Electric Cars
How To Charge Your EV With A NEMA 14-50 Outlet
A favorite among early Tesla owners, installing a NEMA 14-50R outlet (“NEMA 14 50” for short) for home charging is an economical and flexible solution. The outlet itself can be had for about $9.00. Springing for a wall plate to finish the look will set you back another $3.00. Starting earlier this year, an adapter to charge your Tesla on this outlet will have to be purchased as an accessory for $35. Cost of installation The cost of installation will largely depend on your locale, permitting requirements and how far from your electrical panel the outlet will be installed. The latter point is perhaps the most important consideration, as the appropriate gauge of copper (#6), comes with an added cost per foot. Installing through walls, particularly exterior home walls, adds complex...
Volkswagen ID.R Smashes Tianmen Mountain Record
“China Challenge” mastered – Volkswagen’s fully-electric prototype sets new benchmark on Tianmen Mountain Romain Dumas conquers the 99 hairpins on the 10.906-kilometre “Big Gate Road” in less than 8 minutes ID.R is the sportiest representative of the electric ID. family of products Another day, another motorsports speed record taken down by the all-electric Volkswagen ID.R and French driver Romain Dumas. And, believe me, I know that the story is starting to feel a little bit repetitive– but you haven’t taken a look at the scenery for this one. This particular record fell at Tianmen Mountain pass in China– a place that’s also been called “Heaven’s Gate“. “With the record set on the dramatic Tianmen road, we have mastered another challenge in o...
How Long Does it Take to Charge an Electric Car?
One of the most asked questions in the all-electric vehicle (EV) world is: how long does it take to charge? Perhaps because we are so used to spending around five or so minutes at the pump when we fill up our gas-guzzlers, the idea of waiting any longer than this to charge is a turn-off for many. In an effort to assuage the doubters who don’t think that their schedules don’t provide enough time to allow for charging, we’re going to look at the top-five bestselling EVs and their charge times. It’s really not that bad, I promise! Please note that we did not include the Nissan Leaf in this article, as we specifically covered charge times for this vehicle here. Please give it a read if you have time. We’re also going to assume that you are familiar with the differ...
What Is the Fastest Electric Car?
What is it about driving fast that appeals to us so much? Is it the risk? Is it the exhilaration of flying by other cars as your speed down the highway? I’m no stranger to speed. I once got my Nissan Leaf up to 70 miles per hour on the Beltway surrounding Washington D.C. Danger Zone!!! All-electric vehicles (EVs) have come a long way over the years with regard to acceleration and speed. Most EVs on the road today can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in well under 10 seconds. Most can also reach top speeds over 100 miles per hour. This got me thinking, what are the fastest EVs out there? I won’t try to pick an absolute hands down fastest EV, as I’m sure there is some debate and disagreement over which car is actually number one. Here are three that are certainly contenders. ...
Can Your Household Go Fully Electric?
If you’ve ever assumed that you “need” a gasoline powered car in your household for things an electric vehicle just can’t do, think again. Maybe you only have one car and wonder whether an electric would work for you. Or perhaps you’re already enjoying an electric vehicle but have a secondary vehicle, or spouse’s vehicle that relies on fossil fuels just in case. I’m here to tell you that for most of us, an electric vehicles meets all driving needs. The Federal Highway Administration publishes the average annual mileage that drivers drive per year by age. The aggregate amount (that is, both males and females) driven by both the 20-34 and 35-54 age groups is about 15,000 miles per year. A study done by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that...
The Best Nisan Leaf Route Planners
We brought you a list of the best route planners to plan your all-electric vehicle (EV) road trip here. Since I am a Nissan Leaf owner, I thought I would show a bit of love today specifically to other Leaf owners. Since we cannot charge our EVs using Tesla’s impressive Supercharger network, we will have to make due with a combination of public and dealership chargers. No problemo! EV Trip Planner We mentioned previously that EV Trip Planner is very popular on the various EV message boards. While the website is mainly geared toward Teslas, they do have two different search options for Leaf owners. A quick scan of a few Nissan Leaf forums shows that users prefer the “Alpha” search over the “Beta” search. The website does warn that the algorithms for the Leaf sea...
