Feasability of going from gas to only electric

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by Erasmo

That's the disadvantage of being an early adapter in the EV world, you have a relatively small battery compared to the new generation of EV's that about to be released(On the other hand think of the humongous amount of fuel you already saved.) and charging stations aren't everywhere. Yet.

With the introduction of the Bolt and other cars demand for charging will rise and so will the amount of stations.

Now just don't sit back and watch the stations appear, you gotta work for it. Have to plant those seeds in peoples heads. If I'd take a look at Plugshare in Gunnison there are plenty of prime spots for at least L2 stations, like the Holiday Inn, all the schools, the shopping centre/Walmart.
Get out there and spread the world, just mention it if you visit those places that you'd were more eager to drop in their establishment if you could charge there.

Yes, you have a good point. Spreading the word would be helpful. I know there's at least one other EV owner in town. Maybe if I got to know her we could gang up on businesses with our ideas.

On the other hand I see one problem. Gunnison is so small it's not likely that having chargers within town would be that advantageous. If I charge up at home I can and have driven from end to end of town several times over in my Leaf, even with the heater on full blast. I guess I can foresee a time that I've gone a ways out of town, came back, need to go to the store, and then head back out again. In an occasion like that having a charging station at the store would be nice.

Right now there's one public level 2 charger in the middle of town near most of the restaurants, the post office and a grocery store. So far it hasn't been an asset, except for being free. If I'm charged up at home, by the time I get to the public charging station I might have lost 2% or 3% of my charge. Let me take that back! The other day I did some things around town and then went out of town quite a ways. When I got back I had 23% left. Then I went to a grocery store and then went home to charge (I reached 21% by the time I got home). After an hour lunch I was back on the road. But! Had I been thinking I could have charged at the charging station and could have walked across the street to the grocery store. That way I wouldn't have needed to go home to charge!

But still, it would be most helpful if there were charging stations along the roads going out of town. And along those roads there aren't very many places where I could promote placing car chargers. Like from here to Buena Vista. A level 2 charger at Sargents would be nice so that I could make sure I have enough charge to make it up Monarch Pass. (I'm also hoping the 11,000ft above sea level helps reduce air drag.) But those guys that run that gas station there are hard to deal with!

But if I could extend the range of my Leaf, not only could I go places I'd like to go, but also spend less overall time charging along the way. Imagine if I had to charge only once between here and Denver instead of three times.

[sendler]

Look around for 14-50 outlets and make your home charge cable portable for that plug. You might be surprised how many RV hook ups there are on the way for your longer trips.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by sendler

Look around for 14-50 outlets and make your home charge cable portable for that plug. You might be surprised how many RV hook ups there are on the way for your longer trips.

I noticed that there are quite a few. I wonder if the fact that most, if not all of them close for a few months during the winter would change whether or not I could charge there.

[LittleBlackDuck]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

Yes, you have a good point. Spreading the word would be helpful. I know there's at least one other EV owner in town. Maybe if I got to know her we could gang up on businesses with our ideas.

On the other hand I see one problem. Gunnison is so small it's not likely that having chargers within town would be that advantageous. If I charge up at home I can and have driven from end to end of town several times over in my Leaf, even with the heater on full blast. I guess I can foresee a time that I've gone a ways out of town, came back, need to go to the store, and then head back out again. In an occasion like that having a charging station at the store would be nice.

Right now there's one public level 2 charger in the middle of town near most of the restaurants, the post office and a grocery store. So far it hasn't been an asset, except for being free. If I'm charged up at home, by the time I get to the public charging station I might have lost 2% or 3% of my charge. Let me take that back! The other day I did some things around town and then went out of town quite a ways. When I got back I had 23% left. Then I went to a grocery store and then went home to charge (I reached 21% by the time I got home). After an hour lunch I was back on the road. But! Had I been thinking I could have charged at the charging station and could have walked across the street to the grocery store. That way I wouldn't have needed to go home to charge!

But still, it would be most helpful if there were charging stations along the roads going out of town. And along those roads there aren't very many places where I could promote placing car chargers. Like from here to Buena Vista. A level 2 charger at Sargents would be nice so that I could make sure I have enough charge to make it up Monarch Pass. (I'm also hoping the 11,000ft above sea level helps reduce air drag.) But those guys that run that gas station there are hard to deal with!

