MyEV for Tesla Model S: A Hardware Installation Review.

Almost a year ago, on June 20, 2014, I contributed to my first, and only, so far, Indiegogo project. The project is the MyEV Electric Vehicle Logger and App.

We received the product in mid April and I got around to installing it a few days later. The instructions from MyEV are pretty straightforward, but it is somewhat disjointing having to remove the center console to access the Tesla proprietary cable to connect the logger to.

What do you get in the package?

1) proprietary Tesla to OBD 2 cable

2) Model S only OBD logger

3) the myEV window sticker (with QR code)

A couple of pictures of the logger..

Note that this is only for a Tesla Model S

The Micro SD card is 512mb so there’s a lot of room for stuff…

I attached the OBD logger to the cable to get it ready.

Accessing this part is the “scary” part because you have to snap it off.

First you snap the little shelf from the center console…

Find the proprietary cable and pull it out

Here it is ready to plug into.

Plug in the cable so that you can install the OBD MyEV logger.

Snake it in, tuck some of the cable so that it is easier to reattach.

It may have been scary to get it opened up to plug the logger in and installed, but…

It’s all good after it’s done…

So, how’s the App?

Pretty good, actually. But, I’ll cover that later. It provides the gamification and competitiveness between owners of the system, as was originally planned. Firer more, it’s supposed to provide a snapshot of the car’s battery health. Have yet to see those estimates.

Prelude to an EVent. April 30, 2015. Tesla’s non-automotive product announcement.

It’s been widely reported that the Tesla Motors event on Thursday evening will be about stationary battery storage and what Tesla has been doing with Solar City and Walmart on these fronts.

Still, as I previously wrote regarding Elon’s “anti” Avengers scheduling of the announcement, I am interested in attending the event at Tesla’s Hawthorne Design Center. Well, I got the invite, so I’ve made the necessary schedule changes.

We’re attending the Tesla Event at 8pm Pacific Daylight Time/11pm Eastern Daylight Time/4am BST/3am UTC.

I will be live tweeting this event via my twitter account, so go ahead and follow me there. Haven’t decided whether to play around in Periscope or Meerkat, but that’s a possibility. It all depends on signal availability.

So, what about the Avengers? We decided to catch a showing after the Tesla event. Probably, the next day. Looks like the rEVolution won out over superheroes.

If you’re interested in other battery storage solutions, in the meantime, take a look at an article that I wrote for TransportEvolved.com that was published over this past weekend. The article covered an event that I attended last week that demonstrated the installation of a commercial battery system to enable Level 3 charging site sponsors to offer the service with less operational costs by shaping demand charges.

Why is Elon Musk against the Avengers?

Iron Man may be a part of the Avengers, but Elon Musk’s latest actions show that he may be anti-Avengers.

The latest Avengers movie, the Age of Ultron, is set for a May 1st US opening. So, at first glance it would seem that there is no overlap between the Tesla Motors upcoming (April 30th) battery storage announcement and the Avengers movie.

However, the May 1st release date for the Age of Ultron is a bit of a misnomer. Many movie theaters are actually releasing the movie in the United States on the 30th of April at 7:00 PM local time. What this means is that the upcoming Tesla event will be clashing with the Avengers release. As a person that is interested in both events, the choice should be simple, right?

Well… Not really. I’d like to be one of the first in the US to see the movie, but that Tesla event is mighty tempting to go to.

After all, Tesla knows how to throw a party. As is evidenced by the D Launch and the Battery Swap events. At first, it was going to be an easy decision… We were going to SKIP both events as it is a rather significant birthday for nephew #2… But, as the younger generation is apt to do, he decided to celebrate his significant birthday with his brother and their friends. So, the family event was postponed, and now we find ourselves with having to make the choice between two equally good choices.

It’s not that we’ve gotten an invitation to the event on the 30th either. But, we expect an invitation to the event. And should it arrive, I would like to go. However, I would also like to go to the Avengers Age of Ultron first showing, should we be uninvited to the event on the 30th.

As is often quoted by my nephews, “it’s a First World Problem.”

Hand Washing a Tesla Model S

So, one of the things that I was asked on Twitter was to do a Periscope with the Model S. It’s a little difficult because the only device that I have space for the videos is an iPad. Well, that’s pretty bulky and hard to shoot the Periscope (or Meerkat) while I drive the Model S. So, earlier today, I was inspired to wash the Model S when I was following the folks at Teslaroadtrip.org do their 2015 “Reach the Beach” edition. So, I figured, why not just do two things at the same time.

So, how do I wash a car in drought conditions. Well. I learned from my detailer Moe Mistry at Glistening Perfection. Granted, this is what I heard and internalized and hope that I remembered his instructions properly. Moe’s methods are very precise and excellent. What I did today is what I would call my “in a rush” method, so it works, but not the most detailed one that I could have done.

Before I start washing the car I hook up my CR Spotless system DIC-20 to the hose and a low power pressure washer to the CR Spotless. The CR Spotless is great because it doesn’t let water spots form on the car. The pressure washer is great because it lets me use only the water I need to complete the job. When I’m not using it, water stops flowing.

Step 1 is Cleaning the Tires and Wheels

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

Step 2 is Washing the Body Panels and Glass on the car

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

Step 3 is Drying the Body Panels on the car

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

Step 4 is Drying the Glass and Center touchscreen – Step 4

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

Step 5 is Applying the Silica Spray Sealant

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

Step 6 Mission Accomplished! Woohoo clean car!

If you can’t view the embedded video, click here.

So, hope you enjoyed these stored Periscope videos, not sure if I’ll do more, but you can always follow me on Twitter @dennis_p. I use the same handle on Periscope and Meerkat App as well. [Because of some iOS challenges for some and feedback, decided to move the hosting of the videos from Flickr to YouTube.]

In migrating the videos to Youtube, gained a few more things.

Click here for the six videos in a playlist.

Or here are all six videos in an embedded playlist

Appreciating the past and hopeful for the future of EVs.

This past weekend, my wife and I joined our fellow members of the Orange County Tesla Club on a visit to the Nethercutt Museum and Collection in Sylmar (Los Angeles), CA. [SIDE NOTE: For those not from Southern California, the city of Los Angeles is the largest city in Los Angeles County and within the city there are distinct neighborhoods that have their own identities, but are part of the city of Los Angeles. Hollywood is an example of such a neighborhood, as is Sylmar. West Hollywood, on the other hand, is its own city. As is Long Beach, where the Formula E race will be held on Saturday, April 4, 2015. (which is why I wrote Sylmar with (Los Angeles) in parentheses, that’s my own editorial on it, and not convention.) Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.]

The Nethercutt family are the founders and heirs to the Merle Norman cosmetic company and have built an impressive collection of automobiles and other “mechanical art”. The OC Tesla Club has been itching to have longer drives for our group outings and this venture into Los Angeles (City and County) was just one such drive.

So, the day was meant to appreciate the company of fellow Tesla enthusiasts and appreciate the Nethercutt Museum and Collection. As with most automobile museums, I was prepared to view beautiful and restored relics of the past… ICE cars.

Well, I was in for a surprise and a treat. (The benefits of not really paying attention to the marketing brochures and online information about what was in store for me at the Museum and Collection. The only thing that stuck to my head from the materials was the restored locomotive and Private Train Car in the back, and that was pretty much it.)

As was pointed out by some of my fellow OC Tesla Club members, as impressive as the car collection is, the automated music collection was even more impressive. Unfortunately they didn’t allow us to record the audio or video of the event, but here are a few photos from that

This piano entertained us while we strolled the car collection:

and the piece de resistance was this automated/programmable pipe organ that came from a movie theater (for silent films) from Denver

You can see the rest of the visit in my flickr album.

But what does the Nethercutt have to do with EVs? Well…

I love to play “EV Spotting” and in the guided tour portion of our visit (at the Collection this time, and not at the self-guided museum section) in the ground level of the visit were TWO EVs!

Front view

Back view

Most EV junkies would recognize the more modern EV as the pre-cursor to this generation of EVs and focus of the documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (and the movement which spawned Plug in America, the 1997 GM EV1. The other one is older and not as well known. The 1914 Rauch & Lang Model B4 Electric Brougham.

Both vehicles were shown with their respective chargers connected to the vehicle in the Collection.

Rauch & Lang

IMG_20150328_132918

Charger information

Interior

1997 GM EV1

Interior

One of the things that I noticed and would like to draw our attention to is the price of the GM EV1 at the time it was being leased out. Interesting that the price of the GM EV1 was $43,995 and the average car price in the US at the time was $14,000. That means that the EV1 is about 3.14 times the price of the average car.

So, the average car price in 2012 is around $31,000 and the Model S average is around $100,000, that means that the Model S is about 3.22 times the price of the average car. However, considering what you get in a Model S vs. an EV1. However, as was pointed out to me by David Peilow in my post at Speakev.com, “Just shows the jump with the Leaf or Volt in terms of value for money. I wonder how much of that is a reduction in the design price vs benefits of economies of scale, though.”

David’s point is made even clearer when one looks to see what the 2012 Nissan Leaf sold for in 2012. It started at $35,200 before the Federal Tax Credit of $7,500 for the purchase of a battery electric vehicle. So, that’s 1.13 times the amount of the average car without the application of the Federal Tax Credit. If the purchaser in 2012 was eligible for the whole credit, it also means that the Nissan Leaf at that point is 0.89 of the average car price. Food for thought.

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt had a MSRP starting at $39,145 when purchased new. I don’t remember whether it was eligible for the whole $7,500 Federal Credit, but let’s assume that it was. So, looking at the same ratios again. The Volt was 1.26 times the average car before the credit and 1.02 times the average car after the tax credit.

I used 2012 as my figure to compare as it was the easiest recent year for me to find the average car price for. Assuming mild inflation in the averages, it’s even more dramatic to see the drop in MSRP for the 2015 model years of the same two cars that I used for my example. The 2015 Nissan Leaf can now be purchased around $29,010 and the 2015 Chevrolet Volt starts at $34,185 before the tax credit.

It’s interesting that when one looks to the past, it really makes one appreciate what the future holds for us.

Range Anxiety? Not really…

Elon Musk’s tweet (“@elonmusk – Tesla press conf at 9am on Thurs. About to end range anxiety … via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S fleet. March 15, 2015“) to end “range anxiety” which has since been deleted, had me thinking not about the disappointing announcements regarding the 6.2 software patches, but about when the last time was that I’ve actually experienced range anxiety.

I must admit that it’s been a while for me. We decided to move to Tesla Motors electric vehicles because we didn’t want to have to worry about range. Both the Model S and Roadster have a range of at least 170 miles. As for recharging, using DC Charging, the Model S can Supercharge at over 300 miles per hour or quick charge using CHAdeMO over 130 miles per hour. Over AC charging, our Model S can go up to 80A (or approximately 58-62 miles per hour) and the Roadster can go up to 70A (or approximately 56 miles per hour). That’s plenty fast recharging. Besides, if you charge overnight, it’s time you’re spending sleeping anyway.

When we first started our adventure with electric vehicles with the Active E, range anxiety was a byproduct of moving from a nearly limitless range to one where each full charge lasted 80-100 miles. However, it wasn’t long that I was making the statement that the range of the Active E was limitless, as long as you can get charge and have the time to wait for a charge. If a charger was available, I plugged in, even at 110V when no L2 was available.

It was not uncommon for me to do 140 mile days in the Active E. It required charging at multiple places, but L2 at 6.6 kW and later at 5.2 kW is not exactly speedy, but it isn’t slow either, at least at the time. Now that I’m used to Supercharging, quick charging, 40 Amp/10kW charging over a NEMA 14-50 or 6-50 connector, it seems that approximately 20 miles per hour seems so slow. Public charging in 2012 was fairly plentiful and easy to use in Southern California. Rarely did I have to wait, and most of the places that I found to charge at Level 2 were relatively free. Things became relatively harder at 2013. One could say that projecting the pending difficulty in obtaining public charging with shorter range electric vehicles definitely helped contribute to the decision to get Tesla Motors vehicles.

So, Range Anxiety with the Model S? Not really. One of the first things that I did when we first got our Model S and Roadster were to get some of the available charging adapters. Aside from J1772, we got adapters for NEMA 6-50 as well as NEMA 14-50. so that we could charge the car at up to 40A. Though the Model S (with dual chargers) and Roadster can go to 80A and 70A J1772 if presented with that speed. Plus, as I recently wrote, I just got CHAdeMO for our Model S, that’s a really respectable 130 miles per hour.

Which brings me to hyper-miling and Elon’s announcement.

Hyper-miling is a skill that I learned about and learned to do when I first got the Active E. Getting the most miles per kWh was the goal (or consuming the least wH per mile as is the measure on the Model S, which I’ve measured at 307 wH per mile recently). In a nutshell, hyper-miling involves driving at a constant speed, or motor use and using larger vehicles, trucks, etc. ahead of you to lower the wind resistance that impacts your vehicle. With the Active E and the size of the 1-series that it was adapted from, it was relatively easy to find vehicles that are “larger” than it to “drift” behind and it was noticeable to see the miles per kWh climb. I’ve even hit a respectable 5.0 kWh (200 Wh per mile) on the Active E, as heavy as it is.

My most recent trip to San Diego from Los Angeles County gave me a long time to ponder this thought and put a few things to test with the Model S. Since moving to the Model S, I really haven’t given hyper-miling any further thought. Until now.

As more Model S roll off the factory floor in 2015 with Adaptive Cruise Control or Autopilot, I’ve been intrigued with the ability to set the number of car-lengths to the vehicle ahead of you (pictured below from a loaner I had driven a few weeks ago.) Figuring that such a feature really lends itself to hyper-miling.

However, a more fundamental question presented itself to me. Can I even hyper-mile a Model S? So, during this same trip to San Diego, I followed a smaller delivery truck that was the ideal candidate for my test.

I started the drive making note of my average 30 mile consumption that is constantly graphed on my dash (as a preference that I’ve set.) See the example below.

After getting my base (which, I did not record on photographs) I was in flowing traffic of around 75 mph at this point.

I decided to see what the effect was if I implememented hyper-miling techniques behind smaller vehicles. As predicted, it didn’t really help much. Too much of the wind resistance was not cut-down by the smaller vehicles.

Which leads me to try the test with the aforementioned small truck. I decided to pace the vehicle for about five miles and my average Wh per mile consumption during that period dropped at least 20 Wh per mile at a driving speed that was constant with the speed I was following smaller vehicles with. Is that a lot? Well, every bit counts and this was for five miles.

Physics doesn’t change, it’s just more difficult to find candidate vehicles to drift behind in a Model S. Next time, I’ll see if I can recreate the test using a loaner with Adaptive Cruise Control to see if I’m better than or if the Autopilot is at trying to hyper-mile. Granted, I have yet to set ACC at less than 2 car lengths for any distance, but that’s what I’ll have to do.

Oh and Range Anxiety, not really… I did that San Diego trip and back (220 miles RT) with no anxiety.

CHAdeMO to Tesla Model S charging adapter – Instructions and Review

A little over a year ago, I put my name on the waitlist for the CHAdeMO to Tesla Model S adapter. At the time, I was unsure whether I would need it or want it, but thought it would be good to get the option. At the time, Tesla wanted around $1,000 for the adapter, and it was very pricey. I figured that I could always turn it down when my number came up.

Well… Something happened between then and now.

Tesla dropped the price and my number was called. So… We said, “what the heck.”

Tesla does such a great job with the packaging for their accessories:

Tesla’s instructions are elegantly presented in the following pictograph:

Being a technical person, I found these pictographs to be well done and quite easy to follow. Now, I’m unsure whether they’re great fro non-technical people, but between this pictograph and the one provided for the Premium Rear Console, I have to tip my hat off to Tesla for providing very easy to follow instructions.

Step 1 is to order the product on the website. Be aware that (at least in the United States) there is a waitlist (as of March 23, 2015). When your number is called, you have to make the decision whether to order it or not.

Step 2 is to receive the box

Step 3 is to open the box, it’s nicely packed with the pictograph instructions above.

So, how do we use the CHAdeMO to Model S Adapter? Well, it depends on which CHAdeMO L3 Charger you’re using. I chose to try the adapter with an Eaton CHAdeMO charger and a Nissan CHAdeMO charger because the two locations that I identified currently provide the charging without a fee. Many of the Nissan CHAdeMOs have been converted to a pay system and require an RFID and payment to charge. I have not yet used one of these.

Step 4 Attach the CHAdeMO cable from the L3 charger to the Adapter.

Make sure to align the notches appropriately, it won’t fit otherwise.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

[Update as of 2015-07-15, wrote a post for the Efacec (the Evapower EV QC 50) that forks off the instructions from here.]

Step 5 is to mate the CHAdeMO to the CHAdeMO to Model S Adapter.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

Seat the Eaton CHAdeMO to the Adapter and make sure that it is secure.

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

make sure to pull the trigger on the Nissan CHAdeMO to secure the piece to the adapter.

Step 6 is to plug the Adapter to the Model S.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

Step 7 is to press start on the CHAdeMO Charger to initiate the charge.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

It’s the blue START button, I forgot to take a picture of me pressing the button.

Step 8 Go back to the car or go about your business, but put a note on the car if you do leave so that anyone who needs to use the charger can contact you. Better yet, if you choose a note, let me recommend the EV Card from Plug In America or Jack Brown’s Take Charge and Go tags. Additionally, I would also recommend checking into Plugshare so that anyone looking at the location remotely will know that someone is charging, at the moment.

If you go back to the car, you will notice the charge speed of CHAdeMO

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO charging the Model S pictured

From the Model S:

From the Eaton CHAdeMO’s display:

One of the things that you will notice that is different between the Eaton and the Nissan CHAdeMO station is that the Eaton provides an estimate of how long the charge will take to full. The Nissan one that I have found do not do the same.

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO charging the Model S pictured

From the Model S:

From the Nissan CHAdeMO’s display:

Step 9 When done using the charger, press the STOP button

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

Step 10 Detach the Adapter from the charger’s CHAdeMO cable.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

[I don’t remember if there was a button, but some of them do… press that to release.]

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

Step 10A Slide the Grey lock away from the handle

Step 10B Press the black button on “top” of the CHAdeMO cable. Make sure to be ready to catch the CHAdeMO to Model S Adapter.

Step 11 Return the cable back to its proper location.

Here is the Eaton CHAdeMO pictured

Here is the Nissan CHAdeMO pictured

Step 12 Return your CHAdeMO to Model S Adapter back to your car and drive off.

If you’re interested in more pictures of the CHAdeMO to Model S Adapter, here’s my flickr stream.

So, is the adapter worth $1,000? I probably wouldn’t have bought it for that much. However, since they dropped the price to $450, it came down to a price that is less than Henry Sharp’s CAN Adapters for the Roadster.

