G. David Felt

@ccap41 I think we are disconnecting my friend. You DO NOT have to sit at the charging station. Plug in, let it charge and leave to go do your shopping. That is the mindset that I see needing to change as you are not alone in people thinking they have to sit at the charger and wait. Hope we get the bigger battery packs sooner for you than later and that your local city steps up to adding in more charging locations. It would be interesting for you to inquire about the cities plans to add EV Charging stations for 2018 and see what they say. Will be insightful and might even be surprising.

How is driving half a mile or more to a gas station and back to your house or to you chosen place of shopping not also inconvenient? If there is a charging spot 3 to 4 blocks away from your shopping place, plugging in at cheaper electric rates and then getting some fresh air and walking a few blocks to get your shopping done I do not see as a big deal. Why not ask your favorite store when they plan to install customer charging stations? All it takes is proactive action from people to change things and charging at home is way easier than running out late at night to fill up for gas before you go to bed so you have a full tank in the morning. After all, you're just plugging it into your house electrical grid and charging up the tank with electrons.

How is it stupid to compare the number of pumps to Petro auto and EV charging stations to EV auto's? Since you do not use any charging app and probably have not downloaded one to your smartphone you have not seen how easy it is to find a charging station. Much easier than you think and more convenient than many realize. As the story clearly states, EV auto's is a CHANGE IN MINDSET / THINKING of how you fuel an EV Auto compared to petro auto thinking.

Sooner than most will realize, especially among the CPO buyer crowd.

Some things to like about this and some things to just shake your head at, but considering that @Potus45 loves his Rolls, he will probably buy one since he does not care about supporting America auto's. Guess an Armored version could be the new Potus Ride! ?

Interesting battle Brewing at Energy companies ask Perry to Ignore First Energy's Request to use a 1950 wartime law to force keeping coal and nuclear plants online, open and running as a National Security issue. Course gas companies and renewable energy companies say that Perry and the DOE does not have the authority to use the war time act to keep companies open. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/perry-doe-looking-very-closely-at-defense-production-act-to-save-coal-n/523187/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-and-renewables-groups-urge-perry-to-reject-firstenergy-emergency-reques/523145/

This I can understand and I think will be addressed by the wireless movement as Nissan, BMW and even GM auto's can use wireless charging. Nissan of course has their proprietary standard compared to BMW and GM who is working with the charging committee for an industry wide standard. I think the future will be to have wireless charging in the parking areas and via smartphone you can then pay for your charging as your auto sits. That is how I see the dense cities in the future. Course here on the west coast, Washington, Oregon and California require Apartments and businesses to offer charging stations with a maximum cost of $5 for 30 min of level 2 or 220V charging. So in most cases you can get 80% of your battery filled in that time at a cheap electrical rate.

Lucky for us that there are already denser battery packs that we will see show up in new auto's over the next 18 months and with Solid State Battery Development, we should see 500 mile range packs by 2030 or 11 1/2 years from now if not sooner. We are in a fast changing landscape. Hold onto your socks as we charge into the future.

