Road Trip: Lake Arrowhead

She's not a fan of photos...

We don't often get to take our pup out of the local area where we live, so every once in a while, we make the effort to find a place to go that is within driving distance and is pet friendly. Last year, we were out in a more rural part of San Diego county, near the Temecula wine country. This year, we decided to try for a weekend in the mountains of San Bernardino County. Lake Arrowhead, one of several lakes nestled in the San Bernardino National Forest, was a place that we frequently visited as kids. I have fond memories of various trips with family so it seemed fitting to do a trip there, though this would be a much nicer and much more outdoorsy trip than the ones of my childhood.

This would also be our first long distance drive in the Bolt so we took some extra precautions, charging up the Bolt's battery to full for the first time since we got the car. Google Maps showed our driving distance as about 100 miles with around 6,500 feet of climbing in the last 20 miles. We also spent some time to make sure we knew where the charging locations were along our route in case we needed to top off on the way back. My rough calculations indicated that we had plenty of range on the battery to make it to the top of the mountain, but it never hurts to be prepared. Of course, we needed not have worried as the Bolt performed admirably.

Long Term Test: 2014 Ford Focus Electric wrap-up

One of our first pictures of the Ford Focus Electric

After three years and over 24k miles of service, it is finally time to bid farewell to our daily driven Ford Focus Electric. This was the first electric car that my wife and I have owned and was the start of what will likely be a legacy of electric car ownership going forward. While it was not a perfect car, the Focus Electric has quite a few charming characteristics that made it a fantastic daily driver and with a little bit of forethought, it became a perfect vehicle for how we live our lives. The ownership experience was largely a positive one, but also not without a few flaws. However, for a first generation electric vehicle, it served us well during its three years in our garage.

Comparison: 2014 Ford Focus Electric vs 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Before we had to return the Focus, it seemed prudent to take a moment to see just how much electric vehicles have progressed in the last three years. When we first acquired the Focus in 2014, it was a competitive, albeit with a few shortcomings, vehicle among the rather small class of available EVs. During that time, we have gotten to see the EV landscape evolve significantly as the cars have gotten a lot more capable and the availability of charging infrastructure has improved dramatically, both in terms of more available Level 2 and both the speed and availability of Level 3 DC fast charging. Comparing our outgoing Focus Electric with our newly acquired Bolt EV allows us the opportunity to really examine just how significant those changes are and what that means for the future of EVs as we see more manufacturers make commitments to joining the EV marketplace.

Long Term Test: 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier

So last week, we hinted that big news was in store regarding the Chevy Bolt EV we tested. Despite my many reservations, I decided to attempt a little experiment and set aside my subjective criteria and focus on just the objective criteria in what we needed for a new car. That meant considering the range, the interior space, the performance, the technology, and, most importantly, the price. Given that I still have a deposit on a Model 3 and we are only looking at electric cars, the realistic options narrowed themselves down pretty quickly. Aside from the Model 3 and the Bolt EV, we considered the 2017 Ford Focus Electric, the 2017 VW e-Golf, the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, and the 2018 Nissan Leaf 2.0. Each of these had to meet the minimum criteria of being all-electric battery EVs with at least 100 miles of real world range. From there, it became a matter of determining how to weigh the other criteria to come to a decision.

Test Drive: 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier

Walking into this test drive, I really wanted to dislike this car. Having seen the Bolt a few times on the streets, it just never quite looked right to me with the stubby nose and tall hatchback proportions. As a day-one reservation holder of the Tesla Model 3, I did not expect the Bolt to change my mind based on its looks, but as the only other 200+ mile range EV on the market, I thought I owed it to myself to give the competition a go before plunking down any serious money on a car I have not even seen in person. Considering that Hyundai's roll-out of the Ioniq has been a disaster, the VW e-Golf was a no-show despite being announced nearly a year ago, and the Nissan Leaf 2.0 was not likely to make it to market in time for the end of our lease of the Focus Electric, it seemed only logical to take the Bolt for a spin.

Long Term Test: 2014 Ford Focus Electric post #5

The Focus has been both great, in that it requires little maintenance, but terrible in that it is the car among the many I have owned, that has required the most unscheduled time in the shop. Some of it was the result of other people's inattentiveness, but some of it was the result of issues with the car or associated accessories. Even so, the Focus EV has been a very reliable car by most standards given that the issues that we have experienced with it have not been with the drive motor or high voltage battery, but rather with other minor systems. Let's take a closer look.

