The World According to Alan

Peak Engineer Alan Batie has long been a fan of EVs (Electic Vehicles). In June of 2000, he bought his first EV, a used Sparrow (a picture of which, in fact, is the one at the top of the Wikipedia article), and for the last several years has been driving a Solectria Force. Although it only had a 20-25 mile range, it was perfect for Corvallis: he only drove a gas car when he had to go outside of Corvallis and farther than Philomath, even when, as the batteries aged, the range dropped to 10-12 miles.

Something like the Nissan Leaf has, however, been on his wishlist for decades, and Wednesday, April 13, 2011, that wish came true when he took delivery of Leaf #887. He lucked out, and it shipped out from Japan the very day before the recent earthquake that devastated the country.

While even modern, longer range, EVs, like the Leaf, are still primarily metro area, second car, vehicles, with a little planning, patience, and the charging infrastructure currently being put into place, they can satisfy the vast majority of most people’s driving needs. Alan expects to use the Leaf as his primary car, and rent a gas car the half dozen times a year he needs to go outside the Leaf’s range.

Indeed, the first weekend after picking up the Leaf, even before the fast charge infrastructure has been built out, he drove to Battle Ground, WA in the new car as a “proof of concept” to see what it could do. Up 99W to Chuck Colvin Nissan in McMinnville, which has a Level 2 charging station (240V, 3kw), where he had lunch while picking up an extra 15 miles to bridge the gap to the only current DC Fast Charge station (at the PGE headquarters in downtown Portland: 400V, 50kw), where he picked up 15kwh to bring the car up to 90% in 1/2hr while doing a little shopping at Pioneer Place.

With a fresh charge, it was up to Battle Ground for dinner with a friend and then back to PGE for another 15kwh, and McMinnville, where the only snag in the trip happened: the Nissan dealership accidentally turned off power to the charging station when they closed up for the night.

Currently, EV’s are rather like being out in far SW Oregon, where the only gas station is in Fields. If it’s closed, you’re camping for the night. After spending the night in a hotel, he got the car charged up while visiting another friend in McMinnville and completed the 234 mile round trip, using 65kwh of electricity, averaging 3.6miles/kwh (about $8 worth of local, renewable, electricity, vs 14 gallons of foreign gas in his old Explorer or even 5 gallons in a Prius).

Being on the bleeding edge isn’t without its risks, but by the end of this year charging stations will run the length of I-5 from the Canadian border to the California border, making long distance excursions, if not quite as convenient as using gas, at least practical. The technology is changing rapidly right now (one reason he’s leasing rather than buying the Leaf): in a few years the whole driving landscape will be vastly changed by electric vehicles, and not a moment too soon.

In the meantime, even now, EVs are perfect second cars for virtually everyone. For metro area driving, you don’t *need* any charging infrastructure but in your garage. For most people, even a standard 110V outlet (albeit a dedicated circuit) will work, though given the low 3 mph charging rate, a Level 2 charging station that works at about 12-15 mph is what most EV owners are installing. To see what range *you* need, simply reset your trip meter every morning when you leave, noting what it read for the previous day’s travels. Add 50% for peace of mind and that’s all you need to smile and wave at $4-6 gas as you whirrr quietly past the old fossils along the highway.

I’m not sure why Hasso Hering has it out for EVs, but he clearly does. In a recent editorial asking if “we can handle electric cars”, he complains about the fact that the political response is more study: “You get the drift: More committees, more initiatives, more studies, more big words.”

Then he turns around and suggests that we need a bunch of answers to questions about EVs.

You can’t have it both ways.

Perhaps I can help him, however, having been driving an EV here in Corvallis for nearly 4 years, and in Portland for a year or two previous to that:

Q: Suppose I get an electric vehicle for quick trips around town, but if that’s the only vehicle I can afford, how do I make trips of more than 100 miles or so?

A: If that’s the only vehicle you can afford, you can get a plugable hybrid (e.g. the Chevy Volt coming out late this year), you rent an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car, or you will just have to wait for technology to improve, which it is doing at a phenomenal rate at the moment. Low end and/or used EVs suitable for low speed city driving can be had relatively inexpensively however.

Q: If ODOT puts in charging stations at all the rest areas on the freeway, how long do I have to wait around there for a charge to be complete so I can continue on my way?

A: That is one of the areas where technology is improving and a key factor for pure EV technology to become viable as an exclusive transportation means. Because we’re not there yet doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be planning for it and taking the first steps, particularly as it’s useful for hybrid technology in the interim. Even so, the Nissan Leaf, coming out in a couple of years (and in limited rollouts sooner) is supposed to do an 80% charge in half an hour. Not ideal, but not unmanageable either.

Q: How would they handle congestion at public charging stations if even 10 percent of the traffic runs on battery power and each charging session takes, say, an hour or two?

A: That is indeed something that is going to have to be addressed, but doesn’t seem like a gating factor when you consider that, unlike liquid fueled cars, you don’t *have* to gas up at a public station. Most EVs will be “fueled” at the destination and only cross country trips will require “gas stations”. I would expect that in cities, parking meters will become charging stations where you pay for a charge and your parking space at the same time. The amount of electricity needed is so low that the cost of the charging station is likely dominate the parking charge, and I would expect build-out to ramp up to meet demand. People will likely often choose to wait until they get home to charge, reducing the problem.

