Author Archives: lukefrugalev

As keen readers of this blog might have noticed, our 2018 Nissan Leaf works perfectly well for all our needs. But there is the Tremblant run (source). While it is doable, and we have done it many times. The 11 hour program is a wee long. So with that in mind, and of course forContinue reading “Driving the Kia e-Niro to Tremblant”

Much has been written about how Ontario is going to meet its growing electricity needs. Renewables often come up as a potential solution, and, to put my money where my mouth is, I am hoping to put some solar on my roof. But, renewable by nature are intermittent, hence storage, in some shape or form,Continue reading “The seasonal storage problem”

I recently installed a home battery system, intended to be act 1 of a solar install due to occur next year. At the moment no solar is installed, but the battery can still charge on cheap overnight rates, discharging during the peak hours. With that, lets review my electricity tariff (Ultralow overnight rate), and someContinue reading “Configuring your home battery system”

One of the big benefits of driving electric is charging up at home. While you can charge from a standard outlet, which you might have in your garage, the charge rate is often much faster from a higher power outlet. But lets discuss exactly how much faster, and if it matters at all for yourContinue reading “Getting a home charger”

These days there is a lot of ink being spilled over the economics of EVs. Some of it better written than others. Even the “pro-wallet” Canadian Taxpayer’s federation has chimed in (source), claiming it will cost “billions-of-dollars” to have us all driving EVs. Then we have the Toronto-star reporting monthly savings of more than $500Continue reading “Filling up for $2, no problem if you have an EV”

As we start sharpening the skis, and putting on winter tires, its time for the fall 2024 used EV survey. As before, we set our price roof to $35 000, and geographical search parameters to 100 km from Toronto. Its a very good time to buy a used EV, its never been this good. WeContinue reading “Fall 2024, used EV survey”

Recently, we installed a home battery system in our home. We had several reasons for this, but a combination of economics and energy-security had us looking for a home battery system. With the system in, we take a look at Toronto Hydro’s monitoring portal (which is actually really good), and see how things are shapingContinue reading “Home Battery System, early impressions”

Congratulations on your new electric vehicle (EV), lets talk next about what needs to be on your phone to make the most out of your new EV. You need these to access DC fast chargers which can greatly enhance your EVs utility. Most EVs nowadays can replenish 80% of their battery in as little asContinue reading “New EV, New apps?”

Lately, several articles have “hammered” EVs claiming they are a poor-investment. While for certain new EVs that is true, the solution is rather simple, be on the happy side of this deal and buy used. But lets dig into this a little further, briefly the “slower-than-expected” sales of EVs has caused depreciation of new EVsContinue reading “Depreciation and EVs”

A few weeks back, I wrote a post discussing the carbon tax, particularly, what might happen in the absence of a carbon tax, making use of my location near a construction site in Toronto, where somehow generators hum and pollute just underneath power lines. Perhaps this is because diesel and gasoline used on a constructionContinue reading “Argument against the Carbon Tax”