Product Review: Kuat Sherpa and Torklift Central EcoHitch

As an avid cyclist, one of the biggest challenges is finding the right way to travel with my bike. When it is just me, throwing the bike in the back of the car and packing a light day bag is not an issue. However, add in my wife, her bike, her stuff, our dog, and our dog's stuff, things start to get a bit crowded pretty quick. With the Focus, there is adequate space for one person, but definitely not enough for two plus the dog, which means we needed to look for a suitable solution to carry the bikes on the outside of the bike. Having experienced a trunk mounted solution during our cross country road trip, I was not particularly keen on going that route in part because it is not the easiest to put on and take off on short notice. I knew I still did not want a roof mounted solution because of the fuel economy penalty, especially given the already limited range of the EV.

After doing some research, I decided that the best solution was going to be a hitch-mounted rack. Going that route offered all manners of platform options, which was an absolute must because of my carbon fiber bike, but presented the minor hurdle that the Focus EV is not offered with a hitch. More research and digging around on the web resulted in the discovery of a few aftermarket solutions that bolted right on, would not affect the warranty, and could be easily removed before turning the car in at the end of the lease.

A few months worth of research resulted in my decision to go with the EcoHitch from Torklift Central in combination with the Kuat Sherpa hitch mount rack.

Innovation: Honda Power Exporter

In our modern society, electricity is an almost absolute necessity. Or lives have become incredibly dependent upon our electronics and when something happens to the local electrical grid, as happened earlier this year in my town, the loss of electricity can prove particularly inconvenient, especially for someone who works remotely from home. Thinking back, it could have been great to have the power stored in the high voltage battery of my Ford Focus Electric. Honda has come up with a solution for that very problem. The Power Exporter is able to convert the DC power stored in the high voltage battery of an EV and turn it into usable AC power for household electronics.

Using the increasingly more ubiquitous Chademo charging port, the system is able to supply up to 9kWh of power a day, more than enough to keep most basic necessities running in most homes. For my purposes, where my average daily usage is more like 5kWh per day, the battery of my Focus Electric can supply almost a full work week's worth of power. If I reduce a few less necessary items, I could probably go a full week assuming the battery on the car was fully charged. Even on a partial charge, the car would have gotten me through a few days, which would have worked out perfectly for the few days we were without power. Unfortunately, the Focus Electric does not support Chademo.

Still, the idea is a good one and would have been a great alternative to the noisy generators that many of my neighbors had. With the likelihood that electric vehicles will become increasingly prevalent in the future, systems such as these might offer an increased incentive to consider joining the electric revolution.

News: CA revises rules for EV incentives

We hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July.

In the funding plan for the upcoming 2015-2016 fiscal year, the California Air Resources Board has put in place new rules that are going to make EVs bit less expensive for a lot of people, but a bit more expensive for a select few. The new rules create a tiered structure for qualifying for the state rebate program on alternative fuel vehicles. Before, what had been an across the board rebate for all income brackets now has bands delineated by a combination of federal income poverty limit and and absolute gross annual incomes.

This new rebate structure is intended to make EVs of all kinds more affordable to lower income buyers while also ensuring that more funding is available for future investments. While some may see this change as unfair, odds are that someone with the finances to purchase a $100,000+ loaded Tesla Model S is hardly going to notice the difference that the $2,500 additional rebate was going to make and those individuals are still eligible for the even larger federal rebate. Plus, the increased incentives for lower income families should hopefully make the idea of an EV more appealing for those that commute to a job that is not too far away and can charge the vehicle at home.

As EVs continue to become an increasingly viable form of alternative fuel vehicle, it is good to see the state of California recognize that the incentives have largely benefited those who need it the least and is taking measures to help increase access to EVs for those in lower income brackets.