But if I could extend the range of my Leaf, not only could I go places I'd like to go, but also spend less overall time charging along the way. Imagine if I had to charge only once between here and Denver instead of three times.

OMG!

Range anxiety from an EV owner!

Simon

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by LittleBlackDuck

OMG!

Range anxiety from an EV owner!

Simon

I just got done using the route plane on the Nissan's owners portal website. From here to Montrose, the next town over, it says I can make it there just fine with four bars left, and it estimates only one bar left if I use the climate control. But since Montrose is 2,000ft lower than Gunnison I noticed that when I program the return trip it says I want make it unless I don't use any climate control and if I drive "slower." There is a gas station in Cimarron, and I think there's an RV park close to there about half way between Montrose and Gunnison. So as long as they just me charge there I should be fine.

I wonder if there was range anxiety back when motorized vehicles first came about. Can you imagine owning a car with a 10mpg rating, a 15 gallon tank and the next gas station being over 150 miles away? Of course in a gasoline powered car you could just take along another fuel tank. But with an electric you either take along a fuel tank and a generator or a costly battery.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

I noticed that there are quite a few. I wonder if the fact that most, if not all of them close for a few months during the winter would change whether or not I could charge there.

RV parks undoubtedly keep them all turned off unless someone is staying in that space. They would have to be open to have someone turn an outlet on for you. Do truck stops offer "shore power" outlets?

[freebeard]

I wonder if there was range anxiety back when motorized vehicles first came about.

The story is anecdotal, I don't have a second source and I was just a kid but... I heard once about an old couple that had a 1910s vintage car up on blocks in the barn because when they bought it they didn't know they would have to keep buying it gas. They were going to never have to buy oats again.

And I've drafted trucks on dark mountain roads (years past) due to gas range anxiety. Now I've got two 20-liter gas cans under the hood.



I figure a 20-liter can stuffed with Lithium cells, at the same weight, would hold the electric equivalent of one gallon of gas. The bottom would have batteries and the top would have retractable power cord.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by sendler

RV parks undoubtedly keep them all turned off unless someone is staying in that space. They would have to be open to have someone turn an outlet on for you. Do truck stops offer "shore power" outlets?

Truck stops?! What are those? I'm doing good just to find the lonely gas stations along the main roads open. Sometimes you pull in around one o'clock and no one is around except a little kid that says his grandpa runs the store and is taking his nap, and to come back around two if I want to get some gasoline or something.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The story is anecdotal, I don't have a second source and I was just a kid but... I heard once about an old couple that had a 1910s vintage car up on blocks in the barn because when they bought it they didn't know they would have to keep buying it gas. They were going to never have to buy oats again.

And I've drafted trucks on dark mountain roads (years past) due to gas range anxiety. Now I've got two 20-liter gas cans under the hood.



I figure a 20-liter can stuffed with Lithium cells, at the same weight, would hold the electric equivalent of one gallon of gas. The bottom would have batteries and the top would have retractable power cord.

I'm not sure how many liters it is, but the 24kW battery in the Leaf that weighs 600lbs (that's about 250kg) holds less than a gallon of gasoline of energy.

[freebeard]

Gasoline gallon equivalent tables
Fuel: non-liquid GGE kWh/unit
....
Electricity 33.40 kilowatt-hours 33.40
....
Gasoline gallon equivalent - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoli...lon_equivalent

I guess you are correct. 600lb times 4/3 would be about 800lbs to equal one gallon of gas. Puts it in perspective.

Here's a potential DIY electrical project: https://edgylabs.com/2016/11/17/vand...metal-battery/

Faced with millions of tons of annual brass and steel waste, the Vanderbilt researchers began exploring different ways to best utilize those materials in order to develop a viable battery to store renewable energies.

....

The team of mechanical engineers “Vanderbuilt” the first steel-brass battery capable of storing as much energy as a conventional lead-acid battery.

More than its comparable capacity for storage, the charge and discharge rates for the junkyard battery were equivalent to the those of the latest, most state-of-the-art supercapacitors.

The secret to these impressive specifications is anodization, or a chemical treatment that gives aluminum its sturdy, polished finish.

Scrap steel and brass were anodized using readily available, common household chemicals. Then, the anodized metals were given an electrical current. The researchers discovered that the metal surfaces were restructured into nano-sized networks of metal oxides that, when allowed to react with a liquid electrolyte, could store and release energy efficiently.