EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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#1706987 21-Jan-2017 14:37

Scott3:

What I was getting at is that there are currently 30 Renault Kangoo's (I would guess most are AIR NZ's doing airport duty), and 4 Renault Zoes. I think most of these are 22kW charging only.

I think a few people put 41 kWh Zoe's on order from the UK when they are first announced (I would expect them to arrive in March or april), but even then I would expect a a portion of buyers to opt for the 22kW charging variant (for longer range & lower cost).

The result will be a very small portion of the small NZ EV fleet having 43kW AC charge capability (a handful of cars only). Charge.net's vendor offers a 3 cord variant of the charger they use, but it must be hard to justify the cost for such a small number of cars.

I understood.

I agree. The only way it would be worth doing was if you thought that was how it was going to be going forward. I think Charge.Net are going to migrate their CCS-Type1 interfaces to CCS-Type2. Not very many cars use the CCS-Type1 interface. I think BMW i3 bought in NZ is pretty much the list. Whereas CCS-Type2 will be Hyundai Ioniq, BMW from 2017 and the VW eGolf.

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Linuxluver

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#1708334 23-Jan-2017 21:42

Charge.net opened a new 50kw DC fast charger in Balclutha today. It's located in The Warehouse parking area at 23 Charlotte Street.

This charger makes it possible for EVs like a Nissan LEAF with 150km of range (or more) to easily make the trip from Dunedin to Invercargill and back in a few hours by stopping for a 15-20 top-up in Balclutha.

Both Dunedin and Invercargill already have at least one 50kw DC fast charger. These chargers allow a car like a LEAF to charge to 95% in under well under an hour even if empty.

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Linuxluver

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#1708375 23-Jan-2017 22:45

Two more DC fast chargers are opening this week (so far). One opened in Nelson today at the Miller St Carpark, joining the existing DC fast charger at the Richmond Public Library.

On Thursday, another DC fast charger opens in Takaka, next to the i-Site in Commercial St.

Network Tasman plan to open more fast chargers in their coverage area soon.

The second Nelson-area charger provides some redundancy for EV drivers in Nelson and the Takaka charger opens up the whole Golden Bay region.

So as it stands, some one from Napier could easily do an early morning drive to Wellington and catch a ferry to Picton and be on the golden sands at Kaiteriteri before sunset.

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KrazyKid

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#1708376 23-Jan-2017 22:52

General question here: What EV suit a family of 4 if they want to go on the occasional weekend away. Looking at the Leaf it seems fine if you have no luggage but I'd stuggle to fit 2 kids & 2 adults and luggage.

Scott3

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#1708386 23-Jan-2017 23:18

KrazyKid:

General question here: What EV suit a family of 4 if they want to go on the occasional weekend away. Looking at the Leaf it seems fine if you have no luggage but I'd stuggle to fit 2 kids & 2 adults and luggage.

Take a look at the options available in NZ in this EV guide written by Sigurd.

http://www.electricheaven.nz/NZ-Electric-Car-Guide-15Dec2016.pdf

As hatchbacks go the Nissan leaf is at the bigger end of the scale, Its 4.4m long and has a decent boot for a hatchback, but of course it's no station wagon. (You could consider a roof mounted cargo box, would add capacity, but the extra aero drag would cost some range).

Zoe, i3, and iMiev all will have much smaller boots. I would guess the e-golf is similar, but havn't seen it myself.

The e-NV200 is basically the small van variant of the leaf. It's only 160mm longer than the leaf, but the packaging gives it a massive boot. They use the petrol version of this van as a taxi in new york. Very spacious in that application. Available in a 2, 5 or 7 seat variants. Currently only available with 24kWh battery.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/nissan/auction-1245221163.htm

Otherwise you could consider a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (5 seat SUV with 40km odd of electric range, and a petrol engine that will take over after that).

If you are prepared to spend big bucks a Tesla Model S or Model X has massive cargo space. The Volvo XC90 T8 plug in hybrid also looks very nice.

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#1708404 24-Jan-2017 03:18

You might like to see this review of the Hyundai Ioniq - seems like a nice EV

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#1708414 24-Jan-2017 08:01

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/nissan/auction-1245221163.htm

I see in this article they state head unit with NZ maps Does anyone know if these maps will work with an UK Tekna import

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#1708420 24-Jan-2017 08:18

Linuxluver:

Charge.net opened a new 50kw DC fast charger in Balclutha today. It's located in The Warehouse parking area at 23 Charlotte Street.

This charger makes it possible for EVs like a Nissan LEAF with 150km of range (or more) to easily make the trip from Dunedin to Invercargill and back in a few hours by stopping for a 15-20 top-up in Balclutha.

Both Dunedin and Invercargill already have at least one 50kw DC fast charger. These chargers allow a car like a LEAF to charge to 95% in under well under an hour even if empty.

The road between Balclutha and Clinton is very hilly; would that reduce range making the 130km distance between Balclutha and Invercargill "tight" or are you relying on brake re-gen to increase the range?

pbgben

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#1708427 24-Jan-2017 08:40

Wonder if the AA or any other recovery/breakdown service are looking to carry a "Mobile" charge unit, something like the solar based systems you see that have an EV battery hooked up to a charger so they can be charged by a standard ev charger and also charge an ev car.

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#1708533 24-Jan-2017 11:03

Might be time for a Dunedin to Balclutha road trip...

