Three Years of Nissan Leaf Driving Part 3 of 3

In part 1, I talked about all the fun I have had with this car. In part 2, you saw the measured and predicted range degradation. In this finale, we'll cover the capacity bars, range estimation, & the mysterious 3000 charging events.

Capacity Bars

The Nissan Leaf has a 12 bar meter to show you how much capacity the battery pack has left. These are shown on the right in the image below. As you can see, my car only has 11 of the 12 bars.

2011 Nissan Leaf - After three years of ownership

The capacity bars (right) are different from the "fuel gauge" bars (left). The bars on the left show you how full the batteries are currently. While the capacity bars on the right show you how healthy the batteries are compared to a new pack. As you saw in part 2, over time the range of a battery electric car slowly decreases.

As you can see in the image above, I have lost one of my capacity bars. This happen at the 2 year 11 month mark. Nissan has said that they expect the 12th bar to the one that "goes the fastest". Meaning that the degradation rate slows as the battery ages (given similar usage and environment). This matches the battery aging model's prediction. We shall see.

I started comparing notes with some of my fellow EV drivers. Several of us received our Leafs around the same time. The 12th bar seemed to started dropping at the 2 year mark for high mileage drivers here in Oregon. Now, as we approach the 3 year mark, the 12th bar is dropping away from many of the cars. Yet, there are still a few even some that are over 50,000 miles that still have all 12. This is what you would expect from a normal Gaussian distribution.

2011 Nissan Leaf on her 3rd birthday, fresh from a rain shower bath

One comparison example, my friend and fellow EV driver, Alan, picked up his Leaf near the same time I did and now we both have just over 26,000 miles. However, our driving and charging patterns are very different. I drive about 20 miles a day and have only taken the car on a few roadtrips. Alan only drives a few miles on most days but takes several treks from Corvallis to Portland and back monthly. He has quick charged 330 times and level 2 charged only 548 times. My car, on the other hand, has only quick charged 26 times and level 2 charged 3017 times. Yet within a month of each other we both dropped our 12th bar.

From my little sample set, three years seems to be near the mean of the 12th bar's life. It would be very interesting to have access to all of the battery information that Nissan has collected. What matters most to battery lifespan & degradation? Is it ambient temp, fast charging, miles driven, age, depth of discharge... All of these are relevant to some degree. A published correlation analysis would be very informative.

The 2014 Leaf no longer has the 80% charge (long battery life) option. Is this because Nissan saw that it had only a minor effect relative to other factors? Or was it simply to avoid the EPA rule changes that included this in the range estimation? Which factors matter most?

Guess-o-meter

Above you can new compared to three years old for my 2011 Leaf. I included these images earlier to show the capacity bars. The number in the lower left is the range estimation value. This is the car's estimation of how far you can drive given the current charge. These are far more optimistic than the EPA range estimate. These values are based on my recent driving. It is important to note that this is just an estimate. Many Leaf owners affectionately (or not) refer to this as the guess-o-meter(GOM). The value depends on how you have been driving recently. For example, if you were to drive from Timberline to Welches, OR (20 miles, nearly all downhill), the GOM would show an unrealistically high value. This estimate is based on your recent driving, not the drive that is likely coming up. Future driving condition predictions would be very difficult to get correct; whereas, past data is easy to collect and analyze, so the latter method used.

I prefer to use Leaf Spy's range estimate since it used a fixed efficiency value that can be adjusted as needed. If there is any concern that I may not make it to my destination, I can set the efficiency rate based on the route ahead that I plan on taking. This gives me a range based on my predicted future driving style rather than the drive I took yesterday.

3000 Charges

In part 1 of this series, we saw that I had over 3000 charging events. The final official count is 3017 Level 1 & Level 2 charges. Three years of ownership is only 1096 days. How could I have ~3000 charges in just ~1000 days? There are a few answers to that question. First, I only charge the car to 80% on most days. This means that if I have a lot of driving to do, then I take opportunities to charge midday. Around here, where there is a lot of infrastructure, there are plenty of opportunities to grab a few kilowatt-hours. Second, I have charging stations at work. I don't use them much anymore, but for the first year I had the car, when I had one of the few EV there, I usually charged both at home and at work.

The third reason I have so many charge events is that I joined (and used) all the charging networks in this region. New charging stations were being installed daily. It was a fun game to find them and plug in. It was like geocaching for EVs. As a practical benefit, whenever the car is plugged in, it automatically added the location to the car's map. There is a simple "Find Nearest Charging Station" option in the menu. As I found more stations, it seemed like I was never more than a few blocks from a charging station. The city I work in, Hillsboro, Oregon, has more charging stations than gas pumps. It was easy to drive around with confidence that I could 'fuel up' whenever I needed to.

Nissan Leaf Charging Station Map Display (Portland, OR)

Three Years 

There you have it, three years of EV driving. I have had a lot of fun. The car has performed perfectly. By not buying gasoline or oil changes, I have saved a lot of money. The only things I have replaced are the windshield wipers and cabin air filter. The tires are starting to show wear and I'll likely replace them at 30,000 miles.

