Give up charging during winter?

1960s and one gas price war $.19/gal.

Bob Wilson

 

i remember when a gallon of milk was a quarter, gas is cheap today.

 

We get a 10 lb bag of spuds for free, pretty much every time we run low, by using our Save-On Foods loyalty card points. Best points deal in the store, and it keeps us off the streets, lol.

 

Before that you bought spuds underground? (black market)

 

Our grocery store provides free level-2 chargers. That keeps us on the streets.

 

I have no idea what you mean, but respect your right to say it, lol.

 

Judging by the vehicle choice and the typical driving style, the whole purpose of the vehicle for the SUV driver is to spend as much as possible on every trip.

 

agreed, and only one person in the beast most of the time.

 

Thanks,

• Parked on the top, open level, the pavement looks wet. Are they using just salt or something special?
• What do you use for window washing fluid in that sort of cold?
• How do you handle tire air? The reason I ask I got a TPS warning that cleared while driving warmed up the tires, 38 psi -> 40 psi and the alarm went off. I am thinking of doing a 'cold' inflation to my normal 45 psi.
• At 3:00, I see: elapsed 00:30, average speed 27 mph, and EV Driving Ratio 44%. Yet I get the impression the engine ran the whole time. This suggests the engine was cycling like it normally does in HV mode.
• Parked at end: elapsed time 00:40, average speed 27 mph, and EV driving ratio 50%

It looks like there is an "Engine ON + EV mode" that remains active below 14F versus using just "HV mode". Since our temperatures are above 14F, I've only seen it long enough to pay the engine warm-up penalty. Does this match your understanding?

Would driving in "HV mode" instead of "Engine ON + EV mode" achieve similar MPG performance or would one have significantly better performance?

Living in more temperate Dixie, my focus has been on returning to "EV mode" when an avoidable event triggers the "Engine ON" versus continuing to drive in "Engine ON + EV mode" for the warm-up. So far, I've triggered "Engine ON" by cruise control with SOC > 90% and steep grades ascending or descending. But my typical trip around town is within a 10 mile radius from home and often free charging at destinations.

Regardless, thanks for the video.

Bob Wilson

ps. 10F in Dixie at 5 AM ... Road Trip!

 

It was about 0 degrees this morning. My charging connector froze to the charging port. A few minutes blowing on it with a hair dryer allowed me to get it out.

 

Hi Bob, Our climates seem similar, My daily route in very mountainous so that allows extreme heat and moderate return of full charge on downhill. On uphill I turn fan off and just use natural air flow. Charge every night, car is outside. I just keep the car always in Eco + ev auto.
there are two ev positions, I really can’t see the difference between them. Going: = 200mpg plus
Return: = 60-80 mpg, on the return the ev auto allows charging as needed, (uphill ) If I average them, then I’m getting 100 mpg plus. Seems pretty damn good to me.

 

You went through that ordeal, you probably got about 15 miles on the charge, rode in a cold car and saved about $.50 by using electricity instead of gas. I'm in PA about 50 miles north of Philly, I still plug in to charge but questioning my reasoning for buying a plug in. It does not seem to make sense in Northern states. If the rebates and tax credits go away, I see plug-in sales cratering.

 

Time will tell.

 

lol guys for anybody reading my post I swap between the gen 3, plug in, and prime forums. When I used my calcs I could've sworn I was in the 12 plug in sub forum. So adjust for prime numbers and they will be more correct. Everything gets worse than epa mpg in the winter so calc accordingly.
Yeah it seems like it kind of sucks to drive a hybrid in the winter more than normal. The engine just isn't able to stay off as often and drives almost like a standard econo vehicle. Regular vehicles won't take as much of a hit because they are always this inefficient with the engine running constantly and it's no different. Kind of funny to think.

 

Ask John.

 

Crazy example for the south. Me and my dad have been looking at a hybrid solar system for our houses. In AR we have natural gas production in state. I compared my average electricity price versus avg therm price of natty gas. 11.35c/kW avg vs 1.80/therm.
My 15 year old water heater that should be on its way out is .54 efficient NG heater. It cost is cheaper to run than a .95 eff Elec heater (27% cheaper) for my location. Calc'd out it cost about the same to run as if an elec unit was 100% eff.
So I'll end up going to a NG unit with .79 eff with a wifi controller for my nest stat since my house wasn't built to adapt to a tankless. (tankless elec units take a 150a breaker which is basically my entire panel, gas is the same per gas lines etc...)
My dad is looking to convert to a tankless and the gap between NG and Elec is even crazier!
Tankless NG is .94 eff and Elec instant was 99.98 per Rheem published numbers. That ended up being basically 75% more expensive to run! Holy crap.
Have you guys ever seen the electricity rates in Australia? Seems like the more populated we get, and the more electric adoption for home heaters, and plug in vehicles it seems like the electric price will just go up even further. Better build a house for solar lol

 

6°F this morning. Had two stops/errands on the commute to into work. Averaged 89 MPG in total comfort.

When the temperature rises 10 degrees I'll be back to electric-only driving.

The choice to buy a Prime has been a no-brainer.

 

Since the start of winter in New England, a portable wind-turbine-powered charger would have been nice to have

takeasmuchsnowasyouwant

 

at 24 cents a kWh up here, solar should pay off in no time.

 

It's possible that the running of the ICE/generator is to power the battery warmer to get the battery up to a more useful temperature. There is a temperature below which the warmer can't keep up. My house is the same. Below 10f, indoor temperature starts to drop towards the 50's.