Chevy Volt (good earth day post.)

[Elcam84]

That's good to heat but it still doesn't alleviate the heat issue. Course they are still the new thing and it'll get better every day but for now they are still a fair/cool weather car. Not ready for our climate quite yet unless you have an air conditioned garage to cool the battery to charge it.

[pinballlooking]

Since you are if very high heat you could check out the Volt they have a liquid cooled battery. They do not suffer from the same heat issues that the leaf does.
People in very hot climates have had very good experience and the AC does not take away range like the heater does.

[Elcam84]

I see quite a few volts here. I like them but unfortunately it doesn't work for us. I need a much larger vehicle with cargo and some towing capacity. Can't haul my tools in a volt. Loml is a flight attendant so only a few commutes a month.

What is the amp draw for the volts ac vs heat? I assume it uses the sanden electric compressor or similar. I remember when that compressor was announced to the market but never knew cost or amp draw. Only numbers I found were around 3k for cooling and double that for heating. I'm surprised they didn't just make it a heat pump. Sounds like it has heat strip instead. And 3k watts for cooling sounds about right when I do the math. That gives you enough tins to cool a car. Few realize how much it takes to cool a car, in fact some cars have more cooling capacity then a small house. I figured up the tonnage on a n old van once and including the rear ac it was over 5 tons.

[pinballlooking]

If you need towing Via motors is the only one I know of that will fit the bill.
But they are too expensive.
VIA Motors Extended-range Electric Trucks, Vans & SUVs EREVs

The Volt does not have a heat pump the leaf does.
http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECH...in_heater.html

I ran the AC this weekend and I drove the same trip a little over a hour away. I charged up and did the same trip again the next day.
On the way out it way 97 F I got 40 EV miles on the way back it was only 87F I got 41 miles EV.
Without AC I would have gotten a couple more miles maybe 43.

I put Michelin defender tires a while back that hurt my range that same trip with stock tires I would have got 45-46 EV miles.

I the stock tires are a bad design just hit a curb hard and you blow out the side wall. Everything is a tradeoff. The 2016 Volt has OEM Michelin tires now.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

The Volt does not have a heat pump the leaf does.
Heat-Pump Cabin Heater | NISSAN | TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Good info, didn't know that.

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

...Without AC I would have gotten a couple more miles maybe 43.

I put Michelin defender tires a while back that hurt my range that same trip with stock tires I would have got 45-46 EV miles.

It sounds like you pay a 5% penalty when you use 'normal' tires. Since my car only has 12K miles, it should be a while until I need to make that decision.

Best,

-AC

[pinballlooking]

No matter what EV you have it is just amazing driving on sun power.

We have just hit 39,044 EV miles with total miles 47,733. Only one oil change needed so far.

I just love converting the sun into my cars fuel and not promoting buying oil from countries that hate us.

Having the car slowly pay itself off with fuel savings is not bad either.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

...I just love converting the sun into my cars fuel and not promoting buying oil from countries that hate us.

I agree with you regarding the sanity of using sunlight for any kind of power, especially for transportation, since that is such a large part of our energy use. It is super important to use Currently Available energy, rather than continuing the bloody competition to enable mining the limited fossil energies from the earth.

Regarding, "...oil from countries that hate us." These countries hate us because we have been taking advantage of their ignorance, and 'buying' their oil at a price that is far below what it is truly worth, or creating wars, and turmoil, and chaos, so that we can essentially steal it. We (The US, and Europe) have been doing this for slightly over 100 years. The oil-rich countries that have been set upon this way, are clearly aware of what is going on, but the US public is shielded from this distasteful detail, so that the national thuggery can continue.

It's all in the history books. Some of the more insightful documentaries, detail these events, too.

So, my brother, drive with a sunny smile on you face!

Best,

-AC

[AC_Hacker]

Just by chance, I discovered this building located one short block from my house. That would be a 1 minute walk.:

OK... so it may not be much to look at, but there is a fairly substantial array of PV panels on the roof...


More interesting...

There is an L2 EV charging station to charge EVs... like my Leaf EV shown above.

Best of all is that there is no cost involved in charging my Leaf... No monetary charge at all.

I think that their evil plan is to get hapless EV owners, such as myself to use this free charging station until they become habituated to charging at this place.

...So far, their evil plan is working just fine for me!

Best,

-AC_Hacker

[pinballlooking]

Very nice! Sun powered miles……..
How do you like your car so far? Is this your only vehicle?

That is a nice looking solar array.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

Very nice! Sun powered miles……..
How do you like your car so far? Is this your only vehicle?

I like the car very well, although I feel a bit bourgeois, driving such a nice, comfortable car.

Very quiet, comfortable ride, good handling, more power than I had expected, fun to drive.

My other car is a 2000 Honda Insight (60 mpg city, 73 mpg hwy).

Best,

-AC