The range is slowly decreasing as the batteries age, but there is still plenty of range for my needs. Three years from now, I may need to start charging to 100% or that might be the time to start shopping for an electric Infiniti or a Tesla BlueStar.


Next Story - A "Kodak Moment" for the Auto Industry

Three Years of Nissan Leaf Driving Part 2 of 3

In part 1, I told you that I have been driving a 2011 Nissan Leaf since May 18th 2011. When I bought the car, my biggest concern was how well the batteries would hold up.

So far, I've driven the car just over 26,000 miles and fast charged (via the CHAdeMO port) 26 times. These fast charging sessions can be up to 500 Volts and 100 Amps and can cause wear and tear on the batteries.

So how could I monitor the batteries? The car has 12 capacity bars. These give you some indication of the battery health, but they are a crude measure. Just after two years of ownership, I found the Leaf Spy app. If you own a Leaf, this is the app for you. It lets you see all 96 battery cell pairs. You can see the battery state of health (SOH), capacity, many other things; it has logging features... Here is a screenshot:

Leaf Spy Pro App Screenshot

You can see a lot of information on this page and this is only one of 5 or 6 screens available. Starting at the top AHr=56.55. The Leaf started with nominally 66 AHr. The SOH (State Of Health) is currently at 86%. Next is Hx. From what I could find, only the Nissan Leaf engineers know for sure what this value is. It is reported with the other data that Leaf Spy reads so it is displayed. The current hypothesis is that this is an internal impedance value.

On the next line you can see that as of early May when this was captured, I had 26 QCs (Quick Charges) and 3006 L1/L2s (level 1 or level 2 charges).

The 3006 charges seemed high. I have only had the car a little more than 1000 days. How could I have charged it 3000+ times? More on this aside later. The battery health is what I want to focus on first.

When Leafs in Arizona started losing capacity, this quickly became a major topic in the My Nissan Leaf forum and other EV discussion sites. Several Leaf owners reported their capacity data. This dataset along with information about the battery chemistry was used to create a battery aging model.

The battery aging model shows that degradation starts out quickly. As the batteries age, the rate of degradation slows. So I should lose less capacity over the next 3 years than I did in these first three years.

I have charted my data along with the model's prediction in the graph below:

Some important notes about this graph:

1. I didn't start collecting data for my car until just after the 2 year mark. This is when I found Leaf Spy. Data before this is assumed.
2. There is a sudden spike in range at about the 2.25 years mark. That is when the car had a firmware upgrade. This spike in reported capacity was common and just an anomaly from the firmware change. The actual range didn't temporarily increase.
3. I am reporting range. This could be Amp-hours or some other jargon value. However, I selected range because that is what matters to most people. "Can the car get me from here to there (and back) on a charge?" is the question. And to answer that, range is what matters.
4. This is the "EPA Range", not my actual range. The EPA rated the 2011 Leaf as having a 73 mile range. I simply used this as a scale factor. My capacity is 86% so the range is 86% of 73 miles or 62.6 miles. My actual range is better than the EPA rating. The EPA range is nice to know since it is a conservative estimate. 

Looking at the graph, you might notice that the range has actually been increasing over the past three weeks or so. Battery capacity temporarily decreases in cold weather. Now that it is springtime, the days have warmed up and that range is returning. As the hot summer days arrive there will be a similar, small decrease in range. These seasonal effects will be a small annual sine wave overlayed on the general battery aging pattern. Once I have a full year's worth of detailed data, this should be visible.

GOM & The 12 Bars will be final act in this three part post.

Part 3 - Capacity Bars 

Three Years of Nissan Leaf Driving Part 1 of 3

Three years ago I drove off the dealer's lot in my new electric car, a Nissan Leaf. The first Nissan Leaf was delivered in December of 2010. Five months later, on May 18th, after more than a year on a waiting list, my car finally arrived.

May 18th 2011 - The day I picked up my Nissan Leaf

It left Japan just hours before the devastating 2011 quake hit. I loved this car immediately. It was peppy, smooth, quiet. It had enough range for nearly all of my driving. I charged it up to 100% to see what range it reported.

2011 Nissan Fully Charged When is was brand new

I made sure the golf clubs fit:

Of course I had to drive it to Electric St:

There was free charging at work:

There were charging stations available in Hillsboro:

And Beaverton:

And Portland:

And Lake Oswego:

I have had a lot of fun with this car. I drove it in parades and showed it off at Earth Day and other eco-friendly events.

At Celebrate Hillsboro

When I was not in parades or parking atop fountains, the Leaf was my daily driver. It hauled me to work and all around the various jaunts on "the island" of places I frequent.

During this three years of driving, we have never run out of juice. I had it down to 5 miles of range, but I've never run out. And with all the charging stations around here, I am not worried about it. Worst-case is that I need a 10 minute stop to grab a few kWh.

I admit that I was concerned about being an early adopter when I first bought the car. I was specifically concerned that the batteries were not liquid cooled. Here in Oregon, that was not a problem. In Arizona and other hot places, it was.

I have no regrets about buying the car. Three years later, I still love driving it. And now, little things like keyless entry and bluetooth are must-haves for my next car.

