When Not to Drive...

As you can see, the little car is quite the snowmobile. I just HAD to try it in the snow. It handled surprisingly well; seeing as how the batteries are distributed weight-wise. After a test drive, Tim and I went to Freddies and the video store. We even made a video:

A nice looking graph...

After charging #2 and #3 separately, the graph looks like it's supposed to after my 7.3 mile trek:

Batteries! ARGH!!!

As you can see, I am charging battery #2 separately. It has been depleting at a faster rate than the rest. A few months ago, #5 was the weak one. Currently, #1 is the strongest, #2&3 are a little weak, and #'s 4-6 have stayed consistent for some time. Below is a graph of the last few measurements. It is plain that #2 is the weakest. The middle bar represents a particularly cold day, hence the lower voltage reading.

I had a nice chat with the Governor the other day...

Last Monday I showed off the little white car with six other guys from OEVA with their electrics in front of OHSU's Health & Wellness Building – right there with the tram and the streetcar. It was part of Gov. Kulongoski's announcement about building green for the future.

After his speech, the Gov. came around to all of the cars and talked to each of us for a bit. Mostly for photos. He asked me how fast the Zap car can go, I confessed to 50 mph downhill, but warned him that high speed was a little scary. I explained how economical it is for a freelance musician – he asked for my card – maybe I'll get a gig in Salem.

How to fix a rattling charger...

Portland city streets are filled with potholes. Especially Division between Grand and 60th. The constant jarring caused the mount screws on the charger to completely shear off. No matter, I finally found a purpose for that piece of rubber hose I have been saving, and combined with colorful bungees, makes a nice cushion for the charger.

More Graphs

Here is the data in picture form of how much electricity it takes to charge after various distances:

And here is the range that I have ventured - I have charged at the outskirts, but theoretically I could go to the edge and back home on a charge. Actually, I have done it; all the way to W Burnside and 20th and back - although I was going pretty slow by the time I got home. Since it is best to operate on a full charge, I plug in at every opportunity.

More than 1000 miles!

That's right - I passed the 1000 mile mark last week. I celebrated by changing the gear oil and squirting some more grease into the front fitting. You had to be there.

So about selling ad space - I heard back from the marketing guy at PGE; he told me (I love this quote) "I salute your pioneering spirit" after explaining to me that they usually try to advertise on BIG things like Tri-met buses and MAX trains. He said he would keep my number.

I have been keeping a careful record of kilowatts used to charge, utilizing a fuel mileage calculator on my pda. Soon I will have another graph to post. The volts/mile gives an idea of range, where the kilowatts per charge gives an idea of cost. So far the average cost per mile is $.028. I have found that if I drive for up to 4 or 5 miles, it takes about the same kwh to charge. Maximum range uses maximum kwh, but apparently the line is not straight. It varies with car load, stops/starts, speed, terrain etc. The best performance has been (no suprise) 1 person on flat terrain with few stops and moderate speed.

Miles/Volts Graph

So I have been collecting data (my babe says I'm "OCD" about it) to find out just how far the little car will go. Well, according to the graph, it can go a little over 20 miles. Coincidentally, the kids and I were driving around downtown on Friday, and as usual the ONLY charging station was being used by THE SAME TWO CARS AS ALWAYS, so we didn't get to charge. I only hoped we could make it home. We did not. At about 22 miles, it refused to continue up Division. Fortunately we were close to a friend's house where we charged for about half an hour. That was plenty to get home to charge for the rest of the afternoon. This was certainly a case where the performance matched the projected graph line. Thanks Tom, for schooling me in Excel - this graph looks way cooler than my pencil and paper one.

Brief update-

So I am super busy these days and have yet to get my cool charts and graphs (remember Ross Perot?) together. Here are some updates:

1) Got the weak battery up to snuff (Range and speed are more realistic now)
2) Washington Park - no prob with two people.
3) had to replace the brake light switch. (I went to Thrifty Auto instead of the dealer)
4) I have a new battery meter to install when work slows down
5) new speed record: 45 mph!

Check-Up

This week the Zap was driven a little over 100 miles; the Toyota about 180. We may go 2 weeks before filling this time. Still haven't sold any ad-space; I left a message with a marketing guy at PGE, but no call back. However, a guy from the Sellwood Moreland Improvement League wants to use the car as an attention getter while parked at this weeks Sellwood Park Concert. I might get a beer or a hotdog out of the deal.

