How long does the battery last in an electric car?
Way longer than many folks think.I have a 2015 Model S with the 85kWh pack. I have over 55,000 on the car, and my battery degradation is 4. I have lost 4 miles of range on a full charge. On day one my car had a max rated range of 265. It is down to 261 today.Leaf’s had problems with longevity, but those have been rectified. There are still problem Leaf’s out there though. They didn’t go back and replace everyone’s battery packs.Watch out for EVs from manufacturers that don’t actually have a long term EV strategy. VW, Toyota, Fiat - just to name a few. They have EVs, but hate that they had to make them and hate that they had to sell them. They are compliance cars available pretty much exclusively in the CARB states of the US. When a car maker begrudingly builds an EV because they have to, it won’t be anywhere near as good as a car maker that is building EVs because they believe in them long term.Also, be wary of opinions on EV’s, EV service, EV battery life, etc., from people who don’t drive EVs. Lots of people read some articles and watched a documentary on Netflix and now know enough to share opinions on the topic.Truth is, we don’t know. We don’t have EV’s with batteries that are in end-of-life cycles yet. Six years of real production, and there just aren’t enough cars to look at and draw any conclusion what end-of-life looks like for battery packs. This includes a lot of Tesla’s well over 100,000 miles, and at least one that I know of that’s approaching a quarter million miles.
Can power be extracted from a 2014 Chevy Spark EV battery via fast charger SAE 1772 combo plug (i.e any blocking diodes, reverse-current sense, etc)?
I don’t have any first-hand experience with the Chevy Spark EV, but having written control software for a J1772 Level 3 charger, I strongly suspect there are blocking diodes if not a contactor that has to close for power to reach the plug.If there is a contactor, in addition to the normal control pilot and proximity signals, a handshake over the J1850 serial bus (they may be using CAN now) would have to be completed for the contactor to close. This negotiates the desired charging voltage and current between the charger and the battery management system.Given automakers’ general paranoia about safety in general and electric vehicle safety in particular, I would bet that you’re out of luck unless you can modify the vehicle or its software.
Will charging your EV car while the car is on degrade the battery faster?
The only things that degrade the motive battery in an Electric Car is heat and a lot of Fast Charging. So be sure to get a EV with a liquid cooling Battery Management Control system. Try not to Fast Charge a lot or in the heat. Also don’t charge to 100% and then let the car sit for more than a day. These things have shown to affect the battery capacity.Charging a EV with the car on would just slow down the amount of charge you are getting. If you have the Air Cond or Heater on it will use some of the energy and make the charge much slower. My little Chevy Spark EV only has a 3.3 kW On Board Charger. I tried once to have the Air Cond on while I was charging and after an hour had actually lost some charge.
What is a good cheap 100% electric car to buy such as the Nissan Leaf?
Well, a Nissan Leaf is not a good buy since it has no battery thermal management (cooling). It overheats if you drive at freeway speeds in the summer and especially if you rapid charge it.If you want good ones (and for some reason you are avoiding Teslas which are the best), go for Kia e-Niro, Hyundai Kona, Chevrolet Bolt and Hyundai Ioniq. In that order. Add Jaguar i-Pace to that list if you really have a lot of money.And that’s about it.
What is currently the best deal on new American electric vehicles? (i.e Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford)
The 2018 Ford Focus electric model starts around $29,000. I don’t know if that’s a deal per se but it is comparable to new car prices that run on gas. Price used to be a barrier to entry for most entering the EV market and then the things were very impractical in terms of charge vs. run time. Today EV’s look like normal cars and have ranges up to 200 miles on a single charge.Here is an article listing some other cars available in 2018. (Ford Focus is not on this list but none of the cars that are start at $29,000 either.) Best Electric Cars You Can Buy in 2018
What are the advantages and disadvantages of electric powered cars?
Electric cars have several potential benefits as compared to conventional internal combustion automobiles that include a significant reduction of urban air pollution as they do not emit harmful tailpipe pollutants from the onboard source of power at the point of operation (zero tail pipe emissions); reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the onboard source of power depending on the fuel and technology used for electricity generation to charge the batteries; and less dependence on foreign oil, which for the United States, other developed and emerging countries is cause of concerns about their vulnerability to price shocks and supply disruption. Also for many developing countries, and particularly for the poorest in Africa, high oil prices have an adverse impact on their balance of payments, hindering their economic growth. Despite their potential benefits, widespread adoption of electric cars faces several hurdles and limitations. As of 2011 electric cars are significantly more expensive than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles due to the additional cost of their lithium-ion battery pack. However, battery prices are coming down with mass production and expected to drop further. Other factors discouraging the adoption of electric cars are the lack of public and private recharging infrastructure and the driver's fear of the batteries running out of energy before reaching their destination (range anxiety) due to the limited range of existing electric cars. Several governments have established policies and economic incentives to overcome existing barriers, to promote the sales of electric cars, and to fund further development of electric vehicles, more cost-effective battery technology and their components. The U.S. has pledged US$2.4 billion in federal grants for electric cars and batteries.China has announced it will provide US$15 billion to initiate an electric car industry within its borders.Several national and local governments have established tax credits, subsidies, and other incentives to reduce the net purchase price of electric cars and other plug-ins
Do pure electric cars and plug-in cars have a transmission, automatic or standard? Can you buy an electric car?
"Electric cars" are not a factory produced standard machine. It is a class of vehicle power and there are many variations. Electric vehicles that use a standard electric motor can have that motor installed in a number of locations and this may in part dictate what kind of transmission if any is used. An EV with wheel motors will have no other drive train components. An EV with a motor installed in an axle may also have no other drive train components. An EV with a motor installed between passenger seats will need a rear differential to (un) equalize wheel rotation and may have some gearing to change the motor speed to the drive shaft speed. It is possible to change the performance of the vehicle from power to economy modes with gearing changes but this is more efficiently done electronically so this is the method that is customarily used. In a petrol vehicle the engine will only reach sufficient torque levels from about 3000 to 5000 RPM. In order to maintain those engine speeds a transmission is used. The electric motor can have full torque at 0 RPM and therefore a transmission may not be necessary and if the Tesla experience is of value it is more trouble than it is worth. A major class of exceptions is conversion vehicles. These are vehicles that are converted from petrol engines to electric and often leave the transmission in place for the mechanical reverse gear. The clutch is removed as is generally not necessary for shifting. Operators often leave the vehicle in 2ed gear. I once owned an MG midget with a switch on the dash for directional lights that would not cancel automatically. It was a lot of fun to drive. Similarly model T Fords where the dwell angle could be adjusted from the dash (the spark) would be fun to drive. But extra controls in traffic with kids screaming in the back may not be the choice of many vehicle consumers. We have to pick our vehicles according to what we want from them.