Part 1 here was the touchy-feely portion of the 3 year story. If you want to see the numbers (how many miles, what is the range degradation after 3 years...), then read part 2 tomorrow.

Part 2 - Range

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk live from D11 - The Verge

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk live from D11 - The Verge: "Even if hypothetically emitting carbon was good for the environment, the scarcity of it would mean we'd eventually face incredibly high fuel costs and the economy would grind to a halt."

In His Own Words: Elon Musk's Secrets To Changing The World

Note: I was asked to write an article called How Elon Musk Is Changing The World by the editor of Green Living. He gave me a brief outline. Below is is the draft ~1700 words I wrote. He read it, liked it, but said that it had to be ~1400 words, or ~2500 words and split into a two part story. He said that he'd co-author the story and expand it into a two-parter. As you'll see below, I focused on Musk's methods. He restructured the article and added the achievements of companies that Elon helms. He made many improvements to the story. The Green Living article is now different enough from the below story that I feel OK that sharing this one will not detract anyone from reading the Green Living story.

Elon Musk’s Secrets To Changing the World in His Own Words

If you have ever used PayPal for online payment, you can thank Elon Musk for making it possible. He built PayPal into the most successful online payment exchange in the world. So successful, in fact, that in 2002 eBay bought it for 1.5 billion dollars, making him very wealthy at just 31 years of age. Many of us might have taken these riches, bought a small island, and enjoyed a steady stream of umbrella drinks. Elon, on the other hand, took his personal fortune and founded two companies (SpaceX and Tesla) and he is on the board of a third (Solar City).

With these three companies, he has the express goals of transitioning the world to renewable energy and making life multi-planetary. These are audacious goals. Currently, all three companies are enjoying success. Solar City is the largest provider of solar energy systems in the United States. Both Solar City and Tesla are publicly traded companies and market darlings. Tesla is selling cars as fast as they can produce them, and they already have over 12,000 pre-orders for their 2015 crossover vehicle. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract to supply the International Space Station and was the first commercial company to dock with it.

Elon Musk has changed banking, transportation, renewable energy, and space exploration. He has received dozens of awards. He was named in Time Magazine's 100 people who most affected the world. He was named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine. Forbes listed Elon as one of “America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 & Under”. He was recognized as a Living Legend in Aviation by the Kitty Hawk Foundation. R&D Magazine gave him the Innovator of the Year award. Fortune named him as the World's Top Eco-Innovator.

How has one man been involved in such diverse areas and been so successful each time? Is Elon the 21st century's version of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison?

Thinking Like Elon Musk

Despite each of Elon’s companies being in vastly different technologies, they have one important thing in common: they were disruptive. They broke new ground and did things differently than any business that came before. This is because they were started from a different perspective than most companies. Why? Because Elon just thinks differently than most people. His background is in physics and engineering. He uses the models of thought from these disciplines in all of his problem solving, whether it is how to sell cars or how to launch a rocket.

First Principles Thinking

“
	I tend to approach things from a physics framework. And physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy.  ~Elon Musk

If you reason by analogy, then you end up doing things similar to other companies. First Principles, on the other hand, can lead you to uncharted territories. First Principles is a formal logic method. It means that you start from facts, rather than opinion. You question assumptions; you ignore the status quo. You use reasoning and math to derive your answer. When you come to a conclusion that is counterintuitive, then you have something interesting, a potential disruptive breakthrough.

A simplified example for Tesla Motors in 2008 might be: Crude Oil is a finite resource that will run out. Consumer electronics is driving compounding improvements in battery technology each year. Given this, within ten years electric cars will be priced similar to their gasoline counterparts and be far cheaper to operate and fuel.

SpaceX was founded with the objective of being the transportation method to colonize Mars. Applying First Principles to this would yield: Most space launches cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Given this cost, the multiple round trips needed to establish and supply a base on Mars would be cost prohibitive. Therefore SpaceX’s first challenge is to make flights to and from Mar significantly cheaper. Looking at the cost of a rocket launch today, less than one half of one percent of this cost is the fuel. The majority of cost is the rocket itself and these are destroyed as they are used. As successive stages ignite, the used part of the rocket drop away and are left to burn up in the atmosphere or crash into the ocean. The next launch starts from scratch. Imagine if each cargo ship that came in from China were sunk after the cargo was unloaded or if airplanes were shredded after a single flight or if you had to buy a new car each day for your commute. It would certainly be much more expensive to travel. This is the model that are using for rockets today.

First Principles says that SpaceX must have a reusable rocket.

Don’t Fear Failure

“
	When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.  ~Elon Musk

Elon has said that he expected both Tesla and SpaceX to fail as companies. Tesla, he expected, would disrupt the market, accelerate the major auto companies to produce EVs and Tesla would become only a footnote in history. That is not what happened; instead, the big auto companies were slow to change and left the door wide open for the startup to grow and become a publicly traded company.

As for SpaceX, here is what he said, “The odds of me coming into the rocket business, not knowing anything about rockets, not having ever built anything, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds were in my favor.”

And as for product innovation, he has a similar approach, “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” The early versions of the Tesla Model S had cameras rather than mirrors. However, the company failed to convince the regulators that this met the needed safety requirements.

