The electric “gas can” is here!

[jhalkias]

This is really cool. Neat seeing a young entrepreneur come up with an idea like this, get it funded, and make it a reality. Who else wants one of these in their hatch or in the garage? (Afraid to find out how much it costs though)

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[ChasingCoral]

You can rent one for as low as $300 a month ($150 for charger, $150 for each battery).
https://sparkcharge.io

 

[dbsb3233]

Doesn't seem very practical for actually owning and lugging around all the time. But there will be a need for a dispatch service for stranded BEV'ers. AAA for BEVs, so to speak. Might be more useful to be able to do a charge rather than loading the whole car on a flatbed. Although 1 mile per minute is pretty weak if you're 30 miles from charger. A gas generator might be able to do better.

 

[jhalkias]

Yeah, my post was a bit "tongue in cheek". This is really more of a thing for tow trucks, and with the FordPass towing guarantee if you run out of juice on the MME, Ford might be smart to deploy these around. I'm not sure how often it happens that BEV owners run out of electrons . . . probably not that often now, but as BEV's gain in use and popularity my guess is that frequency will undoubtedly increase.

 

[JamieGeek]

Yeah, my post was a bit "tongue in cheek". This is really more of a thing for tow trucks, and with the FordPass towing guarantee if you run out of juice on the MME, Ford might be smart to deploy these around. I'm not sure how often it happens that BEV owners run out of electrons . . . probably not that often now, but as BEV's gain in use and popularity my guess is that frequency will undoubtedly increase.

About as often as ICE drivers run out of gas.

Really? Its no different: You look at the "gas gauge" and judge how far you can go and if you need a charge. You'll only run out on those occasions where you're really stretcing it or aren't paying attention (ok yeah a lot of people don't pay attention ! LOL). Just as in an ICE you quickly get a feel for how far you can go on a "tank" comfortably.

The good news is that it is more difficult to get a hole in the tank and all the "fuel" runs out on the ground

 

[dbsb3233]

Really? Its no different: You look at the "gas gauge" and judge how far you can go and if you need a charge. You'll only run out on those occasions where you're really stretcing it or aren't paying attention (ok yeah a lot of people don't pay attention !

I'd mostly agree, although one big difference is that if you are really stretching it or aren't paying attention, you're far more likely to be much further from a charger than you are a gas station.

But because of the basic nature of BEV driving requiring far more pre-planning (for road trips) and far more concern for the battery charge, it's probably not likley many people are gonna get caught running low. Plus being newer cars, I suspect there's more warnings and alarms to warn you. (Although unfortunately BEVs give you some incentive to run them very low before recharging, as it chargers faster down there.)

Even with careful planning, with so few road trip chargers (at present), arriving to find they're broken could leave someone unable to make it to the next one.

 

[JamieGeek]

I'd mostly agree, although one big difference is that if you are really stretching it or aren't paying attention, you're far more likely to be much further from a charger than you are a gas station.

But because of the basic nature of BEV driving requiring far more pre-planning (for road trips) and far more concern for the battery charge, it's probably not likley many people are gonna get caught running low. Plus being newer cars, I suspect there's more warnings and alarms to warn you. (Although unfortunately BEVs give you some incentive to run them very low before recharging, as it chargers faster down there.)

Even with careful planning, with so few road trip chargers (at present), arriving to find they're broken could leave someone unable to make it to the next one.

But only when you're on that few times a year long drive that requires charging.

99% of the time it doesn't matter as you're just around home.

 

[dbsb3233]

But only when you're on that few times a year long drive that requires charging.

99% of the time it doesn't matter as you're just around home.

Yep. It's more of a road trip thing. And many BEV owners won't even be taking their BEV on road trips anyway, opting for an easier/safer ICE (2nd car or rental) that's better suited for long trips.

Around home it's just the opposite. No excuse to run low since it's so easy to just plug in at home.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Yep. It's more of a road trip thing. And many BEV owners won't even be taking their BEV on road trips anyway, opting for an easier/safer ICE (2nd car or rental) that's better suited for long trips.

Around home it's just the opposite. No excuse to run low since it's so easy to just plug in at home.

Except when someone else brought it home nearly empty, forgot to plug it in, and you don't notice it until you are well on your way to arrive at a meeting just in time. I managed to find an L2 on the university campus with questionable parking regulations, walked to my office, watched to get just enough charge, and hustled back to drive it away before getting a ticket.

Yep, it happened to me and something like that probably will to most of you at some point.

 

[dbsb3233]

Except when someone else brought it home nearly empty, forgot to plug it in, and you don't notice it until you are well on your way to arrive at a meeting just in time. I managed to find an L2 on the university campus with questionable parking regulations, walked to my office, watched to get just enough charge, and hustled back to drive it away before getting a ticket.

Yep, it happened to me and something like that probably will to most of you at some point.

Yep, even with no excuse, it can still happen. I'm guessing/hoping phone app reminders will be added if they're not already. I want to be able to set a car and phone "bug" reminder if I begin to exit the car below X%. Probably set mine at 40%, to charge up to 80% those nights.

 

[JamieGeek]

Except when someone else brought it home nearly empty, forgot to plug it in, and you don't notice it until you are well on your way to arrive at a meeting just in time. I managed to find an L2 on the university campus with questionable parking regulations, walked to my office, watched to get just enough charge, and hustled back to drive it away before getting a ticket.

Yep, it happened to me and something like that probably will to most of you at some point.

Not here, well ok maybe LOL but nobody drives the EV but me so its all on me...oh wait:

I did, however, plug the wrong EVSE into the car (e.g. the one NOT plugged into the wall) and found the car not charged in the morning. Don't remember what I did at the time besides plugging in the correct J1772....

 

[Raymondjram]

The good news is that it is more difficult to get a hole in the tank and all the "fuel" runs out on the ground

That actually happened to my 1975 Chevy Vega Kammback Wagon, when the underside of the gas tank was punctured. My brother-in-law suggested using a soap bar to seal the hole (gasoline cannot dissolve soap) and I managed to get home with the remaining gasoline. I had to remove the tank, and sealed te puncture with epoxy resin, and it never leaked again.

Luckly my newer cars have the gas tank higher up below the rear seat (including my present Fusion Hybrid) so I never suffered again a gas leak.

 

[dbsb3233]

With 270 miles of range, if I just get in the pattern of plugging in at home when it drops below 40% (~100 miles left), we could easily miss a day and still have plenty to get through 2 days, since we don't drive a lot of miles each day. Could probably even lower that to a 35% or 30% plug-in target.

Of course, we also have an ICE in the garage too so we truly have no excuse for running out of juice around town. I know everyone doesn't have that luxury though.

BEV road trips will be a whole different matter. We'll do it once for the fun/challenge of it. But it may be only once, just as a reminder of how much easier/safer it is with ICE. ?

 

[jhalkias]

I am constantly plugging in my wife's Fusion Energi. She gets stuff out of the car, is carrying stuff in, and totally forgets. At least 50% of the time. Luckily it is a hybrid.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I am constantly plugging in my wife's Fusion Energi. She gets stuff out of the car, is carrying stuff in, and totally forgets. At least 50% of the time. Luckily it is a hybrid.

Serious question - you don't get the alerts telling you this? I get text messages telling me when my 2013 Energi is home and not plugged in - "your scheduled charge is set to begin soon and your vehicle is unplugged" or some such. It actually saved me literally last night, when I got home with zero charge left, had stuff to bring in, and didn't plug in - about 20 minutes later, I was told "hey idiot, plug in".

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