Author Archives: lukefrugalev

During icing conditions, heat-pumps have to de-ice themselves to keep heating your home. This is something that does happen, from time to time, but most heat-pumps have the ability to briefly de-ice themselves (running in AC mode usually) which melts the ice in a few minutes, giving it the ability to keep heating your homeContinue reading “My heat-pump is frozen”

There is some verbiage online suggesting you should not use a schedule on your heat-pump (source). While we have largely suggested that you do. Lets get into the science a bit and see the arguments on either side. Briefly, as heat-pumps generally produce less heat, they will struggle to raise the temperature in your houseContinue reading “To schedule or not to schedule your heat-pump usage?”

While there are a few 7 seater EVs out there, the selection is a little skimpy. Hence one may have to settle for a plug in hybrid, like the Mazda CX-90. On a recent trip to California, I gave it a spin. Cabin space is excellent, with lots of leg room, even in the thirdContinue reading “Driving the Mazda CX-90 plug in hybrid”

While electric vehicle (EV) sales are still growing, (source), some automakers expected a faster growth (source), this combined with generous incentives, particularly in some jurisdictions has combined to create a golden opportunity for those in the market for a new EV. So golden, than some models are now cheaper than their gas powered equivalents, atContinue reading “Is this price parity?”

Having had our heat-pump for a couple of months now, we have some experience configuring it. Briefly, the heat-pump will produce heat down to -27 C, but performance is progressively reduced once it gets colder. Thus, depending on your home insulation, climate control settings etc. you need to choose what Daikin (our heat-pump brand) callsContinue reading “Balancing your heat-pump and gas”

Not a very scientific venture by any means, but lets have a look at my de-identified friend group to see which of my friends have gone electric? We find significant uptake among suburban two car households, with one road-tripper, and one commuter car. If my friends are representative of society en large, there is stillContinue reading “Friend Survey, who is buying electric vehicles?”

There is no need to use “fossil gas” to heat your home, in fact a cold climate heat pump can substantially reduce the amount of gas used to heat your home, if the winter is mild enough, perhaps all the way to zero. Lets kick of our discussion of heat-pumps by looking at the economics.Continue reading “Heat-Pump economics”

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, we went skiing. We used a plug in hybrid, which kinda became a hybrid for most of the journey. But I kept wondering if my trusty 2018 Nissan Leaf could have made it to Mammoth Mountain ski area. Indeed it can, its a long journey (about 500 kmContinue reading “Can my 2018 Nissan Leaf make it to Mammoth?”

On a recent trip to California, we went skiing in Mammoth Mountain. While we drove a plug-in hybrid, I found it odd that there were very few publicly accessible L2 charging stations. In fact Mammoth mountain only had one, which was broken. There are several hotels in the area which do offer L2 charging stations,Continue reading “Where are the L2 charging stations?”

Much ink has been spilled on affordability of EVs. Turns out several Chinese companies have been making affordable EVs for some time now. In fact several Chinese made Tesla Model Y’s are cruising our streets (source), so seems at least one automaker has figured out to legally get Chinese made cars into Canada. Further, inContinue reading “The Chinese cheap EV flood?”