Worst charging situation possible.

[adric22]

So on Saturday I decided to undergo a project where I was going to be building something out of wood in the garage. I needed to move the Volt and Leaf out into the driveway. I expected to finish the project by the Sunday evening. However, the heat was unbearable, forcing me to take lots of breaks and just flat out give up for a few hours during the hottest part of the day.

So Sunday night came and I still couldn't get either of the cars into the garage to charge them on 240V. Fortunately the Volt was charged but the Leaf was drained. I had one heavy duty extension cord so I ran it out to the driveway and plugged the Leaf in on 120V. In the morning it had just finished charging about the time I needed to leave for work.

Well, I still didn't get finished with the project Monday evening. So now I was faced with a situation of two cars needing to charge and only a single 120V power source available. I allowed the Leaf to charge until 10:00 when I went to bed and swapped to the Volt for the rest of the night. That ended up giving the Leaf about 80% charge and the Volt 100%. Good enough for our two daily commutes. However, at this rate the Leaf will end up with 60% tomorrow, 40% the next day, etc. So if I don't get this project done ASAP, I guess we'll have no alternative but to start burning gasoline in the Volt.

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

 

[mwalsh]

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

Sorry for your woes.

I can...I mounted my EVSE by the garage door, so I could easily charge in the driveway. The flip side is that I need to back the LEAF in to charge, but that's not too big a deal.

 

[Assaf]

Haha, consider yourself lucky. Our only charging option is trickle, via an extension cord from our front porch out into the street. It's more than enough since our commute is transit and we average barely 15mi/day.

More seriously: just install (or have installed) another 15A circuit and breaker in your garage. Can't cost more than a couple hundred dollars, even if you have to take an electrician and pull a second line. If you have a box nearby it's only a few dozen $$.

 

[adric22]

Haha, consider yourself lucky. Our only charging option is trickle, via an extension cord from our front porch out into the street. It's more than enough since our commute is transit and we average barely 15mi/day.

More seriously: just install (or have installed) another 15A circuit and breaker in your garage. Can't cost more than a couple hundred dollars, even if you have to take an electrician and pull a second line. If you have a box nearby it's only a few dozen $$.

Actually, I have two independent 20A sockets in the garage. The trouble is I only have one heavy duty extension cord and didn't want to spend another $30 to buy another one. :-(

I just had not imagined a situation where both cars would have to stay outside for several days.

 

[jhm614]

So on Saturday I decided to undergo a project where I was going to be building something out of wood in the garage. I needed to move the Volt and Leaf out into the driveway. I expected to finish the project by the Sunday evening. However, the heat was unbearable, forcing me to take lots of breaks and just flat out give up for a few hours during the hottest part of the day.

So Sunday night came and I still couldn't get either of the cars into the garage to charge them on 240V. Fortunately the Volt was charged but the Leaf was drained. I had one heavy duty extension cord so I ran it out to the driveway and plugged the Leaf in on 120V. In the morning it had just finished charging about the time I needed to leave for work.

Well, I still didn't get finished with the project Monday evening. So now I was faced with a situation of two cars needing to charge and only a single 120V power source available. I allowed the Leaf to charge until 10:00 when I went to bed and swapped to the Volt for the rest of the night. That ended up giving the Leaf about 80% charge and the Volt 100%. Good enough for our two daily commutes. However, at this rate the Leaf will end up with 60% tomorrow, 40% the next day, etc. So if I don't get this project done ASAP, I guess we'll have no alternative but to start burning gasoline in the Volt.

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

I feel for you, brother. At least you have the Volt as a fall back. This also speaks to the problem of no public L2 charging in South Arlington. (Or much of Tarrant county for that matter...)

 

[RegGuheert]

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

Bummer.

That's one benefit of the EVSEupgrade approach. Simply use a $50 extension cord to allow a wide range of charging options.

 

[shrink]

Plug in the LEAF and just use gas in the Volt. Last week I actually had to do a fuel maintenance burn (not an engine maintenance burn) in my Volt because the fuel had gone stale. It took about a year for that to happen, but I essentially had to burn the whole tank of gas. You have to burn that gas in the Volt eventually. Seems like a perfect time to do so.

 

[scottf200]

Charge the LEAF as much as you need and then just charge the Volt with what is left over and if none then simply run the ICE. It is there to handle ANY situation you can't get a charge or use it all up. No big deal. Part of the philosophy and design.

Plug in the LEAF and just use gas in the Volt. Last week I actually had to do a fuel maintenance burn (not an engine maintenance burn) in my Volt because the fuel had gone stale. It took about a year for that to happen, but I essentially had to burn the whole tank of gas. You have to burn that gas in the Volt eventually. Seems like a perfect time to do so.

Hmm... actually I didn't think it burned the whole tank just part of it. I also think the Volt is tracking every time you put gas in it to keep a history and calc the staleness potential. I only put $10 at a time in mine. When it occasionally need it I add more. I haven't thus had that fuel maint burn in my 2.5 years of ownership with almost 24K EV miles.

