HEV Questions

Last week I was given a Toyota Prius as a rental car.

I was excited.  I had never been in one, so I was anxious to see what it was like.

I didn't hate it.

I didn't love it.

That's pretty much my reaction to most rental cars... with the exception of the PT Cruiser and HHR.  I hate those cars.

I don't want to write a review about rental cars, but driving this car for several days brought up a few questions for me regarding Hybrid-Electric Vehicles.

What is the actual mileage while the IC Engine is running?

The engine started and stopped a lot on my commute each day.  The starting and stopping, especially at traffic lights invoked memories of being a new driver with a very old, poorly maintained, manual transmission car.

If the rated mileage is 50mpg, I should have paid 40-50% less in gas.  I paid only 20% less.

There is the possibility that the car wasn't full when I picked it up, but that is always true.  My rental car company does not have a good process for ensuring the cars are full prior to pick up.

What are the emissions when the IC Engine is running?

We hear a lot about HEVs having terrific gas mileage, but we don't hear much about the emissions.  If I remember correctly, the IC Engine creates most of it's emissions when first starting up.

So if the engine starts and stops 10 times on each commute, does it create more air emissions than a similar engine that is only started once?

What happens to the batteries when the car has reached it's useful life?

I know batteries have come a long way since I researched HEVs in the early 1990's.  Do they get recycled?

What about maintenance?

Is there an availability of non-dealer mechanics that are affordable and skilled?  Are parts reasonably priced?


While the Prius is not in the pool of cars we would consider when the time comes to replace the ones we have now.  It doesn't mean an HEV or EV wouldn't work for us.  I would just want to have acceptable answers to my questions and be able to fit Hubba's racing chair in the car without having to take the wheels off.

Watering the Alpacas

Each season brings us new learning opportunities.

Over the summer, the alpacas water intake increased a lot.  So we added a second water bucket to each corral.  The second bucket meant we were washing and refilling buckets once each week which was fine in the summer.

So as the weather turned colder, I purchased extra de-icers to keep the six buckets defrosted.

The extra de-icers tripped our circuit.  So I removed one each night and learned that we could only support three de-icers.  That's one for each corral, which is what we used last winter.  However, the increased water intake meant we were refilling buckets at least twice each week.

Without snow on the ground it wasn't that big of a deal.  But now that winter has finally arrived it has been difficult to ensure the hoses were also frost free.

So I purchased three livestock water tanks.  These are small as far as livestock tanks go, but much larger than the plastic buckets we have been using for the last year.

Don't worry, the metal trough is full of open water

I swapped out the buckets and filled the tanks on a nice day we had early last week.  And then our circuit was being tripped again.  I suppose there is a larger load with the larger volume of water being heated.  So I found a few extension cords and spread the load across two circuits which has solved the issue... at least until we grow beyond three corrals or install water and electric in the barns and corrals.

No ice even though it was 25 deg F with five inches of snow when this photo was taken.

How often we need to refill and wash the troughs is still unknown.  But after several nights below freezing, a few days in the teens and 6-7 inches of snow, all three troughs have remained completely free of ice.  So I think we can call this good.



Alpacamundo's Augustus striking a pose

More good news about the new tanks: I now have plenty of old water buckets to use as feed buckets and won't have to replace cracked buckets for a long time.  I love being able to use what we already have.  :-)

And, just for fun... a photo of yesterday's beautiful day.



48 deg F and melting like crazy

Black Out

All it takes is a black out to be reminded of how dependant we've become on electricity.

Sunday evening the power went off in our area around 9:15 pm.  The sun had already set, so it was dark outside.  We grabbed a couple of flash lights and lit a bunch of candles.  Then we realized our internet access was affected because the router is powered by electricity.

With no TV, radio or internet to distract us, Hubba pretended to tell ghost stories.  Then he realized the smart phones still worked so he and his buddy compared iPhone and Droid Apps.

It occurred to me while this was going on how much electricity has become a huge part of our lives.

Cooking:  Our stove, oven and microwave are electric.  Even when we had a gas stove and oven they had an electric ignition.

News:  The television is electric, the DSL was probably working, but the router is electric and we haven't had a battery operated radio in years.

Phone:  We did have mostly charged cell phones.  We don't have a house phone, but when we did it was cordless with an electric base.

Light:  We had candles and flashlights, but the alpacascope went dim after a while.  It was kind of fun brushing my teeth by candlelight, but out of habit I flipped the light switch trying to get more light.

Water:  The water heater is gas, but it is controlled by an electric thermostat.

Heating and Cooling: Our house technically has air conditioning and one ceiling fan, both of which are electric.  The heat is hot water/baseboard heat, which is heated by gas, which is controlled by an electric thermostat.

Food Storage:  The refrigerator and freezer are electric.

The power came back on around midnight.  I don't know what caused the outage but it was an interesting period of observation.

The Nissan Leaf

Have you heard about the Nissan Leaf?

It a new, electric only car that is supposed to be affordable.

I saw one at the Denver Auto Show a few weeks ago and didn't think too much about it.  I noticed there was a new model, similar in style to other sub-compacts but didn't realize it was an all electric car until I read an article in Mother Earth News.

Then I heard a story about it on Minnesota Public Radio earlier this week.

In the early 1990's I worked for a lobbying organization.  I was privileged to prepare and present an opinion in Washington DC on the California Air Resources Board's goal that 10% of all new vehicles sold in California would be electric by 1998.

CARB's position was that electric vehicles would reduce average vehicle air emissions and therefore increase air quality in Los Angeles.  Having lived in LA since then, I would agree that anything that improves air quality should be considered.

The part that disappointed my idealistic mind was that much of Los Angeles' electricity was derived from a coal fired power plant near the Grand Canyon.  I did not find information about how the air quality in Arizona or the view across the Grand Canyon would be affected.  I did not find information about how batteries would be recycled or reused.  There was some information regarding how the infrastructure would need to change to support electric car charging.

Twenty years later, the conversation is different.  The conversation has expanded beyond the tail pipe.  Which I find remarkable.

The Nissan Leaf takes a full charge from a standard household outlet in eight hours or a "quick" charge to 80% in 30 minutes.  It is a lot longer than the few minutes it takes to fill up a tank of gas, but it has come along way.

The Leaf's is range is only 100 miles per full charge.  This car is not intended for travelling.  It is intended for running errands and going home every night.

Nissan is talking about offering the car for sale, but batteries for lease.  This is supposed to make the car more affordable and also ensure the batteries are properly recycled.

Certainly time will tell, but I am please to see how the conversation has changed.

As a side note, when parking for the Auto Show, I noticed spaces reserved for electric vehicles in the garage complete with outlets for charging.  I wish now, I had taken a photo.