So after 500 miles, the gear oil is supposed to be changed and the front wheel zerk fitting greased. Wednesday I dug around the basement and found 5 quarts of gear oil left over from the VW days. Given that the Zap differential uses about a pint of gear oil, I should have enough for like 10 years or so. Also left over from VW days are 2 tubes of grease. I think the tube in the grease gun is almost empty, but even so, a couple of squirts in a zerk fitting will take even longer to use up than the gear oil. My maintenance took about 5 minutes.

Just to be safe, I met with Max, the Zap mechanic at the dealer and asked a bunch of questions. He told me the VW gear oil was "OK" but I should be using a different kind. So much for 10 years' worth. He also told me about keeping the batteries charged to within .2 volts of each other. This is good, because now I have something to make charts and graphs with. I spent Saturday driving progressively longer distances and then measuring the voltage on each battery. Battery #5 discharges slightly faster than the others. After 7 miles, it read 12.3; the others were between 12.6 and 12.4. Max said (paraphrased) after fully charging, drive 5 miles and then measure the batteries. Then charge the weakest battery by itself until full, drive another 5 miles, check again, repeat until it is in the magic .2 volt range. He recommended a specific charger from Harbor Freight. Of course Harbor Freight no longer carries them. I hunted around until I found a charger that states specifically that it will do gel cells.

Learning about batteries is yet another adventure. The guy at Batteries Plus, told me gel cells were not the best option; AGM's were the better deal (100aH as opposed to 98aH and about $60 apiece cheaper). This conflicted with what Max told me. He swore by the gels – he has the same battery pack in his Zap truck as in my sedan. But then again, he sent me to Harbor Freight to buy a tool – hmm. I've been online getting information about batteries and on-board chargers. On-board "smart" chargers can cost as much as a set of batteries. I've also seen quite a few EV conversions – guys will spend way more on a conversion than I did on the Zap; some getting better performance, some about the same. All seem to be tinkerers.

One final observation regarding electrics: you don't get to say stuff like "tranny" and "I got a 4 barrel on a 327 and posi" and stuff like that. Instead, it's "what kinda controller you got on that thing?" or "You runnin' 72v or 84v?"

I gotta learn the lingo.

Numbers

From last Saturday to this Sunday, the Zap car was used for short trips totaling 112 miles. The gas car (Toyota) was used for long trips totaling 224. Exactly twice. I also sold the Dodge van that the Zap replaced. I figured the van's cost to operate was $.415/mile based on 166 miles a week (gas, maintenance, insurance). The Zap car, including payments, cost approximately $.45/mile this week, based on the 112 miles. The more miles driven, the less cost per mile, because of payments. Disregarding payments, the Zap costs about $.02/mile.

A goal is to go 2 weeks between fill-ups for the car. As we get more used to the electric, maybe we can go 3 weeks. Right now we're at every 10 days.

Almost to the speed of sound

Today Tim & I got up 42 mph. It was AWESOME!

Adventures

The little 3-wheeled car drives a lot like a go-cart. It will accelerate, though not very quickly – probably 0-40 in 20 or 30 seconds (I have yet to take it to the drag strip). It
Is a bouncy ride; quite unlike the Oldsmobile I used to drive. It is really quiet, especially at low speeds. Some of my hoodlum friends have suggested painting it “stealth black” and sneaking up on unsuspecting other hoodlums at night with a blow horn or something. Of course, I would never do such mischief.

Every public place I go I find myself asking about charging stations – this will hopefully yield some results. I know this approach can work. Last year, when I ran sound for the Noon Tunes Concert Series at Pioneer Courthouse Square, I would ask the bands upon arrival if they would play any Beatles tunes. All had great admiration for the Fab Four; three groups (out of 16) actually played a Beatles tune, and one group actually flattered me by dedicating “A Little Help From My Friends” to the sound guy.
All you gotta do is ask.

The biggest adventure so far was driving to the OHSU Health & Wellness Center, riding the Tram up the hill and then experiencing the MRI machine. It was all so futuristic; I felt like George Jetson. When I parked in the garage, I found a maintenance guy and asked if I could plug-in. “Sure” he said, “You’re the first one to ask”. When I returned and drove to the gate, I got charged $18 for parking because my appointment was in the building up the hill. The Tram was $4. So much for saving money. Next time I’m going old-school and taking Tri-Met.

