Florida

[N1ghtrider]

This may have been posted previously, but (if you can say anything good about Parking Enforcement officers) it was cool to see them patrolling the streets of West Palm Beach in LEAFs this week.

Also, on Wednesday I was walking down the street in WPB when a woman in what looked to be an electric car I could not identify slowed down to ask if it was my LEAF she had seen charging in the garage the day before. When I confirmed it was my car, she gave me a thumbs-up and drove away while saying: "It was me who got the chargers installed in the garage." Who was that masked stranger?

 

[spike09]

This may have been posted previously, but (if you can say anything good about Parking Enforcement officers) it was cool to see them patrolling the streets of West Palm Beach in LEAFs this week.

Also, on Wednesday I was walking down the street in WPB when a woman in what looked to be an electric car I could not identify slowed down to ask if it was my LEAF she had seen charging in the garage the day before. When I confirmed it was my car, she gave me a thumbs-up and drove away while saying: "It was me who got the chargers installed in the garage." Who was that masked stranger?

Did the car look like this?

 

[N1ghtrider]

Parking enforcement was in a LEAF and I did not notice much about the electric car that the blond lady was in; sorry.

 

[Weatherman]

FPL opened their PV solar rebate program this morning at 8:30 am, and Poof!, all the funds were gone in about 120 seconds.

I was one of the lucky ones to get in during the 120-second window and my application was approved. Looks like I'll be installing a 7 kW system on my roof in the next couple of months.

By the way.. I live in a community with an HOA, and the first response I got back from them (I submitted the request forms to them at the end of January and they, finally, responded in the middle of March), was that they wanted to panels moved to the north side of my house (the side of the roof not facing the street). I reminded them that such a request was against Florida law. It took them another six weeks to think about it, but they finally provided their approval at the end of April.

It's not easy being green in Florida.

 

[DANandNAN]

Found a surprise today. The Leaf was gone when I returned and I didn't get to talk to the owner, but I'm glad to see another plug-in in Jax. Pretty soon I'm going to have to check the SemaCharge website to see if a charger is available

 

[keydiver]

FPL opened their PV solar rebate program this morning at 8:30 am, and Poof!, all the funds were gone in about 120 seconds.

A friend of mine called FPL, because he missed it, and they said only about $2 million was available, just some scraps left from the rebate last fall.
I guess he will have to wait until September/October again until they have another program opening.

 

[Weatherman]

It was, definitely, a race among those of us who could press the refresh button on our web browsers at exactly 8:30 am, then type as fast as we could without any errors (making any mistake was fatal). By the time I was done and returned to the main page, the green "apply" button was gone. My confirmation e-mail from FPL had a time stamp of 8:32 am.

My contractor told me he was only able to get two out of the six they tried for their customers. He told me that other contractors he spoke to later on that day got none.

Although I'm happy to have succeeded on my first attempt, I have to question the fairness of the procedure. I'm very lucky I can type fast, but does that make me any more deserving than someone who types a bit more slowly, or, heaven forbid, makes a minor typographical error?

I also have to wonder about how this process impacts the businesses that provide installation services. They, now, have to rush around for the next 88 days to get their current round of contracts done, then have next to nothing to do between August 2nd and the time the program window reopens again for two-minutes later this year.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Here is the Meter Maid's (or "Meter Minder's", to use the gender-neutral term) car in West Palm Beach.

 

[keydiver]

Nice! I FINALLY got to see my first LEAF in the wild this morning, another Pearl White from Martin County, driving south on Route 1 in Tequesta/Jupiter. I couldn't believe my eyes as I came up behind them, and they spotted me too and waved.
Its actually rather depressing, 5 months into LEAF ownership and I finally spot another one. Florida is the perfect place for EV's, in my opinion: very flat, lots of 35-45 mph roads, not cold enough to need juice-sucking heater, everything I need is easily within range, and lots of gray/blue-haired people who just need to get to Publix, Walgreens, or Walmart. I can't believe I don't see more of them.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Look at it this way: You are a pioneer and the folks blazing new trails in covered wagons did not see many others in the 1800s.

 

[BrainDonor]

Nice! I FINALLY got to see my first LEAF in the wild this morning, another Pearl White from Martin County, driving south on Route 1 in Tequesta/Jupiter. I couldn't believe my eyes as I came up behind them, and they spotted me too and waved.

Well, I also got to see the first LEAF in the wild yesterday. I was coming home from work in my SUV (wife drives the LEAF) on Clint Moore Road in Boca when I saw a black LEAF heading the opposite way. I made a U-turn and caught up with it as it drove to Delray. I recognized the license plate and the stickers on the back - it was our MNL friend Now7grandkids, the first LEAF sold in PBC. We talked a bit and exchanged stories.

P.S.: How many miles does everyone have so far? We just passed 7,100, which puts us on track for 16,000 for the year.
P.P.S.: My electric bill was $103 last billing cycle - a year ago it was $132 for the same cycle, and now I'm putting about 1,300 miles a month on the juice. Loving it!

