May 31, 2008 by Rob.

This was posted to the AustinEV list:

You and your family are invited to join us at Ramsey Park this Sunday (43rd & Burnet – Central Austin) from 10a til 2p for an art project, play-day, picnic, and parent social:

“Green Tips from Great Kids.”

We’ll have ice water, lemonade, ice coffee, lots of shade, art supplies and a huge park to play in, plus special guests: Spiral Scouts, Future Craft Collective, GaGa, and Austin Eco School. *coffee provided by Pacha Coffee, biodegradable cups by GoodCommonSense
Please visit this link for more info: ttp://greentipsfromgreatkids.com/junefirstevent.html

What is it?
We’re inviting children and students aged 4 to 18 to flip the paradigm! Give adults advice, for once! Tell us what we should do about the environment! Be creative! Bring your words, your crafty skills, and your art! (Art supplies provided).
We are collecting work for possible publication in a book.

More info available via the website: GreenTipsfromGreatKids.com–

FUN! FREE! ELECTRIFYING?

Posted in EVents, AustinEV | 2 Comments »

May 28, 2008 by Rob.

The RAVolt rolled past another milestone this week at 149000 miles with 2600 of them electric. That makes easy math for 100 gallons of unburned gas (or three Hummer tankfuls). I’m driving about 60 electric miles per week right now and advancing quickly on the big 150!

The Oil $ seems to have peaked for the moment, but I had thought it might high $149/barrel to help celebrate the RAVolt’s accomplishment.

PS: Next month is the RAVolt’s 1 year birthday!

Posted in Daily Use | 1 Comment »

May 26, 2008 by Rob.

Laura and I finally were able to go car shopping on a day when the dealers are actually open.  Unfortunately, we did not buy a car.  In fact, we were not even able to drive the a car that we were interested in!  The Honda dealer is 100% sold out and back ordered on all Fits (and Civic hybrids).  Even without those models, they were so busy pushing regular Civics and other models that there was a line waiting at the receptionist.

2008:    2009:

Except for the lack of economy cars, the Chevy dealer was exactly the opposite.  Chevy salesmen were lingering at the entrance dressed-like Hawaiian clad barracudas trying to off-load unwanted gas guzzlers.  They did not even know what an Aveo was and had none in stock.  There were some in the fleet vehicles, but our morose barracuda was not going to show one to us.  He also did not up-sell their MPG comparable Cobalt (which we would have driven).  Frankly, the stink of death hung around the dealer like a cloud of Suburban exhaust fumes.

So…I’m going to get on the waiting list for one of those hot 2009 Fits.  The RAVolt’s awesome and my ICE is still ticking.

Back story about my car selection:

I’m looking for a high mileage 4 door commuter with seating for 5 (us + kids) and Laura wants it to be safe, reliable and cheap.  After convincing Laura that she only gets two of the three we went to look at the Honda Fit.  The Fit hybrid is not due until after 2010, but there is a model update due in August.

I’ve been very interested in the Chevy Aveo.  It’s very inexpensive (not American made) and I wanted to send Chevy a vote with my wallet that there is interest in high MPG cars.  I figure it may spur them on with the Volt.  Unfortunately, the Aveo lacks far enough in every category against Honda and Toyota that they are not practical for people who are buying on more than price.

More back story of cars that had been on my list include:

• Chevy Aveo is cheap and high(ish) mpg, but not well ranked overall
• Madza 3 is mid range and sporty.
• Toyota Yaris is comparable to the Fit, but scores lower.  I like the 2 door, but not the 4 as much.
• Larger options include the Carolla, Civic, Focus, and Cobalt.  They seem OK, but price starts to climb quickly for reasonable optiosn. Mileage is not as good.

Posted in Commentary, Storyline | 2 Comments »

May 24, 2008 by Rob.

It took longer that I’d hoped to stop chasing the wrong problems before I finally found the real cause. After about 3 hours of hunting, I found two problems: one was a design issue and the other was a blown fuse caused by the design issue.

The design issue was the way I’d wired the charger “still plugged in” relay to the key safety interlock (KSI) on the controller. I need both charger relays (see older posts for detail) to turn on the vent fans. I’d been using the same relay to turn on the controller KSI relay. Unfortunately, that sent 12 volts to the relay even when the car was parked. This was effectively BY PASSING my contactor so that traction voltage (144 v) was still present for the controller, volt meter, and the DC-DC converter. That was not supposed to happen so I disabled it and hooked the KSI to the key on. Now the motor could go even if I’m plugged in (oops), but I always coast down my driveway to start so it was not really much of a safety benefit.

