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 ... it's heater/fan on, it's 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.
So I got some answers back. Heres the numbers and a partial edited (for context) quote from the member that replied.
"Assume heater draws 1kw that would consume 1kwh every hour. So it would take 10 hours of parking lot traffic to consume 10kwh of charge (~40 miles of range). In other words, you'd lose ~4 miles for every hour you're stuck in traffic. Everything else draws only negligible amounts of charge and can be kept on"
Hopefully this sheds some light on the sceenario. I personally think the AC draws more than the heater but I actually don't know. Slightly off point, we use to feel a little guilty about sitting in a drive through line up, you know, idling engine etc. Now not so much. :)
John
