June 2019 Driving Report; Things Are Looking Up?!!

Summer is her...umm, coming?  It has actually been a bit of a slow start to Summer or at least I thought it was but apparently I have become jaded to the change in the climate here during my past 30ish years here.  When I first came to Olympia in the late 80's, the average high for July was 78º. It is now 80º so our colder, rainier weather is really not all that far from what it used to be.  Now, rain is rare here (isn't that a shocker!) during Summer so if we have any more rain besides the  we have had so far, it will go down as one of the wettest July's ever.

But this is the "June" report so enough of July! (We will get back to July in a bit!) due to several vacations, driving was very light for the month amounting to 599 miles and only 56.11 free kwh received from public charging. As you can guess, total cost was quite low or at least would have been if not for a stint at EA Lacey. More on that later.


Muxsan

A company has developed a CANBUS intermediary type device that promises to allow various pack sizes to fit into a 24 kwh LEAF.  This is promising and provides some possible competition with Fenix Systems but it would appear Muxsan is limited a bit geographically and does require a LOT more DIY skills. But its options and the interest (if any) gained will go a long way towards encouraging other 3rd party companies to investigate the battery pack upgrade market.

Public Charging

Electrify America

The 6 station Lacey Walmart from EA finally came on line and due to CCS issues, I was the first to get a successful charge on June 2nd.  The $7.19 I paid almost doubled my total outlay for public charging on my LEAF but those are the drawbacks of being first!

Naturally, the next morning EA announced subscription pricing that would have dropped my cost to roughly  $3.18 if signed up for the $4 per month subscription service.

Now EA pricing is attractive but their practice of only one Chademo plug is not sitting well with me. There have been 4 documented cases of a SINGLE CCS vehicle charging at the lone dual format station while the other CCS stations sit idle. It only takes a glance to understand why. In 3 of the 4 pix, its quite clear the driver simply took the station closest to the front door of the business.

This scenario I predicted months ago.  Although there has been growing awareness of the issue, we still need to do more. EA needs to understand that Chademo is not dead and there are still more Chademo plugs on the road than CCS.

Another thing about EA is their tiered pricing which quickly gets out of control. Level 2 pricing is supposed to start for anything over 75 KW but a 2020 Soul was billed the higher level 2 rate despite never exceeding 71 KW.  Apparently EA does not bill on what you actually get but on what you "could" get.  That is messed up!

Supercharger Coverage in the South Sound

Tesla Model 3

As if we didn't have it bad enough, Tesla announced last week that the T3 will now be able to use the chademo adapter. This probably means more traffic at Chademo stations.  Right now the general consensus is that no one will buy the adapter because the SC network is cheap but in my area, its not convenient.  I am in the process of polling my "plug competition" and its only been this week that the Bolt finally pulled into first place passing Tesla. So the statement that Tesla's won't use Chademo is simply not working for me.

Now, Auburn will soon have an SC so that will help but until we get one in BOTH Olympia and the Tacoma area, I will likely continue to see Teslas charging.

EVGO

Its always darkest before the Dawn and that was very true but then on the 26th of June,  the long awaited EVGO station in DuPont opened and....the clouds came out.

We had long known a station was being located in DuPont and it being a small town, there was many conjectures as to where it would be but the large  parking area that serves several restaurants, a hotel and fast food joints seemed the best place and that was the original plan but new construction across the street made putting the stations there much cheaper since the cost of trenching, etc. was already paid for by new host Ace Hardware.

And as I tend to do, I was the first to get a charge at the new location and... one of the last.

Because EVGO is the fastest (by far!) DCFC on the market today, I generally take off all 5 seconds to get the charge going which means I did not see any screens that might have clued me into the fact the stations were not fully online.  Pure luck got me charging on the right side.  15 minutes later someone else pulled up, plugged into the left station and his card was not recognized so he used the credit card option and it worked but...

It was expensive!

One of the many reasons why I like EVGO is their quickness. As mentioned, they are THE fastest at getting the charge started but also provides immediate notifications when anything happens on my account.  Normally, I would have noticed that the usual email (usually arrives within 2-3 seconds after the charge starts) didn't happen but I was set upon immediately by the Construction Boss, Ace Hardware Regional Rep and the EVGO contractor all congratulating me on being the first to charge.

The EVGO contractor did say that the station was wired for future speed upgrades already which was a good thing and that new construction savings made it possible. Remember this station is part of Washington State's WCGH project that our hard earned EV tabs fees are partially paying for.

Well, during all this, I lost track of time so when I checked the status of the car, I knew immediately that there was something wrong.

My NCTC account only allows for 30 mins of free charging and the station generally shutdown between 29:45 and 30:15.  It was then I realized I had not gotten a charge start notification. I unplugged and didn't think much of it.

But a few days later, others were unable to get a charge on either side with their EVGO accounts getting the message that their cards were blocked.  A few days after that, the credit card option stopped working and the EVGO station was removed from Plugshare.  I guess thinking a station could go live in less than 3 days from install was a fantasy not quite realized.  Since we know the station works, not sure why its not on?  I have a sneaking suspicion the State is planning an opening and the station will be live then.  WSDOT; Please keep in mind that as a paying customer, I do have some expectation of expediency.

