The Currency And Civic Value of Electric Vehicle Public Charging

Civic restoration, civic planning and environmental design have been my profession and my avocation for the past three decades. As a person engaged professionally in this arena, it is the most inspirational of times as America rediscovers its history in its older downtowns and older neighborhoods full of culture, uniqueness, identity and diversity, and looks to the future with changes in the way we power our homes and our cars. There is a strong connection between the two.

As a Mini-E driver for the past year racking up 17,000 miles and counting, The electric driving experience has been very rewarding both in terms of the performance and pleasures of the Mini-E, as well as experience and insights gained from the field trial, some posted on these pages in previous posts.

My views on the charging of electric cars in general are as follows: 75% of all charging will be done at the place of residence. 15% of charging will be at “Point B” commonly known as the workplace. The remaining 10% of charging will be done at public charging stations.
Focusing in on the 10% of public charging stations, I believe the most valuable of these will be along transportation corridors and destination locations.

A destination location is generally described as a place that pulls from a three hour drive time demographic. The least valuable of the public charging stations will be the local or regional destinations within a one hour drive time such as libraries, big box stores, neighborhood commercial centers etc.

It is my view that as the adoption rate of electric vehicles escalates the number if not the percentage of public charging stations along the transportation corridors and destination locations will grow exponentially and the “in city” charging stations will struggle and become less relevant in the future as the EV and PHEV range increases.

It is with certainty I can say two things.

1. That the role of the gas station today serving 100% of our gasoline car, will be greatly diminished by orders of magnitude with the adoption of electric cars
2. Americans will still travel by car and will still explore this great country in the family drive vacation.

This past weekend, my wife and I, celebrating our anniversary, took a trip in the Mini-E to Newport Beach. We selected this destination location because of the public Mini-E charging station at South Coast Plaza.

Here’s what that trip looked like.

We drove 65 miles on the freeway to South Coast Plaza (SCP), plugged in Mini-E #183 which was at 35% SOC at 11:30am and then went to a restaurant in the SCP to watch the U.S. play Ghana (we lost unfortunately.) After lunch we shopped at Nordstrom’s buying three shirts, Macy’s for home goods, and then the Bang and Olufsen store for our entertainment system.

We left SCP at 3pm fully charged and drove the short distance to the Newport Bay Marriot where we settled into our room and caught a few hours of sunshine by the pool. We dined at Mastro’s with a very special bottle of wine celebrating our Anniversary.

The next morning it was off to Laguna beach for lunch and art shopping at local galleries and the Sawdust Festival. We left Laguna at 4pm and arrived home at 5:30 pm, concluding our trip with about 20 miles of range left. The total miles driven on the overnight trip was 165 miles.

Here’s what that trip looks like in currency.

$55 for lunch, Bloody Mary’s, Beer, tips and taxes at the restaurant.
$150 at Macy’s
$130 at Nordstrom’s
$0 at the B&O store (widow shopping to add to our system one day.)
$220 for the hotel, parking and drinks by the pool.
$500 at Mastro’s for dinner and wine (an indulgence)
$100 in Laguna Beach for parking, lunch, Starbucks, Sawdust Festival and art pieces
$1450 for a painting (a gift to each other on our Anniversary)

Total: $2455 on merchants, restaurateurs, lodging, parking authorities and taxes.
All this economic stimulus because of an electric vehicle charging station and $2.00 worth of free electricity provided by SCP.

Our trip destination was determined by the availability of a public charging station and a great location. Multiply this currency experience by 700 others that will potentially use the same charging station in the near future (2 a day)

That is the currency and civic value of electric vehicle public charging.

Thank you South Coast Plaza, Newport Beach and Laguna, we had a blast! We hope you enjoy the money we left behind.
Cheers!
Peder
Mini-E #183

You can live and drive on sunshine :)

Sharing our most recent June 2010 utility bill.

Even with the worst "June Gloom" I can remember along the Carlsbad Coast, we were still under $28 and change for the month.

Our annual true up should be around $-100 due to the higher summer rates (6 months beginning on May 1st) that SDG@E pays for our solar energy.

That's for a home, guest home, and the Mini-E at 16,000 miles a year.

The Mini-E remains the single best car I have driven in 32 years, and the only one I can power by sunshine :)

We're "crusin" to Newport Beach this weekend for a long weekend vacation with the Mini-E and hope to charge at the South Coast Plaza Mall as well as a fellow Mini-E driver's home.

Cheers!

Peder

How sad is this?

AP picture of a Heron dying in oil. 5/24/2010

There is a much better way and it's not that hard to do.

Our home is called Herons House so the picture above strikes close to the heart.

The ethos statement of our home was written in 2005.

"We are blessed and we are grateful. We live in America, in one of the most beautiful parts of earth. We are chasing a dream...we are flying...

