Electric Cars -- anyone own one?

[dellet]

Since I am a full-on Journeyman Okie (if not PhD), and my mind is polluted with ideas of extreme weirdness, I'm wondering --
-- if a guy could find a decent priced EV with good battery, and park it along side the house with a solar charger/maintainer. If the power goes out that could be like your Generac power supply to keep the freezer and such going until or if the power comes back. And of the EV could be used as transportation if needed.

Of course this might require an Okie with electrician qualification to do a proper lash-up. jd

This was actually an advertised selling point for the extended range Ford Lightening. A three day battery backup for your house. Depending on your house, could cost as much as $15-20,000.

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/features/intelligent-backup-power/

The other end of the spectrum would be to just plug an extension cord into the cars accessory power outlet and plug the basics into a power strip. This might require the car to be turned on to power the outlet.

Yes, it can and has been done. Just add a charging source for the complete off grid lifestyle.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Tried eating Gold? I suspect it doesn't taste very good. Never tried it, so I don't know. But.

I see LOTS of folks harping on the "Buy GOLD and precious metals.
When the SHTF, you gunna take that $20 Gold piece out and buy a couple loafs of bread? What do you do for change?
If it ever comes down to that, I'am thinking we won't be here to see it so NO WORRIES. Got better things to think about, like getting out of bed in the morning, if the Good Lord lets me wake up. And if HE doesn't, someone else can deal with my STUFF.

 

[NorCalMikie]

????? Will a 240 volt 30 amp circuit (like for your clothes dryer) be enough to charge your EV?

 

[gkgeiger]

I believe most are 50A.

 

[Tesoro]

I am all for EV charging station parking spots in convenient places to park my diesel truck. I just tell anyone who bitttches at me that my personal taxes contributed to building this spot so frug off.

 

[rr2030]

Tried eating Gold? I suspect it doesn't taste very good. Never tried it, so I don't know. But.

I have on occasion consumed Gold. real Gold flakes in there. The practice is quite common.

 

[jrb06]

A level 2 charger meaning 220 V needs a 60-amp circuit to work correctly. The Ford Lighting with the extended battery that will light your house as they advertise needs an 80-amp circuit in order to get the full charge. I do not know the details on how or why it can detect the difference, but I know for a fact a less than 80-amp circuit will not charge it to the max level.

With today's new houses most have a 200-amp service but with all the mandates for electric everything (water heater, stove, house heat) it may require two main panels one 200-amp for the house and one 100-amp just for the vehicle. This now creates the problem of infrastructure being able to feed all those houses.

 

[DShortt]

A level 2 charger meaning 220 V needs a 60-amp circuit to work correctly. The Ford Lighting with the extended battery that will light your house as they advertise needs an 80-amp circuit in order to get the full charge. I do not know the details on how or why it can detect the difference, but I know for a fact a less than 80-amp circuit will not charge it to the max level.

With today's new houses most have a 200-amp service but with all the mandates for electric everything (water heater, stove, house heat) it may require two main panels one 200-amp for the house and one 100-amp just for the vehicle. This now creates the problem of infrastructure being able to feed all those houses.

I think in the case of my coworker, it would even require a new service entrance from the utility pole in addition to a second service panel.

Why he didn't ask more questions before making an EV purchase, I can only guess.

 

[rockhound78]

I think the chargers you find on the street/parking lots, are 440V and 300 amps.

 

[dellet]

A level 2 charger meaning 220 V needs a 60-amp circuit to work correctly. The Ford Lighting with the extended battery that will light your house as they advertise needs an 80-amp circuit in order to get the full charge. I do not know the details on how or why it can detect the difference, but I know for a fact a less than 80-amp circuit will not charge it to the max level.

With today's new houses most have a 200-amp service but with all the mandates for electric everything (water heater, stove, house heat) it may require two main panels one 200-amp for the house and one 100-amp just for the vehicle. This now creates the problem of infrastructure being able to feed all those houses.

Most of the EV chargers will detect available amperage. The idea is that they will not draw more than 50% of available current. This is one of a few reasons not to charge at peak usage times.

What also happens is that when the HVAC system kicks on, you start doing laundry which triggers the hot water heater and who knows what else Is running, the EV Charger throttles back what’s available for the car.
So most/many 60-80 amp chargers on a 100 amp panel would never hit peak charging capability. They will fully charge a battery, given enough time.

As you said, the infrastructure just isn’t ready for what’s currently being sold.

 

[SGK]

I just saw that EU sales of Teslas have dropped 30-65 percent per country. Hmm

Yup. Nothing like pissing/turning off your customer base. Shoot - Own - Foot. And right when the Tesla line-up is decidedly dated. Tesla stock is already 38% off its highs and has further to go.

 

[gkgeiger]

Yup. Nothing like pissing/turning off your customer base. Shoot - Own - Foot. And right when the Tesla line-up is decidedly dated. Tesla stock is already 38% off its highs and has further to go.

It’s going to get worse, and I love it. At some point buyers remorse is going to set in, and I don’t mean for Tesla owners.

 

[jackieschmidt]

A level 2 charger meaning 220 V needs a 60-amp circuit to work correctly. The Ford Lighting with the extended battery that will light your house as they advertise needs an 80-amp circuit in order to get the full charge. I do not know the details on how or why it can detect the difference, but I know for a fact a less than 80-amp circuit will not charge it to the max level.