Despite the hiccups at DuPont, EVGO stands out as the public charging leader. Their pricing isn't quite as good as EA but their subscription charge of $7.99 a month is actually reimbursed back to you by allowing the first several minutes to be free.

Degradation Or... Regurgitation?

If you have been following my blog, you know every 3 months, I post the monthly summary late because my pack has had large drops every 90 days that start happening between the 8 to the 12th of the months of January, April, July, and October.   I have had 5 events and those 5 events have accounted for  6.2% of my total of 7.86% loss since delivery.

Using previous experiences and science has failed to explain the losses. My biggest loss came in Jan 2019 which included my shortest driving distance. My smallest loss came in July 2018 which included a longest (more than double) driving distance. So I was expecting the same, hoping for a smaller adjustment of 1% and...

MY BATTERY WENT UP! 

I gained .95% SOH.  Now, we all know that battery measurements are hardly exact so a bit of bouncing around is to be expected but in the entire history (17 months tomorrow) of my LEAF checking and recording stats EVERY morning before the day's drive, I have never seen the stats go up. Not one single .01% rise until this past Monday.

All in all,  a great month. To finish, a dedication to my Dad from my nephew Steve Campbell who we visiting on a trip to Michigan last month.

May 2019 Driving Stats; EA, Tires, and Summer Heat Is Coming!

Another month in the can!  So I recently got a meter that will measure my home usage which I will be blogging about probably within the next month or so. I have had it over a week but have yet to actually spend 5 mins to hook it up.  But I have excuses. I had to work overtime last week shriveling my normal 3 day weekend into a measly 2 days and it was my niece's birthday which included a concert to see Train and The Foo Fighters so I literally didn't have 5 minutes to spare!

It didn't matter anyway because I haven't charged at home during that time so there wouldn't be anything to report.

Batteries/BMS

Since my next scheduled "adjustment" isn't due till July, I have no degradation to report but the BMS continues to misbehave!

99% SOC @ nearly 404 volts!! 

Unlike my previous 3 LEAFs, I was unable to determine what the new pack stats on the 40 kwh LEAF should be due to a rather large variance in the SOC when the pack reached full charge.  This most recent example is just another in a string of questionable results.  The charge was started in early morning and was actually still in the balancing phase since the charging indicator lights on the dash were still blinking but I unplugged and was over 403 volts @ 99% SOC when it should be around 97.5% more or less.  That is playing it a bit too loose for me and marks the 3rd time over 99%!

This is a another reason to not charge to full. The BMS software is simply not doing its job. Its not stopping the charge when its supposed to and this WILL lead to premature pack degradation

Tires

Bridgestone is making the news with its upcoming "quiet tires."  We EVers know that the removal of engine and tranny noise has allowed us to notice other sounds that we previously didn't realize was happening and the biggest culprit is tire noise. The linked article claims its not the road's fault as much as we thought it was; its the tires.  Definitely something worth keeping an eye on.  Hoping they put out a LRR version!

Speaking of tires; Summer and the warm (or HOT!!) weather has arrived so if you have not already done so, its time to adjust your tire pressures. Remember, they should be set during coldest part of the day and the increase in pressure as the day warms up (or if doing the Mario Cart thing)  is OK.  Now if you live in an area like the high desert where cold nights turn into blistering hot days, you might want to lower the pressure a few PSI to account for the wider than normal temperature range.

LEAF Camping

Speaking of Summer, its now camping season. I did show one option that works fairly well for me but if you have a few people besides yourself, you might want a bit more room. Here is another option!

Supposedly, it only "takes a few minutes" to setup but according to the LEAFer that posted this, it requires perfecting the art of standing on tires to accomplish that level of efficiency.  And before you ask, its a definite range hit. No telling how much but definitely want to beef up the charging stops but its portable which is a big plus which means not a daily range hit!

Hydrogen

We already knew that Hydrogen fueling stations were a bit of rush job but recently we found out just how much when a station blew up in Norway with a force so great that airbags on nearby cars were deployed.  What is even more shocking is the station apparently was not in use at the time which adds a lot of questions as to what went wrong.  Luckily, the only injuries were from airbag deployments of the nearby cars. Knowing Norway, they may have been electric vehicles. Wouldn't that be ironic?

This tells me that there is still many hurdles to address before Hydrogen becomes mainstream. Norwegian officials recommended a 500 yard safety buffer around the "blast zone." Can you imagine how that would go down when a Hydrogen station permit is submitted for "your" neighborhood?

The one shining light in all this is I can now focus on other things EV like more public charging as Hydrogen is quickly showing its just as useful as gasoline in that it will self destruct.  TBT; EVs are advancing so fast that Hydrogen will never catch up. What is needed is more public charging. Range is nice and Tesla should top 400 miles soon but I will take the reasonable expectation of an available well placed plug over range any day. (and the lower sticker price!)

EA

Speaking of more charging, EA has finally come to town!  Lacey, WA Walmart went live at the beginning of June and I was the first successful charge there since 2 CCS'ers tried and failed including a VW (ain't that a kick in the butt!)

