Featured Americans insist on 300 miles of EV range. They’re right

I have about 41K on my Tesla M3. It started out with 310 miles (actually 308 is the highest I saw) and the last time I did a full charge it was at 285. So about an 8% loss so far. I charge with L2 most of the time.
I doubt I'll be down another 17% in 9K miles.

Are those Google numbers possible. Sure, but probably not on the average.
I did have an engine completely fail in my first car at 25K miles and had to be rebuilt, too.

Mike

 

I've posted these numbers so many times that I've short cutted my explanation.
65% own their homes, including condos. But about 65% also live in a house with a garage or a carport, so that includes owners and renters.

Owners/renters with a garage or carport own about 2.2 cars per household
Renters in apartments own about 1.0 cars per household.

Therefore, households with garages/carports own about 70% - 80% of the cars depending on geographic region (west being the highest, northeast the lowest)

Mike

 

What are the odds a house that is rented comes with ready access to a 240 line? What are the odds that the renter would want to install such a circuit? The odds that the owner would allow? Doesn't that lower the prospect number? Ditto for condos.

Until it is a thing that prospective renters start asking for....

I'm thinking of adding a circuit to my house planning to sell in a few years just to add a selling feature? It is a two car garage. Two circuits? Get up at midnight to swap the plug to the second car? Where will this madness stop.

How do you handle fire detection in a garage? ICE will trigger a detector won't it? What do codes say?

 

I am using an App TezLab that does a reasonable, not quite perfect, record of my 2019 Model 3 Std Rng Plus driving and battery status:

Expected, my 106,439 mi Model 3 range is down (217 - 240) / 240 `~= 9.5%. I will get a better estimate in the morning as I am driving to Vicksburg Saturday.

Bob Wilson

 

The company 'Lectron' has a switching, NEMA 14-50 device. Down to just one EV, I don't need one but I had considered making my own. FYI, you can also reduce fire risk by limiting current to what is needed overnight, time of day, and/or just a slower but acceptable rate for your usage.

Bob Wilson

 

mikefocke:

Does this product automatically due what you were asking?
NeoCharge 240V smart splitter - 5 seconds to dual EV charging (electrek.co)
There are more this is just one example.
Grizzl-E Duo Level 2 Dual EV Charger (240 Volt, 24ft Cable, 40 Amp) NEMA 14-50 Plug, ideal for two electric cars • EV Adept

With a good UL listed smart charger you will have ground and arc protection already with current limiting detection among other features.

Electric fires in any situation are very tricky but if the circuits trip it becomes more manageable unless batteries/capacitors/electric components are involved- then we might be back to the tricky to manage the fire scenario automatically.

Maybe an electric car and home charging merits a good ABC extinguisher in the garage.

As a PHEV and Home Charger advocate and owner I hadn't thought of this and want to thank you for bringing it up.

My next trip to Lowes/Home Depot has an ABC fire extinguisher for the garage added to it.

 

Prospective renters are already asking for it and low availability is already distorting the rental and employment markets.

Our house came with a smoke detector in the garage. We added a CO detector to defend against the danger of pushbutton-start cars.

We also added an automatic closer to the door going into the home from the garage- that's current building code here, but wasn't when the garage was added.

And although the previous owner already had a fire extinguisher in the garage, I upgraded it to a larger size because there aren't any hydrants on my street.

 

The risk of fire in an EV battery is virtuously zero if the EV has LiFePO4 batteries. I would only consider an EV with fire safe batteries in my garage.

JeffD

 

CO detectors and Smoke detectors in the garage sound like nice additions for home safety.

Any nuisance detections with the garage units?

 

It's a serious safety issue. Already one family member has discovered their pushbutton-start car "mysteriously out of gas" in the garage. It must have run all weekend. Thankfully that garage always has one door open and isn't directly connected to their home.

No false alarms from the cars. Once or twice grilling smoke wafted in a back door and set them off.

I've also thought about a heat detector for battery-related fires where there may not be much CO or smoke until surrounding items are already involved.

 

We've known people to put carbon monoxide detectors in the garage only for them to go off when you start the car up. It doesn't take that much if the carbon monoxide rise is a high concentration. Our security people put in a heat rise sensor telling us that's the best way to go.
.

 

What is the risk of fire with non fire safe battery EV vs a gasoline car?

