EV Driving 101

We have managed to reach Bristol, after being on the road for the past 48 hours and although we have been lucky in finding Rapid DC charging stations along the way, it hasn't all been an easy breeze. At this poing, we have travelled the equivalent to a Google Maps route of 280 miles. With all challenges there's a learning experience, and hopefully now we will try to share our learnings about driving an EV from Durham to Cardiff while charging our wee EV. 

We managed to push the i-Miev range to the limit after our departure from York. The symptoms of when the battery discharges are as follows: the mile range indicator goes blank, a whole bunch of stuff starts blinking on the dashboard and a yellow turtle light appears - so as to let you know you the car will slowly collapse immediately. Funny huh?

Let me give you a better picture of the situation: We drove in the wrong direction for a while which resulted on a driving distance beyond the estimated remaining range of the i-MiEV. We knew the location of our next station, about 20 miles away, and we had an estimated remaining range of 15 miles. We had no choice but to head there and do as much as we could to maintain the EV running.  By the time the little turtle appeared, we were in the middle of a hilled town, it was rainy and foggy, it was cold and had no sense of how much longer we had to drive to reach our next station. At this point, we were driving at about 10mph. 

With this in mind, if there is ever an EV Driving 101 course, we think it should include the following topics:

New driving philosophy. So we had to drive in a very conservative way to reach the next station after our undesired deviation. Whenever there was a steep downhill, we removed the foot from the accelerator so let the car go into re-generative braking. If the downhill was not so steep, we simply moved the stick to neutral so as to let gravity move us forward. We also realized that braking is wasting useful energy, so we would typically let the car go into re-generative braking and use the well-known pedal braking only for absolute stopping or possible emergencies. Uphills were painfully slow, as the i-MiEV's battery doesn't like going up very much.

Everything on-board requires energy. When we realized we had to travel more miles than the estimated range, we chose to turn off as much as we could inside the vehicle. We unplugged the SatNav from the lighter charger, rolled the windows down to avoid using the ventilation system to defog the windows. Wipers were used at minimum just to keep ourselves safe. Dimmed the dashboard controls lights. And had our deviation occurred during daylight we would have turned off all outside lights.  At this point, I hope you can get the picture of our learning experience.

Charging station availability. The make of EV that one buys has an impact on the charging stations network. For instance, we have used four Rapid DC charging stations located inside the premises of Nissan Dealerships and in which the staff were kind enough to let us park (and charge) a rival manufacturer's EV. Some of the dealerships we visited however, wouldn't allow charging of vehicles other than the Leaf (using as an excuse that the charging point was not compatible and that we weren't properly insured for damages against their charging stations). This wikipedia entry and our experience shows that there is still lack of technical knowledge which may push consumers to make uniformed decisions as per what EV to purchase based on what sales staff believes is true. 

In the end, we managed to make it to the charging station in Halifax. Cold, wet, and in the dark but relieved that the mixture of our driving mode and the good performance of the i-MiEV prevented us from failing this challenge. Retrospectively, I am glad that this happened to us early in our journey. We have applied what we learned throughout the trip thus far and that had a significant impact on the range of the i-MiEV.

And to spread the good karma, if any of you are considering to purchase an EV, go visit the good folks who helped us in our trip:

• Colliers Nissan - Warwick Road, Birmingham. 
• Holdcroft Nissan - Leek Road, Stoke-On-Trent. 
• Lightcliffe Nissan - Shay Skye, Halifax. 
• West Way Stockport Nissan - Spring Gardens, Stockport. 

All I can say for now is: Next stop Cardiff!

Some Pre-departure Thoughts

There's something about going on a non-holiday trip that always causes a funny feeling in my tummy. Having performed the role of a field engineer for the railroad industry in America, I know what it means to set off on a repair mission to remote locations. After a couple of visits, I concluded that the list of key items to have is made up of:

• A Plan
• Tools
• Safety Equipment
• Knowledge and Skills

For some odd reason, I got the same tummy feeling just before our departure from Durham to Cardiff in the i-MiEV, and interestingly enough, I felt that we had prepared all of those four key items. 

The plan was drafted and re-drafted up until the very last minute before our departure. SatNav coordinates were triple checked. We made a route that pointed us to the desired charging stations, and a backup charging station no more than 10 miles away from the desired station. Phone calls were made to ensure that the chosen charging stations were operational and available.  We even waited for the post to deliver an RFID card to give us access to charging stations in the Midlands prior to our departure. 

Our safety equipment in this case was reduced to a torch, fully charged mobile phone, blanket, medication for any kind of illness possible (as if we were travelling through Siberian winter). And of course, a standard SatNav. 