But being first does have its consequences and I paid "full boat" price and as my luck tends to be, the very NEXT day, subscription pricing was announced that could have cut my cost in half.  But reliability of the stations has been very poor so far. There are a LOT of reports of failed charges from both Chademolites and CCS'ers all over the country. A few days ago, EA did announce a "roaming agreement" with Chargepoint so hoping they will share some technical knowledge and get these bugs figured out.

NCTC and Taxes

 For those of you considering a new LEAF; you want to keep in mind that the NCTC (No Charge To Charge) program of free fast charging from Blink, Webasto and EVGO for 2 years is terminating new signups after July 9th.  This is a HUGE benefit and the reason why my total transportation costs (fuel only) was well under $100 for the first year of my 40 kwh LEAF over 15,700 miles.  But there is a caveat; a $2500 caveat.

WA has reinstated their sales tax waiver for plug ins but that does not start till Aug 1st.  This will create a sales vacuum so its now in Nissan's court as to what they will do about it.  The options;

1) It wouldn't surprise me to see sales incentives that equals or approaches the $2500 tax credit. This would make would NCTC a huge bargain especially for those who are getting their first EV and don't have adequate home charging or live in multi unit housing without reserved parking.

2) Extend the program. Nissan is not in a good position saleswise. The returning EVer is a major portion of Nissan's prospective new customer base and the lack of TMS is not going over well especially with emerging reports that the 62 kwh LEAF suffers from the same RapidGate  my 40 kwh LEAF is hampered with. RapidGate makes paying by the minute quite painful. Free charging does not address the additional road time but at least it won't cost the EVer. Nissan has had some success with simply selling at bargain basement prices. This might be the way to go until 2020 when they will finally provide an EV with the TMS option.

3) Do nothing. Nissan could simply sacrifice WA State sales for July knowing there will be a rebound in August.  But that only allows the possibility of more negative reports over RapidGate as the Summer heat intensifies.  The problem with negativity is it creates doubt where none should exist.  People read the stories, magnifies its results and then find ways, no matter how obscure, to apply it to their needs.   There are too many people concerned about the issues of full charging but admit they only charge a few times a week because of the additional range.  This is how a smidgen of  bad news mushrooms into Armageddon. 

Route Del Sol!

Yesterday afternoon, I had the chance to spend some time with Route Del Sol at Puget Sound Solar in Seattle. It was quite the experience but pales to the great adventure Route Del Sol will spend nearly 3 years accomplishing.  Swiping pix from the webpage (hyperlinked above) their mission statement is short, concise and says it all!

Route Del Sol is two people; Joel Gregory Hayes, the techie and Keegan Taccori the vblogger, but like any major undertaking they are the iceberg of exposure with a lot of hidden support including Solarrolla the company who helped modify an "off the shelf" BEV for the epic journey.

Joel, Keegan and my LEAF! What a trio!!

The Vehicle


The van, a 2010 International E-Star BEV started out life... well, slowly. It was discovered after 7+ years of life with an odometer reading of 500 miles.  Despite the initial sticker price of $150,000, Route Del Sol was able to get it on the cheap. But it needed work before it could run on the Sun.

At Puget Sound Solar. This is a partial solar array setup. They also have another wing that extends from the back. The wings actually slide in under the center panel which makes setup quick and easy. Simply slide the panels out and plug them in!

In comes Solarrolla based in Ashland OR. First order of biz was bolstering the onboard 80 Kwh pack with a 40 kwh LiCo pack. This was done for two reasons; Boosting the 100 mile range was good but not nearly as vital as being able to store solar energy. The OEM pack can't use the solar energy directly so the 40 kwh pack is charged by the Sun and it then charges the 80 kwh pack. (which can also be plugged in a 240 volt charging station)  This brings the range up to 200 miles.  Solarrolla even documented the mods on You Tube so if you want some tips on how to prepare your van to live in for 3 years, this is a good start!

So after the supplementary pack, beds, solar arrays, etc. were added they were ready!

The Juice

Inside the van hidden in a cabinet lies the brains of the system. 

Status meter. If power was being transferred from one pack to the other, charged from line power or consumed, you would see it here. 

One of the two controllers for the solar (Outback Power) Remember the pix above? Van is partially shaded by the building, only has partial panel deployment and no solart tracking active but still pulling nearly 3 KW! Not bad!

As we all know, pack balance is critical so having an easy to read display of battery voltages is key. Here we have a .06 volt spread. Not too shabby! 

The Journey

They started the Summer of 2018 at the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska, winding their way down thru the Yukon and into British Columbia. As all Northwesterners know, if powered by the Sun, you pretty much are not doing much traveling during the Winter. They were able to hit Washington early this year and enjoyed an extended stay in the region and after a few shows, they are set to continue Southwards here in a few days.

So there you have it! Not a whole lot of detail but Joel and Keegan has taken care of that. You can follow their journey and check out where they have been as well.

https://www.routedelsol.com/

This the main page. Like any venture, this one still costs money despite the free fuel. So if you don't want to see our adventurers 25 pounds lighter when they reach the southern tip of Argentina, consider donating. Eating is always good.

Like their Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Routedelsol/

You Tube for videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/routedelsol?reload=9

And instagram (you probably already knew that was coming)

https://www.instagram.com/routedelsol/

And finally....

