Search results

I was just watching Fully Charged with Kryten. Ooops I mean Robert Llewellyn (on youtube). The temperature in his Leaf battery showed 38 C which is 102F. I imagine some heat comes off the electric motor too. Why don't EVs use this heat & inject it into the passenger cabin? LINK...

"Ford says the Escape SUV cylinder heads can overheat and crack, causing oil leaks..... it says the oil leaks caused 13 fires but no injuries." LINK: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/11/26/ford-escape-recall/3749201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I rented a Prius V for a testdrive, and scored 70 mpg in highway driving at 45 miles/hour. I also scored 65mpg combined (highway + 20 miles stop/go in the city). That's really amazing for a car that holds three rows of seats. I also rented a C which I didn't like at all (no cruise control; no...

Ward's annual "Best Engine/Motor" competition. LINK: http://wardsauto.com/vehicles-amp-technology/judges-take-honeymoon-over-electric-vehicles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Favorite quote: "I tried to tell myself we should not judge vehicles by the size of their battery or...

The greenercars environmentalist website ranks all cars cleanliness (from factory to disposal). They list the Prius ICE-based car every bit as efficient/clean as an EV. They also rank the new diesels (designed to run on sulfur-free fuel) as being only a few percent less clean than the Prius &...

I compiled this data from cars,com, listing the cost if you paid cash (therefore no loans, interest, etc), and you intend to keep the car for its full lifespan (or until junked). I doubt these are accurate since even Toyota says "The battery in a Prius will last the life of the car (180,000...

I'm an electrical engineer who has discovered that Lithium-ion batteries don't like to be charged below 20% or above 80% so that limits the useful battery range to 60% of the EPA rating: 0.6 times EPA == 45 miles

If you are TRULY trying to save money, hybrids don't make sense. You can buy base model cars from all carmakers that are only 14, 15, or 16 thousand in cost, and yet still get ~40mpg on the highway. No hybrid's fuel economy would make-up their ~10,000 dollar premium. Nissan Versa (sedan or...

What is the per-visit charge of the supercharger if you are a Leaf or other EV? Or you drive the Tesla 65 kW car without the free supercharger built-in?

Over on Prius Chat some industrious owners calculated 22% of regen braking energy is wasted as battery electrical-to-chemical conversion heat. Add in heat losses from the motor and DC-AC electronics & total loss is somewhere around 30% (possibly as high as 40%). Anyway: Has anyone ever...

When I rented a Leaf yesterday, I plugged into the charger and it reported 7 hours to fill the empty battery. How much would it have taken to reach 50% full or 80% full? I couldn't find that on the screen. Also is there any hope in the future Leaf could use a Tesla supercharger or similar...

I own a Honda Insight which was rated ~65 highway by the EPA, however I regularly get 89-to-90 mpg using hypermiling techniques. Using the same approach with the Leaf, I took it on I-210 for a short cruise. I was able to squeeze-out 120 miles from the battery pack. When the range dropped to...

Oh wait. FE.gov says that's city. :-( Manufacturers should be required by law to reveal in their TV ads if they are advertising city or highway MPG. For me the "city" number is irrelevant (I don't drive through the city), and I look at the less impressive 102 highway figure. Just curious...

I buy a used Leaf. The battery runs out. Does Nissan still provide free roadside towing back to your home? (Like they do with new leafs.) Also is the battery warranty still in effect for used owners?

http://youtu.be/anMAn089sC0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Cool conversation.

While doing a bit of research on NiMH batteries* I happened to stumble across the 1999 Honda EVplus and looked-up its official EPA rating: 46 MPG highway, 48 combined. That shows how far EVs have come in just one short decade. The Leaf has double that MPG (though the ~75 mile range is no...

Over on the Prius Plugin forum I see people are adding packs to extend its EV range. One comment was: "I think the extra pack is a nice idea, and you can get them on other cars like the Leaf, but the cost is just really high IMO." ----- So is that true? Leafs can get extra packs? Read...

The second half of this video shows a Leaf owner just barely getting home. The battery shows empty. If he were to continue driving what would happen next? Turtle mode? And then complete stop? http://youtu.be/Nkv3VS1F510" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does the Volt include an RPM gauge to see how fast the gasoline engine is spinning? In gas mode what is the most efficient speed to minimize gas consumption?

No gas tax (~75 cents per gallon). No $50 oil changes every ~7000 miles. No $100 trans fluid changes every ~50,000 miles. No $1000 timing belt changes every ~100,000 miles (instead you need a new battery costing ~$10,000). I'm sure I left some things out. I just typed this quickly at the end...