National Plug In Day - Winners & Losers

National Plug In Day was yesterday. The one I went to in White Marsh is not to be seen as representative but I have some observations on it.

Winners:
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Mark Czakja - excellent organizer. Awards for the MTA's beautiful charging setup at White Marsh, great sponsor organizing, and prizes / test drives / fun.
The public that came - not as many as could have made it out, but lots of rides in supercars!
The EV owners - Giving nice folks rides. Networking and driving other cool cars - I tried 3.
The Think dealer - Eurocars, showing people cool Thinks at firesale pricing!
Kevin my son won a $100 Mom's Organic Gift card as a door prize!!!
Lots of other door prize winners too.
MTA folks - Putting in charging station in the perfect spots for public transit links.
Emergency Responders - They are training on all major EV's to take care of in accidents - awesome!
Baltimore County reps and many other guests.

Draw:
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The public that didn't make it - We'll keep trying - there is always hope next year.

Losers:
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Two EV Dealers. At least at White Marsh, Mark invited the local Nissan (Leaf) and Chevy (Volt) dealers just down the street. They didn't show. Sad - the one group that should be supporting all this for their own corporate goals - total no shows.

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Fun day, great seeing Jill Sorenson from BEVI, lots of solar home reps, a Leaf owner who drove from NJ, Ford - although it was their hybrid vs the EV, and a ton of Volt owners. I had a ride in a very nice 'EcoBling' Volt the owner had tricked out with leds and cool accessories.  Mark also had snacks, T-Shirts for EVers and demo riders, and the vendors had refreshments.

Kevin got a passenger ride in the Fisker Karma supercar which was quite sporty. I got to take him for a test drive in the Think - the Eurocar dealer was cool about it and just let us two take off. It was quite nice for a very small car - kind of took me back to my young days with a two seater. Kevin dug it too.

Ah a day of optimism,

Dave

PS Here's a couple of son Kevin pics from the plugin day...

National Plug In Day - This Sunday - September 23

National Plug In Day is Sunday!

Your friends with EV's, EV clubs, dealers of EV's will all be at 60+ locations all over the county to show you their Electric Vehicles.

Lately the press has been sharpening their knives - with big advertisers that have entrenched interests. Yet the owners have the highest satisfaction ratings out. While there are issues - the high heat issues for the Arizona desert owners are one serious problem, owners love their EVs.

Overall though, the 2013 domestic made Leaf is looking even more promising - Nissan CEO Ghosn has said their new battery upgrade will increase mileage by 25% - that is a tremendous improvement on top of the other improvements slated!

So come on out on Sunday and check out the new commuting vehicle that can change how a family spends on their motor vehicles, has a ton of fun driving, and leaves kids a cleaner sustainable planet.

http://events.pluginday.org/

Here's where Kevin and I will be Sunday morning in White Marsh MD:

http://events.pluginday.org/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=68049



Dave

Tesla buzz and awaiting Nissan's next move

The Tesla S is starting to make the rounds as the deliveries begin. Basically if you are in the upper income brackets or have a sizable nest egg for that one special item - I really don't see any competition. The EVA/DC website has links to a member drive test that just looks incredible. Good range, active battery protection, and next generation electronics - there really is nothing else like it. If you have got the loot and love high end cars - get in line for a Tesla S.

So the how about the company trying to make electrics for the upper middle class here? Nissan has had many reports of improvements - some unofficially from corporate insiders as I've noted before. Quite a few websites are reporting more improvements as well, but nothing yet seems official. Range and price are always the two biggest questions with faster charging a close third. The wait for details on the 2013 is a killer, as Nissan tries to sell down the 2012's. August monthly sales numbers were better - in the 600s, but still no breakthrough numbers. The 600's are happening due to very sweet sales and lease deals.  Basically if I could have held off I might have saved 5K easily but I must admit in this case I'll trade driving joy for the cash...

So we remain in a holding pattern for September awaiting developments! I will report on how National Plug In Day goes September 23rd.

National Plugin Day

National Plugin Day - September 23rd 9am - 1pm,

I'll be at the one above Baltimore at White Marsh in Central Maryland. Here's a link:

http://events.pluginday.org/content_item/about

Should be fun - various electrics, dealers showing their models, information on coming EVs.

I'll get there early to pickup a charge, read for a while and be ready by 9am for the gathering. Bring a license and valid insurance information and drive an EV!

