Topic: Condo residents warned against purchasing electric cars

[tenpenny]

The possibilities are so many it takes no time to think them up. How about this one, not hard to imagine. One of these stalled on a highway at night in minus 20C because the poor old batteries' range were surprised by COLD and didn't get the owner home as it should have. The owner died along with the drivers of five normal cars that slammed into the "unlit brick" sitting on the highway. I feel most sorry for those five people who could have been home with their wives/husbands and children, who will never see their husbands/wives again. I hope I'm not one of them, because they will be needless victims. Those people didn't buy such a car. The buyer of the electric vehicle should have known better, and there's really no excuse for that one.

How about this:  someone puts wings on his electric car, flies it over the city, but the batteries die, and he crashes into the ACC during  a playoff game when the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals.


If we're going to dream up fantasies, let's at least make them worthwhile.

[dkaz]

How about this:  someone puts wings on his electric car, flies it over the city, but the batteries die, and he crashes into the ACC during  a playoff game when the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals.

Nice dream but I call BS on one item.... "the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals" would have involved the Leafs making it to the playoffs in the first place. Sorry change that part and your dream will be credible. 

[Schmengie]

The possibilities are so many it takes no time to think them up. How about this one, not hard to imagine. One of these stalled on a highway at night in minus 20C because the poor old batteries' range were surprised by COLD and didn't get the owner home as it should have. The owner died along with the drivers of five normal cars that slammed into the "unlit brick" sitting on the highway. I feel most sorry for those five people who could have been home with their wives/husbands and children, who will never see their husbands/wives again. I hope I'm not one of them, because they will be needless victims. Those people didn't buy such a car. The buyer of the electric vehicle should have known better, and there's really no excuse for that one.

How about this:  someone puts wings on his electric car, flies it over the city, but the batteries die, and he crashes into the ACC during  a playoff game when the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals.


If we're going to dream up fantasies, let's at least make them worthwhile.

 There's more than one idiot out there who never looks at their gas gauge, bad enough when you're in a car with a range of 500+kms. Put that same idiot in an electric car with a maximum range not even a quarter of that and what do you think will happen? Throw cold weather into the mix and this scenario seems pretty plausible to me.

[ArticSteve]

Toyota needs to get 30 miles EV only range at 30C or -10C and then IMO they've cracked the nut on the Prius type units.  13 miles is not quite enough.   


Automotive News -- January 27, 2011 - 3:01 pm ET
 
LOS ANGELES -- With the retail launch of the Prius plug-in-hybrid version a little more than a year away, Toyota is getting in some last-minute testing.

Toyota is lending 163 plug-in Prius prototypes to universities, utilities and car-sharing services such as Zipcar.

The largest group of 18 Priuses went to the University of Colorado-Boulder through Xcel Energy’s SmartGrid project.

Other groups receiving plug-in Prius prototype loaners include the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Portland State University, the California Center for Sustainable Energy and the Clean Cities Coalition of New York.

In trying to get higher-mileage vehicles into the rotation, Toyota also has lent eight vehicles to Zipcar’s fleets in San Francisco, Boston and Portland. CuseCar, a car-sharing program in Syracuse, N.Y., also is participating.

“We wanted a lot of various-use cases,” said Toyota spokeswoman Jana Hartline. “Some might be cycling through households for day-to-day driving. Some might be used on service calls, like with San Diego Gas & Electric. Some will have access to daytime charging, others to Level 1 charging.”

The vehicles will be on loan for 12 months, with the consumers having the option to extend to 18 months. During the loans, the Priuses will have data uploads performed at Toyota dealerships to analyze driving and charging patterns. Drivers also will participate in surveys conducted by Toyota.

Although the Prius PHV is basically finished, as far as r&d is concerned, some last-minute tweaks can be engineered. Toyota is considering tinkering with software settings to extend the vehicle’s 13-mile EV-only range. It also is working on a setting for the driver to select when he wants the vehicle to switch to EV-only mode, rather than requiring every trip to start in EV mode until the battery is exhausted.

The Prius PHV is powered by lithium ion batteries and can be charged from a standard 110-volt outlet in about three hours. It can drive in EV-only mode up to 62 mph. Once its EV-only range is exhausted, it gets about 50 mpg in hybrid mode.

[dkaz]

There's more than one idiot out there who never looks at their gas gauge, bad enough when you're in a car with a range of 500+kms. Put that same idiot in an electric car with a maximum range not even a quarter of that and what do you think will happen? Throw cold weather into the mix and this scenario seems pretty plausible to me.

Darwinism at its best.

[wing]

I hope Nissan sends me a Leaf, heck I'd love a long-term one but I somehow doubt they would put one in their fleet.

I travel 25km to work and 25km back, I could charge it as often as my phone (every couple of days) and it would be just fine and dandy!

[dr_spock]

It'll probably work for my commute too.   I am not too crazy about being able to control some of the Leafs features through the Internet.  It shouldn't be too hard to run a 220V line for 40amp level 2 charge. 