Q: What happens to electric vehicles that get caught in tie-ups on the freeway, the kind where you can’t turn off the engine but have to spend an hour or so moving ahead a few feet at a time?

A: Electric motors don’t work like ICE: if you’re not moving, they’re not consuming power, and they don’t consume very much at all when moving slowly. Stop and go traffic is very EV friendly, however unfriendly it is to the passengers.

Q: If these kinds of considerations make it impractical or unlikely that households could rely on electric vehicles alone, how could most people afford an additional rig for just short errands around town?

A: How many families have two (or more) cars already? A large percentage I’d wager. And I’d also wager that it’s a rare thing where all need to be long range vehicles. Reset your trip meter first thing in the morning, just after noting the value for the previous day’s ventures. That’s your worst case, not counting “opportunity charging” options, range requirement. Particularly in Corvallis, it’s just not going to be an issue. My EV is particularly short ranged, and I’ve had to switch to my ICE maybe twice in the 4 years I’ve been here (and at least once was more for comfort than need), and the only time I drive my ICE otherwise is when I’m leaving town.

Q: If they can afford them, where would the extra vehicles be parked, since the garages are already full with the cars they have and can’t do without?

A: How many people actually put cars in their garages as it is? Really, if that were the biggest problem we had to worry about, gas would already be history. Countering misinformation is a far bigger problem.

People make altogether too much of human preferences, trying to pigeonhole and judge them, yet the simple fact is we’re just not that simple: while you may prefer bagels to breadsticks, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a breadstick once in a while, especially if that’s what happens to be available, and vica versa. Some may have a strong preference for one or the other, even to the point of disgust at the thought, yet some may find them both equally tasty. Some may have a genetic difference in their taste buds predisposing them one way or the other, but factors in the environment will have an influence as well. Preferences may even vary to some degree over time. It doesn’t really matter which you prefer (if you even have a preference), particularly when there is a vast oversupply of both, yet a lot of people seem to have this strange notion that if your preference isn’t for the one they think is “right”, you’re evil and undeserving of being treated the same as the ones who do. I really don’t understand why it’s such a big deal — c’mon people: it’s just a breadstick!

The Wall Street Journal posted an article on Jan 8 positing that
Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth.

After thinking about it for a while, I think the author is taking too simplistic an approach to the question. In the long term, he’s right: the money the government is taking comes from somewhere, but when you look at how stocks and bonds work, the effect of government stimulus is not to take money from Paul to pay Peter, but in the devaluation of the stocks and bonds sold to buy into treasuries. Stocks and bonds are kind of like a financial “potential energy” storage pool: aside from the initial sale by an entity to fund some endeavor, the buying and selling of them does nothing for the economy, just shuffling assets around, until an investor cashes some out to spend. That is not without value, but in terms of short term economic stimulus a minor devaluation has little impact relative to actually getting cash into people’s hands to keep fueling a stalling economy, which would certainly devalue stocks and bonds dramatically, as was recently demonstrated.

Repaying the bonds will be a future drag on the economy, but if the stimulus is successful, there will be enough headroom to cover it. To some extent, it even should act to counter an exuberant rebound, smoothing things out.

That’s it for the pictures, Sunday morning I packed up and flew home. It was a great trip and it was great to see Chris and his family again, and I’ll be back soon!

On Saturday, I took Chris and Ohia on the Reefdancer (Monique and Tree didn’t want to go or had something else to do). It is a boat that has the passengers down below the waterline with bigger windows than you get in a sub, and most all the fish are in the upper waters anyhow. As it turned out, the windows were still smaller and lower than I would have liked, though they’re perfect for kids, but it was a fun trip even so…

Day 9 Pix

I had an afternoon flight back to Maui on Friday, so that Chris could pick me up on his way back home after work, and so I could do more sightseeing on the big island…

Day 8 Pix

While in passing through Kalapana the day before, I saw a sign for a boat tour out to where the lava enters the ocean. I thought, “that sounds like fun!” I wasn’t really expecting to get very close, but love the water and thought it might be cheaper than the helicopter ride I’d been planning (not a lot as it turned out). I looked around online when I got back and found another one that looked a little more real, though it was a toss up — the sign I’d seen looked like it was native locals, which I wanted to support, but I decided to go with the other one. It turned out to be one of the best tours I’ve ever done! (Lava Ocean Adventures).

Day 7 Pix

Wednesday! Time to see the Volcano! The first time I was here, in 1998, I did a lot of hiking around up on Kilauea, but never got to see the actual lava. I hoped to change that this time, trying to be more prepared, but also staying near the “county viewing area”. It turns out you still can’t really get very close, but it was cool anyhow (and tomorrow blew it all away!)

Day 6 Pix

On Tuesday, I decided to go ahead and do the sub tour again, forgetting how little you can actually see. Then met Chris for lunch and he dropped me off at the airport for the flight to the Big Island, where I was going for a couple days to see the volcano.

Day 5 Pix