Author Archives: lukefrugalev

Kempower is a vendor of DC fast charging stations that are in use all over the world. It mostly operates in Europe, but its hardware has reached our shores. Their charger has some advantages when siting large charging-parks with many stalls. While travelling in Europe I recently visited a Kempower charging station, overall it workedContinue reading “Using a Kempower fast charger”

As keen readers of this blog might have noticed, I drive a 2018 Nissan Leaf, which cannot plug into the Super-Charging network (although a complex adapter arrangement might make it happen source), however I recently did a road-trip in the Toyota BZ4X, with its CCS plug, can under certain circumstances. With a non-Tesla, you needContinue reading “Using the Tesla supercharging network”

Recently I rented an EV from Hertz, the experience was fairly pleasant, but lets peer into my receipts, and see what we can surmise about the economics. From the renter’s perspective, is EV the better deal? As discussed, fuelling costs can be quite a bit cheaper with an EV (source). Assuming you can get anContinue reading “Is EV the cheaper greener rental?”

Much has been discussed on unfair competition from Chinese automakers, in particular, when it comes to Chinese EVs. The discussion always struck me as strange for several reasons: First, as we shall see, there really are no cheap EV’s, Chinese or otherwise, or at least ones priced at parity with internal combustion cars in otherContinue reading “Tarrifs?”

A buddy of mine asked me what the break even point is between gas and EV? This topic has come up before, I did respond that he might have a hard time filling up for a $2 (source), like I do every night. Also, a comparison between the Nissan Leaf and the Nissan Versa (source),Continue reading “Break even point, EV vs Gas?”

Recently, I rented a Kia-Niro EV on my Tremblant run. Naturally, the teenagers were most pleased that they could get to Tremblant faster. Personally, given the time it took to pick it up, return it, and of course the somewhat rushed experience of loading and unloading, its a tie time-wise for me. But had weContinue reading “Longer road trips?”

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”