[Leviathan]

It'll probably work for my commute too.   I am not too crazy about being able to control some of the Leafs features through the Internet.  It shouldn't be too hard to run a 220V line for 40amp level 2 charge. 

Internet access sounds good ta me. 

A Leaf does ~75 miles full range in good weather which is, what, 120 Kms? That puts the Leaf just outside what I need for monthly trips but l could do a pile of daily trips on one charge though! The interior of the Leaf shows pretty poorly in the pictures. Maybe Nissan will have some @ the Vancouver auto show but, jeeze, it looks pretty low-rent..

[kard00d]

How about this:  someone puts wings on his electric car, flies it over the city, but the batteries die, and he crashes into the ACC during  a playoff game when the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals.

Nice dream but I call BS on one item.... "the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals" would have involved the Leafs making it to the playoffs in the first place. Sorry change that part and your dream will be credible. 

The Nissan Leafs have more of a chance..

[tenpenny]

The possibilities are so many it takes no time to think them up. How about this one, not hard to imagine. One of these stalled on a highway at night in minus 20C because the poor old batteries' range were surprised by COLD and didn't get the owner home as it should have. The owner died along with the drivers of five normal cars that slammed into the "unlit brick" sitting on the highway. I feel most sorry for those five people who could have been home with their wives/husbands and children, who will never see their husbands/wives again. I hope I'm not one of them, because they will be needless victims. Those people didn't buy such a car. The buyer of the electric vehicle should have known better, and there's really no excuse for that one.

How about this:  someone puts wings on his electric car, flies it over the city, but the batteries die, and he crashes into the ACC during  a playoff game when the Leafs have managed to make it to the semifinals.


If we're going to dream up fantasies, let's at least make them worthwhile.

 There's more than one idiot out there who never looks at their gas gauge, bad enough when you're in a car with a range of 500+kms. Put that same idiot in an electric car with a maximum range not even a quarter of that and what do you think will happen? Throw cold weather into the mix and this scenario seems pretty plausible to me.

If there are so many people who run out of gas now, do we always see 'unlit bricks' in the middle of our highways, being plowed into by poor innocent familye men, causing death and destruction?

[TopGun]

I just loved to read that message from the condo. At last, reality meets the purely electric car! The din of politics, greeniebabies  and fad has so far drowned out all reality.
.....

Condos will reflect the harshest reality, where the fear of a mis-step (real or perceived) by Boards far outweighs solid decisions on many, many occasions.

Condos do demonstrate though, how it is much easier it is to have something installed when new as opposed to go through the political and economic grief of retrofitting anything.

[tenpenny]

It also emphasizes the downside of a condo:  while you own your unit, you are severely limited in what you can do with, in, or around it.

[Erik]

Nice to see that Nissan agrees with me on the practicality of the Leaf as a car.

I can see requirements in the near future for all new condos to be built with a requirement for chargers to be able to be installed in parking areas. Piece of cake if done while building.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Nice to see that Nissan agrees with me on the practicality of the Leaf as a car.

I can see requirements in the near future for all new condos to be built with a requirement for chargers to be able to be installed in parking areas. Piece of cake if done while building.

When you are paying 30gs for a parking sport what's another cougle gs for a charger

[Trainman]

...

I can see requirements in the near future for all new condos to be built with a requirement for chargers to be able to be installed in parking areas. Piece of cake if done while building.

City of Vancouver just enacted such a requirement, plus the Vancouver Province noted that some malls are adding to the handicap and baby/kid stalls some for electric cars that will allow them to charge up while they shop.

[safristi]

..I'm waiting fer FREE dribble Gasoline "chargers" fer the rest of US SUCKERS. Mall/Condo/Work WOT'EFFER!!!!.......................there is NO FREE L(A)UNCH..................
   c'mon folks have ya seen wot McSquinty is doing with the green Windmill stuff.....had to Pay $1.5Million "excess charge fine" to Quebec and New England for OVERCHARGED unused windmills of yer mind excess production sold to then @ 80cents  a KW Hr....un frikin' believable..........
   why the fack should we even consider this "FREEBIE" for buildings for a few early adapters who think they are saving the PLANET   ..PLUTO maybe!!!!..............amazing wot politicians will do to LOOK GOOD...............it's better than DOING GOOD in their warped minds.....elect me    elect me..........and U do...............

  there should be a "FORD" (TO MAYOR) in every driveway...........

[tenpenny]

...

I can see requirements in the near future for all new condos to be built with a requirement for chargers to be able to be installed in parking areas. Piece of cake if done while building.

City of Vancouver just enacted such a requirement, plus the Vancouver Province noted that some malls are adding to the handicap and baby/kid stalls some for electric cars that will allow them to charge up while they shop.

I wonder if there's anyone who takes any Vancouver regulation regarding condos seriously.

Do you get free mold with the charger?

[dkaz]

The building code issues regarding the mouldy condos were a British Columbia thing, not just Vancouver, although the Vancouver Building Code is based of BC's (Vancouver is the only municipality in BC to have its own building code). Most condos that I'm aware of that did have mould problems are in the lower mainland (Vancouver and over 20 other municipalities) but I'm sure some other cities had affected condos as well.