August 30, 2007 by Rob.

I’ve been getting so used to driving around the RAVolt that I was surprised to see the odometer tick over 147,000 yesterday.  I pulled the engine out at 146,390 so that makes over 600 miles CO2 free.  I think that’s a huge accomplishment and 599 miles farther than many people expected I would go; however, in practical terms it’s just a paltry 24 gallons of gas offset.   In fact, that’s just 3/4 of a Hummer’s 32 gallon fuel tank!   (note: Hummers get 8-10 MPG)

Yesterday was another 30 mile day.   I drove most of it on 360 and still came home with plenty of charge for local driving.

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 28, 2007 by Rob.

A friend found a blog entry about an electric police car.  I like the idea of gas free patrols, but it sounds just like any other EV conversion: passion to do something was the main rationale.  I got a chance to show the RAVolt to our City Police during National Night Out.  While their main reaction was amusement at the “frankencar,” they were also impressed that the car actually worked.  Now, they wave at me when I coast past their speed traps.

Even with this glowing article, I doubt that the police in my area are going to run out an start ordering EV patrol cars.

Posted in EV News, Pictures | No Comments »

August 22, 2007 by Rob.

The RAVolt’s theoretical range is supposed to be 30 miles and, until today, I had never gone more than 25 miles.  Today I drove 30.3 miles and still had plenty of charge left (138 of 144 volts).  A lot of the driving was even at high speed on 360.  It was funny to redrive my first hill on 360 after logging nearly 1000 miles.  I’m not the timid EV driver anymore.

The pack was definitely sagging hard, but there was still enough to get around for a few more miles of city driving.

Another news item: Laura’s EV curse seems to be lifted.  She drove in the RAVolt to the store.

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline, Conversion | 1 Comment »

August 21, 2007 by Rob.

I just found out that the RAVolt (and I) have been accepted for the upcoming Maker Faire(tm) in Austin!

Posted in Pictures, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

August 18, 2007 by Rob.

I’ve been trying to track how much power the RAVolt uses. This involves a new ritual where I walk through our spider invested side yard to read the cryptic meter dials every morning and evening. Without a dedicated meter, I’ve had to work out a rough balance between miles and hours of house use. I’m still refining the calculation, but I think it’s pretty close.

The results are that the RAVolt uses about 0.58 kwh of electricity for every mile I drive. If you read my earlier MPG conversion post, (33 kwh/gallon) / (0.58 kwh/mile) = 56 MPG. That’s based on the theoretical amount of 33 kwh of energy in a gallon of gas.

If you care more about $ then here is my savings over gas: 300%. At Austin Energy’s highest residential rate ($0.078/kwh), my commute works out to about 66 cents. My Volvo’s 20 MPG (of plus or premium gas) costs me about $2.50 for the same commute.

The graph below shows my attempt to figure out the mix of car (red) and house (blue) power use based on hours and miles. I ended up using a static 1.6 kw/hr estimate for the house usage. This is not perfect because temperature and time make a difference in the house power use, but it appears to be pretty accurate.

The graph below shows the match between my estimate of car load from the meter and actual miles driven. One deficiency is that I don’t factor temperature or difficulty of the driving into the calculation. Accuracy is nice, but not super critical: the information is just for my edification.

If you’ve got some statistical background, the graph below has some meaning: it shows the correlation between miles driven and estimated power use. Ideally, all the points would lie on the line showing a 100% correlation. This graph shows an even distribution and indicates that I’ve got a pretty good rough estimate.

Posted in Daily Use, Pictures, Storyline, Conversion, Planning | No Comments »

August 15, 2007 by Rob.

I’ve had a small paper RAV4 model driving on top of my monitor since I started the project.  My son wanted to make his own, but I could not find the original posting.

Posted in Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 15, 2007 by Rob.

Yikes! It is very very hot to be driving without AC. I bought a new fan and am claiming that the moral high ground keeps me cooler while I drive around town. Driving is not so bad, but stopping gets a little sweaty. Also, I can’t hear on the cell phone with the window down - at least that’s simple to solve.

While being at high moral altitude helps beat the psychological heat, I have to admit that the glaciers are melting up here! I’m looking forward to Fall….

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline | No Comments »

August 15, 2007 by Rob.

I was driving in Westlake today and encountered a driveway so steep (like 20% grade) that it literally stalled out the motor! I was cruising up in second with plenty of voltage but my speed kept dropping until the motor just stopped. The parking brake would not hold the car so I had to two foot it and start again in first gear. I was able to scoot up easily in first.

To be fair to the RAVolt, I’ve had the same experience in my other cars on this driveway where the car nearly stalls before the automatic transmission makes a lurching downshift.  I also always peel out there when it’s raining.

Posted in Daily Use | No Comments »

August 14, 2007 by Rob.

Laura thinks this guy from today’s Statesmen is a dangerous driver. The EV lets me watch exactly how much power it takes in all driving situations and I have to agree that getting extremely economical driving can be unsafe! Other drivers are not predictable enough and so of this guys tips are downright dangerous: turning off the engine at speed is not advisable because you’ll loose your power brakes!  Power brakes turn into power bricks without a vacuum.

Posted in Green Tech | No Comments »

August 10, 2007 by Rob.

Austin CleanTech Forum series is planning a session on The Grid Connected Vehicle. The session will be on 9/19 and registration is $15. I’ve confirmed that people driving an EV to the event get in for free.

Posted in Green Tech, AustinEV | 1 Comment »