I Couldn't Wait

[Elio Amazed]

Irony?

I've known a few people who've carried a gallon of gas around in their trunk.
With the increase in EVs, I guess it makes sense that a few will be hauling a gas compressor.

Good find.

 

[Jambe]

compressor = generator?

 

[outsydthebox]

Irony?

WOW!
I see a business opportunity here. Let's see now... 1 portable generator, 1 trailer hitch & 1 hitch carrier = EV "Range Extender" package!

 

[Elio Amazed]

compressor = generator?

Auuuugh...
Well, yeah maybe.
Thanks...

 

[Paul DeCrans]

Plugshare.com shows several stations around Battleground, WA, but mostly along the I-5 corridor. Note that the blue ones are privately-owned by people who share their home charging stations with other PlugShare members. Pretty neat!

I have been pretty curious about Plug share. Is it pretty convenient? I am looking at buying an EV but regularly make a trip from Fargo, ND to Minneapolis to visit family (about 250miles each way) Do you just drive up to the charging station or do you reserve a spot and time?

 

[Maurtis]

WOW!
I see a business opportunity here. Let's see now... 1 portable generator, 1 trailer hitch & 1 hitch carrier = EV "Range Extender" package!

Sounds like a great device for those of us who like to go tent camping!

 

[Sethodine]

I have been pretty curious about Plug share. Is it pretty convenient? I am looking at buying an EV but regularly make a trip from Fargo, ND to Minneapolis to visit family (about 250miles each way) Do you just drive up to the charging station or do you reserve a spot and time?

It really depends. Most charge stations are on "networks" that you need to be a member of before you can charge with them (ease of billing and all that), but its really easy to get a keyring full of network keycards to handle that. I mention the networks because they all have phone apps with features such as reserving a place in line or checking on real-time availability.

That said, a 250 mile trip will be very leisurely in any EV short of a Tesla. If you are driving a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Spark EV, you'll be making 30 minute stops every 60 miles or so, to recharge at a DC Fast Charging station. Or you start burning gas if you got a Chevy Volt.

But honestly, I wouldn't choose a vehicle based on a trip I might take once or twice a year. If I only had my Leaf, then I would just rent a gas car for a trip like that. (Especially since my 2012 Leaf didn't come with a quick charge plug!)

 

[Paul DeCrans]

It really depends. Most charge stations are on "networks" that you need to be a member of before you can charge with them (ease of billing and all that), but its really easy to get a keyring full of network keycards to handle that. I mention the networks because they all have phone apps with features such as reserving a place in line or checking on real-time availability.

That said, a 250 mile trip will be very leisurely in any EV short of a Tesla. If you are driving a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Spark EV, you'll be making 30 minute stops every 60 miles or so, to recharge at a DC Fast Charging station. Or you start burning gas if you got a Chevy Volt.

But honestly, I wouldn't choose a vehicle based on a trip I might take once or twice a year. If I only had my Leaf, then I would just rent a gas car for a trip like that. (Especially since my 2012 Leaf didn't come with a quick charge plug!)

Good point on not making EV decisions based on long trips. Eventually that will be what the Elio is for!!

 

[AriLea]

I definitely think there is a long term future for ICE drive in the form of hybrids, and EV's with and without range extenders.

A few years ago, the Vehicle Research Institute at my old school, built a hybrid test car using IR photocells(heat). Since then the materials and 'devices' have gotten more interesting. To the point I think Hybrids may well have heat recovery within the next ten years. They may also lend themselves to inexpensive aftermarket add-on hybrid components. The article below, as just one example, suggests to me such devices could also recover heat from your AC system.

Overall if you could recover 1kw from waist heat, your Elio sized vehicle is now maybe up to 20% more efficient, but if it's also designed as a full hybrid, you have up to about 3 times the efficiency of traditional ICE-drive alone. So a hybrid Elio with 'heat recovery' might get as much as 250mpg on the highway. If an 84mpg-Elio-ICE costs $7K would you pay $12k for a 250mpg-Elio-Hybrid-Plus ?

Prius hybrids have about the same mpg rating city and highway. In practice, depending on the environment, I find city to be better(opposite to the ICE experience). Since more and steady heat is produced on the highway, heat recovery could possibly even up highway with city for the Prius.

Article LINK
According to the team, these new devices could also be amalgamated with a heater to produce on-demand power or attached to vehicle engines to recycle radiated heat into electrical power. The researchers also believe that the efficiency of thermovoltaic cells constructed from their metamaterial may be further improved by substantially reducing the gap between the emitter and the receiver to just a millionth of a millimeter or so. In this way, radiative heat transfer could improve more than tenfold over conventional materials.

 

[ThreeWheelBurnin]

I am being enticed to get an ev. Maybe a volt. Work is installing ev chargers and sent out a survey asking what different kinds of chargers would we need. And the charging will be free.

The boss must have just bought a Tesla and needs a place to charge it...

I'm really loving the 2013 Volt I just bought a few months ago. It doesn't charge very quickly, but I can add over 360 miles of range in less than 5 minutes if needed... at a gas station. Try *that* with a Tesla. :-)