Some of you may know that I have just spent the last 2 weeks or so driving the length of the country with #LeadingTheCharge in Steve Wests’ Tesla Roadster and Model S and also Carl Barlev’s Model S too. Through this experience I have come to appreciate the electric car in a new way and taken some lessons away to incorporate in my own EV build.
The first thing is actually the driving experience. An EV is quieter, smoother and simply easier to drive. It is more restful and more confidence inspiring. When you press the throttle things happen. No thinking about it, no downshift, no roar, just movement. Now of course the Teslas are no slouches and so the comparison is somewhat unfair to my current daily driver but, when I mashed the pedal on my gas car to overtake another car, I seriously thought something had gone wrong with it at first. I now miss that immediacy of response – quite a lot in fact.
The first thing is actually the driving experience. An EV is quieter, smoother and simply easier to drive. It is more restful and more confidence inspiring. When you press the throttle things happen. No thinking about it, no downshift, no roar, just movement. Now of course the Teslas are no slouches and so the comparison is somewhat unfair to my current daily driver but, when I mashed the pedal on my gas car to overtake another car, I seriously thought something had gone wrong with it at first. I now miss that immediacy of response – quite a lot in fact.
Recharging in Wellington before the Ferry crossing to Picton
An EV has full torque through most of its rev range and additionally it has regenerative braking. This means that for most purposes an EV can be driven with just one foot. Acceleration and braking are both done on the same pedal. Hill driving is a very different experience as you don’t end up doing the brake/throttle ‘tapdance’ in the same way. The brake pedal is just for when you stuff it up, or when the navigation is lagging a little behind the actual turns in the road. In the Model S the brake lights come on with the regen. While this is probably a very good idea it can also make you look a bit stupid to people following. It makes you look like a brake pedal rider or at the very least a timid driver. Maybe I will hook up the brake light output or maybe I won’t but if I do, I might make the high stop pulse or flash under regen and only light fully under actual brakes.
On the topic of regen, sometimes it is nice and sometimes it is not. During the trip I had the opportunity to drive a car converted with the HPEVS AC51 system. This vehicle had been wired with a switch to select between ‘standard’ or ‘economy’ modes. In economy mode the power is limited but also so is the regen. This can be switched at any time and so I experimented a little. What I found was that the standard mode was nice in town and the economy mode was nice on the highway. Why? The regen is great in traffic where you are concentrating and doing a lot of stop-start driving as you don’t have to ‘tapdance’. On the highway this actually can become tiring (without cruise control) as you are constantly ‘balancing’ the throttle. In economy mode you can reach the top of the hill and just let it coast down the other side using gravity to build the momentum while you take a brief rest from the throttle pedal. If the hills are a bit tight then just flick the economy switch back to standard mode and take advantage of some regen instead.
Cruise control in an EV is amazingly steady. The speed will not vary no matter what hill climb or descent is presented to you. The always available torque and the regen will take care of it all for you, instantly. If your donor vehicle has cruise and you can make it work then I very much advise you take advantage of it.
On the topic of regen, sometimes it is nice and sometimes it is not. During the trip I had the opportunity to drive a car converted with the HPEVS AC51 system. This vehicle had been wired with a switch to select between ‘standard’ or ‘economy’ modes. In economy mode the power is limited but also so is the regen. This can be switched at any time and so I experimented a little. What I found was that the standard mode was nice in town and the economy mode was nice on the highway. Why? The regen is great in traffic where you are concentrating and doing a lot of stop-start driving as you don’t have to ‘tapdance’. On the highway this actually can become tiring (without cruise control) as you are constantly ‘balancing’ the throttle. In economy mode you can reach the top of the hill and just let it coast down the other side using gravity to build the momentum while you take a brief rest from the throttle pedal. If the hills are a bit tight then just flick the economy switch back to standard mode and take advantage of some regen instead.
Cruise control in an EV is amazingly steady. The speed will not vary no matter what hill climb or descent is presented to you. The always available torque and the regen will take care of it all for you, instantly. If your donor vehicle has cruise and you can make it work then I very much advise you take advantage of it.
Type 2 (blue) to Type 1 (white) adapter cable
Charging: this is probably the biggest lesson I took away. It sucks to have to wait for your car to recharge. Solution; buy the most powerful charger you can afford suitable for your pack. I have taken the option to install a Brusa for the programmability but even though it is a 3.3kW unit I will only be able to draw about 2.0kW due to my relatively low pack voltage. A 3-phase charger would be awesome and cut the charge time to just 2 hours but at some horrific cost. Selecting a charger is not as straight forward as it seems as there are voltage and current limitations that my see you only able to use a portion of the chargers capability – as in my case. Another issue it the charge socket. New Zealand seems to have defacto standardised on the J1772 Type 1 (single phase) charge plug as found on the Nissan Leaf and Holden Volt but ideally we need a nationwide roll-out of the Type 2 (3-phase) socket. In Europe there is a ‘bring you own lead’ paradigm that minimises vandalism damage to the charge stations (i.e. stolen copper cords) and standardises every charge station across the board. Time will tell where that goes in NZ but I will be keeping my Type 1 inlet for a while yet until the Type 2 becomes more prevalent. At that time I could change over or simply purchase a Type 1 to Type 2 lead to take with me on my travels.
So, that was my takeaway lessons from 2 weeks on the road. I have a bit to do on my own car still but I am enthused, if a little hamstrung by the effects of a house move, and ready to finish it up.
Happy New Year.
So, that was my takeaway lessons from 2 weeks on the road. I have a bit to do on my own car still but I am enthused, if a little hamstrung by the effects of a house move, and ready to finish it up.
Happy New Year.
At Bluff, South Island, New Zealand
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