Thread: Personal EV journey.

The rate of change in EV battery technology is staggering - many different battery chemistries are appearing to suit different applications. Variations in capacity, charge time, size, weight, cost per kWh, you name it. It's safe to say that within 5 years the battery landscape will look nothing like it does today......and used ICE cars will be getting harder to sell. The EV that I have now is by no means ideal, just "good enough for now", but I wanted to jump in to the technology relatively early to find my way around it. I anticipate selling my Atto 3 after only about 12 months use, and moving on to something else with larger battery, longer range, and faster charging.

The energy density of batteries doesn’t seem to be improving rapidly though. And that’s their biggest limitation I reckon.

Originally Posted by BobL

I can then charge up over the next few days at his place from a 10A socket

Right, so you're going to impose on your mate to provide, and pay for, the fuel for your car. Must remember to ask for some free petrol next time I visit somebody.

Originally Posted by aldav

Right, so you're going to impose on your mate to provide, and pay for, the fuel for your car. Must remember to ask for some free petrol next time I visit somebody.

I won't be turning up with a completely empty battery but at 28c/kWhr (which is what he'll be paying) a full 75kW Tesla Y battery costs a whopping $20. Most likely I will top up in Manjimup (119 km away) and arrive at his place with more than a half full battery, so <$10.

Of course I'm going to offer to pay for the power but as he is a very generous chap and he'll laugh at me and tell me to forget about it as we do each other favours all the time. I'll probably turn up with a couple of extra nice bottles of red for "ron". Last year he and his wife gave me a $60 concert ticket, I give him all the chainsaw bar oil he wants for nothing and he goes through about 5L a year and has done so for the last half dozen years. Last year I gave him 6 bottles of vintage wine from my deceased wife's stash. Both he and his wife and I exchange all sorts of "just cos" gifts. Last year he gave me two 1kg cheese rounds - one red chilli and one green chilli.

Originally Posted by aldav

Right, so you're going to impose on your mate to provide, and pay for, the fuel for your car. Must remember to ask for some free petrol next time I visit somebody.

Cynic!

Id imagine the EVs measure the energy input... so one could pay their mate the ~23 cents per KWh

Originally Posted by jack620

The energy density of batteries doesn’t seem to be improving rapidly though. And that’s their biggest limitation I reckon.

Screenshot 2023-07-30 at 9.21.39 am.jpg

Screenshot 2023-07-30 at 9.22.15 am.png

EV's are said to be at the "End of the beginning", in other words there's a some way to go to get even half way yet.

Originally Posted by jack620

The energy density of batteries doesn’t seem to be improving rapidly though. And that’s their biggest limitation I reckon.

Things are changing faster than you can type:

Toyota CEO "Our Solid State Battery Will Change The Industry In 2024" - YouTube

Originally Posted by BobL

EV's are said to be at the "End of the beginning", in other words there's a some way to go to get even half way yet.

No point in looking at the left hand side of that plot Bob. Look at the right hand side. It hasn't improved since 2018.

Also the increasing range of the Leaf tells me nothing about the energy density of the batteries. It could also be due to a bigger battery, more efficient motor, better electronics, improved regeneration, better aerodynamics, or a lighter car. Most likely a combination of these.

Originally Posted by BobL

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Have to agree with Jack, those numbers tell one nothing about things like, the Leaf's usable kWh battery storage per model year, how "slippery" the vehicle is, the vehicle's rolling resistance, vehicle weight savings achieved, etc.


as an example, in the US, the 2011 Leaf was supplied with a 24 kWh battery.

the 2018 Leaf (in the US) came with a 36.5 kWh battery,

so a 50% greater (in kWh) battery size leads to an approximate doubling of range. What one doesn't know is how the US "standard" range test for EVs varied over the period.




going back to ICE engines for a moment, one of the last Holden Commodores produced did something with, I believe, it's spare tyre -- light weight spare, or similar -- to get its fuel consumption figure lower than its predecessors.

The 2020 model Leaf came with two different batteries, a 39kwh and a 62kwh. Which one are we talking about? If it's the 62kwh then the increase in mileage is directly in line with the increase in the size of the battery.

I used to be a "hurry - hurry - hurry and wait" person, but since retiring and then my wife dying I have become much more relaxed about all this sort of thing and finally learning to stop and smell the roses. In queues I am usually willing give up my place to harassed mothers with young children, and older folks who can't stand for too long (mind you I'm a bit like that these days too). This philosophy also now extends to driving.

