As more and more Americans begin to venture into the plug-in
world, Julie and I thought it would be worthwhile and educational to share with
you our two EV one EVSE experience. After all, most American families have no idea
what it’s like to have their own personal fueling station and to forego the fun, shared, community experience of getting gas at the gas station and handing
over $450 a month for the love of that experience.
For Julie and I, watching the daily price changes at the gas
station is now like watching a very slow version of an old slot machine ever
changing the numbers, with the knowledge that the casino will ultimately win. Have you seen Dubai and the Arab Emirates? Do
you know or care why their “Vegas lights” shine so brightly?
Once you have your first L2 charging station at home as part
of your first EV or PHEV purchase or
lease, you begin to enrich your family and now have a private, secure and
personal fueling station for the rest of your life. Community gas
stations begin to resemble a third world way of living akin to community soup
kitchens, both with occasionally long lines when times are tough.
Julie is the driver of our BMW ActiveE and she puts about
18,000 miles a year on her car. Her commute to work and back is 45 miles. I am
the driver of our Honda Fit EV, I drive 12,000 miles a year and my commute to
work and back is 25 miles. We often drive hundreds of miles in a day and
we often travel with our EV’s on camping and hotel vacation several hundred
miles per trip. Once every two years or so, we take a long drive up to Napa or out to Taos
and for that trip we will rent a car or swap with my daughter. Other than that one trip every couple of
years, there is zero difference in our lives (on the negative side) between gas
cars or electric cars. On the positive
side the benefits of electric cars are many and great.
On to sharing the “Plug-Love”
On to sharing the “Plug-Love”
When we first became a two EV family 6 months ago, we
thought about having a second L2 EVSE installed, one for each car. The more we thought about it, we came to the
conclusion that we could easily share the single EVSE that we have had for a
few years. We devised a trial system to
let us try two different charging combinations for three months each, to see
which one was more convenient for us.
Trial 1. Flapper language. Think sign language for cars. Julie as the high mileage driver would have plug priority. This means that she could unplug me whenever. When I pulled into the garage (usually with only 25% depleted on the battery) I would simple leave my flap open. Julie knew this was a sign that when she unplugged at 6:30 am to go to work, she would pull the plug from the Active E and plug in the Honda. When I left for work around 9am the Honda is fully charged. This system works just fine. We have never had a “forgot to plug you in moment” and we can both see what each car is doing on our cell phones at any moment if we are curious or want to confirm for sure that we are charged.
Trial 2. Private
charging for each car adding the 110 EVSE.
In our garage we have a 110 volt
15 amp circuit. We
mounted the 110 convenience charger that came with the Honda next to the EVSE
for the BMW. Julie uses the 220 charger andI use the 110 charger.
When I get home in the Honda I
plug in and when I leave in the morning it’s fully charged. On the once in a month occasion that I need a
quicker 6.6khw charge, I’ll use the 220 charger. This system also works fine and has the added
ease of not being responsible for the other persons car. If we take a long trip, it’s usually in the
BMW and we have the 110 charger for that car with us in case of emergency.
Living with one EVSE and two EV’s is a piece of cake and far easier than going to community gas stations. We prefer the private charging for each car adding the 110 EVSE scenario slightly over the flapper language scenario. If we were in a garage with no 110 flapper language would work great.
As we drive into the future, most American families will find that one EVSE will suffice for multiple EVs or PHEVs. Either way, the purchase of an EVSE is like buying a fueling station for life. It may appear to be costly when you buy your first car, but for every car then on it’s a supreme bargain and you'll be hard pressed to buy a private gasoline pump for that price. I have no doubt that the future entrepreneurs will invent EVSE's that will tailor to the two or three car families. Think larger surge protector multiple plugs for cars.
Living with one EVSE and two EV’s is a piece of cake and far easier than going to community gas stations. We prefer the private charging for each car adding the 110 EVSE scenario slightly over the flapper language scenario. If we were in a garage with no 110 flapper language would work great.
As we drive into the future, most American families will find that one EVSE will suffice for multiple EVs or PHEVs. Either way, the purchase of an EVSE is like buying a fueling station for life. It may appear to be costly when you buy your first car, but for every car then on it’s a supreme bargain and you'll be hard pressed to buy a private gasoline pump for that price. I have no doubt that the future entrepreneurs will invent EVSE's that will tailor to the two or three car families. Think larger surge protector multiple plugs for cars.
Julie and I charge our BMW and Honda with the electricity generated by the sun via our six year old 7.5kw Solar PV system. This system was 100% paid off in full in June of 2012 with the utility and fuel savings of the prior 5 years. Our savings in gasoline is $5000 a year and growing as gasoline increases in price, our savings in our utility bill is $3600 a year for a total annual savings of $8600 a year. The annual savings will go on for the rest of our lives. Our price of energy and fuel for our cars is fixed at near zero for life. Let's hope they never start taxing sunshine.
Cheers.
Peder & Julie
70,000 sunshine powered miles.
