caffeinekid said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
caffeinekid said:
As others have mentioned before, merely stating the maximum range of the vehicle doesn't paint a very accurate picture. I would LOVE it if the thing would ACTUALLY travel a complete 73 miles (which it usually doesn't because it isn't perfect California climate here in Texas) and at mile 70, no matter where that might be, there was a L3 charging station where I could charge up and get another 73 miles. If that were the case, I could probably get away with charging only once while on the road, but as it currently stands I have to charge 2 or 3 times a day- all the time having to plan my charges accordingly. Do I charge here an now, or do I try to make it to the next station? What if there is some sort of delay, detour or the station is down? Etc..
so is the issue with the car and its range or public charging network?
sure there are places still in this country (i live just down the road from one) where you will see signs "next gas 45 miles" or whatever and you do have to think, "do i want to stop at this one or risk the next one?"
but how many time do we say "What if the next station is out of gas?"
It is both really- Nissan for embellishing the figures then and now, and the lack of ubiquitous charging infrastructure. I actually have to deal with these things on a daily basis here in Houston. We have a relatively nice QC network thanks to the hard work of eVgo, but there are issues with having to go out of my way to get charged due to their locations. And the 70 miles between charges under real world driving conditions in this region have never materialized. Instead, I have to plan on ~ 50 miles which puts a crimp in my logistical comfort zone.
I also believe that the public at large has been trained to take refueling for granted. We are in the habit of NOT having to think about refueling. Even when we hear that the car goes ~70 miles, the next thought isn't about route strategy based on where the 25 minute fill ups will be. One of these days I will blog the figures of my experiment using the Leaf as a service vehicle. Until then, it is difficult to explain exactly what I am trying to get across here, but suffice it to say that our next vehicles will include a Model S unless Nissan comes up with a better pack with considerably more real world range. I still think 150 miles is the magic number.
we all have different needs here so let me state mine. a car with a 150 mile range would not work as well for me without an effective quick charge network simply because i have made 2 trips in my pathetically incapable "73 mile" LEAF with a semi effect QC network. i can only dream of what else i could do had i a fully effective QC network.
facts are (one, i have a range of "near 90 miles per charge in Summer" based on my chosen method of driving) i rarely charge the top half of my battery with QC because it is not an effective use of my time. having an effective charging network allows me to do this.
i would MUCH rather charge 10 minutes and get 36 miles of range over charging 30 minutes and getting 68 miles of range. i simply QC 3 times and now i got 108 plus my original 85 so i am near 200 miles of range OR a place that a 150 mile EV cannot go
now before you say "if you had a 150 mile EV, you would only have to stop once" i say, "fine, give me the money to pay for that big ass battery and we both be happy..."
now; keep in mind. there is no one in this equation that is completely blameless and i should not complain because i have a decent QC network that works in 2½ different directions. it is MUCH better than nothing but still is a long way from being where we need it to be.
but if applying an equitable level of blame; i still say that public charging, even in my area that has one of the more developed charging networks should bear the brunt of the blame.
i had no illusions of my LEAF getting 100 miles from waaay before i took delivery. the mileage charts Nissan posted made that about obvious and those charts came out waaaay before the forms you signed were even printed so why are you blaming Nissan again??
i also had no illusions that i would be getting 80 miles on a charge 25,000 miles down the road either, so cant blame no one for that either...
so what was i expecting?? how about the 40 DCFCs that were promised?? i anticipated that the rollout might be behind a bit, so dates being pushed back were not a surprise to me. it is not the size of the project but the scope and that each station requires a whole new set of entities getting on the same page...but its now more than a year after the fact and we have 2? most areas in the EV Highway Project have none?
so, if applying the blame equally based on promises and expectations, i give Nissan... well, i will give them 5% since everyone here thinks they deserve something...