Soon to be on T-Shirts that cool EV guys wear

New Oregon Electric Vehicle Association logo designed by yours truly:

Assesment

5590 miles on this pack of batteries. That's about $0.25/mile. The Toyota's fuel cost per mile was roughly the same in July 2008 when I bought the Zap car (19 mpg @ 5590 miles). Gas was $4.25/gallon. Now, however, gas is about $3.00/gallon and so fuel cost per mile is down to about $0.15

Another way to look at it: new batteries would have to last 8,000 miles to equal the Toyota in current fuel cost per mile. Of course with the Zap the insurance is far less, and it requires no oil changes. Despite these savings, batteries make this EV about equal in cost to owning a gas car.

Unless, of course, there's another oil crisis. What could possibly happen?

Cold batteries

When the batteries are this cold range drops to about 4 miles. Having a couple of weak batteries doesn't help, either.

Ad Space

I decided to advertise my services on either side (just like my business card). Now when people gawk, they have something to read as well.

Fixin's

The last few weeks have seen some repairs from the cold, harsh winter. Just this morning I turned on the wiper (not paying attention to the ice on the windshield) and it went "pop" then limp. Later, after the sun came out, I was pleasantly surprised to find a nut had come loose and needed only to be tightened. Other repairs were more intense. The door handle took some time, but is now good as new; 2 batteries had to be replaced, and then as a measure of insurance, a battery management system (PakTracker and Powercheq EQ's) installed. The BMS tells me state of charge, battery voltage (individual and the whole pack), temperature, failure alerts, etc. and keeps the voltage the same throughout the pack, ensuring longevity via equal charge/discharge. Hopefully this pack will now last a while.

Tales of woe.

A friend gave me a nice 10x20 tent cover for the car. The first big storm we had dismembered it - half of it was legs up above my neighbor's garage one morning. It has since been re-assembled in a somewhat smaller version.

And then, the other day I drove my babe to the store, and when I shut my door, the handle broke. Of course all the doors were locked and the one with the key was the one that broke. I had to use my McGyver skills to unlatch it.

The cold weather has shortened my range significantly - I wonder if the batteries have long-term damage. I leave it plugged in as much as possible. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

When Not to Drive...