The trip to OMSI was a little different. We were going to the after hours wine and cheese thing, so I called first to ask about plugging-in. The maintenance lady says: “Funny you should ask – next week we’re meeting with PGE about getting a charging station put in.” In the meantime, she had us park by the loading dock and use the outlet nearby. Sweet.

I have an idea that hopefully will work out: sell ad space on the Zap car to PGE or Energy Trust or whoever else will pay to put their sticker on the car. Since I work the Portland Parks Concert Series, the car is highly visible to a great number of people, and I may as well use that to my advantage. I ‘m going to ask PGE for free electricity for life and then negotiate down from there.

The final frontiers are getting to Washington Park (8 miles + steep hills) and Hillsdale, where I teach guitar (7.5 miles + steep hills). Both locations have places to charge if I can make it there.

Initial observations

Alright. So here are some observations about driving an EV:

It’s kind of like flying a small plane – it’s about the same size on the inside as a Cessna 172, and instead of always keeping an eye out for a suitable landing place, you’re looking for places to plug-in. Actually, the first couple of days we had it I was like a post WW I barnstormer giving rides to friends.

People gawk and stare a lot. Kids are the most dramatic, often laughing out loud and saying things like “what is it?” One of my favorite responses comes from couples. The guy will point and exclaim to his babe “THAT’S a Zap car” like he’s been trying to sell her on getting one.

It is rather difficult to play mine-sweeper in a three-wheeled vehicle, but I am gaining pot-hole avoiding skills.

The morning after getting ours, I drove to the hardware store on Woodstock to get a longer extension cord (it comes with a ten-footer). While there, a 50-ish looking guy standing next to his fancy convertible started asking me the usual how fast, how far, how much questions. While we were chatting, a woman jogger stopped to let her eyes roam all over the little car, and the guy says to me “I bet that thing is quite the babe magnet”. Car envy from a mid-life crisis guy – that’s what I’m talking about. I told him “yeah, my wife’s been all over me since I drove it home.”

My teenage daughter hates it. That’s cool, because she doesn’t have to drive it. That alone is worth it.

An issue I found early on is that driving a silent electric car will give you chapped lips from making motor sounds. To remedy this, I use my BBC sound effects CD. I totally mortified teenage daughter by using the motorcycle track. The diesel lorry sounds pretty good too.

So far 17 miles in a day with charging between trips, is the record range. The fastest I’ve had it has been 40 mph on a flat. I actually broke the 35 mph speed limit. It has made it up Mt. Tabor with 3 people on board.

A brief history ...

I decided to build my own car. I used the latest technology available to me at the time; it was fast, luxurious, and the envy of my friends.

Like many other vehicular innovations, one problem was power. I had to use my Tom Sawyer skills to get other kids to push for maximum speed. Minimum speed was obtained by hanging one leg over the side and kicking; kind of a canoe-meets-skateboard thing.

Finally I got a REAL car - a '66 VW Beetle. It was a total babe magnet. Awesome though it was, my adventures were smashed by a distracted driver and a firetruck.

Then I got my dream car: A '65 VW Bus.

I bought it at a yard sale for $400. My buddies and I "babe magnetized" it. The magnet worked so well that before I knew it, I was getting married and selling it off to buy a small station wagon.

What followed were a series of cars that would "get me there" – practical machines that seemed to be a necessary evil. Two exceptions were the VW buses. The first, my babe thoughtfully found for me at a yard sale – just like old times. But, alas, it was squished by a big, ugly behemoth from Detroit. It was soon replaced with a fun camper that turned into such a money pit that it cured me of VW's once and for all.

I began using big transportation: Oldsmobile, Dodge, Tri-Met – it was a matter of "gettin' there" on the cheap. Then gas prices went into the stratosphere again. I say again because back in the '70's I was into alternative cars so much that I actually wrote President Gerald Ford explaining that we should be using pedal cars. All I got back was this form letter:


I have since grown up and watched every President since NOT use pedal cars. I have also learned a little about electricity (not a lot, just a little). I am much more fond of electrons than internal combustion. It's not that I'm an environmentalist per se, I just don't like using gas. Gas smells. It catches fire. It gums up stuff. It turns dollar bills into carbon - kind of like fireworks. Gasoline is why I use a push-mower for my lawn.

Which brings me to my latest vehicular adventure:

It's all electric.

Future posts will shed light on what it's like to drive all electric.