Iterate Quickly

When you are blazing new ground, you don’t have the years of built up trial and error. When you are in uncharted territory, unexpected things are going to happen. In the auto industry, even in well-established product lines, things occasionally go wrong.

“
	You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that’s wrong with it and fix it.  ~Elon Musk

With the Tesla Model S, there were three battery fires. Even though no one was injured, Tesla didn’t wait ten years to address the problem. They quickly released a software update to raise the ride height while they investigated. The cars have ballistics-grade aluminum on the bottom to protect the batteries. Their analysis found that in rare cases, road debris could pierce the front of the battery compartment, bypassing the bottom shield. The company responded by adding a deflector plate and titanium shielding to cover the front of the battery compartment.

As for SpaceX, they started their vertical takeoff and landing tests with a three second 6-foot high flight. They have continued to increase the height of each flight and have moved to a larger rocket called the Falcon 9. Soon they were flying a thousand meters into the sky. On April 18th the Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral with cargo for the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle featured something that no other first stage space rocket had ever had before, landing legs. After delivering the Dragon capsule into orbit, the Falcon 9 fell away and attempted to “soft land” in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, according to Elon Musk, due to “13- to 20-foot waves… It’s unlikely that the rocket was able to splash down successfully.”.

Fight For What Is Right

“
	I don't create companies for the sake of creating companies, but to get things done.  ~Elon Musk

Elon Musk is no stranger to the inside of a courtroom. Tesla has been sued by auto dealership associations in several states because of their sales model (which does not use dealerships). SpaceX is currently in a suit with the US government over the way that ‘no bid’ contracts are issued. Whatever the industry, there are those that are entrenched and benefiting from the way things are and they are going to fight to keep it that way. If you want to get things done in a new way, be ready to fight for it.

Seek Feedback

“
	I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.  ~Elon Musk

Seeking feedback is important, but you must be very selective of who you trust to fill this sounding-board role. It is too easy to find someone that will tell you just to do things as they have been done before. Similarly, you don’t want a cheerleader or Yes-man that provides no constructive criticism. Elon is lucky enough to be friends with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. These are people that understand innovation and thinking big.

Think Big

“
	When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars people said, 'Nah, what's wrong with a horse?' That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.  ~Elon Musk

“
	It's important that we attempt to extend life beyond Earth now. It is the first time in the four billion-year history of Earth that it's been possible, and that window could be open for a long time - hopefully it is - or it could be open for a short time. We should err on the side of caution and do something now.  ~Elon Musk

There is no question that Elon Musk thinks big. People that work at SpaceX and Tesla know that if they are successful, they will be part of something that changes the way we live.

Summary

There you have it, the secrets to changing the world according to Elon Musk:

1. Use Disruptive First Principles Thinking
2. Don't Fear Failure
3. Keep Improving
4. Fight Relentlessly
5. Seek Feedback (from the right people)
6. Think Big 

This article started by asking if Elon Musk was the 21st century's version of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. There is no question that he is an innovative thinker that has already left an impression on history. Only time will tell if it is of the magnitude of Ford and Edison or just a footnote in the transportation chapter.

Oregon EV News of the Week 2014 May 13

Your weekly digest of Oregon Electric Vehicle news, events, and

multimedia. Feel free to forward it. To get on (or off) the mailing 

list, just email me: patrick at oeva.org.

Stay current with us on twitter, facebook, google+, or paper.li.  

Top Stories ================================================

o We'll be in the 107th Florence Rhododendron Festival Parade on May 18th

Upcoming Oregon EVents =====================================

o Oregon Department of Energy public session for Alt Vehicles, May 15th http://buff.ly/QXBVtl 

o EV Ownership: Expert Conversations  - May 18, 2014 http://buff.ly/1rNTebB 

o Oregon EV Fest 2014, July 5th at Pioneer Courthouse Square http://buff.ly/1gHfXFO 

o Tesla Motors Club's Connect 2014, 2nd annual users’ conference, July 18 http://buff.ly/1geHPSf 

o Energize Oregon Coalition Meeting, July 23 http://buff.ly/1gRJTuU 

o EV Roadmap 7: Making Connections, July 24 http://buff.ly/1eqxd2j 

o The 3rd annual BC2BC All Electric Vehicle Rally scheduled to start August 10, 2014http://buff.ly/1aWgQoK 

o Route 66 International Festival - EVs wanted, Aug 14 http://buff.ly/1ggx9Cs 

o National Plug In Day Is Now National Drive Electric Week - Coming This Septemberhttp://buff.ly/1nTY9dC 

o The Battery Show, September 16-18, 2014 Novi, Michigan http://buff.ly/1cqo3M4 

Northwest EV News of Note ===================================

o Oregon's West Coast Electric Highway is winning awards (again)! http://buff.ly/1l1FiIK 

o Blink DC Fast Charger Get Upgraded CHAdeMO Connector http://buff.ly/1ofzZKO 

o California Modeling Vehicle Mileage Tax After on Oregon's Program http://buff.ly/1noZFBT 

o Gresham Ford is excited about the Fusion Energi "bi-fuel" PHEV http://buff.ly/1jBlgGQ 