Dave

Commute increase - charger upgrade

So the new commute to College Park is a brutal upgrade of at least 60 miles round trip from formerly 26.  Yeech.  Also we are talking later arrivals at home with less juice - yuck.

So as I am a basement apartment dweller I opted to upgrade Nissan's trickle charger. This upgrade with various support thick gauge (12x25') extension cords and various adaptors was about $500. It lets me charge at 240 16amp without buying a permanent station to leave at my apartment.

It does let me charge in 6 hours if empty, 4 hrs for 33% juice left, or an hour gets me a quick 15 miles more or so in the battery - enough to trip south for errands and aikido class in Waldorf.

So far so good - it plugs into my dryer and appears to be working well.

Will report on the new commute as it drives me batty.

Still a typical month going from 20 x 26 = 520 + 400 miles on incidentals = 920
Now is                                        20 x 60 = 1200 + 400 = 1600 or 680 more or 22 gals

That would have been an additional eighty bucks a month!   Closer to $18 with electric.

Dave                  

Great focus of purpose at MD Volt meetup

The Meetup group for Volt drivers and other electric cars met a week ago at Fedex field.  The NRG Solar installation was the meetup point. What a great plan for folks to see how renewable power from the sun can power a stadium and electric cars to boot. Very cool.

A Ford Electric Focus was there too!  They gave out rides! I drove it - and was impressed. Here's my review on the EVA/DC site  : http://evadc.org/2012/08/05/ford-focus-ev-test-drive/

Really appreciate Kristin and Ford letting us drive. First off – great car – puts all EV makers on notice if Ford produces these in quantity.

I own a Leaf – which I love – so I’ll contrast with it. To be honest I don’t see the Focus competing with the Tesla head on as those are pretty different price ranges. On the other hand it may convince someone considering the base S that there is another more reasonable alternative with style.

Console – Focus by a nose. While we didn’t get up quite the metered display I enjoy in the Leaf, there was a choice of reconfiguring displays nicely integrated into the instrument cluster. I prefer that to the ‘center square’ nav/energy display on the Leaf and others. Also looks at first glance very normal so not as off putting to a converted ICE driver.

Passenger Room – Leaf by a nose. Still I was impressed at 6 foot that I ,and even taller testers, were comfortable in the Focus. More then adequate for me though. Did not test the passenger area – again adequate but a little smaller. A couple of the even taller fellows may want to weigh in.

Styling – Focus by a head. Here trading a little head room gives a nice low slung styling the Leaf can’t hope to match. Sweet paint job and front grille. Cool ‘state of charge’ glow ring around the charge cap. Everyone liked that. Kind of European in look.

Acceleration and handling off the line. I think this is still the Leaf by a nose. Still the Focus has the similar instant giddyup we have come to love from our electrics. Very peppy, low center of gravity, handled very well. Did not take it out on the bigger stretch so can’t comment at higher speed. The ‘fun’ factor most of our electrics share is definitely there. Steering was responsive. Now the autocross will have to get run to determine a king of the hill – is it subjective that I think the Leaf is ahead? Only one way to tell – let the games begin!

Charging – Focus by a body length. 6.6kw is what Nissan should have put in the Leaf. Will it be there in 2013? Will it cost extra? For the moment this easily goes to the Ford Focus.

Trunk space – The Leaf by a head. Clearly part of the batteries and support electronics in the Focus have taken up the lower trunk area.

Range and efficiency – looks like a wash for the moment until we get better real world data.

Cooling. Head and Shoulders Focus. I dont have any info on electric load to heat and cool the cabin – that could be important to find out. However liquid cooling for batteries should favor the Focus especially in Southern States. Some Phoenix Leaf owners are already having battery issues only a year in and it appears soaking in 110-114 F and higher is not working well with air cooled batteries in the Leaf. Kind of frightening even for a Marylander as we’ve had a couple 105 days and with climate change more to come. Advantage Focus.

Price – Close. A little higher (2-3k) then the Leaf – until we see how dealers charge for these we really can’t tell. I would say like the Leaf they are definitely an alternative to Tesla for the budget minded – if one is will to give up the ‘Star Trek’ level features of the Tesla.

