Feeding trough

[TEG]

Palo Alto city hall now has two Coulomb J1772s and a legacy small paddle, so look who shows up to feed:

 

[ericsf]

Awesome. I was charging there about a month ago while shopping at the Apple store.
I'd rather see this than empty spots or worse ICEs !

 

[TRONZ]

OK, I see two electric cars and a Volt...

 

[mwalsh]

OK, I see two electric cars and a Volt...

I see two cars that will be relevant for the next decade or so.....and a Volt. :lol:

Thanks Tronz for the new fun game!

 

[mitch672]

The Volt and Plug in Prius will be important "bridge" vehicles, to convince the general population to consider EV's, don't write them off yet, it doesn't have to be. "all or nothing", at least, not yet. Not everyone can accept the Leafs limited range and long recharge time.

 

[TEG]

Say what you will about the Volt, at least this was a case where it was being charged up so that some of its' driven miles would be from electricity, not gasoline.

 

[LEAFfan]

Not everyone can accept the Leafs limited range and long recharge time.

It will be only limited until the QCs are installed, which will be by the end of this year or beginning of 2012. Who told you LEAFs had long recharge times? The average charge is about one and a half hours! I guess 'long' is a relative term, but I don't consider and hour to an hour and a half 'long'. You've probably read all that propaganda (some people call it FUD) about it taking 8 hours to charge to 100% (most people charge only to 80%). My Blink will charge mine @ less than 30 mins. per bar to 80% which is plenty for our driving needs. The other day, it charged from 5 to 10 bars in only an hour and a half! :mrgreen:

 

[highcountryrider]

No need to disparage the Volt. It's not for me; I want "zero" tailpipe emissions
and the LEAF meets most of my driving needs. But I still need my Starlet for trips.
For some the Volt or Prius would be a better choice.

 

[mwalsh]

The Volt isn't cutting it, even for GM. Dealers currently have 22 days worth of cars sitting on lots, which is unheard of for a "hot" model. But then, we've only GM's word for it that it's hot. If I were a betting man, I'd say they'll look at killing it by 2013 unless sales improve dramatically (which could happen if they could get the price down). Most probably with the familiar whine "We tried and nobody wanted it".

 

[TomT]

Of course, once production is finally ramped up, we may find the same is true about the Leaf... Only time will tell for both of them... It will also be interesting to see what the market demand is for the PHEV Prius versus the standard version once the new wears off and the early adopters are no longer in that market...

The Volt isn't cutting it, even for GM. Dealers currently have 22 days worth of cars sitting on lots, which is unheard of for a "hot" model. But then, we've only GM's word for it that it's hot. If I were a betting man, I'd say they'll look at killing it by 2013 unless sales improve dramatically (which could happen if they could get the price down). Most probably with the familiar whine "We tried and nobody wanted it".

 

[mitch672]

Not everyone can accept the Leafs limited range and long recharge time.

It will be only limited until the QCs are installed, which will be by the end of this year or beginning of 2012. Who told you LEAFs had long recharge times? The average charge is about one and a half hours! I guess 'long' is a relative term, but I don't consider and hour to an hour and a half 'long'. You've probably read all that propaganda (some people call it FUD) about it taking 8 hours to charge to 100% (most people charge only to 80%). My Blink will charge mine @ less than 30 mins. per bar to 80% which is plenty for our driving needs. The other day, it charged from 5 to 10 bars in only an hour and a half! :mrgreen:

So your going to drive 150 miles at highway speed, and stop somewhere and charge it in 1.5 hours on a J1772 charger, really now, I was born on a weekend, but not last weekend.

I'm not talking about California (or the handfull of other EVP states) and the $100 million EV project.
FYI, most if the country still can't even buy a Leaf.
and with the SAE J1772 DC standard "gumming up the works", I wouldn't count on DC fast chargers anywhere except California, where the government has already paid for them (EV project)

Nope, in the majority if the country EVs won't be able to count on DC quick charging, and won't be usable for long distance driving for years, if ever.