I had the GREAT fortune to meet Michael Foster!  For those that don't know, Michael is a Seattle area activist that has a huge concern over the sustainability of the planet. He became famous when he closed the valve on a North Dakota pipeline that was carrying Canadian tar sand oil into the United States.

I saw a cool documentary about his and his co-harts exploits but can't find the link right now but here is a pretty in depth story about him. He is a true hero!

https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2017/6/5/michael-foster-is-defiant?fbclid=IwAR0FzOB01jZ_zo-VjjWJ2S0l9z69eWJuRXBjiuB0n-D7GzNgWv_rYVn-LV0

Temperature Bars On The LEAF

In 2018, the LEAF went to a slider like gauge for temperature bars and it works basically the same as previous versions with the same 12 segments, etc., but unlike my 24 kwh LEAFs, there is minimal overlap of the temperature ranges the bars appear and disappear.  They also are a lot more consistent at which temperature they appear and disappear...well, most of the time.

I did this the easy way of simply snapping pix as bars came and went (for the most part) so you could see for yourself. Below I will have 2 pix with the goal of showing both the lower and upper limit of each bar. Although you will see 3 temperatures, I am using the temperature # 1 (In portrait mode it would be the upper left reading) which is normally the highest, because of several examples of bar changes with matching temperature 1 but various other temps in the lower spots.   As we all know, when stationary, the 3 temps don't vary nearly as much as when we are moving. I once recorded a 24º difference from high to lowest during a cold day (40's) on one of my 2016's more "active" days AKA  starting a QC with 10 TBs!

Here the top temp is the same but 2nd temps are not hence my reason for using the

top temp only as a guide. There were several instances of this. 

Notes

There is a gap between bar 4 and 5. Due to limited exposure to lower temperatures of the battery, I am thinking both 4 and 5 are incomplete. I did see 3 bars only one  time during the Winter because the car is garaged so lower battery temps just don't happen that much.  Reality says that is not what people are wanting to see anyway and 6 - 9 are complete in that each was during an observed appearance or disappearance. The lower end of the 4th bar was recorded from the switch though.  In other instances where there is a gap from the high end of a bar and the low end of the next highest bar, we can assume the lower bar would have covered that gap.


4 Bars

39.8 - 47.1  º F

5 Bars

66.4 - 76.8 º F

6 Bars

78.6 - 95.8 º F

7 Bars

96.6 - 104.2 º F

8 Bars

105.6 - 114.8 º F

9 Bars

112.2 - 121.0 º  F

Interesting as I think the 9 Bar reads are an anomaly.  With no overlap anywhere else, the 9 Bar overlaps both ends!

10 Bars

119.2 - ???

Honorable Mention!

The upper range would definitely be just below 39.8º  and only got this due to a 36 hour power outage.

If anyone can fill in the gaps for 4 bars and under or 10 bars and up, please chime in!

To Tax Or Not Too Taxed!

In Feb 2018, I leased my LEAF sales tax free making it the 5th "new" car in a row I had gotten sales tax free dating back to May  2009 when I bought 2010 Prius under the "Prius Priority Purchase Program." IOW, WA was going the extra mile to get its residents into greener transportation.  Yes Folks, that was a DECADE ago.

But the sales tax incentive for WA ran out a few months after my LEAF came home.  As we should have gathered from the statement above, this was quite the turnaround in stance by the State. The tax waiver expiring did not sit too well with any of us but TBT (truth be told) the law was archaic, weak and did not really address the rapidly changing market.

Where We Have Been

Like any benefit, there is some give and take. Initially, the sales tax covered hybrids due to a higher sales price that did a great job of lowering the cost of the technology. As hybrids exploded, the tax expired (My Prius was purchased 12 days before the credit expired) and the credit was then applied to the new tech AKA "100% Battery Vehicle."  All EVs qualified, even $120,000 Teslas.

Then the Oil Lobby started throwing its weight around and an EV Tab fee was added. It started at $100 and was solely to be used to cover what would have been collected in gas taxes. WA pays a combined 62.9 cents per gallon (44.5 cents state, 18.4 cents Fed for gasoline. Diesel is slightly higher) In a 30 MPG car, that would cover roughly 4800 miles, a distance very few around here drive. IOW, EVers were by and large, underpaying.

So the EV tax was raised to $150 (Before you start screaming, the gas tax went up 7 cents a gallon at the same time)  but initially the first collections at the higher rate would be put into a fund to expand public charging. The EV tax credit also put an upper limit on the perk all but eliminating Teslas and other high end EVs.   The results of that expansion first showed signs in Central WA in Ellensburg with a Greenlots station that bills one of the highest rates for power in the State.  The time to collect for the project was barely a year but there is no clause that drops the EV tab fee but then again, the gas tax didn't go down either.  Instead the State put 15% into the "Transportation Improvement Account" and 15% into the "Rural Arterial Trust Account (RCW 46.17.323)

Why The Old Way Was The Bad Way

Fees too low

Even at $150, we EVers were by and large, underpaying.  Gassers are getting more efficient but even a 35 MPG car would only make it 8300 miles with only $150 in gas taxes. The tab fee going up? Well, saw that coming a mile away.

