing work right. 3000 spare watts while driving sure would be handy though!
The generator could be mounted external to the vehicle, keeping the noise and fumes outside, and not using up any cargo space inside.

But that's another project to do while being self-employed, taking classes, having a baby....:rolleyes:

Are you planning on taking more classes? If so it would probably be worth looking into. If its a one time deal then I probably wouldn't bother.

I am only taking one class this semester - one night per week.

I also have two other "seminar-type" classes, non-credit, which only meet once or twice.

I do intend to take more classes at that college (one per semester, rest of my life....) and I really DO think it is an ideal place for EV charging stations.

It's a "public place" - paid for by tax dollars. Just like the public bus system.
EV charging stations should be considered public transportation infrastructure.

Classes run long enough that any student vehicle parked there would get a significant charge. If my charger runs full-tilt for four hours, (the length of the class) that's about 80% charge of my pack.

There are a ZILLION parking spaces there, tens of handicapped spaces, and motorcycle spaces. We would only need ONE dedicated to electric vehicles. I'm sure the school could spare one.

NEVs and electric scooters are already on the road. The Leaf and Volt will be out this year (probably won't be in my area til summer next year though!) How long will it be before other people will also be demanding Charging Stations?

The school teaches renewable energy. There are FOUR giant PV arrays there, and a wind tower is going in soon. It only makes sense for a program like that to practice what it preaches, and provide access to electricity for clean transportation.

What about bringing a very long extension cord? Or attaching a PV panel to the roof?

If you don't mind me asking what technical college is it?

Um... It's a night class. :rolleyes: Runs from 5:30 to 9:30 pm.

The PV system at Waukesha County Technical College is grid-tie. It produces power during the day the reduce the total energy the college demands from the grid.

If I could plug in near the PV panels, it would be as a social statement, NOT as a technical one. I would NOT literally be getting power from the PV panels, especially at night!

Those couple of parking spaces at the maintenance building are within extension cord distance of of that one outlet. All of the student parking is across the street, and unless you are there at 6 in the morning, you will have to park at least several rows back. Running an extension cord that long, and ACROSS the main street would not fly well with anyone.

Hmmm... if the gate to the maintenance area is always left open, perhaps one could drive back there with their gasser and fill up from their on-site gas pump. :thumbup:

There actually IS a HUGE gas tank back there, but THAT IS locked up!

Aero mods = more range. (Unless you're in stop&go traffic all the way to & from the campus)

I'm not sure he can get that much easy gains from the Electro Metro to make a difference... AFAIK he has already made it as sleek as possible... The only reasonably easy one's are sealed beams, instead of the buckets in there, and filling up the hole for the old radiator with a plug... After that we are on to the more exotic stuff with tails and such... ;)

*Doh* Forgot about that.

I keep thinking about asking Oklahoma State University about putting in charging stations, but it's not like I could ever use one: I'm 30 miles away at 65mph the whole way. That's when the gas Geo becomes necessary....

Current battery configuration only allows for a max speed of 45mph. I don't think aeromods are going to make that big of a difference. I'm really not interested in doing a boat-tail or anything on it.

One thing I actually rather like about the car is that it looks pretty stock.

I either need more batts, or the generator.

The other possibility is to take a different vehicle.

The electric motorcycle has better range on it than the Metro. It weighs about a third as much, and is running on new, instead of used batteries. However, it's still not the best vehicle for cold, rain, snow, and deer.

As it is you are running none or few batteries up front right? Wouldn't there be some room there to shoehorn in a few more?

Ben - Your battery box is where the stock fuel tank used to be, right? Doesn't your 'metro have a spare wheel well, accessed from inside the boot?

If yes, Then cut it out and make another battery box there. I assume you don't carry a spare wheel with you for weight reasons? Even if you can only fit another 2 in there, that would get you from 72v up to 96v..

The car does have a spare tire well. However, the structure for supporting the car and connecting to the back tires all connects together back there. There really isn't a good way to hack that up for installing batteries.

In the FRONT, "shoehorning" might be the right word to get more batteries in there. The problem is that batteries either fit.... or they don't.

You can't squish them. I did some measurements, and it MAY be possible to cram two more batteries in front, but IT'S SO CLOSE!

I wish the hood was flat instead of curved! I think that's one of the reasons that EV converters like old compact pickup trucks - everything is so nice and boxy!

To fit those two more batteries in front, I would have to build a custom battery box or rack. It would have to fit EXACTLY between the motor and the hood. To ever work on the motor, I would have to completely remove those batteries. Not that I ever need to "work on" the motor, but it's nice to at least see it when showing off the cars.

The other thing that I think might help is to at least have multi-battery monitoring. Because they are used batteries, and are in series, the weakest one limits the entire pack. Likewise, when charging, differences in voltage can cause problems in getting a really full charge.

You need to test out some of TomG's battery monitors. I got one last week for the mower. They look pretty nice.

Yes, I plan to get some of Tom's battery monitors, I just haven't had a chance to get over there since he got them working. I might be able to go over there tonight, if he's around.

For those who don't know, our friend Tom (who you see in many of my YouTube videos) is an electrical engineer who has a homebuilt AC Dodge Neon.

He's designed some simple battery monitors based on a multi-LED bar. Essentially, it's a real-time, mini bar graph of your battery voltage. Each little pc board of LEDs shows the voltage of 4 individual batteries.

I am also interested in using these monitors in my home battery backup system. Currently, the 48V UPS is using two parallel strings of of four batteries. By using the battery monitors, I can see if any individual battery is bringing the rest of the string down.

A battery monitor would be nice. Checking voltages every day is getting old....

Ah Ha!

Batt. Mon. is no longer just a Jamaican vigilante in Gotham City!

I now have a battery monitor set for up to eight batteries!

http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12834872880001

I should be able to install it in the car on Sunday.

Wooo nice. I'm sure this will help you get a good balanced pack in the car, extend range and performance! Looking forward to updates.

I feel your frustrations, Ben.

I teach at a college and last year when we finally moved to a new, all singing, all dancing, high tech, energy saving, tree cuddling building I asked where the EV charging points were.
All I got back were perplexed looks. Apparently the whole concept of electric vehicles had been below the radar.

So, with college being a shade over 30 miles from home I have to design my vehicle to have a comfortable minimum 70 mile range.
I have been tempted to take a closer look at their forklift charging point to see if I could sneak in to use that but I have been 'advised' to leave well alone.

Given the low property prices where the college is it has also been suggested that it would be cheaper to buy a local garage parking space with power and I would get secure parking as well. Having said that, it would be cheaper to just buy a house there then pay for diesel for my current commute.:eek: