My experience getting a dedicated EV TOU 2 electric meter with SDGE

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=earlyretirement]

I was thinking about getting the house automated. I already switched out a lot of the lighting to make it more energy efficient. I know a lot of companies have gotten into the home automation space. Do you recommend one over another based on your experience?[/quote]

I did it myself by buying a zwave controller on amazon and the necessary switches, etc.. It cool to be able to operate lights and door locks remotely, but it’s not a must have.

I only have a small apartment but you have a big house so you might want to call a professional.

[flyer]

[quote=spdrun]

At the same time, American made films are making billions of dollars in many foreign
countries–blasting domestic box office receipts out of the water.

That’s sad in a way — I’d rather not have the rest of the world become more poisoned with Dumberican unculture than is has already been.

Electric cars: great.
Spreading American poison: no fucking thanks.[/quote]

Understand how you might feel that way about some of the films out there, sp. That’s one of the reasons we started investing in them. We really have to believe in a project and the message it is sending–before we get involved.

IMO, films are not going away, and someone or some entity is making millions, if not billions in investment revenue–every year. I’d much rather see those dollars going to American investors vs. foreign–which is another reason we got involved. Plus, we’re having a great time with it!

[earlyretirement]

[quote=flyer][quote=spdrun]

At the same time, American made films are making billions of dollars in many foreign
countries–blasting domestic box office receipts out of the water.

That’s sad in a way — I’d rather not have the rest of the world become more poisoned with Dumberican unculture than is has already been.

Electric cars: great.
Spreading American poison: no fucking thanks.[/quote]

Understand how you might feel that way about some of the films out there, sp. That’s one of the reasons we started investing in them. We really have to believe in a project and the message it is sending–before we get involved.

IMO, films are not going away, and someone or some entity is making millions, if not billions in investment revenue–every year. I’d much rather see those dollars going to American investors vs. foreign–which is another reason we got involved. Plus, we’re having a great time with it![/quote]

AMEN. Kudos to you flyer. You sound like a guy that wears many “hats”!

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=earlyretirement]

I was thinking about getting the house automated. I already switched out a lot of the lighting to make it more energy efficient. I know a lot of companies have gotten into the home automation space. Do you recommend one over another based on your experience?[/quote]

I did it myself by buying a zwave controller on amazon and the necessary switches, etc.. It cool to be able to operate lights and door locks remotely, but it’s not a must have.

I only have a small apartment but you have a big house so you might want to call a professional.[/quote]

Thanks flyerinHI. Ah zwave. I thought that would have been bigger by now but it seems like nothing really became of it as of yet. Yeah, I have a bigger house so I’d probably need to call a professional. All these gadgets and gizmos are exciting.

[spdrun]

I’d much rather see those dollars going to American investors vs. foreign

If the dollars are going to ME, then I care. Otherwise, I really don’t care who gets them, American or foreign. In fact my city is least 40% foreign-born, and I find the non-Americans and 1st-generationers generally more pleasant than people from long-term American families.

[flyer]

[quote=spdrun]

I’d much rather see those dollars going to American investors vs. foreign

If the dollars are going to ME, then I care. Otherwise, I really don’t care who gets them, American or foreign. In fact my city is least 40% foreign-born, and I find the non-Americans and 1st-generationers generally more pleasant than people from long-term American families.[/quote]

So we differ on our opinions, sp. Not a problem. I’m happy with what I’m doing–especially when the dollars are going to me, and other American investors (who might very well have been foreign-born.) I just like to see the big money stay in the USA, whenever possible.

That’s one of the great things about our country–although we may all have different opinions–we also have the opportunity to make our own choices based upon those opinions.

[Hobie]

Not to drift the thread too much.. but this shows the construction of the Tesla.

[an]

[quote=Hobie]Not to drift the thread too much.. but this shows the construction of the Tesla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lfxPI5ObM%5B/quote%5DI wonder how this differs from other production line.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=AN][quote=Hobie]Not to drift the thread too much.. but this shows the construction of the Tesla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lfxPI5ObM%5B/quote%5DI wonder how this differs from other production line.[/quote]

It doesn’t, that’s what the lines in Detroit looked like in the 90s, except more people sitting around at picnic tables playing cards.

And the plants were grungier and dirtier from having 50 years of work in them.

[Hobie]

An. Just a nice video of the car being discussed.

[an]

[quote=Hobie]An. Just a nice video of the car being discussed.[/quote]I see. That is a very nice video. That video kind of explain why we have a declining blue collar jobs. The jobs are being replaced by robots.

[spdrun]

Robots here or bio-robots in China, take your choice. Personally, I’d rather have the robots here, since they’ll require jobs to maintain, control quality, and design them.

[earlyretirement]

Well, one thing I will mention is that the robots can be off. LOL. For example with my car, there was a paint imperfection in the back. I guess the robot didn’t spray one back panel enough and the paint is thin. Also, my hood had some rock chips. I complained and Tesla is painting those areas over again. They gave me a loaner car to use until it’s fixed. Also, a P85.

Still LOVING the car. I can safely say I will NEVER buy another ICE car again. I’ll get the Model X once it comes out as well.

Also, regarding the meter I posted on the Tesla forum but I’ll repost here:

I have the dedicated meter from SDGE so the nice thing is you can experiment with this sort of thing. Since our meters started out from 0.00 it’s easy to track. Just for kicks, I’ve been noting exactly how many miles I charge each night then log it on a spreadsheet in the morning at what the kWh shows on the meter. I’ll keep some meaningful period of at least a month then I’ll post a Google Doc with the spreadsheet for anyone interested.