Manufacture – Focus by a nose. Nissan is opening the Smyrna, TN plant to their credit and making Leafs and batteries there. Ford however is the US automaker and that will undoubtably bring many looking for a US buy.

So my conclusion – I may keep my Leaf but I hope Nissan takes notice and steps up to the plate. If I was a younger buck the Focus styling would be the kicker – a very pretty car. A Mustang of EV’s perhaps?

Thanks again for the test ride.

Dave Glotfelty

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One thing I noticed after I'd written this from pictures was the console does have a center screen I assume for navigation. It was off when I was driving but again my point would be that unlike the Leaf I could put more involved displays up in the center console - in the Leaf some alphanumeric stuff can be called up in the console but not the energy info display etc.

I should also say for me while I admire styling, space is much more important for me which the Leaf has. I also find entry and exit easy on the Leaf. Finally as I said the Leaf seemed a little peppier. i.e. I'm still a Leaf fan as for my favorite in that price range. Could be owner bias - grin!

However I think a younger person with less time to charge would have to go for the Focus. We'll see if that changes if the 2013 Leaf includes 6.6Kw charging. Would be nice...

What is exciting me here is Ford is totally in the game. Competitive maybe winningly so. Unlike Honda who looks like a winner then proceeds to make 300 a year and lease them. Or Toyota making a tepid Prius entry and then waving the big fib of hydrogen in 5 years. Yeah right - it doesn't make sense on the basic physics.  Tesla - in the game if only for the high end still.  GM(Volt), Nissan(Leaf), and now Ford(Focus) - in the game.  How could Honda and Toyota blow this? Well good - glad to see American companies leading again for a change.  That and the fact Nissan is building in this country really make Electric Vehicles a win for the US at this stage of the game.

Slowdown

Well the discussion at EV club this month has centered around two issues for the Leaf.

First a slowdown in sales this year. Clearly they are down from 2011- the year one for the Leaf. I originally believed the issue was Nissan constraining supply because of the extreme weakness of the dollar to the yen. At least one dealer in discussions has admitted though that they are not selling as well and they are on the lot longer. While various pro C02 folks claim the vehicle is the problem I lean towards the fact the Leaf buyers tend to do deep research. After all the car is expensive if well appointed and basically we buyers really check out everything we can find on bleeding edge (grin) of technology before we jump. As I advised here months ago the 2013 will be made in the US, have half the charge time required, and have a heater that doesn't hammer range in the winter. Those improvements are a big deal. This is all published and can be easily found. While I was asked and did hold some of this information when first told, basically all this information was available in print in late Dec '11 - plenty of time to slow buyers.

One more point is the US made batteries and US made cars - will this allow a price drop on the 2013 Leaf? Ghosn - the Nissan CEO has said in the press his Leaf price target in five years was the VW Golf price.  That's 17-28k so with incentives they are close but I would not expect incentives to last beyond the next two-three years, so eventually thats head to head.

Makes sense when you read industry analysis that Lithium ion batteries are rapidly dropping in price and are projected to drop tremendously during the decade. Makes sense, lithium turns out to be plentiful, easily recycled, and have several extraction options. While current production is low in the US it turns out we have large amounts. Oil shills pass around a dated study clearly backed by the petrol folks claiming we are hurting on Lithium. Not true and this bourn out by the price. Name me a scarce resource we are running out of whose price has dropped by 10% this year.

http://www.plugincars.com/lithium-ion-battery-prices-drop-160-kwh-2025-123193.html

Second topic is more serious. All major battery chemistries to date have limited lifespan and lose capacity.  This is true of Lithium. It's important the Leaf make it's stated goals of 8 year 100k mark with 80% capacity intact.  For me that means my 5 year loan has been over for three years and I've saved 10k for a replacement (hopefully improved!) at about half my current payments for three years.  Hey- its a plan. This isn't a problem for folks who lease or trade in but I tend to keep a car til it dies.

In Arizona though several owners of year old cars are reporting 10% loss in a year. They have 115 degree days and this appears to accelerate battery capacity loss. For the moment on any day predicted to be 100 or greater in Maryland I'm just charging to 80% which is one way to prevent loss with heat. Still it's worrisome as I'm counting on no more then 2.5% loss a year.

Will keep you posted on that - no one has yet to really research it but a lot of discussion is flying.

Drive on!

PS & BTW - They may be discounting 2012's as this continues - I'll post what I hear.