Hence the need for bridge vehicles, like the Volt and Plug in Prius.

 

[occ]

Not everyone can accept the Leafs limited range and long recharge time.

It will be only limited until the QCs are installed, which will be by the end of this year or beginning of 2012. Who told you LEAFs had long recharge times? The average charge is about one and a half hours! I guess 'long' is a relative term, but I don't consider and hour to an hour and a half 'long'. You've probably read all that propaganda (some people call it FUD) about it taking 8 hours to charge to 100% (most people charge only to 80%). My Blink will charge mine @ less than 30 mins. per bar to 80% which is plenty for our driving needs. The other day, it charged from 5 to 10 bars in only an hour and a half! :mrgreen:

Well, you know GM will have something up their sleeves: AB475-a : All vehicle at ChadeMo Quick charge station must be plugged-in for the purpose of charging for a minimum of 3 hours or vehicle will be towed at owners expense.

 

[TomT]

Clearly most people are driving less than me then... My average charge is about 4 to 4.5 hours at home...

Who told you LEAFs had long recharge times? The average charge is about one and a half hours!

 

[LEAFer]

Comment ... in support of multiple posts above, such as

Say what you will about the Volt, at least this was a case where it was being charged up so that some of its' driven miles would be from electricity, not gasoline.

and

No need to disparage the Volt. It's not for me; I want "zero" tailpipe emissions
and the LEAF meets most of my driving needs. But I still need my Starlet for trips.
For some the Volt or Prius would be a better choice.

I aspire to ZERO tailpipe emissions too. But in response to those that have a "problem" with the Volt ... what if the Volt you saw was the THIRD vehicle in a three-car three-person household ?! While the first two vehicles were already 100% BEV ? In that case the Volt is used for the occasional long-distance trip

 

[TEG]

In Redwood City today. Tesla owner must not have a J1772 adapter. Just as well, because the Volt & Leaf needed the two ChargePoints:

 

[mwalsh]

In Redwood City today. Tesla owner must not have a J1772 adapter. Just as well, because the Volt & Leaf needed the two ChargePoints:

Couple of observations: 1) That Tesla is about to get towed (let's pretend the new law is already in place). 2) That Volt only desires the CP, it doesn't need it.

 

[TEG]

Couple of observations: 1) That Tesla is about to get towed (let's pretend the new law is already in place). 2) That Volt only desires the CP, it doesn't need it.

Yeah, I was thinking that about the Tesla. But I think that spot doesn't have the right signage to enforce that sort of towing.

Also, I hear you on the Volt... But what if they were out of gasoline and were charging to drive in EV mode to a gas station?
In any case, I am glad they are getting some electricity so that some of their driven miles won't be from gas.

 

[Yanquetino]

Also, I hear you on the Volt... But what if they were out of gasoline and were charging to drive in EV mode to a gas station?

Aha! In which case the electric drivetrain is the range extender for its gasoline engine. :lol:

 

[Yanquetino]

Yeah, I was thinking that about the Tesla. But I think that spot doesn't have the right signage to enforce that sort of towing.

Not to worry: if the governor signs AB475, I'm sure GM will gladly foot the bill to replace those signs, as well as install two more EVSEs, right? :roll:

NOT! They'll be ice skating in Hades first.

 

[ERG4ALL]

GM may kill the volt due to its price/complexity, but I hope that the demand is good enough to entice some die-hard ICE people to stick a toe in the EV world. Another reason GM may NOT kill the Volt is that it recently signed a contract with A123 to supply batteries in an upcoming all-EV offering from GM. This could spill over into the Volt and increase its appeal. In the May edition of Car and Driver there was a quote from A123 that said with the use of nano technology and photolithography they believe they will be able to make a battery with 4 to 5 times the energy density of todays lithium-ion batteries. If that is more than just hype, it could become a game changer if the price is right.