Cracks too big

Although the Chevy Volt came out the same time as the LEAF, it was simply skirting its responsibility.  I knew a guy who lived in Yelm, worked for the State and NEVER bought gas. His Volt easily made the 20 mile drive to downtown Olympia where he was plugging to the Blink L2 (when it was free) and walking 2 blocks to his office. Later he transferred to Tumwater which was an even shorter commute.  IOW, he was paying little if any in gas taxes. Later Volts' range increased resulting in less reliance on the pump.

Benefit for the rich

This ideology is pure BULLS***! I am as far from rich as you can get on this side of the poverty line. What passes as middle class in many areas of the country is simply not viable here. Nevertheless, the EVer somehow got this label slapped on them.  I drive EVs because I can't afford to pay for gas! Its too much money! 

So how did this misconception start? Well, partially because it was all about new cars. The unrich does not buy new cars that much and the new reality is that THE fastest growing segment of the EV community is the "used" EV.  The thought of getting a cheap LEAF for $4,000 (yes they are around) that would only be used to bomb around town dropping off kids at school, grocery shopping, and basically any other errand that KILLED a gassers MPGs was a tough TCO with that $150 tab fee!

The Phoenix Has Risen!

Yep, WA Legislature works EXACTLY like the mythical creature (especially the crash and burn part...) Since I am not a political person I will not speculate on the ideology of amendments,sensibility and flexibility.  No matter, the old law was dead and rightfully so but it left a void.  A BIG ONE!

 A new bill was immediately written and agreed upon in both houses but failed to come up for a vote before the legislative session ended.  But it was one of a dozen green proposals on the table and as part of HB 2042 "Advancing Green Transportation Initiatives" it was passed and will start doing business on August 1st running 6 years.

The Take

As mentioned above, we were underpaying at $150 a year.  So tab fees jumped $75 to $225 or 12,500 miles in a 35 MPG gasser. Now we are on par.  More on driving need below.

The Give

For the first time ever, WA will cover the sales tax on the first $15,000 on a used EV purchase (as long as its under $30,000)  This is BIG BIG BIG!!  We need to get a greater investment into EV tech and getting lower income mix is the key.  This remains the same thru out the entire 6 year period.

On new EVs, the first $25,000 is tax free for vehicles with a "sale price" under $45,000 which means no cheating the system as was done previously with $60,000 Tesla Model 3's.  The tax free portion drops $5,000 every two years so will be $20,000 in 2021, $15,000 in 2023.

Plug in hybrids will now have a $75 tab fee for their electrified half which for many will be a bargain.

The Bottom Line

Ok so we have won, lost and boot scooted sideways but if social media resembled real life, it would be a lose lose all the way around!  Why??  Does it "really" take one person driving 4,000 miles a year to turn the entire populace into a mob?  Do we really want no tax incentives and a $150 tab fee? Well, I sure as hell don't! I am not even in the market and I still favor the new fees simply because it does encourage EV adoption.

TCO

On a new qualifying EV, we are talking $2500 more or less (depending on where you live) off the top on the purchase. Unless paying cash, that is $2500 PLUS interest you are saving.  That is OVER 10 years of tab fees! I mean how can "anyone" not see the upside of that?

Lets use real numbers; You get an EV, you put down some cash, you get a 5 year loan at 4.74% (from bankrate.com which means you can probably do a little better)

Finance $35,000 that is $656.33  a month.  But no sales tax credit means financing $37.500 or $703.21  a month or $46.88 more per month or just under 5 months to cover that $225 tab fee (234.40 saved)  $46.88 a month?? That is like...like...like paying for gas in a Prius! Caaaaraaazzzeee talk!

Even used EVs can easily save 4-5 years of that tab fee.  Realistically, most used EVs are not over $15,000 so lets use a price of $14,000 with $2,000 down so you are financing $12,000 under the new fees. Again, using Bankrate.com, the used car loan rates are about 5.59% on a 3 year loan,we are talking about $362.84 a month (lower than my lease payments...) verses financing $13,400 or $405.17 a month; a savings of $42.33 a month or just over 5 months to cover that tab fee.

The Cracks

This fee structure does not favor the EVers whose needs are very modest. My nephew used to live in Seattle and despite being in a two worker household, both he and his wife used public transportation 99% of the time. The car was only used for out of town trips or special "events."  They did have nights out but Uber or Sound Transit was their designated driver. The car? Well, it spent most of its time parked at my Sister's house (conveniently located a few miles from the Southworth ferry terminal) where parking was free.  Needless to say, their cost per mile was well above the average since insurance rates do not go down when they were averaging 2,000 miles a year.

TBT; I don't know if there is a "good" way for people in the same boat. The cost of everything is going up but few as fast as housing and transportation.  I did participate in the recently ended RUC Pilot which investigated the ideology of a pay per mile fee based system that would replace the gas tax. This is a mistake, a BIG one.  The pilot centered on using a 20.4 MPG fleet average for the state divided by the State gas tax to come up with a 2.4 cents per mile figure.  IOW; the biggest users of gasoline would now be on the EXACT same level as an EVer not using ANY gas or expelling carbon or choking our children. During my year of driving, I would have paid over $400 in fees.

But the real result of RUC would be a massive shift of money from highly efficient drivers to the very high consuming drivers. The program by design would not generate more revenue.  The only way I could support RUC is if it was in addition to the current gas tax and EV tab fee program. Cut both the gas tax and tab fee in half and that means the new fee system would be an overall income generator.  But let me be clear, I am COMPLETELY against RUC.