 

[mikeEmike]

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

I run into the same problem with the garage occasionally being used for projects. I chose an EVSE with a long, heavy-duty cable, and mounted it in such a way that it can reach the charging port when park inside the garage or just outside the garage door. If I ever get a second EV or PZEV or something else that requires charging, I'm planning on putting it on the other side of the garage with the ability to reach the car from outside. Unfortunately, the Volt put the charging port on the side of the car, which makes it difficult to reach in this situation, and probably explains why I see so many Volts parked up close and parallel with the garage door.

Not sure if that's practical for the OP, but if it is, it might be worth it to move that 240V EVSE over to allow for easier charging from outside the garage, at least for the LEAF. You know what happens when you rush woodworking projects. :roll:

 

[LKK]

Why not plug on the Leaf and not worry about charging the Volt? Using a little gas until you finish seems the easiest and cheapest solution.

 

[ebill3]

Gee, that is really tough, but try living in a rental with a single quick 240 delivering 12 Amps for a LEAF and a Tesla Model S.

 

[shrink]

Hmm... actually I didn't think it burned the whole tank just part of it. I also think the Volt is tracking every time you put gas in it to keep a history and calc the staleness potential. I only put $10 at a time in mine. When it occasionally need it I add more. I haven't thus had that fuel maint burn in my 2.5 years of ownership with almost 24K EV miles.

Scott, good point. In my case, I hadn't put gas in the tank for over a year, so I actually wanted to burn off the whole thing. I had a full tank and I did have to burn down to at least half a tank, then I know I could have mixed new fuel with the old, but I think the fuel maintenance would have just come back on in 6 months rather than a year. I wanted it all gone.

Funny thing is, I tried to put in $10 which came to be about 3 gallons. I got back in the car and the fuel maintenance indicator was still on. I put 1.5 more gallons in to get a 1/2 tank and the fuel maintenance finally went away.

Anyway, to the OP, just plug in the LEAF. Seems like you're going out of your way to get a charge on both cars, but the gas in the Volt has to be used at some point. Using it for actual commuting rather than maintenance burns seems preferable.

 

[smkettner]

Plug in the LEAF and just use gas in the Volt. Last week I actually had to do a fuel maintenance burn (not an engine maintenance burn) in my Volt because the fuel had gone stale. It took about a year for that to happen, but I essentially had to burn the whole tank of gas. You have to burn that gas in the Volt eventually. Seems like a perfect time to do so.

+1

Or at least top off the Volt and let LEAF charge all night.
I think you had it backward topping off the LEAF and giving the Volt all night.

 

[smkettner]

Gee, that is really tough, but try living in a rental with a single quick 240 delivering 12 Amps for a LEAF and a Tesla Model S.

I have a rental in San Clemente... I would set you up for dual chargers on request

 

[adric22]

Or at least top off the Volt and let LEAF charge all night.
I think you had it backward topping off the LEAF and giving the Volt all night.

The logic behind that was that my wife was going to be driving the Volt the next morning. She pretty much comes home with 1 mile remaining on the Volt battery. My commute is much shorter, averaging about 12 miles per day. So I needed the charge less than her.

 

[Rat]

I measured carefully and had the 240 EVSE mounted about 8 feet from the garage door. The cord is long enough to reach the nose when the Leaf is parked inside (nose in, I don't back in) yet will also reach easily out to the driveway in case the Leaf is there. I did it so guests could use it or for some reason my wife's car had to park in the garage. I don't do big projects and only have one EV, so I don't face the problems of the OP, but it is possible to mount the EVSE to solve this problem. Of course, mounting it there may not be the cheapest spot.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

I mounted mine in the middle, so I can park my leaf any way, and even charge it outside with door closed if I pull the front close to garage door.

So the point of the story is.. If you have an EV you can't easily use your garage for long projects.

Sorry for your woes.

I can...I mounted my EVSE by the garage door, so I could easily charge in the driveway. The flip side is that I need to back the LEAF in to charge, but that's not too big a deal.

 

[MikeD]

One can imagine other situations that all of us may experience (again?) in the future, such as involving a lengthy neighborhood power failure. That kind of problem makes you fully appreciate having access to (and ability to use) a DC fast charger, where you can drive to, charge, and return with a significant capacity remaining.

 

[Assaf]

Haha, consider yourself lucky. Our only charging option is trickle, via an extension cord from our front porch out into the street. It's more than enough since our commute is transit and we average barely 15mi/day.

More seriously: just install (or have installed) another 15A circuit and breaker in your garage. Can't cost more than a couple hundred dollars, even if you have to take an electrician and pull a second line. If you have a box nearby it's only a few dozen $$.

Actually, I have two independent 20A sockets in the garage. The trouble is I only have one heavy duty extension cord and didn't want to spend another $30 to buy another one. :-(

I just had not imagined a situation where both cars would have to stay outside for several days.

Thanks for responding! If you have any more energy for advice-givers, I'd vote for putting in those $30 and getting another extension cable. These cables are not quite durable goods anyway - and if you find after say 1 year you have absolutely no use for it, you can probably sell it on Craigslist etc. for $15

Good luck staying charged up!

Assaf