How useful is it? Well, on a recent trip to San Diego, I found a Nissan dealership (Pacific Nissan in Mission Bay) that allowed me to use their CHAdeMO. This is useful as Tesla has not completed the build out of the Supercharger down to San Diego. The nearest one is the San Juan Capistrano, one that is reported to be very busy with the seven SC stalls at the location.

It was quite useful since I arrived in the Mission Bay area about thirty minutes earlier than I expected to. I’m not sure how often I will need to use the adapter, but at $450, it was at a price point that is intriguing. The product is well-built, well documented, and works. Charging adapters are priceless when you need them in an emergency. There’s nothing more embarrassing than running out of charge.

Elon may think that the recently announced 6.2 firmware will end range anxiety, but I find the ability to charge at any rate is comforting. Even 110V at 3 miles per hour could work, in a pinch. But 130+ miles an hour over CHAdeMO is a bit better than 3 miles per hour.

Achievement Unlocked = 10MWh of EV driving on our Tesla Motors Model S

Granted this photograph was after the round trip commute home (which is why the total was actually 10,025 kWh.)

We were at 32,571 at .8 kWh from the 10 MWh when I left home. It does figure to the 307 watt hours per mile, so it’s nice to check the math against the built in calculations.

Anyway, kinda anti-climactic after the 100,000 All EV Miles.

100,000 All Electric Miles reached by our household today…

About 1/3rd of the way home today, we reached 100,000 All Electric miles on all vehicles owned or leased by our family. We reached this landmark mileage figure with the help of our Active E, which we picked up on February 23, 2012 and returned on February 23, 2014, as well as our Roadster and Model S…

One of the side-effects of tracking our hybrid garage (our minimizing gas use post, first year, and recently posted second year) use has been to track the number of all electric miles that we’ve done since we picked up our vehicles. Which means that we deduct the original 2,220 miles on the Roadster when we picked it up CPO, we deduct the 14 miles that we had on the Active E, and the 22 miles that was on our Model S on our acquisition of each vehicle. That’s how we get to the 100,000 Total EV miles on our family vehicles.

So at 3:29 PM Pacific Time on March 10, 2015, we hit 32,221 miles on the Model S which made our total for the family at 100,000 all electric miles. Additionally, it turned out that we hit that 100,000 EV miles target on day 1,111 of our ownership/lessor of our primary EVs. These totals mean that we averaged about 90 miles of electric driving per day for the past 1,111 days. That’s more than double the US average commute of 40 miles roundtrip. Additionally, 54,321 of those miles are on an EV that averages 80-100 miles of range in the Active E. So to those that say that EVs are for short distances only, need to check on the mileage that we did with our vehicles. Range Anxiety? Not around here.

Ended today at 100,024 total household EV miles. Next target? 10 MWh [corrected from 1 MWh thanks to @grahamparks] of energy consumed on our Tesla Model S. [as was pointed out by @grahamperks on Twitter, I understated myself. 1 MWh=1,000 kWh. So, I’m about to hit 10MWh on the Model S]

9901.3 kWh consumed for the 32,245 Miles that I ended my commute to home today at a conservative 291 wH per mile for the day (still at 307 wH per mile since we picked up our Model S).

Rear passengers rolling in style… Premium Rear Console installation and review

Most of the time I drive alone or with my wife on our Model S. We rarely use the rear seats for passengers. However, when we do, it’s usually one or two other people, and rarely are we fitting three people in the vehicle. It’s nice to have the option to fit three people, but we often ride with less.

One of the complaints that is common to owners of Model S are the lack of cup holders in the vehicle. The rear part of the vehicle have no cup holders unless the owner of the Model S opts for a rather interesting solution from Tesla.

I was uninterested in this rear cup holder solution and was surprised when I found the Premium Rear Console on the http://shop.teslamotors.com/ site.

Since we rarely travel with five people, we figured that the Premium Rear Console from Tesla would provide some traveling in style for our passengers.

Installation

So, the installation instructions seemed simple enough. The following pictograph was included in the shipment.