Recent content by Chrisn

Intersting. Thanks for linking. IMHO, efficiency comparisons are only helpful when comparing comparable cars-- roughly same size / cost / performance. From an economic perspective, obviously the amortized depreciation of a Tesla P85 is BY FAR the biggest cost-- something on the order of...

I think the policy point is that "ramping to mass production" is not sufficient to make BEVs competitive with ICE / Hybrid vehicles on an UNSUBSIDIZED basis. Expected saving would need to be in the $10-15K/car range for that.

Nonsense! Don't be Debbie Downer! Gotta drive YOUR car and then look yourself up on the pro photographers' sites like this: Seriously, you can bed the brakes on the way up and, unless you've done dozens of laps on the Ring previously, you're not going to be "pushing it" at all. 6/10 is...

I kept my F10 M5, but it has seen only 300 miles compared to 3000 on the i3 since I got it. I keep waiting for th novelty to wear off, but the i3 is just a fun car to drive around town and in traffic. As I have mentioned here before, the hidden beauty of EV cars is that you can do WOT...

I did not cross-shop the i3 against the Tesla. Different class of car. I think the i3 is a great compact commuter car and city car. The Tesla is a large luxury sedan (with the P85+ being a "performance" luxury sedan). The Tesla's competition is the mid and full sized BMW and Mercedes Sedans...

This is 100% false. When climbing a hill with a full tank of gas and the REx firing up you get NO WARNINGS WHATSOEVER. To a keen observer, well educated in the unique operational design of this novel car, you observe that the tiny blue bar is shrinking below the tiny white arrow and deduce...

AFAIK, the charger doesn't "know" what kind of car is connected. It authorizes via RFID card only. In theory, I don't see why you couldn't swipe your card and charge a non-i3 SAE Combo car. It seems dumb to NOT have designed a data/control protocol for the charger cable that can pass VIN...

It takes 20-30 mins to go from empty to 80%, then another hour or more to top off. Dumb use of expensive resource to top-off when another user is waiting. In any event, as I mentioned, they always have L2 chargers at same location, so optional situation would be to swap out DC with L2 for the...

The 2.1% efficiency gain seems low. Anecdotally, my L1 charger gets quite warm when charging as compared to my L2. Also, since most L2 chargers will have over-spec wiring doing a direct "home run" to the panel versus a random 110V outlet. Would be great if someone did meter-to-battery testing...

Isn't there a "dyno mode?" That usually turns off all traction control (but perhaps not lateral stability control). It's generally bad to have random automated braking while strapped down on the dyno.....

I charged at Nob Hill last week and can confirm that it now requires an RFID card that has been activated to use. I also noticed that the handle doesn't seem to unlock unless you swipe again (although I didn't try too hard). This behavior is really bad for sharing. There are three places to...

I've been a somewhat vocal critic of the U.S. implementation of Rex, and I personally experiences the "limp of shame" (speed reduced to 25 MPH) up a mountain grade in the first couple days of ownership. I plan on doing the "coding" for maximum control (I have the cable and software-- just need...

For me, SOC (expressed in numbers) is a better UI than analog bars. Using the same screen real-estate as the blue bars, I would like to see SOC %, current load (in kW) and estimated remaining range (which incorporates Nav route data (speed limits and elevation changes) and driving history-- not...

Multi-hour chargers (L2) were located where people parked for multiple hours. When fast chargers were added, they were built in similar locations. This is probably optimal for urban locations. Longer term, Fast Charging in urban locations is silly. Fast Chargers should be near freeway...

I think you guys are missing my point. The adopting of EVs is a process that will take decades. We don't need to waste money addressing the needs of all users in all use cases at the beginning of this process. Early adopters WILL be higher-income people with multiple cars. That's not bad...