Ordinary Electric

28/06/2023

Why would someone do this?
This is the second time I've seen him park in station 1 and use the cable for station 2.

This black Tesla parks here quite often early in the morning (it's near the local fitness center.) The first time he used the wrong plug, I'd assumed that some newbie had been there overnight and used the wrong plug. This time, though, I'd checked the plugs before leaving home and both were showing available.

Which means he intentionally used the wrong cable. Maybe it's not a big deal because they both reach both spots -- but come on!

The next time someone asks why I'm not interested in owning a Tesla, I'm going to mention this.

24/04/2023

My commute this morning:
Fun: Seeing a new different car at the charging station (the white one).
Not fun: It was done charging when I got there and was still sitting there when I got out of work.

I've never not been able to charge here. Let's hope it stays that way. My custom is to take my time getting back to the car when it's done UNLESS I see in the app that there are no open spots.

14/02/2023

Oooh, look at what parked next to my Leaf at the charging station today. A Ford F150 Lightning. So big the side mirrors need to be folded in to park the dang thing.

17/01/2023

Stopped for a boost on a snowy morning. Found this neat "Toyota Tesla" at the Tesla charger.
P.S. Why do Tesla drivers never loop the cable and hang it up when they hang up the plug?

19/09/2022

The name "Ordinary Electric" was chosen to express the idea that an "ordinary" person (without $50k+ to spend on a new, high capacity EV) can buy an affordable, used EV and get practical value from it. Last summer, I bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf - which by this point is old technology - because I knew it would be useful for around town and my short commute to work.
But now I'm starting a new job which will take me to some of the outskirts of my region. I do wonder sometimes whether my leaf will be up to the job - and so, I went for a Sunday drive yesterday to find out.

Please click the individual photos for the detailed narration.

17/09/2022

I haven't driven the GEM since I had it in to have the brakes done. It was there for a week! (I'm assuming he had trouble getting parts). The sun was shining so I wanted to go on a little cruise.
I looked at Google Maps and saw there was a possible route in a direction I hadn't really explored yet -- so I headed out to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. This involved a creative shortcut through Home Depot where I was approached by a stranded motorist. I even saw some deer.

As always, click the individual photos for more details.

17/09/2022

I needed a few things for dinner today (and lunch this week), so I took the bike. It's nice to have this option, even though my area isn't *particularly* bike-friendly. It's nice to see a rack by the front door -- and look, an employee came and put her own bike there while I was shopping.

02/09/2022

Sometimes I get impatient at the microwave. When I have to wait two minutes for my food, I feel like I have to stand there and wait the two minutes. I get really antsy sometimes. I never feel this way when using "conventional" cooking methods. The psychology of the situation isn't that hard to figure out. When I'm frying a hamburger, I can do something else. I can load the dishwasher. I can answer the phone. When a pizza is in the oven, I can check my email or watch something on TV.

With 2 minutes on the microwave (especially at work when there's a line), I'm stuck.

I feel very much the same way about buying gas for daily driving. It's the "oh crap - I'm going to be late to work because I didn't allow time to stop today" that's so frustrating. With the electric car, I just have to plug it in when I come home - and the car charges while I'm doing something else. The battery is as full as it needs to be the next day.

29/08/2022

But what if the implied answer is "no, it's not in alignment"?

"If you’re lucky enough to drive one of the premium E.V.s that fits this description, you already may feel like your consumer desires are in perfect alignment with planetary environmental goals. ‌"

There are better ways to use batteries than putting them in premium EVs.

23/08/2022

Random LEAF on Google Street View
--
Well, not TOTALLY random. Just past that shed is a public charging station and I was exploring my walking route from that station.

05/06/2022

Sometimes I think I should have bought an electric bike last summer instead of the electric GEM car. While I save up my money, I still head out on my newly reconditioned regular bike, just to make sure that I still can.
I ran into a bit of a snag today, though.
See individual photos for details.

27/02/2022

The struggle is real. Listen for when he says "this is much more graceful than the last time."

25/11/2021

Last Thursday I drove my GEM to my mother-in-law's to put it up for the winter. I almost didn't make it.

As always, see individual photos for the details.

26/10/2021

Car and Driver says:
"While the study authors did point out a fair number of legitimate factors that make charging EVs more time-consuming than getting gas for your car"

And Especially:
"what they did not do was publish an honest and realistic look at how easy it is to charge up for some people. It's an exercise in finding convenient ways to minimize the benefits and highlight the negatives."

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38043667/study-electric-cars-higher-cost-questions/

But read the fine print and the study makes some questionable assumptions in order to scare people about electric cars.

25/10/2021

I get it. You're an EV YouTuber or technology writer and you're tired of using words like "range" or "electric" or "charge" or "energy" - and you want to sound hip -- so you use phrases such as "filling up on electrons" or "thanks for the free electrons".

