I'm seeing a lot Nissan Leaf's and Tesla Model S on the road

@jtsanders
Ditto on the Shelby…
;=)

Bay Area must be the WORLD center for EVs, so no surprise there. I see a Tesla every other week or so, Leaf much less often (maybe I don’t notice them, they’re not as distinctive). But the Leaf’s limited range is a major negative in DFW.

With present battery technology, does sustained hot weather such as in DFW or Phoenix etc significantly impact battery life in a Tesla, Leaf, or even Prius or Volt?

Yep, there’s a big stink in Phoenix about reduced range because of the heat:


On top of that add 100% use of A/C.
But even if those weren’t true, the distances I drive about once a week would eliminate the Leaf from consideration. Tesla with the big (big $$) battery would work.

In Los Angeles if you have a Nissan Leaf, you get to use the carpool/HOV lane with one passenger. Before, this was the case with the Prius. Many who buy these, merely have it to use the HOV lane. The same is also true with the CNG cars (Civic).

I am seeing NO Teslars and Leafs here in Maine. My guest is because we are a poor state and it’s cold. Two strikes vs EVs here !

A recent report on battery life from a 3 nation engineering task force states that battery life can be 5 years and up to 20 years, depending on use. HOWEVER, ambient temperatures over 86F will sharply reduce battery life, and in the Middle East they may only last a year or so. Thefore, if you live in Phoenix your battery may not last very long. Again, Coastal areas like San Francisco and Seattle would be kind to battery life.

In severely cold weather, electric vehicles don’t do well because of the heating needs.

"In severely cold weather, electric vehicles don’t do well because of the heating needs. "

Combined with the fact that all chemical reactions (like those generating electricity in a battery) slow down as temperatures drop. The battery life isn’t decreased, but the output is.

@texases Agree; an electric car would have to be stored in a warm garage where I live. If I go on an out of town business trip in the winter, the car sits in the airport car park, which does not have block heater plug-ins. When I get back, the car has to start so I can get home.

A cold-soaked electric car would need a full battery to get me home.

Not enough people talk about the severe limitations of electric cars.

Depending on the geographical area where the electric car is primarily driven it may be just as appropriate to call it a coal powered car.

"...it may be just as appropriate to call it a coal powered car."
On the other hand, it's now technically feasible to regularly recharge your EV battery purely with sunlight. How cool is that?

My son lives a couple of miles from the Nissan plant in middle Tennessee where Nissan assembles its pickup trucks and the Leaf. Apparently, the plant is really busy filling orders for the Leaf. However, I have yet to see a Leaf on the roads when we go to visit him, nor have I seen a Leaf here in east central Indiana.
From time to time, I do see a Citicar, an electric car from the late 1970s, go past my house. My guess is that the Leaf cars that are produced are going to big cities and California.

Here in Ohio I’ve seen a few Volts, no Leafs, No Tesla’s of any sort and no Fiskers. I have seen a 1910 (or so) Baker electric at a concours d’elegance and a '97 GM EV-1 owned by a GM division (bankrupted in 2005). My neighbor owns a Volt, along with 2 other cars, because the dealer was practically giving them away on lease. He likes it. I agree with other posters here, practical low-cost high mileage electric cars are at least 10 years away from production. But then, that’s what we said in '97 about the EV-1 (as I suspect they said about the 1910 Baker, too!)

Actually JT, Automobile magazine took a Tesla Model S for a day of intensive testing, including quarter mile runs, and one of the things that surprized them was that the battery charge did NOT plummit.

I’d “pass” on the C7. And on the GT500. But I’d eagerly take a Tesla. It’s purely a matter of taste.

Down in the southern hemisphere the Mitsubishi iMev body shape has been around for years as the iCar. No idea how they got away with that name. Despite our electric infrastructure being from 65% renewable sources we don’t get any rebates on electric vehicles. An iMev is $60k, a Leaf $70k and a Volt $85k. But on the other hand we have plenty of very economical gasoline and diesel cars to choose from and far less propensity to buy thirsty vehicles.

"In severely cold weather, electric vehicles don’t do well because of the heating needs. "

I think that’s mostly an issue of energy to heat the passenger compartment.
Lithium batteries do pretty well in cold temps, better than nickel, much much better than lead-acid.

http://batteryuniversity.com/

@WesternR I agree; owning a Leaf in North Dakota would be the height of folly. But in Seattle as a short term commuter it would make environmental sense, but not necessarily economic sense.

All the wonderful things we read about will make sense when every house becomes energy smart, and is clad in solar collectors with energy storage in the basement, and is hooked up to a smart grid that will TAKE energy generated by homes during the daytime and credit the homeowner with that.

Then electric cars will make more economic sense as well as environmental sense. But the credit will go to the smart grid and energy-smart home.

The local tech college is actually building such a home and will use it as a demontrator to show what’s possible.

It’s interesting that EVs aren’t big in Europe. Maybe the public transport keeps them from being worthwhile.

While solar makes sense in some places to add to the grid, it’s not something one would build just to charge the car. Not enough amps for any reasonable (house compatible) size, and the car won’t be there during the day, anyway.

"...and the car won't be there during the day, anyway."

Yes, and that’s a good thing. With time of use metering on a solar home, you overproduce during the daytime when the sun shines, offsetting the highest rate power. In other words, the utility, (here in CA at least) has to buy the power the solar home is overproducing, at the prevailing rate at the time it’s being fed back into the grid. Then, you charge the car at night when rates are significantly lower, which for most people is the most likely time the car will be parked at home. So you pay less for the power to run the car, than the same amount of power to run the home a/c during the daytime. Or something like that anyway…

Actually, there are an assortment of rate structures and my understanding is a bit murky now, but that’s the essence of it…buy low, sell high.

Sure, that could work. I’ve just seen some ‘news’ reports about a solar installation to charge cars. Two separate things: put in solar PV arrays where they make sense, use EVs where they make sense (which might be somewhere PVs don’t, and vice versa).