OK, trying to catch up all at once here.
Love the Model 3, love the direction of innovation, but we still ain’t there.
So say 100,000 Model 3’s come onto the Ontario roads over the next 2 years, all those existing mall chargers will be full, all the time, and lineups at a supercharger? HAH, no thanks Wynn.
What’s the current and forecasted script for Ont-errible to upgrade the existing powergrid?—will it cope with an additional 100,000 people plugging in for that sweet electric juice during off peak hours? Probably, how about 200,000? And beyond?
As was mentioned in a few other replies, public charging becomes less and less *essential* and more and more *optional* as battery technology increases. Fact is the average consumer drives under 50KM a day, and even ones like my wife commuting longer distances are still within the 50-60% capacity of the battery on something like a Bolt or Model3, so in the end public charging is becoming less and less essential - plugging in at home is the norm, and everything else doesn't matter that much.
Do any electric/ER EV's have any tow rating? Obviously there would be a range hit, but they seem ideally suited for towing with tons of torque and no transmission to blow up/generate heat. I suspect manufacturers will continue the stupid SUV game where they will only rate their high profit margin vehicles even in the cheaper/smaller vehicles are entirely competent.
People tow with the Volt and report it does well, with of course the corresponding major hit to EV range and gas mileage.
I am not aware of Ontario study on this subject, but I doubt we have to do anything special to accommodate 200K EV's ... don't forget we have abundance of electricity we regularly SELL to our grid neighbors. We beg them to take it and then we pay them for that favor ..... as crazy as it sounds!
I hear this argument all the time - the grid can't handle EV's. Bunk. The greater majority of people charge at off peak times when electricity is plentiful and often going unused, and yes, as was mentioned a few times we often PAY other provinces or US States to take it off our hands at that point. All that's needed is an EV specific "super off peak" rate to further incentivise people to charge overnight and then we actually end up ahead - Ontario Hydro actually
MAKES money on electricity that would otherwise be given away at a loss.
One thing I foresee as the number of EVs increases is that the free charging stations will no longer be free. You'll have to pay for the power at either a break even rate or allow for a profit margin.
Most EV owners would be more than happy to pay for the actual electricity costs as it still beats the comparative consumption of gasoline many times over. My wife is a good example - we have offered to pay for her consumption at work if they let her charge there, but unfortunately even that hasn't helped the situation yet - we are still working on it.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/cut-off-condo-says-resident-can-t-charge-electric-car-1.3529379
TL
R A lady bought a Volt and was charging it in her condo parking lot (using an outlet designed for block heaters). Property Manager shut off the outlet as she was stealing power. She offered to pay $35/month for access to power. Condo board rejects her offer and plans on conducting a thorough review of feasibility of EV charging.
Hopefully she can charge at work, otherwise the Volt was a huge waste for her.
This is a story that really burned my *** and shows the stupidity and misinformation people are basing EV decisions on.
She offered to pay for the electricity (!!) at a rate than exceeds what the Volt would likely have ever consumed in a month, and the required infrastructure is ALREADY THERE - those block heater circuits are almost certainly wired (per code) individually to be able to carry the 8 amps required at minimum...or very likely the 12 amps required for the faster option, especially in the summer when nobody is using block heaters. There IS no safety concern and there IS no cost concern for the condo board - to the contrary, there's a profit to be made.
But nope, it's probably a board full of either old codgers with nothing else to do except make stupid rules, or it's full of people who simply don't understand EV's and think that they're using $10 or $20 of electricity to charge every day.
Don't even get me started on the underlying stupidity of there being block heater plugs in a Toronto condo to begin with, especially if this was underground parking where it hardly even gets cold to begin with? Completely and utterly unnecessary with 99.9% of the winter weather we get here - this is not the far north of Ontario, and it's not 30 years ago when cars wouldn't start without being plugged in, either.
The amount of electricity all those who DO use these plugs unnecessarily in the winter is consuming would probably outweigh (many, MANY times over) the amount this Volt owner would use in an entire year.
Again, stupidity.
This needs to change and this sort of stupidity needs to stop.
Are you serious? You think they will pass a law guaranteeing access to power? I can't see that happening for existing buildings. Maybe planning/building departments require installation of power in new buildings to accomodate EV's, but that still doesn't stop the board from passing bylaws that prohibit charging.
Pretty sure that I had read that all newbuild homes in Ontario now required a ~50A receptacle prewired for EV purposes. Could be wrong as I can't seem to find any reference to it, but regardless, I do think it will come - times are changing and stories like the above condo board saga where some can't see beyond the end of their own noses (or fear changed based on FUD) will force the government to step in and make things right.
I've read numerous stories of workers who were issued Volts as work vehicles and upon lease return, it was discovered that it was never plugged it in even once.
Most of these were probably car where the company paid for the gas. No reason to plug it in and use your hydro when the company is paying for your gas.
EXACTLY. If my employer gave me an EV like the Volt and then also gave me a card with unlimited "Free" gas on it, well...yeah, sorry, as much as I'm an EV proponent, I'm not paying out of my own pocket for the electricity to charge it when I can burn "Free" gas instead.
Ididn't want the hassle or spend the money to wire a charger in their house.
others, the novelty of "plugging in" wears off and they can't be bothered anymore.
For the guy with a Tesla on reserve, I won't even get into the off the chart irony in that part of your reply.
Musk announced that 60,000+ M3 cancellations so far, ~450,000 preorders still on the books.
I don't think cancellation numbers a a good indicator of much at this point, especially when new ones are taking up the holes. Lets reassess in 6 or 12 months however once the "real world" stories arrive.
Is there an MPG number for the volts that NEVER get to be plugged in? So their lifetime MPG assuming that the car is running solely on engine-and-gas generated electricity and the bit scavenged from regen?
Funny you should ask. Just got back from a family function in Hamilton. Couldn't find anywhere to plug in at the venue (outside Hamilton) so we drove back today on gas alone. 4 of us in the car, with luggage, and not making much effort to drive in any sort of eco-nut fashion. I (ahem), kept up with traffic, I passed when necessary, I didn't draft or do much aside from use cruise when I could, which given the nature of many dolt Toronto drivers who can't maintain any speed for more than 4 seconds at a time..wasn't much.
And it yielded this:
No complaints. That's basically real-world Prius MPG, and I know I could have had it under 5 easily with a little effort, but I rembered seeing this response yesterday and decided to just drive what most would consider 'normal'.
This was one of the longer all-highway trips I've driven the Volt on and there's two observations I now have:
- Passing power is AWESOME. Since there's always that battery reserve ready to go when you punch on it to go around somethign it's just takes off like a scared cat instantly.
- It's very easy to get going very fast without realizing it because things happen so silently. The power is linear and there's no gear shifts or roaring engine noises to give you that tactile or audible indicator that you're still accelerating...until you look at the speedo.
Still loving this car.
Sorry for the epic reply.