Just stop!

Most recently in an otherwise interesting Tom Scott video (scroll down for link), a mechanical engineering professor talks about "bringing electrons to a vehicle in a cable" rather than "trying to carry them in a box".

Really? Please tell me he was quote-mined - because this is absurd. Surely a professor - even of MECHANICAL engineering, should know that ELECTRONS ARE EVERYWHERE and that a charged battery has as many electrons in it as a dead battery.

What is more - the professor should also know that what we think of as current is not a case where electrons "move along a wire freely like cars go down a highway". Energy moves down the wire. To a first order approximation, electrons don't!

To say that a car "sips electrons" isn't cute. It's stupid. Using phrases like that just ooze "trying too hard". You don't have to understand the underlying physics to know that you shouldn't say that -- but if you do understand the physics, you'd know just how stupid you sound.
- - -
Tom Scott video, timestamped

https://youtu.be/_3P_S7pL7Yg?t=131

Random link about "electron flow:

https://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/power/2-whats-electron-flow.html

Source for "electrons don't move down a wire" - clarification, 8 cm per hour is "no movement - to a first order approximation":

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/72875/do-electrons-actually-flow-when-a-voltage-is-applied

22/10/2021

Look what came in the mail today! My ChargePoint card! It was too late to use on my trip. I'm told I'm going to love ChargePoint. I'm still waiting and trying to keep an open mind.

Some advice:

- Order your card well before you need it. It takes "7-10 business days to arrive" which means two full weeks. Two weeks and a day if there's a holiday. It took two weeks and a day or two. (There was a holiday weekend.)

- Test out another charger on the network if you're going to rely on that network for a trip -- do this BEFORE your trip. The first charger we tried on our trip was down (some "EV veterans" still say it was user error) and as a result we had several frustrating moments of actual "user error" at the next charging station that we barely made it to.

Some networks let you use a credit card. Most will let you use an app. I think the help text for ChargePoint could be a lot better - and I think they know this.

Bottom line: Public charging is certainly usable these days - but not as easy as buying gas.

21/10/2021

I had fun having my picture taken.

17/10/2021

Is this the future of my old-but-new-to-me Leaf?

A quick shout out and celebration of Mario Torres of California. He's been posting in Nissan LEAF Owners Group for a while about his 2011 Leaf with a highly degraded ("3 bar") battery.

This is what his dashboard looks like. It shows the batter at about 40% charge and SIX - yes 6 - estimated miles of range. And yet, he still manages to drive it 20 miles to work every day and 20 miles home.

He started posting about this when his car had 115,000 miles and he celebrates every additional 1000 miles that he gets. As you can see, he's up to 129,000 miles.

I imagine pretty soon, he's going to need to get a new car - but I would have imagined the same thing at 115,000 miles. In a weird way, this gives me hope that I'll be able to keep my 2013 Leaf (with a 9 bar battery) running for a while yet - while still getting good use out of it.

14/10/2021

Watch the video at your own risk. I ended up leaving a long comment. Here it is.
- - -
At so many points in the video, I felt the need to look for a wikipedia style "citation needed" note. This summer, I bought two older EVs. I charge both at home on a regular 110 outlet. The longer range one of the two is an older Nissan Leaf - old technology and 8 years degraded - and I still only have to plug it in every few days. Now that my son has started using the Leaf to get to school, he's started charging at school. Normally when he goes for a class, he's been able to add back all the energy he used for the round trip -- so we don't have to charge much at home any more.
As for compatibility, you're right about fast charging, but basically all cars can use a J1772 plug and that's the kind of plug used at most charge stations. Tesla is kind of in its own world -- but that's another story. Still, it's not that hard for Tesla drivers to use the J1772 connectors on the public network.
While more stations would be very nice, I don't really think there is a shortage of them. I bought my Leaf for use around town, but my wife and I just went on a weekend getaway with it. There were some bumps in the ride, but having done it once, we now know what to expect next time and would gladly do it again. We spent, all told, about $6 to charge on our get-away -- including getting there and day-tripping.
I haven't noticed a big bump in my electric bill. Charging on 120 is like running a small window air-conditioner every few days.
How much time does it take to charge? Most of the time, it takes literally seconds. Pull in. Plug in. Then go do your thing. Come back and it's charged. This is so different from gas. I always feel like I have to plan an extra 15 minutes when my gas car needs gas -- and then my hands always end up stinking.
For now, we're not concerned about road tripping, since we already had a third car just for road trips. My wife also still has her gas car for daily commuting that we can use for road trips. This means we can use our cheap-o electric Leaf for road trips when we WANT to. And yes, there are times that we really want to!

https://youtu.be/PtCm4vndmGY

Today’s electric car charging infrastructure is disjointed, complicated and far from user friendly - we need this to change now before it’s too late. Electri...

