Public Charging Stations

Send your message again, but this time to the CEO and identify how many PIP's are in your area. Also indicate that 5000 PIP's are being delivered to the US.

 

One thought to Quickly Secure your cable is to open the back window, use something like the below plastic $5 locking clamp around the cable and roll up the window lightly touching the cable with the clamp inside. Then lock the car. Noone will be able to steal your cable and it's Quick too.

 

I read recently that Best Buy and Walgreens are planning on installing charge stations at some of their stores as a way draw in customers to their stores who might not normally stop there. I would definitely be going to their stores more to help support their efforts (maybe buying something there that I might normally get somewhere else). I think it is important to make EV transportation more visible to the general public.

On the other hand, I won't worry too much about paying a little extra money to use a charger (at Ikea, for example) even if the price doesn't save me money. I want to burn less gas and support the EV movement.

[I also would like to pad my EV miles ratio in my (soon to arrive) PiP. ]

 

You have no choice. We're getting together at either there or the Mall of America for a knowledge exchange. Resistence is futile.
.

 

I just signed up for a year with Blink at no charge until 2013. The city Blink Level-2 chargers near here have no charge for power. So, it's a win-win for me right now. Just have to wait 2 or 3 weeks for my PiP.

 

To expound on this, Blink is waiving membership fees for 2012 if you sign up for Blink Plus:

https://www.blinknetwork.com/membership.html

Hm, not sure if it is worth it in Los Angeles, tho'. L2 charging seems to be free in LA according to BlinkMap.

 

Is there any long-term risk to the battery to charge say 1/3 of the way during a visit to Best Buy or Ikea? Will it reduce its capacity more than always fully recharging?

Also, would it be better to use L1 over L2 when you have the time and the option? Just wondering if using L2 is more detrimental to the long-term capacity of the battery than a slower charge?

 

There's no memory effect in Li-ion batteries (or NiMH for that matter), so not doing a full charge should be fine.

The difference between L1 and L2 charging is ~1.5kW vs. ~3kW. Both of these are very small compared to the rate that the battery can be discharged while driving (which I believe is a max 38kW), so charging the battery even w/ L2 is still very low stress compared to driving.

 

The closest Walgreens to my house had one put in a month or two ago.

 

ryogajyc is correct. Either charge rate is very, very conservative. Even the level 2 charger is charging below 1C (C=capacity) and
1C is the base charge rate for most any LiPo battery. Modern quality LiPo batteries can handle charge rates up to even 8C.
No worries.
The only reason the level 2 charger is special is because a 240V electrical connection is used to keep the electrical load down on your house wiring. And most houses in the US don't have extra 240v outlets around. Electric Clothes dryers and electric ovens use them, but most folk probably don't realize even that.

 

EV'ers were trying to get Costco back on board for months and months prior to PiP's hitting the road. Unfortunately, the 'battle' wasn't important to anyone, until it becomes OUR battle.


.

 

In their reply they also asserted that there are too few EVs on the road to justify the investment. They did not say this, but note that most PiP owners and some Volt owners will still not patronize a store based solely on its having a charger, since they do not absolutely need it, and Leaf owners might not do so unless they need the charge. Tesla owners cannot use the J1772 plug, though maybe that will change with the Model S.

I don't shop at Costco or Walmart anyway, and with 254 miles of range, I won't ever be using public charging.

There should be no harm in charging part way. "Opportunity charging" is always good. In fact, charging part way is probably better than charging to full, if your car permits charging to full. That's why both Nissan and Tesla recommend using their respective cars' option to charge to about 80% (Leaf) or 90% (Tesla Roadster) unless you need the range.

As for prices, the free market will set those. At first, while and where chargers are scarce, some will charge a lot to profit from desperate drivers, some will charge less to try to increase usage, and some will see chargers as a loss leader to get people into the stores. Eventually supply and demand will settle the prices, I'd guess at around half-way between home electric prices and equivalent gas prices. Note that there's the capital cost of installing the chargers and the cost of the billing system and maintenance.

Some stores might not want to encourage people to loaf around their stores for several hours while their cars charge. They want customers to come in, buy something, and then get out. Others might hope that while meandering the aisles waiting for their car to charge, you'll buy something else that catches your eye. So you'll probably see chargers at some stores but not others. Or you might see some with time limits on the chargers. Or even a ticket system that gives you variable time depending on how much you spend and charges you beyond that time.

 

Are you suggesting that we should consider only charging our PiP's to about 80%? If I assume it takes about 2.5h on L1 to get from empty to full, I could use the timer to charge for only 2 hours for example... Or, given we don't have 100% electric and the risks associated with total capacity drop over time, then maybe it's not worth thinking about, and just go get the full range now each time.

Speaking of which: 29.1 miles commute today - 96MPG! EV hit 0mi right at my office. :rockon:

 

We PiP owners don't have to worry about it. Toyota software will not let the battery get fully charged (our 100% charge is really the battery's 80% charge).

Wow! Great driving statistics! (I almost can't believe your numbers).

 

Brilliant - thanks Toyota!!

And yeah, the numbers are amazing. I used EV from home to the highway. Power to get up to speed fast with a combination of EV and HV/Eco on the highway depending on speeds, including going over the 680 pass between Sunol and Fremont. On the downhill leg I regenerated some EV (maybe .5?) but also got some off the ICE at times. And then EV the whole rest of the way (some highway traffic and surface streets) to my office where I'm juicing up right now. It said I averaged about 34MPH, though there was plenty of 65-72 going on in there too.

Optimizing this is making commuting fun!

 

Did your car tell you how many miles were driven on EV?

Doing the math (making the assumption of 50MPG for gas alone)...

Gas used = (29.1 miles) / (96 miles / gallon) = 0.303 gallons
Gas miles = (50 miles / gallon) x 0.303 gallons = 15.15 miles

EV miles = 13.95 miles!

 

Is total EV miles on the % EV / % HV screen? Where would I find that info? With regeneration, I certainly got more EV miles than the initial charge indicated (11.9mi).

 

It is just sad that I have eight unused 240 v outlets in my garage, two are 3 phase. Next time I buy a hybrid, it will be Plug In.

 

What are all those outlets for???

 

We are at least the fourth owners of the house since it was built in the early 1950's (the garage was added later) I am told one owner had a vending machine business and one had a 'shop' in the garage, I am just happy that the 120 v plugs in the garage are grounded, unlike the house/. Like many houses in town, our A/C was 3 phase.