Long Term Test: 2014 Ford Focus Electric post #2

Update #2
Current mileage: 4,450
Average MPGe: 112

For the most part, the actual ownership experience of an EV has really been only minimally different from owning a regular gasoline powered car, aside from being able to wryly smile at the thought of not needing to stop at the local gas station ever. The Focus has proven itself actually quite capable in just about all capacities we have tried to use it. In the last six months, we have moved to a new home, which necessitated many trips back and forth between two locations and occasional stops at our storage unit. Even with a lack of fast charging immediately at either location and the rather high speeds typical of Southern California freeways, we often were able to get several trips out of the battery with only a bit of topping off when stopped at each location to unload.

A key part of the car's versatility is the hatchback body style, which time and time again has proven to be invaluable, despite the presence of the massive battery hump. Following our move, we had a ton of nearly destroyed cardboard boxes and some other random junk that needed to go to the local recycler, so we dropped the back seats and filled the car full of stuff to haul away.

Need to carry a pair of bicycles? Not a problem. Remove the front wheels and both bikes fit in with room to spare. With a little bit of skill, you could probably squeeze a third bike in there as well.

What about a dog? Our newly adopted Lab mix has plenty of room in the back to move around, though when she stands, the view out of the rear is pretty much non-existent.

Still, it is an extremely versatile car that for commuting and around town use has been perfect. Of course, it has not been entirely problem free.

Editorial: Gas tax or mileage tax?

A couple of weeks ago, the state of Oregon, once the pioneer of the user pay principle as the first state to institute a gas tax, announced plans to trial a mileage tax option for its residents. 5,000 volunteers will have the opportunity to test out OreGo, the state's new mileage tax program that will charge drivers 1.5 cents for every mile driven. Those users will receive a monthly bill for their mileage driven and receive a refund of gas taxes already paid.

In principle, this idea of a mileage tax makes sense for several reasons.

One, our cars have gotten increasingly efficient. Your high volume sale family sedan these days gets miles per gallon in the low 20s in the city and low 30s on the highway. Even among entry luxury cars, it is not uncommon to see over 30 mpg these days for highway mileage. That reduction in fuel consumption has led to a significant reduction in the collection of gas taxes, which have not increased proportionally with the increase in fuel economy; a fact that has led to significant reductions in the upkeep, maintenance, and construction of new roads.

Two, the introduction of plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, which use absolutely no electricity, allow those users to dramatically reduce, or in the case of BEVs completely skirt, the payment of gasoline taxes. While the reduction in gasoline consumption is good for the environment, it does so at the detriment to the roads. That is not to say that BEV owners do not contribute at all, as they still pay other taxes and the usual registration fees, but their usage is not contributing proportionally to the funds needed to maintain the roads. As a BEV owner, I am certainly not averse to the idea of paying my fair share, especially since my vehicle still weighs a rather portly 3,600 pounds.

Three, mileage taxes would allow us to reset the expectations around road usage and if priced correctly, might actually serve as a way to encourage the use of alternative transportation. Since the current gasoline tax has not increased significantly since its introduction, phasing in a new way to cover the costs while subtly adjusting for the discrepancy in costs would allow the highway funds to be replenished and might reduce wear and tear by reducing the number of users. Many road users, especially car drivers in metropolitan areas, could easily switch to public transit or cycling for their commutes which would reduce congestion and road wear during the work week and a mileage based tax might just be the way to encourage this behavior.

Of course, OreGo is still in an early test phase and it will be a while before we see how the results actually pan out. As progressive as Oregon might be, its residents are just as wary of some of the potential privacy issues that a mileage-based taxation program might bring. That is one of the key reasons why OreGo will have options for owners on how they want to report their mileage. But at the very least, Oregon is once again taking the initial plunge and is at the forefront pioneering a new idea, that may eventually trickle out to the rest of the states. This is one experiment that we will be watching intently to see what kind of results are produced.

Test Drive: 2014 Chevrolet Volt

Before finalizing our decision to acquire the Focus EV, several other plug-in vehicles made it into our decision matrix, including the Chevrolet Volt. In fact, the Volt was the first remotely economy minded vehicle to make it onto the list, in large part because the incentives available on it resulted in some seriously enticing advertised leases. Add to that the fact that all plug-in hybrids in CA can get single person access to the HOV lanes along with several other nice perks (e.g. free parking, available free public charging, etc.) made the idea of owning something so slow a bit more tolerable. Of course, as much as there is to like about a car like the Volt, it is not without its own unique set of faults, which ultimately led us to pursue a totally different direction.