14/10/2021

Watch the video at your own risk. I ended up leaving a long comment. Here it is.
- - -
At so many points in the video, I felt the need to look for a wikipedia style "citation needed" note. This summer, I bought two older EVs. I charge both at home on a regular 110 outlet. The longer range one of the two is an older Nissan Leaf - old technology and 8 years degraded - and I still only have to plug it in every few days. Now that my son has started using the Leaf to get to school, he's started charging at school. Normally when he goes for a class, he's been able to add back all the energy he used for the round trip -- so we don't have to charge much at home any more.

As for compatibility, you're right about fast charging, but basically all cars can use a J1772 plug and that's the kind of plug used at most charge stations. Tesla is kind of in its own world -- but that's another story. Still, it's not that hard for Tesla drivers to use the J1772 connectors on the public network.

While more stations would be very nice, I don't really think there is a shortage of them. I bought my Leaf for use around town, but my wife and I just went on a weekend getaway with it. There were some bumps in the ride, but having done it once, we now know what to expect next time and would gladly do it again. We spent, all told, about $6 to charge on our get-away -- including getting there and day-tripping.

I haven't noticed a big bump in my electric bill. Charging on 120 is like running a small window air-conditioner every few days.

How much time does it take to charge? Most of the time, it takes literally seconds. Pull in. Plug in. Then go do your thing. Come back and it's charged. This is so different from gas. I always feel like I have to plan an extra 15 minutes when my gas car needs gas -- and then my hands always end up stinking.

For now, we're not concerned about road tripping, since we already had a third car just for road trips. My wife also still has her gas car for daily commuting that we can use for road trips. This means we can use our cheap-o electric Leaf for road trips when we WANT to. And yes, there are times that we really want to!

https://youtu.be/PtCm4vndmGY

14/10/2021

Another one for the file. This one showed up in Marketplace a while ago and is now showing as sold. Here's the seller's description.
- - - -
Zero Emission !! 2013 Nissan Leaf electric car runs and drives great
New brakes
No issue
Comes with home charger !!
Clean title $5999 cash
- - -
The dash picture seems to show the battery in perfect state of health. Actually, I'm only noticing now that all the lights are on. I thought maybe she'd reset the State of Health (SOH), but now I think maybe she just snapped the photo when the car was starting up.
Either way the whole point of sharing a dashboard picture is to show the SOH of the battery.
If you look closely at the other picture, you can see that the SOH shows about 4 lost bars and 8 bars left out of 12, and that it's fully charged and has an estimated range of 40 miles. Personally, I'd like to pay a little less than six grand for 40 miles of range - but as long as people know what they're buying, it's fine. It just strikes me as potentially deceptive to show a dash picture with the SOH lit up to 12 bars when the battery is already 33% degraded.

13/10/2021

I'm thinking I should start making a segment of sketchy things I've seen while shopping around for used Leafs. Here's one from today.
- - -
Seller claims this car will go 280 miles on a charge. I contacted the seller and he clarified that the Leaf wasn't fully charged, but would go 108 miles on a charge.
Based on this photo, this car is 92% charge and is estimating that it can go 37 miles. Charging up to 100% would make it 40 miles.
The seller then updated the description saying it would go 108 miles, but that's too high by almost a factor of three.
Assuming it has the same factory range (when new) as mine - which is a year newer and a year more modern - it might go 45 miles, based on the SOH of this vehicle vs the SOH of mine.
----
I think if I were to buy another used EV, I'd want to take it on an extended range test to see if it's really doing what the seller claims.

In this case, I don't think he's being actively deceptive. I think it's yet another dealership who doesn't know what he's selling.

13/10/2021

Are electric vehicles still "cutting edge" or are they now main stream and the pioneering days are behind us?
I often sense from "EV veterans" that they think all the problems are solved but that back in their day, they were the "pioneers". I also sense from new EV owners, myself included, that they feel very much like pioneers.

For a bit of perspective, reflect on this (surely fictionalized) portrayal of Bertha Benz's historic "first public gas stop." Reflect also that her "long distance trip" was about 60 miles and took 12 hours! It makes forgetting your cell phone in Auburn in 2021, or even charging at a camp ground in 2005 seem pretty lame in comparison.

So "cutting edge" or "pioneer" is surely a relative phenomenon, and how bad it was in the past should never keep us from dreaming of how good it needs to be in the future.

https://youtu.be/vsGrFYD5Nfs

In a time when “car” was not even a word yet, and people relied on horses to pull their wagons, one woman challenged the status quo. To prove to the world th...

12/10/2021

I created Ordinary Electric because I want to make videos about what regular people do with their older EVs. All the EV channels that I found were all about the latest, greatest EV... or about modifying your EV hardware in some ambitious way that no normal person would have time for.
I recently found out that there is already at least one channel about what people do with their EVs. "PacificNorthwestEVentures". They're out having "EVentures" in their older Nissan Leaf.