The Win

Getting the people who need it the most into EVs is where we need to be. As we all know, gassers suffer the most doing the mundane short range errands that we all have to do in bulk.  There is simply no way of getting around that in Olympia due to an extremely inadequate public transportation system. Outside downtown Seattle or other major points (Universities seem to do well) in the city, many find themselves in the same boat. So making used EVs a good deal is important.  Now we do have to realize our thoughts on budgets override reality, logic and sensibility. We have always favored the "gasser business model" of low entry price offset by large ongoing costs and yeah, this new fee structure does follow that process.  But as long as we continue to support the funneling of money to the super rich and MegaCorps, support money will continue to be eroded which means costs to us will continue to rise.

Another thing that we have to consider is "EVness"  Its an epidemic...or at least it should be. I don't have to tell you how addictive EVs are.  But right now, its not an epidemic and that is due to exposure.  I feel quite confident in my beliefs that making used EVs attractive will be the best way to increase EV awareness and penetration into the "new" EV market.


Finally

Yeah, I know you thought this would never end.  The new fee structure is not perfect or even close for that matter. But fees are needed in one way or the other simply because no fees is not an option. In a perfect WA, we just raise the gas tax another 10 cents a gallon and leave the EV tab fee as it is with the sales tax incentive but that is not how WA works.

Putting all EVs into the same bucket is a mistake and a better way to do it would be basing the tab fee on range. Under 100 miles; $75, Under 200, $150 and so on. This allows the used EV to be much more affordable, helps to address the user with very modest needs and also gets the money from the people most likely able to pay the fee and eat too.

But we are still being crushed under the weight of Big Oil and that will continue to be true as long as EV adoption remains in the low single digits.  So I wrote this blog mainly to illustrate 3 big issues;

1) No pain, no gain. EV fees are high but only because our voice is small. Bailing out to gassers is EXACTLY what Big Oil wants us to do. We cannot let that happen.

2) Adoption needs to happen faster and the #1 area we need it to happen is lower income people who tend to live in town, take less long trips and primarily use their car to get back and forth from work. EVs are super cheap to operate.

3) No change is possible without a lot of money. As early EV adopters, we have taken on the role of paying that extra money to smooth the way for the people behind us.  But negativity is a powerful thing. A single negative word WILL prevent a dozen future EVers from experiencing the freedom we all enjoy every day.

April 2019 Drive Report; Now That My LEAF Is No Longer Shiny, How Far Can It Go?

April is done and since we had our "BMS adjustment" earlier in the month, there will not be any degradation to report until mid July!  In an effort to see how little my electric bill could be, I did not charge at all at home during the last Puget Sound Energy cycle. This means not doing much driving and that was helped by two out of town trips including seeing Aerosmith in Vegas!

I have also been working on a blog to complain about disappearing incentives for EVs now that the federal credit sunset is hurting Tesla and Chevy.  Chevy has cut prices (which is good for us) but Tesla is all over the map. Price up, price down, added features, removed options, etc. Makes planning a future purchase based on ROI very tough. But things are starting to look up. 

May has had a GREAT beginning. Tesla as we know has struggled a bit causing some concern over its finances including the cash needed for day to day operations so they decided to raise some funds and the results were overwhelming!  Looks like the shorters will have to wait another day!

Locally, WA surprised everyone by pushing thru the transportation bill that included a return of EV incentives.  The new incentives start in August and for the first time, includes USED EV purchases!

But its still politics so there is always some give and take but the "take" has benefits. EV registration fees will increase $75 from $150 to $225 but that extra money will be collected and used to help fund public charging infrastructure. Lots of details in the link above so if you are in the market for an EV this year, check out the details!

GOM And The Semi Annual Range Test. 

I have heard complaints about the GOM for YEARS on how it was inflated, unrealistic, etc. And...well, most of that was true. But knowing the process on  how the GOM worked was the biggest source of confusion.  It created the range estimate based on recent driving history and conditions.  This meant a a 2 mile downhill drive could bloat your range by 20 miles or more.  IOW; to understand how many miles you had, you had to evaluate the driving you had just done.  Now, that isn't all that difficult to do if you know where you are going and all that stuff but the #1 complaint is the GOM first thing in the morning!

This is where the bloat was the biggest and partially that should be correct... partially.  Most people who tax the range of their LEAF  have commutes that is mostly freeway but no one actually lives on the freeway. So that drive from your exit to your driveway will be at a much slower speed and much higher efficiency and that will bloat the next day's GOM. (Hill Dwellers please hold comment...)  That is normal but the car should also understand that last leg is only a small part of the drive and shouldn't hold so much weight in the range estimate, right? Well, Nissan has seemingly struggled to understand that...Until now. 

The Charge

Now, I tried several times to get a baseline on my 40 kwh pack but that proved to be all but impossible. Unlike my previous 24 and 30 kwh LEAFs, a full charge was all over the map.  My kwh available (all with SOH at 99% or above) ranged from a shocking 39.1 kwh to as little as 37.7 kwh. 

