Post-Doc Position in Energy Modeling:
My collaborator at SFU (not on Bsky) is hiring a post-doc for our joint project on modeling Climate, Land, Energy and Water systems for Canada. Come join the team.
www.sfu.ca/content/dam/...
Adding these to my desk immediately.
Wow! That is very impressive, and also a strong indicator the fast charging network is finally catching up to demand. It was still somewhat harrowing when we took our first EV road trip down to California in 2019 but has come a long way.
That’s great to hear. Had you driven an EV before? If not that’s particularly impressive since there’s definitely an EV learning curve.
Here in Seattle it’s about $0.14/kWh. And we have rooftop solar so EV charging is free for much of the year. Everybody should have access to clean, affordable energy at this point - it’s terribly unfair.
Varies by charger but on average about the same as gas. That’s why most EV drivers only fast charge on road trips and generally charge at home, which is way cheaper than gas (or even free if you have rooftop solar).
Since folks have asked about cost:
Fast-charging can cost about the same as gas. Thus most EV owners only use them for road trips.
Home charging is way cheaper, e.g., for an Ioniq 5 with an 84 kWh battery at US residential average of $0.1745 / kWh, that’s $14.66 for a full charge (269 miles).
This is simply unplugging your car and moving along, similar to a gas station (we don't need valets there, either).
It depends on your local energy prices and the size of your EV’s battery. But for an Ioniq 5 with an 84 kWh battery, at the average US residential energy cost of 17.45 cents per kWh, that would be $14.66 for a full charge (about 269 miles).
Fast charging costs about the same as gas, which is why most EV drivers only use them for road trips. At home we pay little to nothing since we have rooftop solar.
Yes often you get a text or app alert and start incurring charges after a 10min grace period, so there’s incentive to leave.
I can’t remember exactly but this charger was definitely fast - we maybe stayed 15 min to get from ~20 to 80% charge (unlike gas cars, where you aim to go from empty to full, it’s best to fast charge an EV at 20% battery and stop at 80% since charging slows at low and high battery charge).
We know there are more EV drivers since our last trip, but also far more fast chargers. It sounds like many of these are being installed by retailers looking to drive up business - my favorite stops are always at smaller businesses in small towns.
We did I-5 this time but several years ago ducked over to Crescent City and drove down Highway 1 as far as San Luis Obispo - my recollection is fast chargers were more sparse along 1 but hopefully that’s changed.
These numbers are from the same drive several years ago using an outdated EV emissions map, so our total (360 lbs for a family of three) is probably even lower now. The renewable percentage is high along the whole route.
Since somebody mentioned impact:
Driving 1,750 mi via EV saved us 2,400 lbs CO₂ over flying, 1,340 lbs over a conventional car, and 1,080 lbs over the train.
We can work to lower our impact without letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. And yes, I’d far prefer a fast electric train.
Thanks, Dustin - next time! I actually kept an eye out for you as we walked along Mitchell’s Cove on a couple of sunset strolls. What a beautiful spot!
I actually feel just fine about this, and I work in climate and conservation. By driving an EV, we saved 2,400 lbs of CO2 over flying, 1,340 lbs over driving a conventional car, and 1,080 lbs over the train. We can find ways to lower our impact without letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
That’s good to hear. We wound up stopping there both ways. Our favorite stops are in small towns like this (vs, say, Walmart parking lots).
Yes, it came with a NACS port but tbh I wish it had just come with an adapter; I prefer CCS (often faster charging and doesn’t give $$ to Tesla). We had to replace our older Ioniq 5 this year (road rage incident, huge bummer) and the NACS port was a surprise. Apparently all new Ioniqs have them.
We generally aim to charge from 20 to 80%, stopping about 15 min a pop but depends on the charger (so many of the 350 kW chargers seem to max out at more like 150, unfortunately) and distance to next stop.
It’s a very humane tempo - we’re usually ready for a break before we need to charge.
We did, thanks! Waves were pretty small but we still had a great time in and out of the water.
Ah that’s amazing - thanks for sharing.
Ioniq 5 Limited. I stopped flying for vacations around 2018 so we do a lot of road trips, and also spend a lot of time in the mountains and on the coast, so lots of driving on snow and sand - fast charging, AWD, and being able to sleep in the back were all important to us. We love this car.
We seriously discussed doing this to our old VW van but it just seemed too challenging and expensive (and then a drunk driver totaled it about five years ago).
Hopefully EV retrofits have gotten easier and cheaper since then - I love the idea, especially for older cars.
Mount Shasta looms over the iron gateway to Weed, California.
Another EV road trip on the books: 1,750 mi round trip from Seattle to Santa Cruz.
Noticeably more fast chargers out there since last time we did this trip a few years ago - we never had to wait for one to open up, which wasn’t the case several years ago.
Prize for most scenic charger: Weed, CA.
Breaking: HHS’s ban on gender-affirming care is struck down. Rarely have I read a ruling this sharply worded.
“This case is one of a long list of examples of how a leader’s wanton disregard for the rule of law causes very real harm to very real people.”
www.advocate.com/politics/nat...
Dear Friends,
Please send this to your networks. Project Drawdown is offering full-time, paid (with benefits) fellowships to scientists and engineers working on climate solutions in the public interest.
Deadline is April 17.
drawdown.org/careers/clim...
This song is genius.
It's not just that Orbán losing inspires hope in other competitive-autocratic countries ruled by right-wing nationalist authoritarians. It's that his loss materially changes things in those other countries, because he's been operating as a headquarters and funding source...