A rare sight in the wild.

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Wee John

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
134
Location
South Carolina
Autumn must be on its way, no Leafs to be found anywhere. These photos were taken 5 minutes apart. I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you Joe, it would've been good to catch up on our experiences with these wee motors.

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Hi WeeJohn. So, the first photo looks like Stanford Shopping Center - no, that isn't my iMiEV (I unfortunately did put on the ugly front license plate and I have the blue bonnet). Latest postings on PlugShare say they now charge $2.50/hr. :x The second photo is downtown Palo Alto parking garage (indeed, five minutes separation) - the last two times I went there ALL the EV parking spots were taken by Volts. :x :cry: Good thing I'm used to not having any charging stations for my EVs. :p
 
JoeS said:
Hi WeeJohn. So, the first photo looks like Stanford Shopping Center - no, that isn't my iMiEV (I unfortunately did put on the ugly front license plate and I have the blue bonnet). Latest postings on PlugShare say they now charge $2.50/hr. :x

It's $2 per hour and I left when the charger revoked my card. I figured it was yours-no front licence, no head rests in the rear, then again I was puzzeled why you would park there when you have all that free energy at home.
 
That's our iMiev at Stanford yesterday. The wife wanted to do some shopping, and I wanted to try their charging station. You can't tell from the picture, but the front-seat headrests have been replaced with 2009 Toyota Yaris headrests that lock-in and adjust like the stock ones did but are more comfortable. We have a Yaris which is how I found out they fit. I can't find the link, but I got a pair of them on ebay for less than $100.
 
The classic Prius (2002) head-rests must be similar to the Yaris I just tried them and they also fit the front seats on the 'i'.
We should check some other cars and see if we can find some rear head-rests that are a bit smaller for viability and so the seats can fold down without removing them.
 
No carpool lane stickers on the cars?

I ordered stickers for my car (purchased at the beginning of the year) but have not decided whether to put them on as it is rare that I drive on a freeway with carpool lanes (mostly 280 north of palo alto) and it messes up the looks of the car.
 
freqflyer said:
No carpool lane stickers on the cars?

I ordered stickers for my car (purchased at the beginning of the year) but have not decided whether to put them on as it messes up the looks of the car.

You can see my carpool sticker under the rear side marker on my car, I covered them with Limo window tint to take the stark white contrast off the body somewhat-it actually worked well.

You can see the difference on this thread.

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=414
 
How much did you say it cost to plug in? $2.50 per hour? So, to charge for a couple of hours would cost $5? Is that right? Is that a normal cost? Is that cost efficient for the i?
 
spirit, if you had been reading any of the many threads addressing the iMiEV's operating costs, you would not be asking such an open-ended series of seemingly-leading questions. What's the point you were trying to make?

1) If you read the full text above, you will note that I had been corrected: for this station: they charge $2/hour (not $2.50/hr). The reason it was mentioned at all is that, at this point in history, very few public EVSE stations even charge anything for their use, so this is an unusually-costly scenario. $2/hour and a charging rate of 3kW works out to be a ridiculously high energy cost of $1.33/kWhr. Most of us pay less than one-tenth this amount for our electricity.

2) Yes, two times 2.50 = 5

3) No, that is not a normal cost. Most of us charge at home for much less.

If you continue with the math after gathering real-life usage data elsewhere on this forum you'll find that our typical 'fuel' cost of the iMiEV is at least FIVE TIMES LESS than the fuel cost of a comparable internal-combustion vehicle.

$4/gallon / 30mpg = 13.3cents/mile fuel cost for a 30mpg ICE vehicle

$0.1/kWh / 4.2mi/kWh = 2.4cents/mile fuel cost for the iMiEV

Oh, and we don't need any recurring ICE maintenance costs nor smog inspection fees nor time-wasting excursions to the gas station …
 
Please be kind to me. I am new at this whole thing. I am aware of the cost of charging at home or at work. But nowhere has the cost of charging through the stations been discussed.

I am a pastor in between churches right now. I am planning on buying an i-Miev as soon as I get a new calling. I can see myself having a church about 40 miles away from a major city. Anything farther, and I may get another Prius. But being 40 miles away, I would need to sit at a recharge unit for at least 3-4 hours which is no problem when I can sit with a book, work on a sermon, and do research on the computer. The cost would be $6-$10 for the time. Hmmm.