Up and down the coast, searching, downward looking, in estuaries and lagoons for a high perch to nest. A home is found, an old nest of years perhaps decades, overlooking the lagoon. It will provide a good beginning…. perfect for the Herons.

Julie and I are building our home, reusing an old house on a large lot as a good beginning, perched above the lagoon and Pacific Ocean. Like the Herons, we will walk lightly on earth, using the resources provided to us by nature, in harmony and partnership with our environment, with each other.

The Herons' House. Our house. "

In the construction of our home and the choice to drive an electric BMW Mini-E powered by solar PV, we hope we have remained true to those words. We live in a very sensitive habitat with Herons and birds of all manor on our land and in our lagoon.

I have rescued a Pelican, wrapped up in fishing line while kayaking,



We have Herons visiting and flying by hourly



It is a paradise similar to the marsh lands of the gulf coast. I can't imagine the picture of the dying Heron being our lagoon.

Living and driving on electrons powered by renewable energy can end this madness of repetitive environmental disaster.

I will never buy a gasoline car as long as I live.

There is a much much better way to do this.

Peder

Peder wants to go racing!

I'm Ready to Race!

Finally, some video of the Mini-E driving in a way that I like to drive. ( sometimes )

Below is a the entire video of the Mini-E race and their sub 10 minute run at Nürburgring.

Now I know the first driver was a pro but there was visible moisture and less than ideal conditions. Tomorrow a Prince of a driver, HRH Leopold, and well trained at that, will take Nürburgring on and see if he can beat the time. Of course he can!

I will humble submit that someone with 14,500 miles of seat time in the machine, that used to be a damn good go kart driver winning most of his races can do even better!

Just refer to my bloodline as Red, White and Blue blood!

Fly me to Germany BMW, I'm ready to race!

Man I love this car!

Cheers
Peder

Oil is not stupid, we are.

A departure from blogging about Mini-E #183 to tell a related story. It is about my awakening to living with the earth and renewable energy.

For nearly 15 years I owned a summerhouse on the Danish island of Rømø. Rømø is on the west coast of Denmark, near the border with Germany.

"You can see Germany from my Kitchen window" to paraphrase a famous quote from a certain U.S. female politician.

The German island of Sylt lies a few hundred meters south of Rømø and yes you can see it from the island.

The summerhouse was constructed of rock from the island, had a thatched roof made from the wheat stalks that grow in the northern part on the island, and was situated on a few aces of beautiful natural lingberry fields on the leeward side of the island. The windward side is 8 miles of beach and wind.

Wind.

In the late 1980's, early 90's all of the island residents (about 8,000 of us) as well as others on the mainland and other Danish islands were polled to find out if they would support a 20% higher utility cost to build an offshore wind farm. To to be self reliant and ween Denmark, once 100% dependent on imported energy, off imported energy. The carrot was that once built the energy cost would be level with no or little increases in the future.

The poll was 80% in favor.

A few years later, the first off shore wind farm in the world was built just a few kilometers north of Rømø. A decade later and after much environmental analysis, Horns Reef two was built.

Here is a video of Horns Reef one.



Today the Horn's Reef project, about 15 miles offshore, provides power to over 300,000 Danish houses. Denmark is 100% energy independent, with renewable wind energy approaching 30% of it's total portfolio. The Danes found oil and wind in the North Sea. The Danes are seeking to have 50% of their total energy from wind, bio fuels and other renewable's by 2030. They lead the world in wind high tech with nearly 50% of the worlds windmills and have created 100,000+ jobs in the global wind energy biz.

If Horns Reef should ever suffer a catastrophic failure, with 100% certainty I can say that the pollution of the entire west coast of Denmark would not happen.

Shifting gears a bit, (which you don't do in the Mini-E) and bringing it back locally at the home owner level .

Remembering that vote on that Danish island over a decade ago, we decided to "vote" with our own home and pocket book by installing a solar P.V. system to use a renewable resource that is abundant in our part of the world, sunshine. Our home produces 100% of our energy requirements with renewable and non polluting solar energy for our home and cars.

It's not that hard to do America!

Frank Lloyd Wright said:

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."

Nature won't, government and big oil most certainly and repeatedly will.

Nothing could be more Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or Green, than a country or a citizen that produces their own energy, is self reliant, less expensive, and environmentally cleaner than we are today.

We are too smart to behave in this stupid way.

In the words of a Saudi oil minister, "the Stone Age did not end for lack of stones"

My thoughts and prayers to those in the gulf states and on the coastline as they deal with this unprecedented failure and violation of their lives, livelihood and will being.

It truly makes me ill as I know, I know and live, a better way forward.

With much sadness and anger,

Peder Norby

Happy Earth Day, living and driving on sunshine.

Happy Earth Day, living and driving on sunshine.