I would have thought that the green led light on the HPWC would at least draw some electricity but I’ve never noticed the meter have changed at all from the last reading. So it must not be anything noticeable at all which is great.

For example. 3 random samples of charging below. (For frame of reference I have a HPWC and dual chargers at 80 Amps and I set to charge at 1:30 AM).

168 rated miles. It used 66 kWh. I have TOU EV super off peak charging rates with SDGE in San Diego

https://www.sdge.com/sites/default/files/regulatory/schedule_ev-tou_090113.pdf) which comes out to about $10.56 to charge the 168 miles.

155 rated miles used 49 kWh for an effective price of $7.84

142 rated miles used 45 kWh for an effective cost of $7.20.

Also, for further reference, on Tesla’s website — http://www.teslamotors.com/charging it showed 170 miles as only using about 55.9 kWh with the HPWC and dual chargers. And explained by other Model S owners, you will use more energy for the car and the cable while charging so it will always be higher than what Tesla’s website shows.

Estimates above aren’t exact and just estimates. I’ll need to see what SDGE charges with taxes and usage fees and possible generation fees. I didn’t get my bill yet since I got the dedicated EV meter so I’ll see how it affects the rates.

Hope this helps.

[earlyretirement]

Video Trip Report: San Diego to LA (Hawthorne Super Charger) back to San Diego

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I figure a video would be priceless. I made my first longer distance trip today in my P85. My wife and I both had meetings in LA today so we left early and hit Tesla’s Hawthorne, CA Supercharger on the way up.

I did a maximum range charge and had about 263 miles to start off. I don’t think I had the level all the way to the end so it was a few miles shorter than usual for max range. I originally planned to hit Hawthorne AFTER our meetings and after lunch on the way back to San Diego but I heard about others that had to wait in line in the afternoon and thought it would be a better idea to go up to Hawthorne on the way up to make a 10 AM meeting.

Also, something important to note is that I am in a Service Loaner vehicle which they limit the speed to 80 MPH so I couldn’t go above that on the highway which was a real bummer being capped to that limit but saved on battery use I’m sure.

My wife had a meeting in Beverly Hills at La Cienaga/Wilshire. I met up with a client at the same time and asked if he could meet me at the SLS Hotel just a few blocks away so I didn’t have to drive far. I ended up parking at the La Cienaga Tennis Center parking lot. It’s GREAT as it includes 2 free hours parking. They had 2 Blink Chargers there. One was taken but I grabbed one of them. Got about 25 miles charge while parked there. I have the Blink membership so it was just $1 per hour.

We finished with our meetings and then met up. We know this area well and the SLS is one of our favorite hotels there. And our FAVORITE sushi place is Matsuhisa which has the best sushi in the world. And I noticed they opened up a Genwa Korean restaurant across the street! (Our favorite Korean restaurant in LA!)We headed back to San Diego right after lunch.

I’m totally convinced THIS is the future! I’ll NEVER own an ICE car again. Never. Absolutely love driving now. (I hated it before). Big kudos to Elon and the Tesla team. I’ll definitely buy the Model X next year when it comes out.

Here are a few photos and video trip report below.

http://youtu.be/DeSYPe2Ikzo (You Tube Video of my Trip)

[an]

[quote=earlyretirement]I’m totally convinced THIS is the future! I’ll NEVER own an ICE car again. Never. Absolutely love driving now.[/quote]
I’m glad you love it. Although, unlike you, I’m not sold that this is the future. Just based on my reading, I think Hydrogen Fuel Cell is the future. Imagine instant power like EV, but unlimited range like an ICE (assuming the built out the infrastructure like gas station). You can refuel in 5 minutes and back on your way. Not only that, you won’t have to deal w/ battery losing 50% of the range after 10 years. That, I think is the future. And it’s coming soon. Toyota is promising the first production vehicle in 2015/2016. We’ll see which technology win out. Maybe they’ll have a breakthrough in battery tech and they can fix the longevity, charge time, range and cost problem. They better or 10 years from now, you’ll look back and see that EV is nothing more than a stop gap.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=AN][quote=earlyretirement]I’m totally convinced THIS is the future! I’ll NEVER own an ICE car again. Never. Absolutely love driving now.[/quote]
I’m glad you love it. Although, unlike you, I’m not sold that this is the future. Just based on my reading, I think Hydrogen Fuel Cell is the future. Imagine instant power like EV, but unlimited range like an ICE (assuming the built out the infrastructure like gas station). You can refuel in 5 minutes and back on your way. Not only that, you won’t have to deal w/ battery losing 50% of the range after 10 years. That, I think is the future. And it’s coming soon. Toyota is promising the first production vehicle in 2015/2016. We’ll see which technology win out. Maybe they’ll have a breakthrough in battery tech and they can fix the longevity, charge time, range and cost problem. They better or 10 years from now, you’ll look back and see that EV is nothing more than a stop gap.[/quote]

Hey AN. Oh I just meant the future is alternative fuel vehicles that can perform vs. only ICE.

I don’t know anything about Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology but honestly I’m all for ANY technology that is sustainable and more efficient.

I’m confident that they will dramatically improve battery technology over the next few years. As well probably for 80% of all Americans, this has more than enough range for daily driving use right now but they will keep improving this technology.

[Author]

Posts