The longest one day car driving trip I ever remember doing in a car was in 1976 in my Alfa GTV, and that was 862 km with 2 stops. Although I'm unlikely to want to repeat this distance and stops in the one day in my current vehicle I reckon it could easy do this.

My 75 year old retired BIL says he will buy an EV when it can drive the 469 km to his daughters place in the country with no stops. Given all he does otherwise is play golf, i'm struggling to understand his rationale. We would all be better off if we took more frequent and longer breaks when driving especially when there is a lot of traffic.

I have a kid involved in winter sports, hence the annual high milage getting them to and from the snow.

I've had this vehicle for some 6 weeks now and thought it might be time for a review.

Back in June a few days after I got the vehcile I said

Immediate pros
- very comfortable and very easy, even relaxing, to drive. Yes - I've done multiple across city, and two longish country, drives with it and I've always arrived more refreshed than usual
- super fast acceleration - no need to flogs this again ) I really like to be able to more quickly and confidently being able to merge with traffic
- plenty of room for the dogs - just gotta remember not to accelerate too hard when they are in the back
- I love the clean uncluttered lines of the interior. - Am continuing to like this. It's become just another part of decluttering my life including the kitchen renno
- great navigation and big 15" Screen view of maps and other stuff. - still finding my way around all the menus but am loving the big screen. Getting the navigator to understand my mumbling can be frustrating.
- No physical keys . . . . . A bit discombobulating but I guess I will get used to it. - Yep I'm used to all this now although I do occasionally start to walk away leaving the mobile in the vehicle and have to go back to get it.

Some negatives I've noticed the following
- Limited vision in all 3 mirrors - I'm almost completely used to this now and only really notice it when I go back to driving my Van.
- Too easy to scratch the big wheel rims - 3 scratches so far, one on the rear LHS driving the vehicle out of the dealer's yard, the other two (front and rear LHS) during the first week of driving, both done while parking. With the side mirrors tilting downwards, reversing into parking spots is the safest way to avoid this.

In the last 6 weeks here are a few
Charging and range anxiety: Even though I'm still primarily charging from a 15A outlet at home these concerns have largely evaporated. It's become almost automatic to just plug in when arriving home. It's a bt like having a slow petrol station at home. Still awaiting the sparky to fit my 7.2kW home charger - he's a FIFO worker and away till next week.

Traffic aware Cruise control. This is surprisingly useful. not just on the open road but I'm finding I can use it in relatively dense traffic at speeds as low as 40. It's really good at keep to the speed limit in 40-50-60 zones when it's too early to drift aver the limit. The ability to set the distance you are prepared to tolerate following a vehicle (from 7 to 2 car lengths) on the move is really nice. I'm not totally comfortable with the auto steer lane assisted driving so only use that on the open road.

The auto pilot "evasive action" eg if you start to drift off to the side of the road, another vehicle cuts across your path, or a moving pedestrian walks too close to the side of the road, takes some getting used to. If a pedestrian crosses a dual carriage way from the other side aiming to stand/wait on a narrow median strip the vehicle thinks the pedestrian may step off the median strip and applies the brakes sometimes quite hard. What it does is forces you to watch out for these situation which I suppose is a good thing. For more $$ an enhanced auto pilot is available as an extra and I'm still tossing up whether it's worth it - most people that have the enhanced auto pilot say it is worth in, and those that have the full self driving capability say it's not currently worth it.

The glass roof. This looks good both outside and inside although I admit I largely forget it's there when I'm driving until the sun shines. Even though the max temp I've experienced so far is only 22º I did notice the sun pouring in so am dreading the 40+ sunshine we will get in summer. I have purchased a set of $90 sun shades to take the edge of the direct radiant heat. A dark one for the hatch window which has to be transparent and it fits really easily. I have silver backed grey ones for the main roof which I have yet to fit. There is a very nice internal sliding shade available but it costs a bomb ($800) so that wont be happening.

Wide availability of quality 3rd party accessories. This is one thing I am very pleased about. I guess this relates to the numbers of vehicles being sold. So far I have bought the ruggedised floor mats, tempered glass screen cover, sun shades, a centre console tray - I'm going to 3D print the others.
TO BE CONTNUED.

Thanks for the update Bob. There's some fantastic tech in your car. But I couldn't live with this:

Originally Posted by BobL

If a pedestrian crosses a dual carriage way from the other side aiming to stand/wait on a narrow median strip the vehicle thinks the pedestrian may step off the median strip and applies the brakes sometimes quite hard.