[NY] Albany/Capital District EV Driver's Group

[blownb310]

To talk up the capital region for a bit, after I bought my Leaf, I realized what a remarkable area it is for the Leaf's range.

Great posts, thanks for joining this thread Styles. Nice quick list of charging stations as well. Don't forget about the one at Goldstein Mitsubishi too.

Frankly, there are no other EV drivers to compete for these stations. I've literally never even seen one, except for an RPI-owned iMiEV that seems to be permanently attached to their ChargePoint station.

You're right, in this early time of EV adoption on our area, it is quite convenient to find a free station. Let's enjoy it while we can! Speaking of the i-Miev you referenced, I am well aware of it and snapped this picture yesterday at the RPI Field House Chargepoint station.



It actually might have been the first time two EV's charged at the same time in Troy!

I left a note on it inviting it's handler to join our group on facebook and he did. Glad to have him aboard. Are you on FB Styles?

Mike

[LeftieBiker]

I think that it's more a case of the existing EV drivers (like me) not relying on the few charging stations out there, and charging at home. Whether they really are convenient or not depends on your regular routes: there is only one charging station that is actually convenient to me, and I won't have to use it unless I screw up badly...

[blownb310]

Yes home is the simplest place to charge, but I try to use public charging whenever I can, to substantiate the installation costs of the Capital Region's EV charging stations for us early EV adopters.



I use my bicycle to travel about while charging. In this case, I rode down the hill to have dinner along the river at Dinosaur BBQ, all while getting the free charge. Not a bad deal. Some day we will look back on these early days of EV's and say how awesome it used to be to find a vacant [and free] charging station any time we wanted.

Mike

[blownb310]

I'm taking my Fit EV to Lebanon Valley Dragway tomorrow night [Wed] to see if I can lower my ET record of 16.46 @ 83 mph.



It sure would be fun to have a Leaf there to have an all EV drag race. It's just $20 to make time trial runs and no helmet is required. Anyone here want to join me?

Mike

[LeftieBiker]

These days I'm bothered by exhaust fumes...

I wanted to mention that Nemith Nissan in Latham has a GE charging station right in front of the office, and they seem to leave it on overnight. I put in a few percent the other morning, on my way home from work, at 4:40am or so...

[lion]

For what it's worth, I started ChargeNY.com late last year with the intention to cover all of New York. I was hoping to start up chapters, with a dedicated sub forum, and would love to see you guys join.

I have established some really great relationships with the big players in the field (especially in NY), even government officials, with the intention of making an impact on EVs in the State of New York. By organizing under 1 umbrella, we could make a significant impact, so I would like to invite everyone to join up. It would also make it easier to organize events, get cheaper access to products, etc.

To the OP: I'll give you moderator access if you are interested, making it easier to organize the posts etc.

I have been doing this stuff for years (my other sites are all #1 in their niche), and while I hate bragging, I'm really good at running these type of communities. Personally I'm a hands off approach kind of guy, and am more interested in providing the technical expertise and resources needed to make this type of community succeed, so you don't have to worry about 'control issues' (my record really does speak for itself) In fact, I actually rely on feedback from the community to improve the site!

I have some really exciting stuff planned (will post more about that soon), but check out the forums, and other resources (such as EV apps, EVSE database, EV database, Incentives for NY, etc.)

This is the first time I have plugged the site like this, but I really believe we can make a difference if we all join together.

[blownb310]

For what it's worth, I started ChargeNY.com late last year with the intention to cover all of New York. I was hoping to start up chapters, with a dedicated sub forum, and would love to see you guys join.

I had not heard of your web site until now. Thanks for letting us know. I just joined and look forward to joining forces.

Mike Kamm

[lion]

I have been very careful not trying to advertise the site on other forums, as I don't want to upset anyone, but I'm pretty serious about this effort. Shoot me a PM with ideas you would like to see (I'm Daniel on the ChargeNY forums), and I'll start making some changes today to accommodate chapters.

[blownb310]

Mike Kamm wrote:

Well I decided to check the 1/4 mile performance of my Fit EV.
Run 1: 16.468 sec. @ 83.47 mph.

Run 2: 16.465 sec. @ 83.62 mph.

I am quite happy and unless someone on the Fit EV forums betters those times, I don't plan to try to improve on it.

Although no one with a Fit EV has challenged my times, I decided to go out again and put the record a little further out of reach of whomever
may try.


Huge thanks to David Traver Adolphus for the photo!

I tried a few different driving techniques this time. Turned off the traction control - no difference. Tried to power brake it, the car would not allow it. If you have your foot on the brake and accelerator [notice I didn't say "gas" pedal] at the same time you simply don't move.

Run 1: 16.33 @ 84.20

Run 2: 16.31 @ 84.46

Run 3: 16.32 @ 84.57

Run 4: 16.32 @ 84.76

Interestingly, the car kept going faster every run. Perhaps not what you would expect from a battery electric, but these things aren't designed to use all of the battery's power at once. So it really doesn't matter if you're fully charged or halfway, etc. There was about a 1 hour delay between passes. I wish I could make back to back runs to see if it would change anything.

[LeftieBiker]

The tires were heating up and getting better grip. If by "power braking it" you mean holding the car in place with the drive wheels spinning, unless your parking brake is on the rear, it isn't going to happen.