EV Charging station

[varmint]

My wife drove a Honda hybrid for 10 years, and when it was time for her new car, she went for a Toyota Plug-in Prius Hybrid. The fact that Toyota was offering 5 year 0% financing with a $4000 rebate made it an easy choice. But, more importantly, we like the car, and she's been averaging around 75 mpg overall for her average 20 mile per day usage. On the highway, where the 10-12 mile electric range is quickly gone, she's been averaging in the high 50's- in comfort, I might add. But, since the car is parked outside, stretching the plug-in cord every night got old fast, so I put together a charging station, next to where she parks. Surplus weatherproof electrical enclosure, some old rope light switched on when you open the door, and a switched outlet so the charger can remain plugged in all the time, and it works just fine. Since I had a lot of the bits and pieces already, cost was well under a $100, if you exclude the hired college student labor who helped dig the conduit trench. The door insert is white Plexiglas, which emmits a nice red glow at night when the outlet is switched on, so you can see it's working.

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[skylarkguy]

Neat. Your tractor must live in the garage:thumbsup: Have you looked at the electric/gas cost benefits of your situation thus far? When will it pay off? I have decided that electric for us isn't doable just yet...but I hopefully will add small hydro and solar power...then it might make it worth it. Till then my 91 honda still gets a solid 40 mpg

 

[smstonypoint]

Nice job!!!

Just curious -- how long does it take to obtain a full charge?

Steve

 

[varmint]

Using the charger that came with the car, at 120V, it takes about 2 1/2 hours. If we had a 240 charger, half that. As for payback, we try to walk the walk and use less, and getting 50-60-70 mpg simply feels good, so the cost/payback didn't factor much. We had great luck with the Honda Hybrid (a guy from Wisconsin bought it, and is now getting 50+ mpg) over 10 years, so this type of car made sense. Pure EV won't give us the highway travel distance we need, and the Volt, for example, cost too much. Toyota made buying the Plug-in cost about the same as the regular Prius, which is what she wanted, anyway- Honda has some catch up to do compared to Toyota (we have several friends with them, and they simply love the cars' mileage, and they drive nice, too) so getting the bonus Plug-in version was a no-brainer. We have a PV system on the barn (where the tractor lives) so much of our annual electric supply is already paid for. See my old posts on the PV system, if curious.

 

[BeezFun]

The first photo looks like there's a tiny birdhouse growing out the top of your enclosure.
I've thought about the Volt, I'm retired, never travel more than about 5-10 miles from home, but my 12 year old corolla still gets 30mpg so until it goes paws up, I'm going to keep it.

 

[dave1949]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ustmd]

Looks good--we are considering a hybrid for the next vehicle--my wife drives 25 miles each way. I know it is the wrong time of year, but can you tell me how good the AC is and how it affects your mpg?

 

[varmint]

We got the Prius in Oct., so no experience with the AC, but the Honda hybrid's was fine, and maybe 1 mpg? I think the Prius's will be just fine, too, based on what our friend's with them report, but I think the gas engine will run when the AC is on full blast, so figure on a slightly less mpg- still should be over well 50 mpg, or higher, if you are figuring the EV portion into the equation. Even hilly travel should see 9 miles of pure EV, but you mix that with the hybrid operation, and maybe get 60 mpg overall? Ask me again next summer. Come to think of it, maybe the Plug In isn't an option, since I think they are introducing it on the coasts in major metropolitan areas first, then the rest of the country?

 

[crbr]

Thanks for the pictures

 

[kateean2]

Great job.