My EV experience

L

L. David Roper

New Member
  • I bought a Prius in 2005 and had it converted to a Hymotion PHEV in 2009. Later I sold it to my granddaughter at a low price. I gave courses on hybrid cars for the local YMCA Open University.
  • I bought a Highlander Hybrid in 2009 and tried to convert it to a PHEV in 2014 and failed. I traded it for a RAV4 Hybrid in 2016.
  • I bought a Chinese ZAP Xero Pk 3-wheel pickup BEV in 2007 with gel lead-acid batteries and tried to convert it to lithium-ion batteries, but failed. I gave it away in 2010.
  • I leased a 2012 LEAF SL for 3 years.
  • I leased a 2015 LEAF SV for 2 years. My daughter bought it at a low price when I returned it to Nissan.
  • I have given talks on EVs several times.
  • I signed up for the Tesla Model 3 on the first day possible after test driving the Models S & X. I own some stock in Tesla.
  • In April 2017 I bought a Bolt EV Premier with fast charging capability and have driven it for about 7800 miles, including several trips over 400 miles. I had to go to northern Virginia to get it and drive it 278 miles back home. I get about 300-miles range around Blacksburg VA and higher than 238 miles on long trips driving slightly over the speed limit.
  • When my turn comes for the TM3 I plan to sell the CBEV, perhaps to a daughter or some other person on a list I have of interested persons. I plan to get the Long Range 310-miles TM3, probably with the Premium upgrade but probably will wait until later to get the Autopilot and Advanced Autopilot.
  • Starting next week I am giving a 3-lecture course for the Lifelong Learning Institute of Virginia Tech on hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars and battery-electric cars.
  • I estimate that there are about 15 BEVs in Blacksburg VA, most of them LEAFs bought used.
 
Wow. Well welcome to the forum! We very much appreciate your experience and thoughts. Do you think Tesla will hold it's part of the market as other companies expand their EV footprint? I personally see it like Apple, where they will have sizable share, but lose the majority to other products (android, google, samsung, windows, etc)
 
I definitely believe that EVs will rapidly approach the total cars curve. Here are two graphs from my upcoming BEV lecture:
EVFuture.jpg
This has the current exponential doubling time of 1.5 years.
EVFutureSooner.jpg
EVFutureSooner.jpg
This has a future doubling time around 2030 of 0.5 years.
I am uncertain about whether Tesla will be the constant leader. I support Tesla now because they are getting it started, which is very important
 
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That's one heck of an S-curve!

I've been waiting for adoption to really kick off for some time now. Back in 2008 or so, when I became pretty convinced EVs would be the future, the timing of it all was pretty elusive. Now, it's finally happening, but I have a hard time believing it will happen as fast as I'd like it too. (I have hoped it would be similar to the adoption of smart phones, but it may be closer to the adoption of cell phones in general.)

I
 
Impressive, L David!

My first exposure to EVs was when I was young -- the Citicar during the first oil crisis. It was an intriguing idea, but slow and tiny in addition to limited range. We've come a long way since then!

I really wanted a GM EV1 in the 90's. I was a big Saturn fan at the time, and the showrooms had a real EV. But I wasn't in CA, so I settled years later for a Gen 2 Prius in 2005. It was a start, a first taste of the smooth and quiet electric driving potential, but not the driving experience I longed for.

I finally went whole hog with the Gen 1 Volt. At one point before our oldest moved away for college, we had nearly 100% electric miles on the first Volt. The lease ended and we bought our second Volt. Then I got a new job 500 miles from home and started monthly long-range driving. I got another Volt for my apartment away from home, too. Between three Volts, me, my wife, a son at college, we have over 100,000 miles on Volts with nary a hitch. Our lifetime average with all the driving from Dallas to Memphis to Knoxville, we still have over 50% electric miles.

We got our daughter into electric this past year, too. She's in a 2014 Spark EV and loves it! It's a fun and nimble commuter car -- perfect for her needs.

And now we've added a 2017 Bolt EV. I am loving this car! The shape is perfect -- upright, easy to get in and out, it can handle bulky cargo, and still loads of fun like only an EV can be. I've made a number of modifications to make it fit me and my vision for it. And while we still need the Volts for that long haul between Dallas and Memphis, charging infrastructure someday will allow cars like the Bolt EV to go anywhere.

I'm hoping you're right that the adoption curve will be fast. I think the US is falling behind, though our longer distances put us at a disadvantage compare to European countries... doing my part :-)
 
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