and the taxpayers take another one in the...
Posted on 03/17/2012 9:02:15 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Electric car drivers hit the road Friday to inaugurate the first major section of a West Coast "Electric Highway" dotted with stations where they can charge up in 20 minutes.
The stretch of 160 miles of Interstate 5 served by eight stations marks the next big step in developing an infrastructure that until now has been limited primarily to chargers in homes and workplaces.
The stations go from the California border north to the Oregon city of Cottage Grove and are located at gas stations, restaurants and motels just off the nation's second-busiest interstate. One is at an inn that was once a stage coach stop.
Spaced about every 25 miles, the stations allow a Nissan Leaf with a range of about 70 miles to miss one and still make it to the next. Electric car drivers will be able to recharge in about 20 minutes on the fast-chargers. The charge is free for now.
"I would say range-anxiety with these fast chargers will be nearly a non-issue for me," said Justin Denley, who owns a Nissan Leaf and joined the caravan. Inspired by the stations, his family is planning a trip from Medford to Portland, a distance of about 280 miles. Last summer, he took the family on a 120-mile trip to the coast and had to include an overnight stop at an RV park to charge up.
He expects the trip to Portland to take perhaps three hours longer than in a gas car, because the only chargers available for the last 100 miles are slower, level 2 chargers.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
In my Expedition, I can go about 5 hours between refueling stops and the stop takes about 10 minutes. That means about 3% of my travel time is spent refueling.
33% of the trip time refueling or 3% -- the choice is yours.
Only a liberal would think this is "progress."
I think you’re being generous. The ranges are aleays exaggerated on those electric vehicles. You’re probably stopping at 2/3 of those stations.
That's what happens when you take a potty break and let the kids get out of the car. I travel light. My stops don't take nearly as long. ;)
/johnny
and the taxpayers take another one in the...
The ultimate goal for the left where cars are concerned.
What about the lines then? What happens if a car runs out of juice waiting in line?
Driving like this is
LEAF-FROGGING.
Of course it is--"free" electricty paid for with Other Peoples' Money (OPM); and no liquid fuels taxes to travel roads paid for and maintained with OPM
A socialist's dream!
Stupid and proud of it. Really sad and pathetic...
The vast majority of liberals are stupid at math even the simple math...
These cars are actually coal powered. We’re on the road to nowhere.
Bump
Utopia is here at last!!
The World’s longest theme park.
I keep thinking back to the old “Elementary Electronics” magazine where there was a column where readers wrote in questions. It was “Ask Hank (Scott), He Knows.” It was about 1979/80 where someone wrote in claiming there was an electric car that could go 150 miles or so, has a top speed of 40 MPH and can recharge in a few minutes. I remember Hank responded where it would take so much amperage at 120 volts or even 240 volts where the house wiring would have to be a huge gauge. He also made the point where batteries are not designed to be charged very fast and under that much amperage, the battery would get so hot, it would glow.
And when you are slowed or stopped in construction traffic in 100 degree heat or zero degree cold at night with the lights on or in rain and 100% humidity with the wipers on full? And when you are climbing up a steep grade toward mountain pass or running against a stiff wind?
A 1,000 mile run in a real vehicle means two gas/food stops and a maybe a couple more to pee. I cannot imagine how miserable it would be to have to stop 19 times for 20 or more minutes each. And then to be cramped up in some ugly little thing like that.....
This senior has to stop more often than my kids ever did. The government is flying in the face of technologic possibilities right now. A functional electric car is probably ten years down the road, barring a sudden break through. I always keep in mind that the scientists competing for a government prize did NOT produce the first airplace, but two guys working out of their bike shop. Steve Jobs started in his garage.
1. Battery life expectancy and replacement value ( $$$$ deduction).
2. Huge rebate at the purchase time ($$$$ deduction)
3. Maintenance and/or unpopularity issue ($$$$ deduction).
I can see some horrified faces already!
You don't have to stop for that. ;)
/johnny
When I drive cross country, I stop at every rest area. Even when I don’t need to dispose of kidney filtered coffee.I make a point of walking a lap of the parking lot. With all the heart trouble I have had I don’t need a DVT sneaking up on me.
Drive a Leaf?
Bring a Box Lunch - or Three
You’ll be travelling all day
Rush Hours? - Break out the MRE’s
Just wait until he rolling blackouts start in summer.With the way power plants are begin closed you know it is going to happen.
