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When I wrote about Tesla's rapid expansion of its supercharger network, I was equally surprised by the extent of its less publicly touted network of "destination chargers"—slower, "Level 2" chargers that it is distributing to hotels, malls, restaurants and other locations so folks can charge while they shop/eat/sleep, and thus relieve some pressure from the faster superchargers which folks use for longer distance road tripping.
It got me thinking about another network of charging infrastructure which folks often don't talk about: The Level 2 chargers which most of us electric vehicle drivers install in our homes and—sometimes—places of business. These chargers don't just enable our own electrified driving, but they also provide some peace of mind to any friends and relatives who may consider driving electric, and who can now be sure of a charge if they come for a visit.
In fact, I've noticed several private charging station owners—especially businesses—in my region are publicly listing their charging stations on the various apps that are available for locating charging spots. Interestingly, this isn't just limited to restaurants or shops offering charging as a perk for your business: We have real estate companies and industrial operations simply offering up their charge points as a free service to the electric vehicle community. (Often, they'll stipulate—quite reasonably—that their own vehicles get first dibs.)
Is a network of free- or metered Tier 2 charging stations the solution to EV range anxiety?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday June 21 2017, @04:23PM (1 child)
Yes, 100k miles is miraculous for 1970s and older cars, before Japanese competition forced American car makers to improve. Now, it's no big deal.
You're not going to run the battery pack down to just 7 miles left, every single time, no, you're going to top up frequently, all the more frequently because its range is so short. I don't know how many recharge cycles the Leaf has (why isn't Nissan up front with that info?!?), but less than 1000 can easily mean battery failure in just 50,000 miles. What Nissan does say is that they provide a warranty of 100,000 miles or 8 years, whichever is first, on the batteries, so I'd guess the batteries are good for much more than 1000 charge cycles. However, warranties can be slippery-- I've seen LG's warranties rendered worthless by all their conditions, like that the warranty covers only the cost of parts, not labor, which just happens to be inflated at the only businesses LG approves for service work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 22 2017, @02:42AM
> before Japanese competition forced American car makers to improve.
An additional incentive came from smog regulations which now require cars to meet emissions standards for some large number of miles, with no service (have forgotten, maybe 75K miles?) This has given us stainless (or other non-rusting) exhaust systems, including catalyst housings. And possibly other improvements in service life.
In the NE USA with plenty of salt on winter roads, my 1992 Toyota needed at least some part of the exhaust system replaced every 2-3 years (I kept it 20 years). The dealer offered a lifetime warranty on the first replacements and it was a hell of a deal, I got about 4 more complete exhaust systems before that dealer sold out (the new owner only honored that warranty one time).
My GF's 2003 Toyota (with stainless components) has needed no exhaust service since new, so 14 years already.