6 New EVs Coming in 2020
2020 is going to be a wild ride. Between the election here in the United States that literally no one is looking forward to and my 40th birthday both looming large, 2020 could be a year of great stress and depression. But fear not, dear readers! If you feel yourself drifting into despair (either over politics or me getting older), take a look at this list of six awesome all-electric vehicles (EVs) coming to a showroom near you that are sure to cheer you up. 1. Mini Electric BMW’s Mini line will debut it’s first all electric coupe sometime next year. While the company hasn’t released too many specifics, the car will share technology with BMW’s i3 and may reach up to 200 miles on a single charge. 2. Porsche Taycan My friend Jo wrote about the team at Porsche who logge...
What Are the Best EV Route Planners?
My buddy Jo wrote an article last week about a team that covered over 2,000 miles in 24 hours in an all-electric Porsche. The most amazing part of this story was that this 24 hours included charging time! That’s right…Porsche’s new 800-volt fast-charging system was able to provide up to 120 miles in as little as ten minutes. Absolutely amazing! While the team from Porsche had the advantage of conducting their demonstration on a track with a dedicated fast-charging system, we here in the real world do not. Like Jo noted, once the infrastructure catches up there will be no advantage to gas-guzzlers over all-electric vehicles (EVs). Until that day comes, EV drivers like me will still have to carefully plan any long-distance trips. Here are a few methods that I have found for...
Cheapest All-Electric Cars 2019
If you’re anything like me you’re well…broke. What are eco-warriors like me who want to save the environment but don’t have a lot of dough to do? Are we doomed to drive gas-guzzlers because we can’t afford to do otherwise? Absolutely not! Here are the cheapest all-electric vehicles (EVs) that can be purchased in the United States today. Please note that there may be cheaper models for sale in different markets. This article only covers base model, street-legal vehicles that are available today in the U.S. As we noted here, there are several Chinese companies such as Kiyun Motors who will be offering EXTREMELY affordable cars in the U.S. in the near future. We may revisit this topic when those cars hit the showroom floor. Smart EQ Fortwo – $26,740 MSRP Th...
Top 10 EV Forums
You’re an all-electric vechile (EV) owner and enthusiast. You love to socialize with like-minded people. You may even have found an EV club to join, as we suggested here. But what happens you’re at work or home with nothing to do? How will you interact with fellow EV lovers? We here at enrg.io have you covered. Here is a list of the top ten online forums for all things EV. 10. Electric Forum Want to talk about everything from drones to Formula E? The Electric Forum is your website! I especially like the DIY and conversion kit sections, there are some very cool ideas in there! 9. My Electric Car Forums With sections dedicated to electric cars, motorcycles, and even electric buses and other industrial vehicles, My Electric Car Forums is one of the most comprehensive on the web. ...
How Many Years Will a Nissan Leaf Battery Last?
Regular readers will know that I am the proud owner of a 2012 Nissan Leaf. While I love my little car, I have to admit that anxiety about replacing the battery is part of my daily life. A simple Google search for “Nissan Leaf Battery Degradation” will return a litany of articles about how all Leaf owners will eventually have to replace their car’s battery. Nissan pulls no punches with regard to battery replacement. The company has set the price of a new battery at $5,499 with additional costs for older models, no small sum. Will I eventually be doomed to spend my kids’ college fund on a new battery? The news may not be as bleak as you’d expect. Owner Tolerance One aspect often ignored by the pessimists when discussing battery replacement is how much battery de...
EV Charging Connector Types Explained
So you’re considering an all-electric vehicle (EV)? Welcome, we’re glad to have you on the team! What’s that you say? You don’t understand why some chargers look different than others? You’re thinking about sticking with your gas-guzzler because the new technology is just too confusing? This is stressing you out? Calm down Francis. We’re going to explain the differences between the different chargers and why these differences are no big deal. First and foremost, we’re going to have to apologize to our readers outside of North America. This article will only focus on the different types of chargers used here. We may revisit the topic for other markets in the future if there is an interest. Level-1 and Level-2 Charging Yesterday, we wrote about how ...