Industry news: Chevy Bolt presages expansion of EV market

This week has been insanely full of automotive news with many major announcements taking place at Cobo Hall during the Detroit Auto Show. Marking the official start of the auto show season for 2015, many manufacturers have used the opportunity to announce seriously bad ass performance vehicles, including the new Ford GT and the long-awaited Acura NSX. However, the most important new vehicle announced during the show is not either of those cars, but rather a much smaller and slower vehicle. Yes, the real showstopper at this year's Detroit Auto Show is the announcement by GM that they are going to build a battery-powered EV with a 200 mile range.

Called the Chevy Bolt Concept, this new vehicle is the first announced competitor to the much anticipated Tesla Model 3. Intended as an affordable EV for the masses, GM has set the bar to deliver a purely electric vehicle with a 200 mile range that will cost less than $30,000 after federal incentives. In states where additional credits or incentives are available, the Bolt would end up costing even less.

The concept vehicle itself has a footprint similar to the Honda Fit or Kia Soul, but with the upright profile of a people mover. This likely means excellent interior space, but may present a challenge to American car buyers who seem less interested in space efficiency. Speaking of that interior, GM saw fit to include a 10-inch touchscreen center console information display wrapped in a fantastic looking interior that most likely will not see production. Outside, the cues from GM's newly announced 2016 Chevrolet Volt are hard to miss and that massive slab of glass serving as the roof panel gives the car a more premium feel, even though that is a feature also unlikely to make it onto the production vehicle. Still the upright greenhouse should provide excellent visibility and the promise of 200 miles of range definitely stands out.

It is unclear when a vehicle like the Bolt would actually make it into production. Tesla's Model 3 is supposedly due out in 2017 and there are rumblings that the next generation Nissan Leaf will see also be targeting a 200 mile driving range on a single charge. The biggest hurdle right now still seems to be charge capacity of the batteries. A car with a 200 mile range will require a large battery pack (a la Tesla Model S) and that does not seem to match with the smaller mid-size or compact car that automakers seem to be producing. As the owner of a first generation production EV, it will be interesting to this segment develop and grow. My Focus EV will be coming off lease towards the end of 2017 and I am looking forward to having options for replacing it with a proper long-range capable EV, especially living in a state where EVs are increasingly popular and the infrastructure to charge them continues to spread rapidly.

Editorial: Will the New EPA Regulations Kill the Horsepower Wars?

Image courtesy of Dodge

With new cars supposed to achieve an average MPG of 34.5 by 2016, you would think that car manufacturers would have shifted their focus to squeezing every last MPG out of their new cars. However, cars like Dodge's all new Charger and Challenger Hellcat only prove that the horsepower wars are alive and well. For an avid car fanatic, like myself, knowing that car manufacturers still care about trying to squeeze every last drop of power out of their cars is always great news. It is even more exciting knowing that cars like the Hellcat duo are making their insane horsepower numbers without the help of electric motors or fancy alternative fuel systems. But with 2016 looming ever closer, how much longer can the horsepower wars keep going?

Preview: Harley-Davidson Project LiveWire

Harley-Davidson has developed a bit of a reputation for a lack of innovation. Many of its bikes are filled with technologies that were state of the art several decades ago, but are now anachronisms of a bygone era. So you can imagine everyone's surprise when Harley-Davidson announced last week that they were going to be diving into the world of electric motorcycles. Called Project LiveWire, this initial effort will primarily be to gauge customer interest and determine if the market exists for a full-scale effort. The goal was more than to just create an electric version of one of Harley's existing bikes, but rather to create a whole new bike that marries the latest electric motorcycle technology with design traits that are classically H-D.

Out of sheer good fortune, I had the opportunity to go and check out the bike in-person and get not only some photos, but also a quick demo of it, although a test ride was not possible at the time.

News: Nissan Leaf Owner Arrested for Charging Car Without Asking

Image courtesy of Accuracy in Media

With more and more electric cars hitting the roads, public charging stations are popping up almost as fast as the cars are being sold. However, with only about 6,800 public charging stations available in the United States, charging your electric car away from home is not always an easy proposition.

