ECN Electrical Forum
Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

So, I guess the latest story is that GM is … or at least was … offering to buy back the Chevy Volt from owners who were concerned about the situation with the batteries. I don’t know if this is actually occurring or how many owners have taken GM up on the offer though.

Heating and cooling on electric cars should probably still be done with gas. Small gas motor to run an AC unit and heater. Maybe even removable for weight savings.

My wife will be in the market for a new car a yr from now. I would really like to get an electric vehical. It would need to go 80miles on a charge and/or be a gas,electric hybrid. Haven't looked into the specs on EVs, but that's what I would take to get us into one... oh ya and be around $30k.

I wanna know when the electric vans are coming out? I dream, I dream...

I looked into electrifying an F-150. I had people make coffee shoot out of their nose, laughing.

Electric cars are, by nature, light with the battery being the heaviest part.
It is still hard to pencil out an electric car and make financial sense. They are toys for rich people.
Car and Driver did it with a Volt and a Cruze, similar platforms, one hybrid electric, the other simply a small engine car. The Cruze won on all counts.

Coming very soon to the BMW dealership....two (2) charging stations. 208 volt, 30 amp, hard wired.

When they are in, I'll do my best to get pics.

Interesting...paid a visit to the new Nissan dealer this AM., found out that they do not have any of the certifications required to sell or service a Leaf.

I was at a lunch meeting today with a couple of Leviton reps and they were pitching two car charging systems.
The small one is a back pack sized portable charger you can throw in the trunk and it charges at 800w or 1400w, switch selectable. The lower rating is for places where you might be tripping a breaker if you used the whole nut.

The big charger is fixed mount with a couple of mounting options but all are NEMA 3R. This one can either be cord and plug connected to a NEMA 5-20R and supply 2KW or be hardwired to a 40a circuit supplying 7.2KW.

This system supports "smart card" billing and is network connected (LAN or WAN).
The plan is you can go to chargepoint.com, enter your zip code and find the nearest charging station. It will also tell you whether the station is being used at that time. The bill for the power you use comes directly to you (credit card, bank etc) plus a service fee. The host gets a kickback for rent on the space and charge point takes their cut. I didn't hear what the fee was going to be.
This web site is still under construction.
The plan is also to incorporate this in a car dash GPS system but that is really a dream more than a plan.