Check it out if you want to see what an older Leaf can do -- especially if you like nature photography.

https://www.youtube.com/c/PacificNorthwestEVentures

Ben and Melissa Anderson take trips around the pacific northwest in their electric car to capture high-quality footage of God's creatures and creation. They ...

12/10/2021

A friend in Alaska shared this story about an EV rally in Juneau. Two points jump out at me as particularly interesting:

> The vehicles are particularly useful in Juneau with its limited road system

In other words, you can drive around town, but nobody drives there from anywhere else.

And:

> the maintenance EVs do require, generally software issues, is considerably trickier to come by in Juneau.

They talked about shipping in a technician just to fix everybody's issues all at once. It got me thinking when will I need to have any work done on my Leaf? It's a new-to-me 2013. My mechanic says that the original brakes are good for another year... but they may need to be done next summer. I think I'll be shopping for tires too. I have the car's service log. I don't think it had a whole lot of issues over its life so far.

In fact - that's the appeal, for me, of owning an older EV. They're so affordable and mechanically very sound.

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/leafs-of-autum-juneau-electric-vehicle-association-holds-meet-up/

Owners and enthusiasts had the event as the skies briefly cleared.

11/10/2021

"Ordinary Electric" is about "electric vehicles for the rest of us". What does that phrase mean to you?

No wrong answers.

10/10/2021

Stranded in Auburn NY? We were at the end of our range and we forgot some key equipment needed to charge. The low range warning was flashing 11 miles. We were 15 miles from our home base - and not familiar with the area.
Obviously we made it home. See individual photos for the story.

09/10/2021

Second day of road-tripping in our "around town" car. We came much closer to a HORROR STORY today. EV charging has a ways to go before it will be ready for prime time. In the end, though, we...

well.. see individual photos for the story.

09/10/2021

WE ARE TAKING A ROAD TRIP IN OUR ELECTRIC VEHICLE!!
This is not a "cannonball run" to show what an EV can do as well as a gasoline car. Quite the opposite. My wife and I are taking our limited range, new-to-us, 2013 Nissan Leaf that did not pay a lot of money for on a weekend getaway - in part to get us to slow down and "stop and smell the roses" along the way - something often too easy to forget to do on a road trip.

Mostly these are photos that I took to post on PlugShare for the benefit of other EV drivers. It was our first experience relying on public charging to get somewhere. Mostly we got the Leaf to drive around town.

Before you comment that it would be easier in a gas car - this isn't the point. We HAVE a gas car (two of them) that could have done this trip, but we CHOSE to drive the Leaf for reasons stated above.

Veteran EV drivers may notice some things we did wrong. I'm not too worried about that at this point. We'll probably make fewer charging stops next time around.

As always, see individual photos for the whole story.

03/10/2021

Some photos of my drive to the historic Ridgemont Plaza sign from a few weeks ago. As always, see individual photo descriptions for the full story - including information on my dramatic BATTERY FAIL and rescue.

27/09/2021

This video kept popping up in my YouTube suggested videos. I finally got click-baited into watching a bit of it.

As always - see individual photos for the story.

P.S. This is "Why EVs will lose" and not why "EVS" (Esperanto Variety Show) will lose.

24/09/2021

Some moron broke my mirror. It was an easy-enough fix.



As always, see individual pictures for commentary.

23/09/2021

Something a little different today. As the result of some comments in a FB group, I made a montage of photos about Country Sweet.

See individual photos for details and commentary.

22/09/2021

Two days ago I commented to my wife that driving the GEM across town wouldn't be a good thing to do if I didn't want people to know what I was up to - "because there's a solid chance that someone I know would see me and notice the GEM."
The very next day, I went to work and someone pulled out their phone and showed me this video of me driving my son home from school earlier that same day.

10/09/2021

I made it to the other side of the Genesee River!
One of the "outings" that I wanted to do - still want to do - in my GEM is to cross the river on one bridge and come back on another. Not all bridges are suitable crossings for the GEM.
We decided that as a first step, we'd cross the river, do a short loop, then go home the way we came.
"We" here means my son and me.

See individual photos for details and more story.

04/09/2021

I had a great ride to and from work in my GEM car yesterday, but the charging mystery deepens.

See individual photos....

03/09/2021

Well dang, my Leaf didn't charge last night when I plugged it in. What now?

31/08/2021

We almost ran out of charge yesterday, but if all goes well, I might not have to charge the car ever again.

See individual photos for commentary and story.

27/08/2021

Quick outing for Chinese food --- but was it safe?

See individual pictures for individual commentary.

26/08/2021

Made it to Spencerport in the GEM yesterday. I wasn't sure I was going to make it home.

See individual photos for additional details.