SoCal LEAF & EV Gathering - Sixth Year Ended - 20 Aug 2016

[garygid]

Rumor mill ...
P... in Temec... apparently just got a really good deal on a
CPO Tesla S85D, 2015, being "delivered" today.

He might even bring it to Santa Ana tomorrow morning.
Very cool, indeed.
Congratulations, from all of us.

 

[tbleakne]

After today's breakfast and good conversation I went to the Tesla lunch at the Anaheim Packing House. I got a very nice 20 min ride on streets and freeway in a 2nd row seat of Mark Z 's new and beautiful Model X P90D. Some comments and surprises:

Car is substantially taller than Model S; photos were misleading.
Gull wing doors work and look great.
Contrary to my concerns, these doors appear to offer perhaps more protection from rain when open than a conventional door.
Getting in or out is different, but perfectly manageable.
Rear headroom is fine, good for folks at least 6'3". Leg room is modest, but mitigated by electric moveable 2nd row seats.

View forward from 2nd row is best I have even seen in any car, with tall wrap-around front windows, with nice graduated tint. Overhead windows in rear like panoramic Model S roof nice touch.
Mark gave us several chances to experience Ludicrous Mode. With 4 people in car and heavier weight, nice but not violent.

The third row seats are quite snug and narrow. There is not much storage room behind the 3rd row, but the Frunk has considerably more room than a Dual Model S.
The ventilation in the rear is very nice.

The car can display time for battery to reach optimum temperature, but not the battery temperature itself. Perhaps this feature is in Model S with Autopilot and firmware 7.1 as well.
I got to see the 7.1 autopilot feature where cars and vehicles in adjacent lanes are recognized and shown on steering wheel display. When a motorcycle passed us, the car recognized it as a motorcycle.

 

[garygid]

Mark's splendidly detailed Signature Red Model X was a real treat to see.
His version 7.1 software is 2.10.56 as I recall, a few revisions later than
the 2.9.54 in my Model S. We swarmed around his stunning MX for almost
an hour, before going in for breakfast, with Mark joining us and relating
some of the challenges of the delivery of these early-version Model X's.

I think we had about 15 people, and Star, our Service Dog in Training.
Please try to avoid interaction with Star inside the building. One of the
many things he is learning is to not expect or seek attention when inside.

Phil brought his just-delivered Tesla S85D, and they were discovering
the cupholder "feature", and learning the many other peculiarities
of this great vehicle. Gradually, the Tesla is becoming a typical
visitor to our EV Gathering, often competing with the LEAFs for
the most numerous EV in the parking lot.

Overall, a great meeting. We thank Mark Z a big bunch.

 

[garygid]

Our next EV Gathering is on Saturday, February 6th, at the Hometown Buffet
in Cerritos, 2 blocks East and a short block North of the 605 freeway South Street
exit, which is one exit South of the 91 freeway.

HTB opens for breakfast at 8 AM, featuring custom omelets and a good variety
of other tasty foods.

I plan to arrive at 8:01 and we typically stay until at least 11, but sometimes
as late as noon or even later, depending upon the crowd and discussions
in progress.

Typically we have 4 to 6 makes of EVs in the parking lot, and occasionally
a few special treats, for example when someone has a weekend or
Saturday loaner or test drive vehicle to show off.

I look forward to seeing you there.
Cheers, Gary

 

[tbleakne]

I have posted another comment about renewable power for California in the Utility Scale solar thread, this one on Offshore wind power.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=19398&start=10#p451146

 

[garygid]

Tom, Thanks for the link.

Our next Gathering is this coming Saturday, Feb 6th, at the Hometown Buffet in Cerritos.
Breakfast starts at 8 AM, but if you cannot get there that early, come when you can.
We are typically there until at least 11 AM, and often until noon, or even later.

Some people eat breakfast and lunch, and a few get to eat brunch as well.
Others just eat all the way through, and a few do not eat at all.

I hope to charge at the Fountain Valley Supercharger for a while, and arrive at
HTB within a few minutes of 8:01 AM. See you there.

 

[garygid]

One day, one hour, and 13 minutes before our next Gathering.

 

[garygid]

Just 107 minutes until our next Gathering at the Hometown
Buffet in Cerritos CA, 2 blocks East of the 605 freeway just North
of South Street. CU There,

 

[garygid]

Our EV Gathering yesterday in Cerritos was attended by only 7 people,
but that creates the opportunity for lots of great conversations.

We had quite a variety of vehicles, Rav4EV, Tesla S, Tesla X, BMW i3, and
a LEAF in the parking lot, with the new Model X getting the most attention.

Thanks to all who contribute their time and goodness to our splendid group.
See you 2 weeks from yesterday at the Hometown Buffet on 17th Street in
Santa Ana.

Happy Valentines Day, coming soon, all around you.

 

[garygid]

Our next EV Gathering is in Santa Ana, on the 20th of February, 2016.
Breakfast at Hometown Buffet, which opens at 8 AM.