As tools we prepared all of our charging cables, standard automobile gear, and swiss army knife in case we wanted to cut that sandwich while waiting on the car to be charged. 

The i-MiEV's manual was studied, a paper road map of the UK was packed, and emergency phone numbers were noted. The plug types and standards at charging stations were studied, the vehicle was tested beforehand at all types of charging stations available and on the road. 

The point being that this is part of the beauty of engineering. As an engineer, one plans and anticipates scenarios that can negatively affect the outcome of a project, considering timelines and budgets. However, no matter how much planning (and simulations) one does, there will always be some unexpected challenge. In theory, it is clear that our trip to the LCNF 2012 Conference is feasible, but in practice I know that we will face technical, social and environmental challenges that will question the theory. I believe that the tummy feeling is there to remind us engineers that there is a real world out there full of variables that challenges our designs. Over the next couple days we'll get a feeling of the challenges that will come in our way and probably we'll realize that we could do without many of the items that we brought in the car. Although I can foresee long trips on EVs becoming more popular as charging stations spread across the UK, for the moment I feel more comfortable sticking to the the good old saying "hope for the best, but be ready for the worst". 

Video Post #1: Before Departure

In this video one can see Giannis, answering a couple questions about the journey in which he is about to embark and some thoughts on EV. 

i-MiEV in all its splendour

With all the buzz about the CLNR, Durham University's EV and the LCNF 2012, it has been apparent to me that the concept of owning an EV is still an obscure and bizarre idea for some people.

Then, I figured, post some pictures!

This is what the car actually looks like

No! it's not a solar car, it's an electric car!

Smiling at you :)

Fancy a ride into Durham city?

The i-MiEV wouldn't be cool without a good set of tunes!

Giannis doesn't believe it's charging. 

Fast charging station at Durham University

It's not a petrol station, it's a charging station!

Very nice shoes! And 15" wheels!

Safety first! Traction control included!

In Newcastle's Metro Centre's super fast charging station.

It's looks like petrol infrastructure, but not quite. 

Charge to 80% in ~20 minutes! Wow!

Phileas Fogg and Monty Python Arthur meets 400-mile eco trip.

Is there a relationship between movie legends like Mr. Fogg and King Arthur to our trip from Durham to Cardiff? 

At a first glance the answer is no… 

After some thought however, the answer is not so clear.

There have been dozens of road trip movies in the global movie industry, many of them related to a mad idea of some friends or a love story somewhere in the middle of the European or US motorways.  Does this adventure have such romantic characteristics? Of course not. We are simply investigating the technical implications of driving an EV for several hundred miles. Many of our friends have found the adventure bizarre - something along the lines of “A Mexican and a Greek driving cross-country in an EV, yeah right”  Well, quasi-lunacy is exactly what relates our trip to cinema and literature.

In London, October 2 1872 Phileas Fogg bet that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Together with his servant Jean Passepartout, they began this crazy trip around the planet using all kinds of transport. This story of course is a product of the imagination of French novelist Jules Verne that would be brought to cinemas in 1956. Britain is no planet, but it certainly seems long when planning an EV route!

I shall now introduce a similar story: King Arthur crossing the country in search of knights to join him in his court at Camelot just by “holding two empty halves of coconuts and bangin’ ‘em together” making a horse sound. Comparing the way that King Arthur travelled and the lunacy of our plan, the parallel is evident: crazy people travelling in an environmental friendly “vehicle” except this time around, the i-MiEV will prove to be faster than the Monty Pythons' creation. 

By the way, for our international readers who are not familiar with the Monty Pythons, the following video shows who they are.

Speaking of lunatic journey stories, I can't help but think of the movie “Those magnificent men in their flying machines”, in which aircraft pioneers from different countries, compete in a race from London to Paris using their primitive airplanes around the 1910’s. I wonder if anyone ever thought of mirroring the 1965 classic on to an EV story. 

But going back to next week's plan: Living in the technological transition to EV infrastructure in the UK - the notion of a lunatic journey for research purposes is nothing else but pioneering, like the traits depicted in characters previously mentioned. The exciting part is that it's just the tip of the iceberg. Driving to Cardiff is part of the greater CLNR's project to make the move towards a low carbon economy. 

In a few days, we shall find out the funny moments that we will enjoy and suffer through in this project. Although realistically speaking, there will not be a movie made of our lunatic-wannabe journey, it would be a big lie to say that we are not excited to participate in such an adventure!