You can live in a home and drive a car powered by sunshine. In our case we live in 3300 sq ft home with a 1000 sq ft guest house and drive a BMW Mini-E 16,000 miles a year.

All powered by sunshine via a 7.5 kw Sunpower solar PV system :)

We have a net metering agreement with SDG&E that allows us to pay once a year for the energy for our home. For the 2010 year we estimate our total energy use will be between 0 and $100. There is an outside chance we could be below zero but it's a rainy year so I think not.

In the early part of the year, January through March, we use more energy than we produce and we have a bill. In the mid part of the year from mid March to October we generate more energy than we use and we have a credit each month for 6 months. In November and December we again use more than we generate and we have a bill. At the end of the year we are essentially energy neutral or net zero.

In actuality the home produces far more energy than it consumes because it is also supplying 3500kwh, the equivalent of $2000 of gasoline annually to power the Mini-E.




This is our most current bill and you can see that we started at 70304 and ended at 70297. a -5 KWH usage for the month. The normal SDG&E bill does not give you credit for generation so the top lines of -270 and -75 show 0 when in reality you get paid for that at the higher peak rates.

This is the net metering bill that you keep track of the year with. It comes together with the normal bill above. You can see in January and February we had a bill of $102.42 and $65.49 and then in March we dipped below zero and have a credit of $-11.72 and a total KWH usage of -5

From now until October we will have a credit each month. In May the summer rate structure begins which is far better for us as far as getting paid for solar production and we will have credits around $40 to $60 per month. The below chart is an approximation of how our year looks.

The Solar PV system is now two years old with the new "gas station" addition 8 months ago. We have generated almost 20 megawatts of energy with a value of $8500 in electricity and gasoline. This represents around 35% of the total system cost ($26,000) and puts our break even point at around 6 years, less if electricity rates or gas rates spike. Less if you fiqure the HELOC loan interest is deductible off your taxes and the sdge bill is not.

Remember, this is 6 years of the same payments you are already making to SDG&E and you local gas station, it's not a new payment.

How can anyone afford not to do solar.
Cheers and Happy Earth Day!

Peder

All this has me thinking. What would I really like for my future car?

Mini-E #183 is in the shop for a few days (3rd scheduled service at 14,000 miles) no real problems just a data download and I have them looking at a tweak here and there.

I’m driving a pearl white Cooper S for the next few days and it’s a pretty stark difference than #183. On the whole; the car stumbles, rumbles, roars and “paddles” as in shifting, its way up and down the 6 gears. I already miss the jet engine smooth and super quiet acceleration and regen-deceleration of the Mini-E, sans gears, oil, and transmission. I dread going to the gas station.

On the likes, I love the sunroof, it’s fun playing with the paddles, the car is a little lighter in the corners but not drastically so, and I really like being able to turn on the sport mode and turn off the DSC for a little fun on appropriate roads.

I am an enthusiast driver.

All this got me thinking. What would I really like for my future car? ... if I were king.

I’m in a two car family, have a 20 mile round trip commute, and my wife is perfectly happy in the Ford Escape, she prefers sitting up a bit as compared to a lower seating position. That pretty much gives me a wide playing field as to my desires and choices for a car.

I am an enthusiast driver, so here is the car for Peder.

I hope you're listening reading this BMW/Mini.

I love the Mini! Best, most fun car I have had in my 32 years of driving!

So it begins with a Mini. Strip every last thing from the car much like the Porsche Boxter Spyder. No air (the tops down), no heat (I’ll wear a sweater) no radio, (I will take an integrated I-Phone charging dock,) just a bikini top to keep most of the wetness out on the occasional rainy day. No power windows or door locks, the most basic and lightest materials used inside the car and if your can spare a little extra carbon fiber, on the body panels and seats as well. No rear seat, but a bigger cargo area than the Mini-E and a greatly reduced in size and weight dashboard.

I’ll keep all the airbags thank you.

Give me the same 205 horsepower electric motor as in the Mini-E, the new 2nd gen batteries like in the Active-E. I only want 25kwh, not 35khw of batteries but I want them spaced in the front and back like the Active E for optimum weight. I want to be able to select the DSC off or on, and I want the suspension to be able to handle the horsepower and torque so no need to detune the controller/motor at take-off. I’m fine with the top speed governed at 95. Lastly an integrated aero kit and a j1772 connector.

That’s my dream car, A Mini-E “Peder Spyder Special”

2250 pounds of open air driving.
A 0-60 time in the low to mid 5 second range,
Range of around 90-100 miles with less batts (thanks to the lightness and aero of the car)

That is something to dream about. That is my ultimate car. Until then, I’m looking forward to getting Mini-E #183 back from the shop to continue this most excellent adventure.

Cheers
Peder
#183 driving on sunshine