Linuxluver

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#1708678 24-Jan-2017 13:42

gulfa:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/nissan/auction-1245221163.htm

I see in this article they state head unit with NZ maps Does anyone know if these maps will work with an UK Tekna import

Probably not. The Model they install these into is the most basic one from Japan (Model S) as there is no real integration with the car energy systems. But in the Acenta and Tekna (or X and G) trims, there head unit does talk to the car and you can control things.......and removing it may make some functions inaccessible....like the charging timer, the aircon controls, the Nissan Connect functionality (that isn't supported in NZ anyway). There may be other reasons, but generally the headunits stay original in the top two trims, but can be replaced in the lowest one.

I use a spare phone with Google Maps clipped to the dash. It's up to the minute.....and you can download route maps to common destinations at home over wifi before leaving.

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#1708683 24-Jan-2017 13:45

pbgben:

Wonder if the AA or any other recovery/breakdown service are looking to carry a "Mobile" charge unit, something like the solar based systems you see that have an EV battery hooked up to a charger so they can be charged by a standard ev charger and also charge an ev car.

They don't at this point. But they definitely will tow AA members 6km for free to the nearest charging station. In reality, that means the nearest place with a power point that will let you use it. So usually not far.

But would not run out of power unless you really messed up planning your trip......or there was a big detour you couldn't have planned for. In any case....when it looks like you may not make it, THEN is the time you execute Plan B (ask someone to let you charge for an hour, pretty please)....because if your planning was even remotely close to reality you won't be far from where you intended to be.

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Linuxluver

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#1708686 24-Jan-2017 13:47

jarledb:

You might like to see this review of the Hyundai Ioniq - seems like a nice EV

The Ioniq is looking very good for NZ. About $60k and lots of range. The only issue is the charging interfaces available in the car aren't CHAdeMo or CCS Type 1, the most of the fast chargers around now can't charge it. That is very annoying.

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Linuxluver

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#1708736 24-Jan-2017 14:06

If you need a tool to easily work out whether or not your EV can successfully traverse a specific route, the "Greenrace" web site is very, VERY useful.

You tell it which car you have.
You tell it whether you plan to use ECO mode or not.
You tell it what average speed you'd like to maintain (or let it automatically suggest one that will ensure success).

It uses Google Maps to plot a course between addersses / points you specify.

Greenrace knows the topography and calculates the energy required to make the journey - using your model of car, assumptions about regen, assumptions about ECO mode use.....and your specified speed - accounting for usual drag, but not high winds.

The results, for me have been amazingly accurate. Usually within 1% or 2% when I actually do the journey....and the variation will be inconsistency in my speed, more than a flaw in Greenrace.

In this first screenshot, you can see the map plotting a journey from Te Kuiti to Turangi. To the right "A" and "B" pins represent the two locations I specified. Below that is my selected EV - a 30kWh 2016 Nissan LEAF. Greenrace estimates that with a full charge my range on THIS ROUTE would be 167.52km. It estimated the number of kWh required...and you can decide if your EV has those to call upon or not.

As you can see, I should arrive in Turangi on 11% battery assuming I maintain an *average* speed of 90kph. (In reality I will go slower in some places, which gives me a wee bit of slack to go faster in others, but I need to keep it in balance.....estimating the slower distances vs the faster ones). It's assuming I will go 90kph up - and down - the steepest hills, for example.

Beneath the map you can see the data entry controls. If you alter them you need to click on Update Parameters to get it to recalculate.

The lower part of the display shows the changes in altitude, in metres, over the entire journey. This is what it is basing energy usage on. It does NOT estimate cargo, so if you have 4 large people in the car and a couple of bags, you'd need to keep that in mind.

The other day I used Greenrace to calculate Rotorua to Te Kauwhata and it suggested I would arrive on 16% if I maintained an average speed of 95kph. In reality, I arrived on 15%......but I had driven the last 11kms at 100kph as it was obvious I had no concerns about the range required at that point. Plus I had driven slowly through a couple of wee towns....and well well below the 95kph average for those.

It was very close. Similarly Taupo to Napier. It suggested I would arrive on 19% and I arrived on 20%.

This has been very useful in working out what routes going to be simple and do-able and what routes might require some care....or a brief 16amp charging stop (usually no more than an hour - for a 12% battery boost) at a campground along the way.

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Linuxluver

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#1708806 24-Jan-2017 15:52

nzkiwiman:

The road between Balclutha and Clinton is very hilly; would that reduce range making the 130km distance between Balclutha and Invercargill "tight" or are you relying on brake re-gen to increase the range?

Greenrace suggests a 24kw LEAF charged to 100% and averaging 95kph (actually on the high side in reality) should be able to do the trip with 11% remaining. A 30kWh LEAF should manage it with 25% remaining.

If we adjust the average speed to 85kph (actually realistic as an *average* if the road is winding or passes through small towns) the battery remaining for a 24kWh LEAF is 20% and a 30kWh LEAF is 33%.

Now.....the Charge.Net fast chargers won't let anyone charge higher than 95%, so it would be a close thing for a 24kWh LEAF at 95kph, but still very reasonable at average 85kph.

The good thing about hills is that what goes up must come down = regen....and if the road is winding there is brake regen, too.

Four dots of regen is a charging rate of 30kw DC........a rolling fast charger.

As long as the battery was 100% or close to it (in terms of not being degraded) it is very do-able. The second half of this trip (toward the right) has a LOT of downhill regen opportunity.

But yeah....and Gen 1 LEAF than can barely do 100km would have to find somewhere for an extra hour or two of 16 amp charging to fill the gap. Thankfully, those days are close to being over......any new EVs are 200km minimum and closer to 300km. A year from now 300km will be the minimum.

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