Photos & Videos ============================================

o Chevy Spark EV in Portland Ore http://pic.twitter.com/ilWEUCADx7

o A cartoonist's review of the Tesla Model S - The Oatmeal http://buff.ly/1jE5hIG 

o 8 States Aim For Zero-Emission Vehicle Goal - YouTube http://buff.ly/1nwuBjK 

o Solar-powered EV has less lifetime CO2 than 90 MPG gas-powered car http://pic.twitter.com/EMa2mDdIYm

o Photo-Blog: New York Auto Show 2014 http://buff.ly/1grS0hd 

o 2014 Nissan LEAF Portland OR Beaverton, OR #94242 - YouTube http://buff.ly/1nlPYH4 

o video: Volkswagen CEO: EVs small but growing market; H2 still a long way offhttp://buff.ly/1jBnbel 

o Kick Gas is an EV adventure film of epic proportions [w/video] http://buff.ly/1fSptH2 

o Why Formula E Matters: There are more sports fans than environmentalists http://buff.ly/1kNB3Aq 

o Spring Tulips, Woodburn, Oregon http://pic.twitter.com/zbvVZ0pd0p

o smart fortwo electric drive for life on Earth - YouTube http://buff.ly/1sfDT3K 

o Neil deGrasse Tyson on solar fuel http://pic.twitter.com/eNxqa4gVD8

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/Q7NG6xBohm

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #TeslaModelS #SemaConnect http://pic.twitter.com/4yQhKQ6jg4

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #NissanLeaf http://pic.twitter.com/wlY1AYbX3I

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #ClipperCreek #PriusPlugIn http://pic.twitter.com/yHwRaGj22u

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #ChevyVolt #Solar http://pic.twitter.com/8YmAAeTzX2

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #ChevyVolt http://pic.twitter.com/4xI81iFECS

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #NissanLeaf http://pic.twitter.com/bkrcp897O6

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/cSxEzqcN4z

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #TeslaModelS http://pic.twitter.com/7gJrA8Ojnl

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #HondaFitEV http://pic.twitter.com/e2cyz5sYlf

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #NissanLeaf http://pic.twitter.com/y8HoGQGUgg

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/cxIpbvsC9O

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #TeslaModelS http://pic.twitter.com/g16P03j0Fg

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #SparkEV http://pic.twitter.com/8KqTprbTD5

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #NissanLeaf http://pic.twitter.com/wqZqQX2fol

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot #NissanLeaf http://pic.twitter.com/yr5guqMG4I

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/oosfaqMExv

o Plug & Pinot EV Rides Event #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/QLecFJjUsN

Other EV News of Note =======================================

o Next-Gen Tesla Won't Be Called 'Model E' After All http://buff.ly/RCGXf3 

o The City of Portland steps up to the Workplace Charging Challenge http://buff.ly/1jmdGLy 

o Electric  Infiniti coming in 2016 http://pic.twitter.com/aUdUWN7Rhm

o Tesla, SolarCity, And The Birth Of The Lithium-Based Economy http://buff.ly/1miRpE4 

o Limited supply guarantees 2015 Kia Soul EV will be a rare sight on the road http://buff.ly/RHKgSk 

o Study finds EV owners that can charge at home & at work do both http://buff.ly/1nDxGPc http://pic.twitter.com/Aezh3WI8da

o EVs prove to be highly reliable http://buff.ly/1ojP9yt 

o Electric Aircraft Are On The Way, Stylish E-FAN Makes First Flight http://buff.ly/1mO5yra 

o Is Electricity A Clean Transportation Energy Source? http://buff.ly/1sfFW87 

o Tesla Sales On Target, Gigafactory Groundbreaking Next Month: FINAL UPDATEhttp://buff.ly/1mO4Kme 

o Chrysler announces plug-in hybrid minivan for 2016 http://buff.ly/1mO5iIH 

o The case for grid-connected electric vehicles http://buff.ly/1scjXyR 

o Proterra electric bus sets record for most miles traveled in a day http://buff.ly/1scgXT5 

o Nissan's 180 mile range battery coming in 2017 per Andy Palmer http://buff.ly/1jGD2Z2 

o This Parking Lot Is Paved With Solar Panels http://buff.ly/1nujUOR 

o Electric Cars Park for Free in Spain http://buff.ly/1nlPGjt 

o 2,000-Horsepower Electric Dragster Sets New Drag Record http://buff.ly/1hAKSQ2 

o Electric cars taking charge - Keep Me Current: News http://buff.ly/1hAEo3y 

o EPA's most fuel-efficient cars list dominated by EVs http://buff.ly/1jBkVUk 

o Bob Lutz's VL Automotive Merges With GreenTech Automotive http://buff.ly/1fSplHm 

=D~~~ Live Regeneratively!

Oregon EV News of the Week 2014 May 6

Your weekly digest of Oregon Electric Vehicle news, events, and

multimedia. Feel free to forward it. To get on (or off) the mailing 

list, just email me: patrick at oeva.org.

Stay current with us on twitter, facebook, google+, or paper.li.  