 

At least back when we became homeowners, smoke detectors were recommended against in garages. I installed one anyway, due to a serial arsonist on the loose who focused on garages and carports. Even after he went to prison (since released), I kept it in place. It hasn't had a problem with false ICE alerts, even before Prius.

In theory, any wall between a dwelling and attached garage should be both a firewall and a chemical fume barrier. Not sure how many codes actually call those out, or how much new construction meets those needs. Much old construction certainly doesn't.

 

Thanks for the education folks. Son has a three year old house in a progressive county but I'll pass on all I learned here.

I have a ABC fire extinguisher between my bedroom and the garage and kitchen. But no detectors in the garage. And yes I've left the hybrid running (absolutely my fault, nothing suspicious, just distracted from the routine when I stopped the car) twice in the past year. Once played 18 holes of golf only to return to a still in run mode car.

Just ran into a new chargepoint charger (single post, two different cords) at a little fishing supplies gas station 30 miles up the road. Not 50 yards from a major highway but the last place I would have expected to find one. Truly redneck place. Guys gambling in the parking lot. But wandering around waiting for my grandson to be dropped off I saw what could have been a inflation dispenser but on further investigation. And must have seen 50 Teslas in 150 miles of driving today.

 

Checking a non-Tesla charger map, for charging options in place of non-existent T-Supercharger sites along the 'signature' scenic route I have described, it seems the most common L2 options are still 6.5 kW, along with a smattering of 9.6 and fewer 19.2 kW sites.

When using RV parks to fill in, common 50A / 240V service should be good for 9.6kW. When the only available spaces are 30- or 20-A / 120V, rates will be much lower. But even the best RV park charging times will be greater than driving times. Not much problem for the driving days shorter than battery range when overnight charging is available, but a major issue for the longer distance days.

 

I have no idea about the "odds"
I'm just noting the possible number of people that could more easily install a charger vs those that may live in an apartment, for example.

I'm seeing the half full part of the glass (that's actually closer to 75% full) while you continue to just see the empty part.

As EVs get better and better and cheaper and cheaper more and more of these possible places to locate chargers will get them as market conditions demand them.

Eventually owners will need to install chargers if they want to keep renting or want to get top dollar.
In between renters owner often do renovations spending far more on carpet or bathroom remodels than any charger would likely cost.
Why? Because the place might be unrentable with the old carpet or old bathroom.

Mike

 

.02... I installed 120V USB outlets in each bedroom and kitchen in one of our rentals so that tenants could charge there devices with ease. We also updated the lighting to LED's and lit the single car garage really well. This made us one of the most modern townhomes in the area. We had 4 overs over asking and sold quickly. Some upgrades are very cheap to do. A L2 EV charge station is not necessarily a perk for most tenants...but it will be...it will take time and the correct tenants. But if your property is one of the few to appear in a search on rent.com WITH an L2 EV charger......you get more views and get a direct connection to those that need one.

 

Dang. Tesla just reopened their referral program: Loot Box | Tesla Support

Loot Box is our referral program that helps Tesla owners share their passion for our products and our mission — to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. As an owner, every time you bring a new friend or family member into the Tesla community, you and your friend both earn credits — you earn Referral Credits and your friend earns Buyer Credits. You also earn Loyalty Credits when you purchase additional qualifying Tesla products, as a thank you for being a loyal Tesla owner.
. . .
When you purchase a qualifying Tesla product through a referral link, you and your friend will both earn credits. The referral cannot be added after the order is placed.

To purchase with a referral link:

1. Visit your friend’s referral link.
2. Purchase the Tesla product of your choice from the referral link.
3. After you place the order, credits will appear as ‘pending’ in the referrer’s Loot Box until the Grant Date.

​

Refer a Friend
Earn Loyalty Credits
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Bob Wilson

 

There's no way those percentages are true now. Maybe when the 11-12 Leafs came out. I had a 19 Leaf that had about 45k miles and it was at 88% SOH, exclusively DC charged. The Leaf still doesn't have active cooling but most of the EVs now have. For the average user, expect a 5%/yr or less degredation.

 

tesla claims 10% after 20 years iirc. that may be on new tech, i'm not sure.

i've lost 20% over eleven years on my pip, and i expect modern bevs to do much better than that.