Such was the case for Nissan Leaf owner Kaveh Kamooneh. Kamooneh plugged his Nissan Leaf to an external outlet at a Chamblee, GA middle school where his son was taking part in a sporting event. After charging his car for only five minutes, a police officer approached and asked whether Kamooneh had permission from the school to be using the outlet. Kamooneh noted that there were no school staff around at the time, and the officer accused him of stealing. Kamooneh was arrested at his home 11 days later, and was forced to spend a night in county jail. How much electricity did Kamooneh actually steal? Reports claim a paltry five cents. According to a Chamblee police sergeant though, the amount did not matter. The sergeant claims that the fact Kamooneh was stealing was what mattered.

Because there is not an abundance of electric car charging stations across the nation, there may come a time in an electric car owner's life where they will need to charge their car at a stranger's home, a store, or, in Kamooneh's case, a school. Until the infrastructure for public charging stations can be beefed up, it would seem there needs to be some sort of social protocol regarding charging an electric vehicle outside of a public charging station.

So I ask you, dear readers: what do you think the social protocol for charging an electric vehicle with someone's electricity should be? Should we really treat this any differently than someone plugging their iPhone into a public outlet for a quick boost? Do you think an electric car owner should be able to just walk up to an outlet in a public area and plug their car in without permission? Is that really an offense that someone deserves spending a night in jail for, especially for such a minuscule amount?  Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Read the original news article here: Nissan Leaf owner arrested for taking 5 cents of energy without asking

Editorial: What Does the Average Car Buyer Look For?

Image courtesy of Sunbrite Auto Works, Inc.

I am an auto enthusiast. Anyone who knows me knows that I am an auto enthusiast. When I search for a vehicle, I know exactly what I am looking for in terms of performance, safety, gadgets, etc. Being an auto enthusiast though, I find that when people come to me for advice on buying a car, I have a bad tendency to tell them about the things I would look for in a car, which in some cases is not very helpful. This got me thinking about what the average car buyer would look for when searching for a car. Afterall, buying a car can be a daunting task, especially today's newer cars with all sorts of electronic gadgets and safety measures.

In order to help me gather data, I devised a short survey to see what the average car buyer looks for when looking for a new car. After passing it around to friends and family, here are the results of the survey. Keep in mind that this is an informal survey and is in no way scientific, but does show how one broad group of people approach buying a new car.

Test Drive: Tesla Model S Performance

I freely admit, I am a fan of the Tesla Model S. Since the very first photos of the concept were released, I was smitten and started thinking about all the possible ways I could score a test drive. Of course, the problem up until recently was that one had to pretty much be a member of the automotive press or pony up the $5,000 deposit and wait for their turn in line in order to even have the opportunity. We were fortunate enough to get the chance to preview the Model S earlier this year that offered hands-on quality time with the car, but no test drives were available. Luckily, things have changed. In the last few weeks, with the recent positive news coming from Tesla, an influx of product availability means that the test drive policy is getting less restrictive and genuinely interested parties are finally able to experience the cars on public roads. So when Tesla store in Natick called me back to schedule a test drive, I jumped at the chance.

Editorial: The future of green cars - how the Tesla Model S changed everything for me

The perfect example of the horrid looking EV, the
Mitsubishi i-MIEV (photo courtesy of Mitsubishi)

I was not a fan of green cars. To me, they were always pitifully under-powered, insect-looking, miserable little cars that could never meet the real needs of an enthusiast. When I was growing up, electric cars were little more than glorified golf carts and hybrids had been adopted by such a particular set of buyers that being remotely associated with that group made me sick to my stomach. Deep in my psyche, though, I knew that the era of the fossil fuel swilling internal combustion engine would have to draw to a close someday, quite possibly within my lifetime, but as an enthusiast, I saw no viable alternative.

Tesla Roadster (photo courtesy of Tesla Motors)

Then, a ray of hope breached the gloom, illuminating an underdog manufacturer scrambling to demonstrate that electric vehicles did not have to be horrible, whiny, plasticky pieces of junk that crept along at a snail's pace. The arrival of the Tesla Roadster marked a turning point in my paradigm, opening the door to a whole world of possibilities of alternative energy powered vehicles. Sure the Lotus-derived roadster had some rough edges and the range was still far below that of a fossil fuel powered car, it at least demonstrated that electric cars could not only be fun, they could be stylish as well.