pnichols wrote:
DrewE wrote:
Why, if you're in a dead stop in a rainstorm, would you leave the headlights and wipers on?
The need for that has happened to me many times over the years right here in CA: Chilly pouring down rain in the winter going home on a long commute in the dark ... not a dead stop but a stop-n-go traffic jam for 2-3 hours ... hence headlights on, wipers on, plus radio/CD on for music. I've even had my vehicle's battery go almost dead in these conditions because the alternator with an only idling engine couldn't keep up. A rescue vehicle couldn't have got anywhere near all those vehicles jammed up in multiple lanes with almost no shoulder lanes.
In addition to the above, because of the storm sometimes the power would be out all night after I got home and then I'd have a long commute going to work the next morning. I wonder how current EV's would do in these conditions of high battery drain without follow-up recharging before the next use? EV's need larger energy storage capacity for general use on, IMHO.
In all fairness drastically reduced maintenance costs on EV's will be great, as I experienced today when paying a very large repair bill due entirely to our family sedan's engine and braking systems.
It is very real situation and I have never been in this situation in either of our EV's so I don't know. I did a little scanning on a couple pf the EV's and although for the most part normal rush hour stop and go traffic in rush hour, accidents etc, hasn't been a problem for anyone I will pose the question as you have. 3 hours, cold weather etc. I'll post the results. I have no doubt it is a real situation in some places.
The only thing I can come close in the way of an experience was when we were looking to buy our town house. We looked at lots of places of course and it was reasonably warm so the AC was off and on. No wipers. The real mileage (and i'll use miles not kilometers) wasn't that high because it all on in our home town. So maybe 35 miles, but probably 4 hours of run time in the vehicle so it did get a workout. We don't usually let it go below about 30 percent. This was in our little car with an 18 kw battery so our 30 KW leaf would have had more reserve.
I'll pose the question and get back to you.
John
