Thread: Personal EV journey.

I thought this was a pertinent discussion:

How Efficient Is Each Type Of EV Charger? (msn.com)

and for those who don't wish to read through, the conclusion was:

"Level 3 DC charging is the most efficient with the lowest losses, but frequently fast charging your EV can result in accelerated battery degradation, so it shouldn’t be your go-to charging solution if you want to keep an EV long-term and preserve as much of its battery capacity as possible."

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I thought this was a pertinent discussion:

How Efficient Is Each Type Of EV Charger? (msn.com)

and for those who don't wish to read through, the conclusion was:

"Level 3 DC charging is the most efficient with the lowest losses, but frequently fast charging your EV can result in accelerated battery degradation, so it shouldn’t be your go-to charging solution if you want to keep an EV long-term and preserve as much of its battery capacity as possible."

Battery capacity degradation depends in the type of battery being used. Some batteries, like LiFePO batteries, can be charged to 100% every day with minimal degradation. For day to day use standard Li-ion batteries are nominally charged to 80% to maintain battery capacity. It doesn't mean you can't charge to 100% provided you drive off within an hour or so of 100% charging. This is easily achieved with auto scheduling of charging. I typically leave my car plugged in so that it charges to 80% but if I intend to go for a long drive I can schedule the battery to reach 100% charge just before I take off.

For EV owners with a home charging set up, fast DC charging is usually only undertaken in the middle of long trips. On a 500km trip I'll typically leave home 100% charged and stop off to fast charge only enough to get me to the next stop which will usually be something like a friends place or BNB where I will use my mobile slow (overnight) AC charger, and same on the way back. This shows up on my charging/kilometerage stats which shows at total of 18000 km, of which about 1/3rd (0r 33% 6000 km) is country driving, but only about 18% of my total charging is done on DC fast charging.

In terms of overall charging, my EV uses an average of 172 Wh/km to move, or 1.2 c/km on solar, 4.8c/km on mains tariff, and about double that again on DC fast charging, but the total charging energy used works out closer to 240Wh/km which brings it up to 1.7c/km on solar or 6.7c/km on mains. The extra energy is used on stuff like general charging efficiency, AC-DC conversion , battery preconditioning for optimised charging, camera security monitoring while parked, cabin climate precondition and protection, and dog mode - running the AC for the dogs while I'm wandering the aisles at Bunnings. You can of course choose not to use some of these features. The costs to charge the car are still small relative to the cost of rego and insurance so I don't really worry about it.

For people that live in situations that cannot charge at home and can only fast charger the cost can currently be almost as much as petrol. But as more fast chargers come on line there will be more competition from independent suppliers like shopping centres and even conventional servos which should eventually drive the price down especially if they want to attract customers to buy other stuff while they are waiting to be charged. Companies like Shell in Europe are already doing this to attract awaiting EV charging customers. This sort of charging should eventually be very low cost during the day when there is excess solar.

Bob, I've followed this thread with much interest, not because I'm in the market for an EV, although that may happen way down the track, but just because.

One thing I was wondering about is to do with the kinds of things that happen with parking. Using a torque converter automatic transmission as an example, many people (myself included) when going forward and backwards, have a tendency to slip the transmission into D while the vehicle is still rolling backwards, and the opposite thing when slipping it into R while still rolling forwards.

Now at times with torque converter transmissions I have seen some people doing this while the vehicle was definitely going faster than a walking pace, with seemingly, no ill effect.

Is there something designed to stop something like this happening with your particular EV, or doesn't it matter?

Mick.

Originally Posted by Optimark

Now at times with torque converter transmissions I have seen some people doing this while the vehicle was definitely going faster than a walking pace, with seemingly, no ill effect.

Is there something designed to stop something like this happening with your particular EV, or doesn't it matter?

Hi Mark, Not sure about other EVs but with mine Fwd and Rev are switched electrically on the steering Column. If car is moving forward at no more than 8 kph you can flick into reverse no problem. Same when going in Reverse. If car is going faster than 8 kph it will not permit a change in direction change and throws up a "Computer says no" message on the screen.

Thanks for that.

Mick.