As a small child, I had a track set with a car that ran on electricity. The “charger” looked like a fuel pump.
I could play with my car for about twenty minutes, but it seemed the charging time took longer than the play time. When charging the “vehicle,” I could sit for about thirty minutes pressing down a button, or place a large can of vegetables on top of it.
This toy sucked. So does the “Volt.”
Screw you, progressive bastards.
If that happens then they deplete their battery and they cost about $25K to replace and are not covered under the extended warranty.
I can fill up my Hyundai Santa Fe and drive the 120 miles, drive back home and drive another 127 miles until I need to fill up with fuel.
You should also note that the electric car's batteries become less efficient with each recharging and thus the range decreases with each recharging until the batteries reduced range necessitates a change of the power batteries.
Per Nissan their battery pack is good for 100,000 miles until it needs replacement. Current cost for this is 18,000 dollars. In effect you then have a vehicle that is worthless at 100,000 miles. A vehicle that you probably paid at least 10-15 thousand extra as it is electric.
When Air Force One takes off from Washington and lands in Los Angeles using electric power I will buy an electric vehical.
I read somewhere that the batteries are only good for so many miles which IIRC worked out to be average driving of 3-4 years.The replacement cost of the batteries are about $25K so more than 1/2 the price of the car.I doubt seriously any of them will get any trade in if the battery at a cost of $25K isn’t replaced before taking it in.
Doesn’t TIME=MONEY to a liberal? It’s simply not worth my time sitting around at a charging station for 20 minutes doing nothing, going nowhere. Gas up and go in 5 minutes. Maybe buy a Slimjim and a Mountain Dew, but I’m 15 minutes down the road. And somehow I suspect the charging stations will be located at rest stops. Not a whole lot you can do there, besides poop and pee.
Of course all that electric power for recharging will have to come ONLY from windmills, solar panels and unicorn farts!
My thought, too. What a blithering idiot. He sure doesn’t value his time very well.
“The charge is free for now.” That means soon it will not free. I see a new revenue stream since people are not
smoking as much and those fees always go up an never down
I know exactly what you’re talking about!
Well, in this case the dealers won't touch it. The owners are doomed!
Doesn’t everyone stop for 20 minutes every 50 miles?
Don't worry-by the time trade-in time comes I'm sure the government will have figured out some way for taxpayers to subsidize their loss too.
So we're back to this, eh? Is the time to travel and "refuel" comparable?
Does it cost the same amount of money today to own a car as does to own a horse? A horse in every garage instead of those wicked automobiles. Of course it's against zoning laws to own "farm animals" in the suburbs.
If it all came from Liquid Thorium Fluoride Reactors i could live with it.
How many people are there, exactly, who need to go from Cottage Grove, OR, to Portland?
They couldn’t pick a route that numerous people would actually use, could they?
“Only a liberal would think this is “progress.”
What’s next, super long extension cords, or a “third rail”? Even electric golf carts are annoying! Oh, I know, let’s put a special car on Jerry Brown’s new high-speed train to haul electric cars. That will take care of the “middle” part of the trip between LA and SF, if you can wait ten years.
Time to build a special rollback tow truck with a powerplant on board to do “jump starts”.
Frankly I see a booming economy for ANY tow truck in CA.
Assuming that the owner did not use the battery often, the dealer still will go by mileage, year and assumed battery usage. We are back to worthlessness.
“Doesn’t TIME=MONEY to a liberal?”
Nah, they don’t even realize that they a using up their worthless lives driving these damned things. Maybe they are like Muslims in that they think that there will be 72 virgins awaiting them when they die, “for helping Mother Earth.”
“Doesn’t TIME=MONEY”
No, time=time, the only commodity that once spent is gone forever and can’t ever be recovered!
Please don't scare me! I can imagine, that under Obama regime they will call it a human rights issue. But, the Chief-in-liar will have to pack and leave office after the election. It is enough of clunker business and taxpayer subsidized rebates.
That’s it! Those toys sucked, big time!
I have a friend who just leased a Leaf. The batteries have a 100,000 mile warranty. He was told by someone at the Nissan dealership that the battery pack replacement cost was between $30,000 to $35,000. A 110 home charge takes about 16-18 hours to fully charge the battery pack. At his work a 220 takes around 7-8 hours. There was a additional charge for the special adapter for the ‘quick charge’ that allows for a 20-25 minute full battery pack charge. His Leaf lease was based on a price of $39,000. He didn’t tell me if that was before or after incentives.
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