EV Route Drafting 101

Probably there's no one better than Michael Boxwell to tell us about the implications of owning an EV, since he has gone from a G-Wiz, to a longer range Tata Indica Vista EV going through the pre-launch version of our own vehicle, a Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Despite his mere £80 to run Michael's EV in a year there were some other drawbacks associated to that. And planning this route to Cardiff has confirmed that indeed those challenges still exist. As mentioned by one of my colleagues, "Driving 400 miles in a car with a 60 mile range?' The rational answer to would be: I am an Engineer, it sounds like fun!

So here we go... following Google's suggested route for a normal petrol vehicle suggests that the trip (one-way) is 306 miles (490km). But we can't just go down that road, as the charging points aren't quite exactly distributed along the debatably scenic A1, M1 and M5. So as an engineer, I shall ponder, what is the optimal route? Answer is simple: the one with the greatest amount of charging points density with the shortest distance between Durham and Cardiff. 

At this point I feel I should get a refund for my undergraduate degree... Not quite, but almost. 

Fortunately, the good guys at Next Green Car have developed a map that shows exactly what we wanted: the charging point density along the way in the UK. After some careful pondering, logical navigation sense, and maybe a beer, the high-level route to follow is this one:

• Durham
• Darlington
• York
• Halifax
• Manchester
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Sutton
• Worcester
• Bristol
• Cardiff

But since images (or maps) say a thousand words, here's the google map.

Was it really that easy? 

Of course not. 

Despite the awesome efforts made by others in consolidating all charging locations, to make use of them one still has to book in advance a charging session, pay for the charging session (or not since some of them are temporarily free), ensure that the charging station is operational (and compatible). And just to add a wee bit more flavour to the experience: fast, slow, or rapid charging? rapid? huh?

Fine, I'll get technical:

• Rapid is a 125 Amp DC CHAdeMO DC connection. 
• Fast is a 32 Amp, 1-phase AC Mennekes connector (IEC 62196)
• Slow is a 13/16 Amp 1-phase AC 3-pin plug (BS1363)

Without a doubt, we will start the road trip wearing beanies and winter coats in silence, as the distance Darlington - York is 58 miles, just about the lower end for the range of our i-MiEV. As one may imagine, anything going from the radio, to the heating of a car will drain down the energy capacity faster. Excellent excuse to depart after sunrise, why use headlights when you have the sun right? 

Most distances between charging stations are 45 miles appart though, which gives me some relief as getting stuck in between towns would definitely not contribute to my own definition of "fun", or at least, "enjoyable fun". 

The stations are hybrid, in the sense that some of them have a combination of Fast, Slow/Fast, Slow/Fast/Rapid, etc. charging outlet capacities. To my surprise, five of the stations we plan on visiting are "Slow/Fast". Three are "Fast". One is "Slow/Rapid" and one is "Slow/Fast/Rapid". Maybe we'll have to be nice to people in the "Slow/Fast" stations to get a better charging time? - Maybe we'll just have to book in advance? We'll find out next week.

Am I missing something? Yes! The charging point deviation represents a mileage increase of about 31.4% from the shortest possible route suggested by Google (402 miles or 647 km instead of 306 miles or 490 km).

Will we able to make it on time for the conference? or simply make it to Cardiff? Well, I shall be more peaceful after tomorrow's first attempt at learning how to use Durham's i-MiEV. After all, it's only a 60 mile range car right? What can go wrong?

Mission: Durham to Cardiff in DU's Electric Car

As part of the research done by the Durham Energy Institue on the effect of electric vehicle (EV) charging on electricity networks, the challenge (and experiment) of driving from Durham University to the Low Carbon Network Funds (LCNF) Annual Conference at the Millenium Centre in Cardiff, Wales seems like the logical thing to do. Why not?

Well, as many people may wonder, what are the implications of driving an EV in Britain, in particular when you have to drive across the country? Do we get as much mileage from a single charge as the manufacturer claims? We'll soon find out!

So here are the specs...

The Mission:

• Drive 306 miles from Durham to Cardiff and back. And safe. And in an EV.

The Vehicle:

• Mitsubishi iMiEV
• 5-door hatchback
• 47kW (63hp) permanent-magnet motor
• 16kWh Battery
• 3,395mm x 1,475mm x 1,615mm

The drivers:

Giannis Sarriagiannis
Football lover and greek extraordinaire. Electrical Engineer by the National Technical University of Athens and New and Renewable Energy postgraduate student at Durham University.

Sergio Roldán
Bohemian singer and wine aficionado. Electrical Engineer by McGill University and New and Renewable Energy postgraduate student at Durham University.

In the upcoming days we will be posting everything about our experience in getting the i-MiEV to the conference, from planning the route, ups and downs of the trip, learning how to charge the car, and driving on the wrong side of the road! Stay tuned!

For more information about the conference, visit here.

For more information about i-MiEV, visit here.

About Durham Energy Institute, visit here.