The second issue was a blown fuse (it should be clear not white) in the DC-DC converter. At least, that was easy to find and fix

Now the RAVolt and I are happy again.

Posted in Safety, Parts, Improvements, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

May 22, 2008 by Rob.

I must have gotten bad eKarma from bragging on the RAVolt today over lunch because now there’s a short somewhere.  Alex noticed that the DC-DC converter was not charging while we were driving today and then I noticed that the volt meter did not drop to zero when the key was off.  Both are bad signs

I popped the main breaker and the volt meter dropped to zero so it’s clear that there is some high-resistance ground fault.  It has to be high resistance because there would be smoke otherwise!

I inspected all the batteries and there are no *obvious* faults from there.  The most likely spot would be on the positive cable for battery #5.  That leaves A LOT of wire to check because the link between #5 & #6 is the long run between the front and back packs.  Then again, cutting the breaker stopped the short.   Hmmmm…..

Maybe it’s time for an AustinEV open garage to get more eyeballs on it.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Storyline | 1 Comment »

May 20, 2008 by Rob.

A friend who has been patiently endured the intersection of cars and computers interests forwarded an interesting article about “.car” computing.  Who would have suspected that there is already a Connected Vehicle Trade Association?

The article does not have much to say except that it looks like we’re in for a long meaningless standards process on cars.  My prediction is they either:

1. follow existing standards without any real differences (most likely)
2. are dominated by a single company that can set a de facto standard (e.g.: MS or Google?)

Posted in Computer | 1 Comment »

May 20, 2008 by Rob.

When my office moved just 2 miles south on 360 it made a 6 mile difference in the total commute. That’s because the old location required a long north-bound loop to a U-turn. It also makes a 10 minute difference in my commute time and that’s significant when you’re driving in Austin summer heat.

Overall, the RAVolt’s been performing great!  It has no issues on the 360 hills and it finishing the drive with >140 volts.  There is no sag on the pack when I’m arriving at home so I should have plenty of reserve power.

One note: it’s important to park in the shade.  My garage has plenty of deep shade, but things changed quickly when I parked in the sun during lunch.

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline | 1 Comment »

May 17, 2008 by Rob.

My employer’s office moved about 3 miles closer to my house this weekend!  Those extra miles brings my commute within the RAVolt 20 mile range and should provide with lots of sweltering rides home this summer.

I need to spend a little time getting it ready for the daily use, but WOO HOO!  Less gas to buy for me and slighly less urgency to replace my gasser.

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline | 1 Comment »

May 17, 2008 by Rob.

It’s unbelievably frustrating for me to see our 43rd president once again grabbing our collective ankles for the Saudis.  This pathetic pleading to increase production to help our economy is weak and misguided.  The response, “we’ll increase production if you increase demand” provides all the illumination we need to see their objectives.

Dear President Weakling Bush,

Here is what a strong leader would do.  Thank the Saudis for giving us the incentive to wean down our dependence on resources from sponsors of terrorists.  Tell Big Oil that they have a choice: dump their record profits into funding efficient and alternative energy or have the government direct the research by taxing all of it.  Provide significant incentives for energy efficiency.  For example 10% of price tax credits for >40MPG, 20% for >50, etc up to 60 MPG.  Fund this with tax penalties for gas guzzlers (10% < 30 MPG, etc).  We have the technology, we can make it better.

America is a strong country with amazing capital, business, and intellectual resources.  Give us a mandate to become energy independent and we’ll restore our leadership.  Personally, I’m tired of watching you be a Saudi lap dog.

As yourself, what would Steve Austin do?

Posted in Commentary, Rants | 2 Comments »

May 13, 2008 by Rob.

Nissan played a gutsy card today (story on NPR) with an announcement to have a viable (if ugly) EV on the market by 2010, about 5 years ahead of other majors. I’m glad to hear the news, but am more surprised by their CEO’s motive:

According the the NPR story: Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn says. “The number of people buying cars around the world is increasing, while the need to reduce emissions is becoming more urgent. There is a perceived conflict between the demand for more cars and the demand for a cleaner planet — 10, 20 or 30 percent lower emissions cannot be the only answer. The goal should be 100 percent lower emissions.”

This supports one of my favorite themes: while the US lives high on the hog and is looking for incremental efficiency, the real markets for products is the developing world. Competition for energy will be ferocious in those markets while in the US we can “create” energy by just conserving what we waste (see MIT article on our enormous carbon footprint).

Posted in EV News | 2 Comments »