Each charging session was completed including balancing (no lights) and had at least an hour to settle before LEAF Spy measurements were taken.  SOC ranged from 99.51% (That is real SOC!!) to 96.07%.  Voltage ran from 401.95 volts to 402.87 volts. 

So this time, the charge wasn't complete but was fully into the balancing stage.  I had 35.5 kwh available which is "about" right. I don't do a lot of full charges but this would appear to be no more than .1-.2 kwh short of charge completion. Pack voltage was 401.87 with SOC at 97.6%

GOM History

Now my only driving for the previous 4 days was my work commute. Due to Marvin Road Diamond Merge construction, I take Marvin Road entrance to I-5 in the morning, College Street exit in the evening.  Round trip is 25 miles with 62% freeway.  Because my commute is so short, I literally drive it as fast as traffic will allow.  This means 70-75 mph coming home and 50-70 mph going to work. My Sunday performance (4.3 miles/kwh) reflects the lack of traffic in the morning over my weekly performance (4.9 -5.2 miles/kwh).   Wednesday night before the charge was the 4.9 miles/kwh at 25.1 miles. 

The Test

Had a thing in Seattle so scheduled it in hopes of missing most of the congestion (It is IMPOSSIBLE to miss all of it.) for a more realistic freeway range.  The goal is to mimic "normal" driving so I selected an option of 2/3rds freeway, 1/3rd surface streets.  I will be in Eco B mode all the time with only selective use of E Pedal for sudden slowdowns on the freeway or in town.  The Seattle thing was only 55ish miles so a bit of zigzagging would need to be done to hit my goal of 120 freeway miles. Shouldn't be a thing... 

The weather was well, perfect for a range test. Mostly Sunny and cool in the mid to upper 50's. humidity was 50% which basically means even with vents closed (my default) defrost would not be needed and I didn't use it or any other climate control one time. I did roll down windows a few times while bombing around Seattle when the Sun got a bit warm. 

The Drive

The delay thru the Marvin Road construction was much worse than I had anticipated. This is well after morning rush hour but it took at least 10 minutes to go the mile thru a couple roundabouts to get onto the freeway.  After getting on I-5, the drive was reasonable averaging 65 mph with only slight slowdowns to just under 60 mph thru Ft. Lewis (JBLM) and Highway 512 interchange.  

After that was Tacoma where road construction has caused a rash of accidents which prompted officials to drop the speed limit to 50 mph. No major slowdowns although speed did drop to 35 mph in several sections but the traffic flow was better than I expected.  

I pretty much didn't hit any more slowdowns until just before Seattle two miles from my exit. Here the speed ranged from zero to 10 mph.  The Seattle thing lasted 45 mins so back on the road and headed to Oberto's Factory Outlet on Rainier Ave.  That was the end of my plans. The odometer said I hadn't gone anywhere near far enough to be close to out of range so after racking my brain for reasons why I would want to be in the area, I decided on the new Dick's Drive In in Kent. 

After eating way too much,  I took off heading South then remembered a new outlet store (Amazon) for scratch and dent items so decided to check it out to see if there were any deals. It was still in Kent but the far opposite side of town on the other side of I-5. Now thinking of this while still at Dicks Drive In would have saved me several miles but its a 40, no need to save! 😊

Using Google Maps, I decided on an alternate trip which turned out to be not such a good idea.  Road construction thru town had all lanes dropping down to one which took a while to get thru.  But this is where E-Pedal shines so not all bad.  After picking up a $149 Lego set for $70, I departed seeing smooth sailing nearly all the way home (except Tacoma Construction of course) and decided that would end day one. 

Day Two was a planned buzz around town to get some errands done. This would be roughly 35% freeway, 65% surface streets.  As it turned out, the freeway for part of the day looked quite a bit slower so surface streets turned out to be the quicker option covering 75% of Day two. 

The Drive Computer

Not quite a full charge since the light was still blinking but

only doing a bit of balancing at this point so close enough!

35.5 kwh available, 401.78 volts, 97.6% SOC LEAF Spy estimate 170.4
miles (4.8 miles per kwh setting to 1% SOC). Remember, GOM
history of 4.9 miles/kwh would equate to  173.9 miles. Notice the single
 segment of regen available? 

This is emerging from Tacoma construction slowdown. Estimated range(adding elapsed miles with GOM) 169.9 miles
which is practically dead on the LEAF Spy estimate of 170.4 miles. Trip so far was
a rough entry to I-5 due to Diamond merge construction at Marvin Road in Lacey.
A few mins of slow traffic around Joint Base Lewis Mcchord so predominate speed
of 65 mph not reflected here. I love the trip computer but wish it had separate entry
showing average moving speed that discounts time in park or stops exceeding 10
seconds. 

Here we have the effects of traffic slowdown and the downhill run into Seattle. 

Notice the HUGE 5.4 miles per kwh is not being reflected on the GOM? 

That is a monumental change from previous LEAFs. (Only took 8

years to get it right) Estimated range 174.1 miles

Kinda missed what I wanted to capture. I have phone on holder that is extended to its 

max so it bounces around a lot and was unable to get focused shot of 5.6 miles/kwh

before it updated. Stats update every 30 seconds.  The average speed is no longer 

accurate as it includes about 20-30 mins of "park" time while car was on.  (Yes, I was 

flooding the air with electrons. 😋) Estimated range 170.1 miles. 