Top Stories ================================================

o We posted our 10,000th tweet this week. It was about the 200,000th PEV 

   sold in the US! We started this social media experiment almost 4 years 

   ago. Now we have over 3,000 followers. The EAA and Sac EV clubs are 

   looking to us as a model to spread the plug in word. Here is that tweet:

According to Plug In America estimates the US's 200,000th plug-in 

vehicle was sold on Cinco De Mayo! Celebration!

Upcoming Oregon EVents =====================================

o National Drive Electric Week Volunteer Sign-up http://buff.ly/1mjqwhi
o Largest Clean Fleet Conference in North America, May 6, 2014 http://buff.ly/1ipJaQK
o Alternative Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, this Thur http://buff.ly/1iVV89N
o Spring Root Beer & Electric Vehicle Show: May 11, 2014 http://buff.ly/1fVpi6W
o Oregon Department of Energy public session for Alt Vehicles, May 15th http://buff.ly/QXBVtl
o EV Ownership: Expert Conversations  - May 18, 2014 http://buff.ly/1rNTebB
o Oregon EV Fest 2014, July 5th at Pioneer Courthouse Square http://buff.ly/1gHfXFO
o Tesla Motors Club's 2nd annual users’ conference, July 18 http://buff.ly/1geHPSf
o Energize Oregon Coalition Meeting, July 23 http://buff.ly/1gRJTuU
o EV Roadmap 7: Making Connections, July 24 http://buff.ly/1eqxd2j
o The 3rd annual BC2BC All Electric Vehicle Rally August 10, 2014 http://buff.ly/1aWgQoK
o Route 66 International Festival - EVs wanted, Aug 14 http://buff.ly/1ggx9Cs
o National Plug In Day Is Now National Drive Electric Week, September http://buff.ly/1nTY9dC
o The Battery Show, September 16-18, 2014 Novi, Michigan http://buff.ly/1cqo3M4 

Northwest EV News of Note ===================================

o Kaiser plugs into e-bike research http://buff.ly/1j4zAbg 

o Top 5 Reasons Portland is a Great City for eBiking http://buff.ly/1iVWMrV 

o Trailblazers LaMarcus Aldridge adds Tesla Model S to his Car Collection http://buff.ly/1mnevYb 

o Tillamook installs solar & batteries to power EV charging stations http://buff.ly/1mndijG 

o New tanker cars required in Oregon and NY for all crude oil trains http://buff.ly/1micBZ5 

o Eco-friendly house, Electrathon races in Riverside Tech’s future  http://buff.ly/1jm5S0E 

o Wave energy company opts out of Oregon http://buff.ly/1kplpuP 

o FIAT 500e is Coming to Oregon but It is Still a Compliance Car http://buff.ly/1ftAUEI 

o Spring is here. Looking for a new mower? Make sure to get one that is 

   "eLawn Musk" approved http://pic.twitter.com/lmYVY0VPF3

o Wash. Gov. Inslee Signs Executive Order On State Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions http://buff.ly/1kpjKoX 

Photos & Videos ============================================

o Which is cheaper to drive, an old gas car or a new Leaf? 

   Infographic http://pic.twitter.com/leO5VRnaMg

o Oregon EV Chief Ashley Horvat takes Blazer star Jerome Kersey & his wife 

   Teri on the Plug & Pinot tour #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/qG0ZQT6ZRU

o Tesla's new titanium battery shield plate reviewed by Consumer Reports 

   YouTube http://buff.ly/1iVU9qf 

o Plug And Pinot http://pic.twitter.com/Rm2ReDmUaj

o Oregon manufacturing & EV companies gather to hear from manufacturing 

   experts http://pic.twitter.com/h0DU0O2XoD

o Laura & her 2014 Ford Focus Electric w/ \solar panels at Sokol Blosser 

   #PlugAndPinot http://pic.twitter.com/CEbIPgnAkh

o video: Don Garlits Takes EV Dragster To 184 MPH http://buff.ly/1j3bAVQ 

o George Takei's Take Electric Cars | Takei's Take Ep 12 

   YouTube http://buff.ly/1umWM8Q 

o Mini Tesla Supercharger for your phone http://pic.twitter.com/1kWm6qRSE0

o Nissan LEAF Late Night Race Through a Sleepy Village 

   YouTube http://buff.ly/1lLYaxR 

o Japanese Steampunk Style Mini Electric Car http://pic.twitter.com/eF2Y8sa9iR

o Volts for Oil | Fully Charged: How many kWh in a gallon? http://buff.ly/1rOltad 

o Electric motorcycle test ride - YouTube http://buff.ly/1lHPo43 

o What are you fighting for? http://pic.twitter.com/CK2gaGEZNf

o Tesla CEO 'We had to make electric cars a no-brainer' [video] http://buff.ly/1jm7vLQ 

o Times they are achangin' Nozzie - YouTube http://buff.ly/1mju5UP 

o Mt. Hood and the Columbia River, Oregon http://pic.twitter.com/TnMkqYG8Ch

Other EV News of Note =======================================

o The most efficient car in the US is the BMW i3 electric http://buff.ly/1j60iA8 

o Misleading Lexus ad trashes plug-in vehicles http://buff.ly/1kILo0j 

o Tesla Motors Fined $89,000 For 7 Safety Violations Linked To Fremont Factory Fire http://buff.ly/1rVZXjO 