Each 2 weeks after that, the 5th and 19th of March, we will Gather again.
Cheers to All, Gary

 

[garygid]

I am out of date on J1772 EVSE offerings, but a friend wants a 40 amp output
(about 10 kW, on a 50 amp circuit and breaker) to use with his EV, but also
be useful (with the Tesla-supplied J1772 to Tesla Model S adapter) when/if
he upgrades to a tesla in the future.

Does anybody have some suggestions for a good EVSE in the range of $500 to
$700 that will really handle long hours of full 40 amp charging?

Thanks, Gary

 

[garygid]

Less than 2.5 days until our next EV Gathering, in Santa Ana.

 

[garygid]

1 hour and 39 minutes ... get up, get ready, Go.

I am bringing a working TM-Spy Android beta app to today's breakfast,
being created by the maker of our great Leaf-Spy apps.

 

[garygid]

We had a very good Gathering, stragglers still there at 1 PM.
We had 9 bodies and 8 cars ... probably one each of BMW i3,
Rav4 EV, and a Fit?, two Teslas, and three LEAFs, I think.

We saw an Alpha Test version of the TM-Spy app for Android,
and heard some good stories.

Next Gathering on March 5th, in Cerritos.
Thanks all for your considerable efforts to attend.

 

[garygid]

Our next Gathering is in Cerritos on Saturday, March 5th 2016.
(The Gathering after that is 2 weeks later, on 19 Mar.)

On the 5th, we meet for breakfast (and often some afters) at the
Hometown Buffet just North of South Street, 2 blocks East of
the 605 freeway.

HTB opens at 8 AM, and I plan to arrive a few minutes after
the opening. I try to visit the Supercharger in Fountain
Valley (near Costco, North of the 405 freeway, via the
Euclid exit) from about 7:20 to 7:40 for a little "juice".

Right now, my "Nicolas" is in for its annual / 12500 mile
checkup, and I am "forced" to drive an older P85 loaner
instead of my S85 with AutoPilot.

Hopefully, I will see you at HTB, and I should have the next
Alpha Testing version of TM-Spy with me to show any
interested people. Revision 0.0.5 is out, and it includes
the ability to gather 12 seconds of Pack Voltage and
Power readings at about 100 samples per second,
Graphing the results. Launch Window Data ... ?

Cheers, Gary

 

[garygid]

Our next EV Gathering is one week, one hour, and 49 minutes from now.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I am out of date on J1772 EVSE offerings, but a friend wants a 40 amp output
(about 10 kW, on a 50 amp circuit and breaker) to use with his EV, but also
be useful (with the Tesla-supplied J1772 to Tesla Model S adapter) when/if
he upgrades to a tesla in the future.

Does anybody have some suggestions for a good EVSE in the range of $500 to
$700 that will really handle long hours of full 40 amp charging?

Thanks, Gary

You described our JESLA quite well:

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JESLA-is-THE-40-amp-J1772-portable-charging-solution-JESLA.htm

 

[TomT]

Well, except for the price...

I am out of date on J1772 EVSE offerings, but a friend wants a 40 amp output
(about 10 kW, on a 50 amp circuit and breaker) to use with his EV, but also
be useful (with the Tesla-supplied J1772 to Tesla Model S adapter) when/if
he upgrades to a tesla in the future.

Does anybody have some suggestions for a good EVSE in the range of $500 to
$700 that will really handle long hours of full 40 amp charging?

You described our JESLA quite well

 

[garygid]

Thanks, Tony, for the info and link.
Nice Tesla-based portable EVSE solution.

It was good to see you at the OC Tesla Group meeting
at the Bru restaurant on El Toro Road last Sunday.

 

[tbleakne]

Lots of news to talk about at next meeting. Here is one topic some of you might be interested in pursuing:

NYTimes today: Does a Carbon Tax Work? Ask British Columbia
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/business/does-a-carbon-tax-work-ask-british-columbia.html?_r=0
The answer is a strong yes, although they say a higher tax is really needed. The piece says this tax was voted in by a right-leaning government.

Midway through the story they make this surprising quote:

Look at it this way. A study by Michael Greenstone and Thomas Covert of the University of Chicago and Professor Knittel concluded that at current battery prices, for an electric vehicle to be cheaper to run than a gas-power car, oil would have to cost $350 a barrel.

Here is a link to the study they quote.
http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.1.117
This report begins on pg 117 of a journal. The quote above is on page 132:

At a battery cost of $325 per kWh, the price of oil would need to exceed $350 per barrel before the electric vehicle was cheaper to operate. During 2015, the average price of oil was approximately $49 per barrel.

On page 133, is a graph showing break-even oil price vs cost of batteries along with their assumptions. I can't understand where they are getting this. There seems to be no mention of battery life etc. Perhaps one of you with more economic expertise can enlighten me at the meeting.