Gas / EV Stations Comparison, Stop Comparing I was out looking at my normal alternative energy sites when I came across this story by Clean Technica about comparing gas stations to ev stations and how this needs to stop. As the story states, there is myths, misinformation, misleading concepts on all sides of the conversation when it comes to EV Auto's. First fact is that EV's make up .29% of the market compared to petro auto and with that small but significant piece of info the author states the 6 reasons that straight up comparison of the gas to ev stations is just idiotic. Current EV market is tiny: Why? 270 million petro auto compared to 794,000 EV auto's. This based on gas stations (1,200,000 pumps) gives a ratio of 225 auto's per pump compared to the the 48,472 public EV individual charging stations which gives 16 EVs to 1 charging station. So 14 times more charging stations per EV auto than gas pumps per petro auto. Residential charging, this is where the significant percentage of charging will occur: Assuming 75% of EV owners will charge at home, we add another 595,500 charging stations to the US total for a rough 644,500 charging stations. This gives EVs a charging station ratio of 1.23 to 1. Market alignment: Author clearly states that EV adoption rates vary widely with California seeing 5% of new auto sales in EV compared to .12% in North Dakota. Needed EV charging station needs should reflect regional penetration. Charging is different than refueling: Gas fueling is a 10 min task on average and so fuel, bathroom, get a snack or drink and leave. EV charging is a 30 min to 10hr task and as such should be based on doing other tasks while charging such as shopping, seeing a movie, overnight at a resort, etc. Future XFC chargers will change this to be more like petro fueling but right now a different mind set of change is needed. The Future: Current average range is 115 miles for BEVs, estimate is 290 miles by 2022. With solid state batteries, 500 miles by 2027 to 2030. With longer range batteries, people plugging in at home means fewer charge ups out and about except when on road trips. You CAN NOT have a Petro pump at your home, but you can EV. Stations versus pumps versus stations: The author puts in a valid statement of terminology errors by the industry that confuses end users by misaligning stations with charging versus pumps. He suggests Charging stations rather than charging pumps or just stations. The author clearly acknowledges that the world and especially the US needs more charging centers covering everything from inner city to suburban to remote roads and small town America to cover EVs in the way gas stations are spread out for petro pumping. He states rightfully so that this is an Apple to Orange comparison and needs to stop. Check out the story yourself for more details and sound off on what you think! Clean Technica Story

If ya mean me, please explain the mining comment, are you talking about the battery materials? Think mining them is safer than drilling for oil in the oceans or on land. Then again, I live in a state of renewable green energy, so yes EVs are way cleaner than anything petro, but until I can get my rapid charging and long range battery packs, I am stuck with petro for my road trips. Like Drew, I want and will get an EV for daily driving once I get a decent luxury version. I and the wife was willing to start with a Bolt, but the interior colors was a deal killer for the wife. After all Happy Wife, happy life! 27 years of marriage and counting. How long you been married?

EV Battery War Heats UP, Asia Versus America! Seems America, Tesla and the department of energy have created the next war. This is the Battery war, Lithium Ion versus Solid State batteries and Japan is behind. As such according to the story in the Nikkei, the Japanese government is funding research by leading Japanese manufacturers to develop what they believe will power the EVs of the future. This group brings together the Japanese Consortium for Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (Libtec) with Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor, Panasonic and battery maker GS Yuasa to develop rapid charging solid-state batteries that are easier to manufacture, safer, denser energy and costs less. The story goes on to say that Toyota's Solid State battery technology is considered to be the most advanced in the world, but is not commercialized yet. This new consortium is meant to make this happen by being funded by the Japanese government. This should help Japan beat China, Korea and the US in having the fastest charging, safest and densest battery packs in the world. Current market numbers are that global battery market shows Japan had 70% in 2013 but shrunk to 41% today, China and Korea combine for 26% today from 3% in 2013 The consortium is quoted as bringing the smaller but denser 400km Toyota solid state battery pack to market in the next 18 months in current EVs and have the size grow of the solid state batteries grow very little while having 550km batteries by 2025 and 800km batteries by 2030. For those that are a bit rusty on their metric, this equates to 249, 342, and 497 miles of range in a small dense battery pack. Japan industry ministry is eager for the country to reclaim its global dominance by setting the standard for solid-state batteries. Nikkei Story

OUCH have to say this is one of the ugliest Buicks yet I have seen. Good thing it is in China only. http://www.thedrive.com/news/20740/2018-buick-excelle-sedan-unveiled-for-china

WOW, Talk about so many news sources not linking to Audi's actual news release on this. I did find this Fortune story where Audi Executives are stating that by 2025 the US market will be 1 in 4 Audi sold to be a Plug in EV. http://fortune.com/2016/05/12/audi-plans-to-launch-a-new-electric-vehicle-model-every-year/ Based on this story and others from Wall street journal, CNN, etc. it would appear that Audi believes their US business will be 25% petro, 50% Hybrid and 25% EV by 2025. The consistent 25% makes me wonder about the thought behind this.

True, 1 in 85 but I believe we will see that number reduce fast as automakers release EVs in greater variety that people want to buy. I know if GM would update the dash on the BOLT to be optional two tone or all black or better yet give us the Mocha brown interior, they would sell more. Options is what people want.

Yes you did post that pic, that is why I posted the story as because you posted the pic I related to what the story was about. I agree, trucks truly have been far more robustly built than cars. You Rock!

