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Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

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Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#101

Post by goldcd »

I'd seen the idea of using street-furniture, such as lamp-posts - but can't help seeing visions of coils of cable looping all over the pavement/sidewalk (in the UK at least, lamp posts tend not to be on the road side of the pavement). Plus, if this isn't new-build, whatever's powering those lamps isn't going to charge your car. Well.. it might charge one or two, but once you've got 20 cars, all wanting to be charged overnight..

If you're going to have to lay new lines, then cheapest approach is surely to just put cable in the gutter, and then protect it with something similar to those rubber speed-bumps you can bolt into the ground. Downside is the low profile prevents great big connectors/supply units - but would be fine for the equivalent of the domestic-plug....

...I'm meandering now, but wonder if you could retro-fit drain covers to contain chargers...

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#103

Post by stetrain »

gist wrote: post #87
dmitrygr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little longer? What am I going to do at a gas station for an hour? I am already bored when I am there for 3 minutes with an ICE car...

Exactly. I simply don't get this. All of that effort when it's (for lack of a better way to put it) 'not ready for prime time'. Other comments include running an electric extension cord out the window and other hacks. A cord out the window be serious. Imagine for a second of what compensating good could be done for the world if people put the same time, thought or effort into something else with more immediate (and u…

I agree that running a cord out the window is ridiculous, but planning a ~40m charging stop at a place that has shops, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. like my local chargers doesn't seem so inconvenient.

I can personally choose to buy an EV, I can't personally choose to convert the power plants in my state to nuclear.

Obviously supporting multiple policies that improve emissions and sustainable energy is the way to go, and supporting one does not mean I don't support the others.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#104

Post by ghaff »

stcredzero wrote: post #58
davrosthedalek wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what pedestrians et al. think about the cable running across the sidewalk. I don't think this solution scales well, also from an insurance perspective.

There was a time when I was renting a room in a house in East Oakland. The home owners had a traffic cone, and I used one of those cable-covers to cross the sidewalk. I never had a problem, other than overhearing a young woman who lived next door call me, "That douchebag with the electric car."

To be perfectly honest, the comment seems rather deserved. It certainly doesn't scale if everyone does it.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#105

Post by thrill »

gist wrote: post #88
stcredzero wrote: post #4

I used to run an extension cord out of my 2nd floor window, but I wasn't parking on the street. My space was off the driveway, behind a fence and a gate, but only about 12 feet from the curb. More recently, I had been parking an electric car in my apartment's lot, and running an extension cord from the exercise room, out to the car. Then the apartment decided to close off those outlets. In both cases, the car's batte…

> I used to run an extension cord out of my 2nd floor window > More recently, I had been parking an electric car in my apartment's lot, and running an extension cord from the exercise room, out to the car. Then the apartment decided to close off those outlets. Won't even get to what I am sure others have raised about safety issues. My question is why do you go to this effort? What in you makes you want to go to this…

Why not?

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#106

Post by stetrain »

dmitrygr wrote: post #52
rootusrootus wrote: post #6

Why does everyone need a place to charge at home? Sure, it is one of the big advantages of an EV, but not everyone can take advantage of it. If the car has a 300-400 mile range, then charge it like you fuel up a gas-powered car. Takes a little bit longer, but that will improve over time.

A little longer? What am I going to do at a gas station for an hour? I am already bored when I am there for 3 minutes with an ICE car...

Both of my local Tesla chargers are in the same parking lots as grocery stores. One is also near a movie theater and several restaurants.

EV charging (except specifically for long distance travel) is less about "Let's sit here while the car charges" and more "Let's plan a thing we were probably going to do anyway at a place that also has EV chargers".

Obviously that gets a lot easier as more chargers get installed. Electrify America is installing fast chargers in a large number of Wal-Mart parking lots across the US.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#107

Post by Finnucane »

duskwuff wrote: post #91
NullPrefix wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> over 12 hours (i.e, multiple days of charging) to charge a Tesla's 85 kWh battery. The tone is somewhat pessimistic. Full charge every two-to-three days for a range of ... what is it? 265 miles? Effectively untethered car if you only need 50 miles daily.

Again, keep in mind my numbers are assuming a large, perfectly efficient solar panel under ideal conditions. Realistic numbers will be much worse. For example, most commercially available solar panels are 20-25% efficient.

Then you get not all of you charge from the solar panel, but a quarter to a half. So what? That's still good. If the car basically had 20 free miles a day, that would mean much less reliance on plugging in.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#108

Post by human20190310 »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #75
dmitrygr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little longer? What am I going to do at a gas station for an hour? I am already bored when I am there for 3 minutes with an ICE car...

I'm surprised that coffee shops/bookstores haven't started to target this demographic yet. Buy a coffee, an hour or two of quick charging, and read a book for a couple of hours in a comfy seat while your car charges. Considering how many people will go to those establishments already, it seems like a pretty easy hook (and probably has a lot of demographic overlap).

I think coffee shops prefer that most people pay their money and move along a lot more quickly than that.

It's likely that the reason you can't find a seat in most coffee shops already is because it isn't profitable to provide a two-hour seat to everyone.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#109

Post by stetrain »

lonelappde wrote: post #36
ecpottinger wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since it does not take an hour to charge for a normal drive, maybe you are the one with bad timing. If a person is driving 30 miles or less a day they only need less than 10 minutes charging to get by.

Taking your car to the fuel station every day is a nuisance. ICE cars only need to go about once a week.

In that scenario stopping at a charger every day would be silly. Stop once a week at a charger that's near a grocery store, movie theater, restaurant, etc.

Both of my local Tesla chargers are near grocery stores. Electrify America is installing chargers at Wal-Mart.

Charging an EV is less like going to a gas station and more like picking a place to go that happens to have EV chargers while you do other things.

Re: Where will ‘garage orphans’ charge electric cars?

#110

Post by baybal2 »

goldcd wrote: post #101

I'd seen the idea of using street-furniture, such as lamp-posts - but can't help seeing visions of coils of cable looping all over the pavement/sidewalk (in the UK at least, lamp posts tend not to be on the road side of the pavement). Plus, if this isn't new-build, whatever's powering those lamps isn't going to charge your car. Well.. it might charge one or two, but once you've got 20 cars, all wanting to be charged…

In China, small shops and restaurants buy coin chargers for their patrons.

1 CNY buys you 300Wh or about 4 times less the market price =D. Though, the shopkeeper often charge extra from patrons for small change.

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