Author Archives: lukefrugalev

Along the Northern Shore of Lake Erie sits port Burwell. Its a dog friendly provincial park and one of the few where you can take your dog to the beach and swim with Fido if that is your leisure. Also, its home to the Ojibwa, a cold war era Submarine that saw service in theContinue reading “Port Burwell provincial park”

Car companies love making cars that sell. Somehow, large pickup trucks are firmly at the top of the best sellers list these days. Perhaps driven by our desire for an all around car that can do it all, from hailing sports gear to commuting. But as we will discuss, there are flaws in that reasoning,Continue reading “Whats with all the electric trucks?”

This is something that comes up when shopping for a car. “I need a big big big SUV that can take me and my family ski-gear and all, on a road trip to say Banff AB”. Such a requirement naturally sends one towards a large gas guzzling SUV, while there are larger EVs like FordContinue reading “In defense of the flying ski-trip”

Why not include Picton in your next Prince Edward County visit? It is a lovely town, with lots of things to see and do. The Glenora ferry can make the drive to Kingston a lot more pleasant. There is lots of wineries some of which have charging stations, why not charge as you enjoy aContinue reading “Picton”

Much ink has been spilled over the state of Ontario’s Electricity grid, some fear a near total collapse as EVs become more common. As always, the truth is more nuanced, during certain times, Ontario’s grid is under strain, while at others, ample power is available. A home battery system can help. The idea here isContinue reading “Experiments in Peak Shifting”

I recently bumped into an elderly couple driving their first EV at a charging station. This was a DC fast charger at a highway rest stop. If you got it all down, you can park, plug in and be charging in less than a minute. But its a very different experience than stopping at aContinue reading “First charge”

With an electric campsite, why cook on propane? Driving an EV? Well, seems were doing a zero emissions camping trip. Well almost, the kids still insisted on smores over a campfire. We made most of our meals on a portable induction cook-top, but I also brought along my airfrier which can double as an oven.Continue reading “The (almost) #StopBurningStuff camping trip”

Newer EVs have much faster DC fast charging than my 2018 LEAF. The Ioniq 5 promisses 350 kW DC fast charging speeds (source), Tesla model S can hit 250 kW (source), and even the 2023 Nissan Leaf Plus claims 100 kW (source). Lets do some analysis and see how charging stop duration goes with increasingContinue reading “Is fast charging fast enough?”

Recently, I wrote a post of rooftop solar here in Toronto. Briefly, as I only spend 100$ per month on electricity, its tough to justify investing tens of thousands of dollars on a solar system to reduce my electricity bill. But seen from another perspective, how do Ontarians meet our energy challenges into the future?Continue reading “Rooftop solar, is it a better idea than I thought?”

The Nissan LEAF was launched with much fanfare in 2010 as “the first mass produced electric car”, 13 years on, lets discuss how things turned out. While far from a “needle-mover” the LEAF serves its purpose for Nissan, its a well built car that is true to its design philosophy of a Leading, Environmentally friendly,Continue reading “How well did the LEAF work out?”