Figuring out the cost

I finally got around to figuring out how much it costs to charge Mac.
I drove to work and back with a little trip during lunch. I drove a total of 50 miles, and used 51% of the Pac. It took 15 Kw to charge him back up according to my kilowatt meter. With my rates that came to about $1.21 for 50 miles.
The range actually looked good as well but I still do not know where the Pac runs out. If it runs out at 10% left that is not good. One of these days I will have to run it down and see where the bottom is.

More Pics

Here are some new pictures of Mac.

I got an adapter cord so that I can charge at the new charging stations being installed. I stopped by the one at the library in Redmond for a test run. Everything worked perfectly. Now I have to come up with a way to find all the charging stations. It seems like every place selling these stations have there own maps. There needs to be a master map that shows all of them for this to really work.
Here are a couple of pics of Mac at home charging.


Here he is eating dinner


Here is his personal plate



Here are a few with the new adapter

Triac update

Well I have not posted in a long time, but I will try and do better.

Mac is doing fine, I have noticed about a 10% loss in range during the cold winter with the heater on. On the couple of warmer days we had ( mid 50's )it was back to normal. I have about 10.000 miles on him so far. I say about because I had the speedometer replaced a couple of times and I did not write down the mileage before replacing it.
I had the clutch break on me, but not the fault of the Triac. I am in the habit of stopping with the clutch out, and down shifting to 2nd (The gear I start out in). Every once in a while it does not go all the way into gear, and when I step on the accelerator the motor just spins. I quickly realize the problem, and put the clutch in and shift. The problem is I do not hear the motor spinning, and I just let the clutch out fast. Needless to say the motor is spinning very fast, and instantly engages the clutch with a bang! After doing this about 5 times one of the clutch springs broke. Green Vehicles paid to have it repaired locally, and sent a much heavier duty clutch with dual springs. Mac is much happier now.

I have almost completed my design for a trailer hitch and am getting excited to get it installed.

The weather is finally getting better here so I will try and get more pictures.

Mac returns to the falls

Since I had to go into work in Redmond I decided to go to Snoqualmie falls afterwards, and then back to Monroe. The entire trip was about 70 miles, and I used 72% of my pac.
I am not sure if my range is improving because of the warmer weather, or if the batteries are getting more cycles on them. Every thing I have read about the lithium batteries is that in the beginning the capacity actually increases before they start to loose capacity.
It was a beautifully trip, and Mac preformed wonderful.

Trip to Stanwood

I decided to go on a trip to Stanwood last weekend to visit my sister. The trip was almost all freeway, so it was a good opportunity to see how my range is at freeway speed. I was driving mostly 65-70MPH, and it is a distance of 40 miles from Monroe to Stanwood. When I arrived, I had used 45% of my battery. With 55% still left I would have no problem making it back. I plugged into her 110 outlet while I was visiting to put a little back in while I was there. I figure that one hour using 110 puts 5 miles back into the pack. If I did not plug in my battery would have run down to about 10% when I got home. It is not good to run it down that far. I try to never go less than 20% left, and I usually never get it below 50% with my normal driving.

I am still planning on taking a trip to the ocean soon. I have found an RV park that has 50 AMP service that is about at the 80 mile distance along the trip where I can plug in. It is a 160 mile trip so that is a perfect half way point within my range. I still need to find a place when I get there to plug in though.

Mac goes up Stevens Pass

I took Mac almost to the top of Stevens Pass. I turned around about 10 miles from the pass because I was down to 55% left in the Pac. I did not want to run it down to 50%. I always forget that I use way less energy on the way down than on the way up. When I got home, I had gone 80 miles, and used 70% of the Pac. I believe the hot weather is helping the range. I stopped and took this picture on the way back. There are several areas that you can just pull over, and walk down to the river and see some awesome views.

Trip to Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend

On Wednesday I took a trip up to Snoqualmie falls. After the falls I continued to the town of North Bend. I was going to try for the Pass on I-90, but I was not sure if I would make it. I drove around a little in North Bend, and back down to Carnation, and then back to Monroe. I drove just under 70 miles round trip, and still had 30% of my Pac left. Most of my trip was flat accept the last 5-7 miles was kind of steep and winding.
After getting home I wish I would have tried to make it to the top of the pass. I keep forgetting that although it may take a lot of the Pac going up hill, it usually does not use hardly any of the Pac going down (mostly coasting).
It is so amazing having Mac this long, and still not having run it long enough to see what happens when the batteries get run down. The closest I have come to 0% is 11 or 12% with no sign of change in performance. I can not say enough good things about Lithium.