Miles/kwh dropping fast but range estimate isn't. 163.7 miles estimated. 

Side trip thru town past construction requiring merge to single lane. Surprisingly

my performance and range estimate dropped?  Now 161.1 miles. Looks like that reserve

is getting bigger...

Same miles/kwh and relatively steady freeway speeds bouncing from low 50's to

near 70 (Nissan speed which means probably 65-66 mph...) Range is now 158.7.

Parked again. Downhill to my neighborhood boosted the range a touch. So range now

estimated to be 164.8 miles so recent performance will change estimate if hill is long

enough.  Now LEAF Spy does not take performance into account. Only uses target

SOC (1% for me) remaining juice (9.1 kwh) to create estimate (41 miles.) So that would

be 171 miles which is above what it started with. But realize not all of that 9.1 kwh

will be available to me. Only a perfect cell balance would guarantee that and mine

is good but not perfect. In fact, the lowest I have done is .2 kwh (in 30 kwh LEAF)

but no lower than .6 kwh on this LEAF.  Notice LEAF Spy setting is at 4.6 miles/kwh?
Got changed somehow while driving around. I was using Go Pro for phone and had to
reset it a few times.

EPA has been achieved! (FYI another ~ 20-25 mins of idle time was added lowering
average speed.)  Using the 5.3 miles per kwh, we can estimate of usable 6.5 kwh available
or another 35 miles.

LBW (Low Battery Warning) Not sure if age has changed this or its not
super specific like previous LEAFs but was expecting this to come on
at 87 GIDs.  LBW is when the estimated miles (GOM) starts blinking.
I took 4 pix of this and this was only one in focus but GOM was 17
miles for anyone wondering.  LEAF Spy estimate @ 4.8 miles/kwh 31.8
miles. GOM estimated based on 5.3 miles/kwh 35 miles.

Interim shot for reference.  Notice we traveled 9 miles and lost 8 miles on GOM

VLBW (Very Low Battery Warning) We are officially blind!  Now pix is a bit hard to see
but SOC meter is at 2% (notice LEAF Spy is at 12.2%) Previous experiences had VLBW
coming on at 61 GIDs.

For anyone who had an older LEAF, 49 GIDs (or 48 in some cases) should be
a familiar sight since this is when the LBW was triggered on the 24/30 kwh
LEAF.  Notice we have traveled another 3½ miles (country road 40-50 mph)
Sorry for pix quality. Took several, none really came out.

End of Test. I resisted the urge to make another lap around the Olympia Airport. I had
passed Tumwater Webasto twice previously and each time it was in use. This time it
was empty so decided it was far enough!

Finally

So the test covered 169.8 miles and I did not make to the 3rd of 4 range warnings. The 3rd one happens when SOC meter goes to "_ _ _" which happens right about where VLBW warning happens with 24/30 kwh LEAFs with the 4th we all know and dread.   So the question becomes what is the likely true range of the LEAF? 

Well, there are a few ways to look at it. Considering the weather, an all freeway trip running 60-65 mph would have been right at the 4.8 miles per kwh setting I had on LEAF Spy or 170.4 miles (which also contributed to my decision to end the test).  As we saw, around here that is a tough drive to make unless you are headed south to Portland. Now I did do that trip a few weeks ago but the weather did not agree including a 10 mile stretch on I-5 where it rained so hard, I could barely see. Freeway traffic dropped to 35-40 mph.  Despite all that (and a much faster trip home) I still achieved 4.2 miles per kwh. I was at 4.8 until I broke out of Portland gridlock and it was 70-75 mph for most of the remaining trip. 

But we averaged 5.3 miles per kwh which would have been 185 miles. Now if we assume that Turtle will hit at .6 kwh remaining, that leaves us 3.1 kwh to use which means 185 miles is not all that unlikely.

In Conclusion

So does this mean that the GOM is better or worse?  Well, both of course. We have demonstrated that the GOM no longer swings wildly on every little hill as it once did. On the long downhill into Seattle, gaining .5 miles per kwh over the entire trip on equated in a 4 mile bump in the estimated range. My back of the hand calculation says that 4 mile bump was actually the range gained during the actual downhill ascent as it was in regen most of the time. 

But it still stops reporting range way too early. If you examine the numbers on the Trip Computer shots you will see a growing hidden reserve as the SOC gets lower. Notice when at 81% SOC, GOM and LEAF Spy were almost identical?  After that point, the disparity grows. Now the GOM was close to my LEAF Spy estimate but only because LEAF Spy was set to 4.8 miles/ kwh and the trip ended at 5.3 miles per kwh. 

Looks like the GOM is better but is still only a tool that needs to be understood. Now the Trip Computer was new for the 2018 MY but I have been using a variant of it since day one. Every morning, I reset my Miles per kwh setting and my Trip A on my previous LEAFs when logging the previous day's stats.  This I found to be very useful but it still suffered from the wild adjustments.  The 2018 LEAF has fixed a lot of that making it more accurate. So before you complain about not hitting the EPA, realize that your LEAF has a lot more to give than its letting on. 

As always, comments are welcome.  I do realize the data is a bit scattered on this post so if you have a question or need clarification, you are likely not the only one so ASK!!