GRA
Well-known member
I have been very impressed with the widely reported accuracy of the Volt's DTE, compared to every other EV. I don't know how they do it, but other companies should license it if they can't do it themselves.
As to inductive charging, remember that people here are early adopters, and are willing to put up with more inconvenience than mainstream users. Anything that requires connecting and disconnecting is an extra inconvenience, and if you can do away with it, terrific (but as others have said, I'll happily put up with that as long as you first provide better range and a better battery for less cost).
Where I think inductive charging will be necessary as well as highly useful is for on-street and lot parking. If copper prices stay high, I expect we'll see a rash of stolen power cords from public EVSEs. Even if that doesn't happen, the lack of a standardized location for the charging port is problematic, especially for parallel parking. 30-60% of all urban cars are parked on the street, so this will be a major issue eventually. The Leaf's center front location is probably best as it's ambidextrous, but there are places where even that's not ideal. It would be cheaper to run power for two charging connectors off a single post, but that means the post will be located between two parking spaces (rear of one/front of the other).
And then there are the liability issues with power cords; trip and fall injuries will undoubtedly occur, and that brings the lawyers in and raises the cost for everyone. Although if in-street inductive pads were to interfere with pacemakers or something equally dire, that would be worse (Note, I have no idea if this is even possible, but the thought occurred to me).
As to inductive charging, remember that people here are early adopters, and are willing to put up with more inconvenience than mainstream users. Anything that requires connecting and disconnecting is an extra inconvenience, and if you can do away with it, terrific (but as others have said, I'll happily put up with that as long as you first provide better range and a better battery for less cost).
Where I think inductive charging will be necessary as well as highly useful is for on-street and lot parking. If copper prices stay high, I expect we'll see a rash of stolen power cords from public EVSEs. Even if that doesn't happen, the lack of a standardized location for the charging port is problematic, especially for parallel parking. 30-60% of all urban cars are parked on the street, so this will be a major issue eventually. The Leaf's center front location is probably best as it's ambidextrous, but there are places where even that's not ideal. It would be cheaper to run power for two charging connectors off a single post, but that means the post will be located between two parking spaces (rear of one/front of the other).
And then there are the liability issues with power cords; trip and fall injuries will undoubtedly occur, and that brings the lawyers in and raises the cost for everyone. Although if in-street inductive pads were to interfere with pacemakers or something equally dire, that would be worse (Note, I have no idea if this is even possible, but the thought occurred to me).