Also, I am planning on parking at a garage close to the train station when I go out of town every 6 weeks or so. Five days in the parking garage? Does anybody have experience with that and the associated cost?

Maybe a recharge session at the dealership would be better priced? I would think so.

We don't have the high speed charging units here yet, but I am sure that the cost will be better with those.

So, I am not ignorant, but just exploring all the avenues. This picture just brought up some new issues that you folks might be able to help me with.

I will put forth a new discussion with these question if you so desire.
 
Hi spirit, no disrespect intended, and apologies for being so brusque.

The reason cost of charging at public EVSE's has not been discussed is that for the most part they are presently FREE! At this point in time there is no consensus amongst the EVSE providers as to what their charging model should be.

High power Level 3 (CHAdeMO) charging is a different animal; although presently free in many locations because the installations were subsidized, in many places there are significantly-higher utility costs associated with these stations that may require offset (not simply energy cost), so I would expect Level 3 charging to be pricy in the future.

Dealerships I would expect to provide free charging, simply as goodwill gestures.

May I suggest that you get on the computer and research sites such as PlugShare and Recargo to find the locations and pricing (if any) of charging stations in your area.

No problem with the iMiEV sitting in a garage for five days (at whatever the parking fee is), but you would not want to be plugged in and hogging the EVSE during that time.

All the best in your research.
 
No offense taken. In fact, I greatly value all your posts concerning costs. Very good!

I have the iPad program that shows all EV charging stations, and I was wondering why there were no costs listed. Perhaps that is the reason- they may all be free-until the grid feels our presence. I will check out both sites, thanks. A church just north of Minneapolis is still a possibility to my going there. 42 miles to the Mall of America and a recharging station close by. There are several stations to choose from in Minneapolis.

I wish I had a Tesla sedan, though I don't think I could justify being a pastor who rallies for the poor and drives a $95K automobile. :D
 
spirit said:
I have the iPad program that shows all EV charging stations, and I was wondering why there were no costs listed.
Both http://www.plugshare.com and http://www.recargo.com discuss pricing in their user reviews of individual stations. These websites have iOS apps also. There are a number of other websites, all vying for our attention. There is no single website that shows every single public EVSE out there, so it's a good idea to look at a number of them for a specific area you might be heading for. Many of us private individuals have signed up on PlugShare to offer charging to anyone in our vicinity who might be running low.
 
Does anyone know why Mitsubishi dealerships aren't included in the U.S. government map of charging stations? Here's the link:

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/

I keep finding Nissan dealers but no Mitsubishi dealers. How can we get them to be included?
 
This may be a bit off topic but I didn’t think it needed its own topic and I had to post something before I BURST!

We finally saw our first i-miev in the WILD!!!

While driving to moms for Sunday dinner, waiting a stop light we spotted a silver i.
It was in the lane next to us but a few cars in front of us. I started waving to the person in the back seat and got their attention, they told the driver and we made contact. I told my wife “we are not going to let this one get away!” So the light turned green and we pulled up next to them beeping the horn. The “EV grins were overwhelming!!!!! They merged onto the highway and we parted our ways. WHAT A RUSH!

My wife described it as the same feeling we got when we saw our first Prius after we purchased ours in 2001. At that time our friends said the Prius would never catch on and we were crazy for taking a chance on the new technology. Well we all know where that went (thank you Toyota).

I just had to share that EV sighting event.

THE REVELUTION HAS BEGUN!
 
joev said:
We finally saw our first i-miev in the WILD!!! ... WHAT A RUSH! ...
I had the same RUSH. Only once have I seen an i-MiEV in the wild. It took me three miles to turn around and catch a up with her. She was the same color, model and trim that I was driving.

I briefly talked to her driver, Leon, who was driving her for a week to write an article for a magazine. That was over a month ago. Leon snapped photographs of the two twins next to each other. Cute!

Mine was the only i-MiEV during the Annapolis, Maryland, National Plug-In Day on Sunday, September 23, 2012.

I now have 8418 fun miles on the odometer since March 12, 2012.
 
Sorry no camera today. We met a blue Peugot Ion living very close to our home. So we must be at least two in our little county. The driver is a woman who is very fond of her silent beauty.
 
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