o BMW Designworks Solar Carport and BMW i Wallbox Pro http://buff.ly/1j3aPw4 

o 700 Miles in an Electric Bus in One Day  http://buff.ly/1fJzxSv 

o Pulling Back the Veil on EV Charging Station Costs http://buff.ly/1fJz4Qr 

o Tesla Model S Rear Ended By Big Rig http://buff.ly/1j38Yr3 

o Worldwide EV market is forecasted to grow to more than 12 million vehicles in 2021 http://buff.ly/1kD3hxE 

o Mercedes teams with Tesla on $41K electric car http://buff.ly/1g0Uinf 

o Nissan Reaching Sales Records http://buff.ly/1kARAra 

o Chevrolet Volt Sales Improve In April http://buff.ly/1fGMnAZ 

o Fossil Fuel Subsidies Cost ~$2 Trillion Annually, According To IMF http://buff.ly/1kARj7A 

o Indigenous Amazonian People Threatened by Oil Drilling http://buff.ly/1iVSzEA 

o Elon Musk named World's Top Eco-Innovators in Furtune's top 25 list http://buff.ly/1mpnh85 

o Electric Mercedes-Benz B-Class priced to challenge the BMW i3 http://buff.ly/1lHOvIN 

o Big Daddy Don Garlits Pilots EV Dragster To 184.01 MPH In 1/4 Mile http://buff.ly/1iTYr1e 

o First US BMW i3 Delivery http://buff.ly/1rOpnzM 

o Vermont lawmaker wants to make EV tax credits larger and easier to access http://buff.ly/1n8FQyF 

o Electric E-Fan Aircraft Successfully Completes First Public Flight http://buff.ly/1krhf5M 

o First burnout by Electric Big Daddy http://buff.ly/1fvc4EL 

o BMW i8 Production Now Underway - Cars Coming to US in June http://buff.ly/1fu5YV4 

Toyota Fuel Cell Hype Video YouTube

Toyota Fuel Cell - YouTube:

Charging an EV with Solar Panels

How many solar panels do I need to charge an electric car?

Electric vehicles (EVs) and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are a great combination

Electric vehicles have no tailpipe emissions and you can use solar panels to produce clean free electricity to 'fuel' an electric vehicle. That is a powerful combination. When you have both, you can drive on sun miles or "smiles" as they are sometimes called.

Your path can start by owning either of them. If you own an EV, you might want to find a way to power it without burning fossil fuels. If you own PV panels, you might be over-producing and looking for something to use this extra energy while saving yourself some money by not going to the gas station. Maybe you like cleantech and think both are cool. Whatever the reason, people that have the means and awareness to own one of them are often likely to own, or at least be interested in, the other.

If you are thinking about taking the EV + PV plunge, you might want to know how big of a PV system you'll need to fuel your EV miles. There are a lot of factors to consider. For the EV you'll need to consider: the vehicle, annual mileage, terrain, your driving style... For the PV you'll need to know the direction of your roof, shading, how sunny your area is... I've found some tools that can simplify much of this.

Going into all of that detail will be complex. If you are impatient, here is a quick rule of thumb:

• Each 1kW of PV will give you about 4,000 miles of EV driving

This is obviously a gross approximation since I have no idea where on the planet you are. Minnesota will get much less sun than Arizona, and those are both in the US. If you are still reading, I assume a simple rule of thumb is not enough for you. To get a better answer, you'll need to know how much energy your EV needs and how much energy solar panels on your roof can generate. Let's work through an example in detail to see how this works.

EV Energy Needs

How far do you drive annually? For this example, we'll use 10,000 miles, since this number is easily scalable.

How much energy does your EV use per mile? To check this, go to:
   http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Look up the vehicle in question and note the "kWh per 100 miles" value. You can ignore the range and MPGe values for this exercise. 

• For the 2014 Nissan Leaf, this value is 30 kWh/100miles
• For the 2014 Tesla Model S, this value is 35 kWh/100miles

You can adjust these values based on your driving style. If you are lead-foot, add 3 or 4 kWh. If you are a hypermiler subtract a few. Similarly, where you drive matters, areas with steep hills use more energy (even with regenerative-braking) and flat areas will be more efficient (+/-1kWh). Similarly, your climate control use will impact your energy use too. If you usually drive with the climate control or defroster on, add 2 or 3 kWh. 

Since the EPA numbers are for 100 miles, it's a simple matter to multiply by 100 to get to 10,000 annual miles. So the 2014 Leaf will need 3000 kWh for 10,000 miles and the '14 Model S would need 3500 kWh.

If you drive a plug-in hybrid or range-extended EV, do this calculation only for the battery-powered electric miles that you drive.

PV Energy Generation 

Step 1 was figuring out how much energy your EV needed. Now on to step 2, how much energy can you generate.