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

P.S.: How many miles does everyone have so far? We just passed 7,100, which puts us on track for 16,000 for the year.
P.P.S.: My electric bill was $103 last billing cycle - a year ago it was $132 for the same cycle, and now I'm putting about 1,300 miles a month on the juice. Loving it!

About 5000 miles.
$103?? That's the whole bill? With taxes our bill was $230 last month. From the FPL graph I don't think the car could be more than $25-30 of that.

There's a GCEAA mtg tomorrow:

There will be a Gold Coast EAA Meeting on Saturday May 12 2012 at 10 AM.
We will meet at the Delray Beach Community Center, at 50 NW 1st Ave., 33444,
continuing our same tradition and routine of meeting for 2 hours, from 10am to noon.
The Banker's Row Parking Lot charging stations are on the northwest corner of the intersection of NE 1st Ave. & NE 2nd St.

If you can't make but have questions/input let me know and I will communicate it.

 

[N1ghtrider]

3,450 miles in almost 5 months of LEAF ownership, with a few out-of-town trips too long to take LEAF. Last FPL bill $353, down 11% from same period last year. My power cost per mile is $.0225, taxes included.

 

[BrainDonor]

$103?? That's the whole bill? With taxes our bill was $230 last month. From the FPL graph I don't think the car could be more than $25-30 of that.

$230??? Did you have the A/C on all month? ;-) Yes, the $103 is for the whole bill. The three prior months the FP&L bill was between $125 and $130 each month. The weather has been great this year and we have our A/C set to 78 degrees. My wife is home during the day so the house is at a comfortable level.

Having put 7,000 miles so far and at a savings of $0.20/mile compared to the car it replaced, we've already "saved" $1,400, or the equivalent of 3 monthly lease payments (out of a total of 5 months that we've owned the car). From that perspective it helps justify the cost of the lease. As you know, my problem will be the penalty at the end of the lease since we'll be racking up (a lot) more than the mileage limit in the lease terms.

Last FPL bill $353, down 11% from same period last year. My power cost per mile is $.225, taxes included.

Yikes, are you using your house as a freezer? Either that, or you have a really big house! Also, your power cost per mile cannot be right. My V8 SUV's cost is $0.23/mile. Did you mean $0.225/kWh? If so, that sounds a bit high as the base rate is about $0.11/kWh.

 

[keydiver]

P.S.: How many miles does everyone have so far?

Just hit 6000, which puts me right on track for 1250/month and ~15,000/year.

P.P.S.: My electric bill was $103 last billing cycle - a year ago it was $132 for the same cycle, and now I'm putting about 1,300 miles a month on the juice. Loving it!

I have a huge amount of solar, so my FPL bill has been a flat $6.05 for months now, making it hard to tell how much the LEAF is "costing" me.
I have done a ton to my house to lower my electric requirements, and it has really paid off. Last I checked, I had cut my annual usage from 20,000 kWh to 10,000 kWh.

 

[N1ghtrider]

Yikes, are you using your house as a freezer? Either that, or you have a really big house! Also, your power cost per mile cannot be right. My V8 SUV's cost is $0.23/mile. Did you mean $0.225/kWh? If so, that sounds a bit high as the base rate is about $0.11/kWh.

My house is old and drafty and 3200 square feet. I left the zero out of my cost per mile: it is $.0225.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

$230??? Did you have the A/C on all month? ;-)

Yeah, mostly, except for that little cool snap we had a couple weeks ago. I've been chipping away on the efficiency front, new A/C, LED lighting, but at the end of the day there are probably just too many people living in the house who don't contribute to paying the bill.

Do you have a pool? I'm thinking when my pump craps out I'll go for one of those high efficiency jobs... wondering how those things work.

 

[keydiver]

Do you have a pool?

One of the first things I did was swap out the 1.5 HP motor on my pool pump to a 2-speed motor, which only draws ~1/3 HP most of the time. It was only ~$300, and has paid for itself several times over already. I also reduced the hours the pump runs, from the 8-9 the pool people set it for, to only about 4-5 hours now, depending on the season. I just had to increase the automatic chlorinator to compensate for the lower run time.
Its actually illegal now in Florida to install anything larger than 1 HP. I have a friend that I'm trying to help reduce his electric bill, who has a 2 HP motor on the pool and a 3 HP motor on the jacuzzi! He made the mistake of telling the pool installer that he wanted lots of bubbles.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I don't get how those variable speed pumps save electricity... sure if it's running at low speed it draws less, but why not just put a 1/3hp pump in to begin with? Unless you have an integral spa, and need the higher power when the jets are being used.

At my previous house I had a salt chlorine generator. I really liked it, but they do draw about 500 watts. Might still be "greener" than jugs of chlorine that have to be produced and transported.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

OK, maybe we can get a respectable Leaf turnout for this event the evening of Sat June 9th with some advance notice:

(The next EAA Meeting is June 9th at the Delray Beach Community Center at 10:00am-12)

(That) Saturday Evening there is a small custom car show at Packy’s Grill in West Boca that some of the members will be attending. Come on out and bring your EV and show it off. Packy’s Grill is located at 11379 West Palmetto Park Road # F, Boca Raton, FL. Park your car and grab a beer and some food.