What Would Life Be Like with an Electric Vehicle?

Image: Nissan

So let’s say you read our article on the greenest vehicles and feel compelled to welcome a vehicle into your household that is either partially or totally dependent on electricity to operate.

How will this impact your lifestyle? Will you have to change your driving habits? Your route to work? Your family vacation plans?

Image: Mitusbishi

The electrification of the auto industry is quickly upon us and now the infrastructure is working to catch up. As charging stations arrive at familiar locations for EV drivers a wider-spread acceptance of the new technology will follow

Image: Nissan

New Charging Standards

Recently seven automakers jointly committed to a new standard for fast-charging current and future EV products. They agreed not only on a harmonized single-port integration but also a common charging communication protocol between vehicles and the grid.

Fast charging – known as Level 3 charging – is a key next step in EVs growing in acceptance by the traditional driver. Whereas Level 2 home charging can be accomplished in as little as four hours for a full charge, Level 3 or “fast charging” has now cut that time to just 30 minutes for an 80 percent battery charge.

Level 3 chargers operate at 480 volts and currently cost in the neighborhood of $50,000 according to Aker Wade Power Technologies, a charger manufacturer in Charlottesville, Va.

READ MORE: How I (Barely) Survived a Week With an Electric Car

Automakers such as Nissan are working with charger makers to develop units that take advantage of renewable energy sources such as solar and store that power in battery packs similar to those found in modern EVs.

Image: Chevrolet

Getting Your Daily Charge

For those who work a standard 9-to-5 shift, driving to work and plugging in all day on a Level 1 or 2 charger is all you will need most of the time, granted employers have not only accepted the new technology but are providing the power or at least installing free or pay-based charging stations.

Granted daytime charging from the grid is using the most expensive electricity so many employers may embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and put meters on their power outlets.

As automakers have added infotainment systems into vehicles that can show us where the cheapest gas or fuel is and provide us the quickest route getting there, look for upgrades arriving soon that will find us the nearest charging station or extension cord along with advising us if these are commercial or free locations and if they provide Level 1, 2, or 3 recharging. Google has also added EV charging locations to its maps.

Look for the inevitable rise in calls to the police complaining of non-EVs parked in a recharging parking space. Municipalities providing public pay charging stations and parking spaces can double-dip a bit here by passing parking ordinances and collecting fees from the non-EVs that are bound to slip in and occupy these spaces.

Onboard Recharging

Regenerative braking is the first technology designed to recapture a bit of energy potential not harnessed in vehicles until recent years. Taking that notion one step further would be the development of alternative regenerative sources such as fans placed in the vehicle’s front grill area to capture wind energy while the vehicle is in motion and transferring that back to the battery pack. Solar cells integrated into the body skin and windows would be another way to utilize “free” energy that is currently going to waste.

Image: Ford

All Charged Up and Nowhere To Go

Ahead of its implementation of an electrification strategy that includes the launch of five electrified vehicles in North America by 2012, Ford recently released a list of 20 cool places to charge an EV. They don’t list how close these locations are to other charging stations so an EV owner will need to do a bit of homework if they plan on making it to some of these on nothing but electric power.

One of the most exotic locations is Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu but I have no idea how much it will cost you to get your EV to Hawaii. Another great getaway on the list is Stevens Pass Mountain Resort in Leavenworth, Washington but the driving distance between it and Woodinville, the city where the next closest charging stations are located, is 98.8 miles according to the Rand McNally driving distance calculator. This is outside the range of most EVs on the road today. You might make it heading downhill but going east and in the wintertime you will deplete your battery pack long before you make it.