How much energy solar panels produce depends on how much sun they get, their azimuth, tilt, shading, and regional weather. The hours of sunlight for a given region depends on the path of the sun and how cloudy it is in the area. These factors are all taken together to yield the Solar Local Production Capacity (LPC). Here are the LPC values for some cities in Oregon for example:

Oregon Solar Potential by Region 

City	Solar Local Production Capacity (LPC)
Astoria	1.02
Burns	1.40
Eugene	1.13
Medford	1.32
North Bend	1.25
Pendleton	1.30
Portland	1.08
Redmond	1.41
Salem	1.14

The LPC value is a good rough first pass approximation. We'll work through the math, but if you get lost in this, there is a link below to a tool that will do it all for you.

Q: Solar panel output is measured by kW, but how do you convert this into energy produced (kWh)?
A: LPC (assuming no tracking, optimal angle, and no shading)::
    PV Power (DC Watts) * LPC * 1000 = Annual Energy (in kWh)

A fixed roof mount 6 kW PV system in North Bend Oregon, for example, using the above equation will generate at most 7,500 kWh annually. Here is the math:

• PV Power (DC Watts) * LPC * 1000 = Annual Energy (in kWh)
• 6,000 (W)* 1.25 (LPC)* 1000 = 7,500 kWh annually

If you don't know (or cannot find) the LPC for your area, there are PV calculators online that can help. The one I like is at:

    http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/

Put in the size of the system, the angle, and few other data points then it will quickly run an hour-by-hour simulation for an entire year and show you what your PV's energy production is likely to be.

Let's do the same North Bend example with this simulator. Let's say we are putting a PV system on Gino's Pizza Inn at 1324 Virginia Ave. in North Bend, OR. Google Maps shows a roof that looks perfect for solar. Put in the address, then a small 6kW for the size, no tracking, south-facing (180 degrees), leave the other settings, like inverter efficiency, at their defaults and you get a result of 7,087 kWh annually.

The nice thing about this calculator is that it is specific to your region, you can put in your roof pitch, it compensates for how much sun and clouds you get, you can just click the back arrow and change things to quickly compare. For example, if Gino's Pizza Inn were to mount that 6kW system on a dual-axis tilt mount, they would get 9,450 kWh annually. As you can see tracking really helps; it increased the system output by 33%. Now if Gino wanted 9,450 kWh, he can compare the cost of adding tracking or adding 33% more panels on a stationary roof-mounted system.

Putting it all together (EV + PV)

BMW i8 EV under a solar carport

Now you know where to look up the energy that your EV will need (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/) and how to determine how much energy a PV system will generate on your roof (http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/). With these two tools, you can pair your EV driving to a PV system and start driving on smiles.

Let's complete the Leaf and Tesla Model S examples and see how big of a PV system it would take to power them with sunshine.

Nissan Leaf

The 2014 Nissan Leaf needed 3000 kWh for 10,000 miles. This time let's use a roof-mounted PV system in Portland OR in the PV simulator. A 3kW PV system generates 3,016 kWh annually.

How does this compare to the rule of thumb from the top of this article? The rule of thumb was each 1kW of PV will get you about 4,000 miles of driving. Portland is not known as a sunny spot, so (not surprisingly) did a little worse than the rule of thumb.

In Phoenix AZ, on the other hand, you only need a 2kW system to generate 3,138 kWh annually. This is more than 5,000 miles of EV driving for each kW of PV on your roof, so better than the rule of thumb.

Tesla Model S

The '14 Model S would need 3500 kWh to drive 10,000 miles.

Let's use two different locations this time. Seattle WA would need a 3.7kW PV system to power the Tesla for 10,000 miles. Whereas Miami FL would only need a 2.7kW system.

Driving on Sunshine - Wooah ♫

And don't it feel good!

I started driving an EV in February of 2007. Later that same year we installed our west-facing 4kW PV system. I hope these tools can help you to become more energy independent and start driving on sunshine.

SolarCity currently has deals to install solar where you pay zero out of pocket and then you buy the energy that the panels produce for less than your current electric bill. If you own a house and this sounds good to you, here is my referral link. 

Electric Vehicle Apps

The following mobile apps are designed to help residents in the northeastern United States locate and use electric vehicle charging stations.*
 

     

Plug Share

Plug Share is a free application that enables drivers to find electric vehicle charging stations near them.

App Type: Driving, Electric Vehicle
Cost: Free
Developer: Xatori, Inc.
Platforms Available: iPhone, Android

                    

     

ChargePoint

The ChargePoint app enables drivers to locate charging stations near them, get directions to charging stations, and see the real-time availability of those stations.

App Type: Driving, Electric Vehicle
Cost: Free
Developer: Coulomb Technologies Inc.
Platforms Available: iPhone, Android

                    

     

Recargo

Recargo is the EV community powered by you. Find charging stations nearby, plan trips, share photos, and stay connected with news from PlugInCars.com and the Recargo community. 

App Type: Driving, Electric Vehicle
Cost: Free
Developer: Recargo, Inc.
Platforms Available: iPhone, iPad Android

                    

     

CarStations

Find and help update electric car stations all over the world. CarStations works with manufacturers and drivers to help provide data, latest locations, and up-to-date information. 

App Type: Driving, Electric Vehicle
Cost: Free
Developer: CarStations
Platforms Available: iPhone, Android