Gotta say this is a beast of a machine, totally sexy and love this salute to the outgoing Vantage. http://www.thedrive.com/news/20748/aston-martin-brings-back-a-legend-with-the-new-v12-vantage-v600

Seems Audi is expecting to sell 800,000 EVs / Hybrids by 2025 as they transition away from Diesel and Petro. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/09/audi-800000-ev-hybrid-sales-2025/

AAA latest survey find 1 in 5 want an EV now! AAA latest survey results of auto's, the type wanted and what people love or hate has really shown big changes. 20% of America or 50 million want an EV auto up from 15% in 2017. AAA survey found the biggest fear on EV auto's was range anxiety and that is dropping month by month as people new to EV technology see how it fits into their everyday life. While range anxiety is one of the top fears, what has changed is that more people like the reliability of EV or Hybrids over traditional petro powered auto's. On top of this is the reduced maintenance EVs bring, more technology as society embraces it with acceleration, handling and safety technology being mentioned. Some really good info, check out the story below. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2018/05/1-in-5-us-drivers-want-electric-vehicle/

OUCH, Seems Audi found 60,000 more TDI's that need to be recalled. 900,000 TDI's now on the recall list! ? https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/08/audi-diesel-emissions-scandal-recall/

? So the 2018 version had a curb weight of 4255, 2019 version has a curb weight of 4370. So an increase of 115 lbs, how is this a Driving machine when it is waddling to the race line? ?

Secret "ALEC" in Big Debate between Oil and Electric for Subsidies! Not many of us have heard of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), yet this group of Utility companies clashed recently with the oil industry that wants to kill all EV subsidies and yet Oil takes in billions in subsidies from the federal government now. This group has clearly been an ultra conservative group till recently where it has split into two camps, those that are backed by big oil and their desire to kill subsidies and those utilities that have gone very green and want to increase offering subsidies to buyers of all things electric. At the spring meeting, the new Green Utilities put forth a measure that would offer subsidies for non-gas auto's. This included electric, natural gas, biofuel, propane, bio diesel auto's and subsidies for said fueling infrastructure. The interesting part is that this new resolution was put forth by the Koch brothers, oil magnates as well as Ebell's CEI and the conservative group Americans for Prosperity in addition to EEI "The Edison Electric Institute". These groups believe that utilities offering subsidies that would in some cases reduce to zero cost installation of home fast chargers, reduced kWh rates and rebates on EV / Plug-in Hybrid auto's would help spur additional sales of electricity increasing the expansion of a better electrical grid across north america. On the other side you have representatives from Texas, Duke Energy and some folks from Trump's EPA transition team lobbying against it. This was confirmed by EEI. Since this was at a tie in voting, it looks to be brought up at the fall meeting again for a vote. If this goes through, one can only wonder how big the rebates on auto's could be in addition to the charging systems, etc. Check out the two links below for more info. Think of states like California that have fed rebates, state rebates and if utilities offer rebates, this could push EV auto's to very low cost to own. Utility Drive Green Car Report

@balthazar Yoda of all things old, I thought of you and felt you would enjoy this story: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1116596_1912-electric-truck-take-that-tesla-semi Gotta love that 1912 Curtis Publishing was using their electric truck fleet till 1962 and now #4 and restored #8 are up for sale. Cool EV facts on these trucks, the batteries were rebuildable every 10 years. Some very cool other facts on these work horse trucks in the story. Enjoy EV Trucks Shows how good Americans can build trucks!

Read a review on the Honda Clarity and when I saw this side profile: It made me think of the 1990 Total Recall chase auto on earth. Just a modern day take on the auto. LOL

I so wish that was enforced here. Seattle says it is illegal if the street has a bike lane and yet with all the stupid bike share companies here, they have bikes all over the sidewalks and so tourists and locals ride everywhere causing all kinds of problems. Guess it is the same everywhere. ?

Here in Seattle, I know pedestrians and bike riders are tickets if they go against the red and are held accountable for breaking that law no different than a driver in a car. Yes Peds and Bikes have the right of way over a car if they have the green but to go against the road laws they are just as at fault so I agree that it does depend on the situation.