With today's new houses most have a 200-amp service but with all the mandates for electric everything (water heater, stove, house heat) it may require two main panels one 200-amp for the house and one 100-amp just for the vehicle. This now creates the problem of infrastructure being able to feed all those houses.

The “Juice Box” I installed for my Bolt EUV recommended a 50 amp 220 circuit. It’s a level 2 charger.

It works great. In the summer, it will charge to as much as 275 volts. However, at below 40 degrees, it drops down to about 210.

 

[SGK]

It’s going to get worse, and I love it. At some point buyers remorse is going to set in, and I don’t mean for Tesla owners.

Nah. It's a trend. Won't be a straight line but adoption will continue, particularly urban/suburban. Tesla will just participate to a lesser extent. Other models are better and, now, more desirable.

 

[Dgd6mm]

It’s going to get worse, and I love it. At some point buyers remorse is going to set in, and I don’t mean for Tesla owners.

Explain please.

 

[gkgeiger]

Explain please.

I'm going to leave that up to you to figure out.

 

[ern.santos]

A level 2 charger meaning 220 V needs a 60-amp circuit to work correctly. The Ford Lighting with the extended battery that will light your house as they advertise needs an 80-amp circuit in order to get the full charge. I do not know the details on how or why it can detect the difference, but I know for a fact a less than 80-amp circuit will not charge it to the max level.

With today's new houses most have a 200-amp service but with all the mandates for electric everything (water heater, stove, house heat) it may require two main panels one 200-amp for the house and one 100-amp just for the vehicle. This now creates the problem of infrastructure being able to feed all those houses.

The BMS software is preventing the pack from reaching full charge. Current has nothing to do with a cell or pack reaching full capacity. It will reach it eventually even if it's a C/50 or C/75 rate if allowed to do so. Less sophisticated BMS algorithms will allow 1 bad cell to end charging. Cell balancing isn't an easy thing to implement in either hardware or software.

 

[NorCalMikie]

So, if you're set up to charge your EV with a smaller 240 volt cloths dryer line/plug, it will charge to full but take longer? And if you don't drive every day, you CAN have a full charged battery, just takes longer?

 

[nksmfamjp]

It is pretty simple.

Plugs….
All of the plug types need to plug in and provide AC and/or DC power to the car. I find the CCS to be the most common, but the Tesla is super common too. Others are much tougher to plug in.

Home Charging…..
Well, so you want to charge over night….you really need 6-8hrs on a typical home charger. Less will get you like a 25%-50% charge. If you drive under 100mi per day, a home charger is the way to go. If you drive over 200mi per day, you need to charge overnight 8hrs, but be ready to supplement fast charging.
Home charging should be done with a dedicated home charger with like 220-240V and 60-100A service. This is your biggest appliance. BUBBA shouldn’t wire it. You may need a new box! Your connections need to be checked under full load with a thermo camera. You need a quality wiring job to ensure nothing gets hot and burns your house down.
Charging adapters….i don’t know. Seems like waste of time. Maybe ok on vacation. What is the current draw? 110V x 15A service is like 1.6kW. With a 100KWhr battery….Worthless.

Batteries….
Well, a typical car uses a 100kwhr battery. Maybe 125kwhr. They go about 300mi. The thing is, they say using the last 20% hurts the battery and charging to 100% is bad. So 70% of 300mi is 210mi. Ok.

I think a typical std suv is about 350mi range. I can fill it full. I can run it to about 40mi when the light turns on. Outside of WY, this gets me to gas. So 310mi real range. Not to mention this number is 660mi on my F150.

Still, I like to drive 3hrs, then rest my back. 210mi is a decent limit….albeit short.

Charging…..
Someone talked about 480v 300kw charging. I see 100kw charging as typical and 40kw chargers as what was put in 5yrs ago…lots of those

IME, chargers found in the wild average 100kw. Charge time should be ~45 min. Well, for some reasons sone cars/chargers make that 90min because they are not charging at rated speed. Nobody knows why dealer? No. Charger company? No. Basically, you get what you get.

Vehicles….
The first ones did all kinds of whiz bang fancy crap. China is pushing this end of the market. In the USA, it has become all about cutting features to get price down from stupid expensive….to just really expensive.
To lower drag, they are generally narrower, shorter and very heavy. So, how do you think the seating is??
To counter weight, they use a lot of electrical controls. So, everything feels good on dry and clear pavement. In snow….you want snow tires.

Something positive…
If you hit decent chargers and your car will charge at or over 100kw, travel can be acceptable. Basically 30 min potty, walk, snack stops. As a commuter, if you fit and have a good home charger installed and like the seats, you can have a great low operating cost and a cool new tech vehicle!7

 

[Sniperhandle]

I see LOTS of folks harping on the "Buy GOLD and precious metals.
When the SHTF, you gunna take that $20 Gold piece out and buy a couple loafs of bread? What do you do for change?
If it ever comes down to that, I'am thinking we won't be here to see it so NO WORRIES. Got better things to think about, like getting out of bed in the morning, if the Good Lord lets me wake up. And if HE doesn't, someone else can deal with my STUFF.

Yeah you're right that makes about as much sense as the people standing in long lines to buy toilet paper and bottled water when covid hit, When they should have been buying food, You gonna eat toilet paper? Then they created a shortage. I see why the word "Sheeple" was coined.

I had enough Turd Tickets stored up to last for years before covid happened. Get prepared now, Don't wait for the STHF.