Had to run to town for a Not-Hobby Lobby visit, and damn, looka this!
Not even Cockroach Acres can hide from the future forever.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.
“woke” is the new caravan.
Glad to see john eastman going through some things.
Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?
It’s the corruption, stupid.
Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?
Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.
Optimism opens the door to great things.
Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.
No one could have predicted…
Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.
I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.
Everybody saw this coming.
Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.
I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.
Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.
When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.
Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.
Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.
Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.
So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.
Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.
The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.
I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.
Ridnik Chrome
Dead-threaded: @Mike J: Farber’s original argument was probably dumbed down considerably by his editors (it is the Daily News, after all), but I kind of get what he’s trying to say. It is possible to be sexually assertive without being sexist, but it seems like kids today have lost that art. They either go too far in one direction and write songs that sound like pornography, or they go too far in the other and end up sounding neutered…
prufrock
I want a model 3 so bad when they come out.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Heh. Hadn’t seen that before
feebog
@prufrock:
Considering the 3 as well. I wish they offered a hybrid version, don’t like the idea of having to wait for a recharge on a long trip.
srv
No bollards, your old folks will crash their Caddies into them thinking they’re unleaded.
Howard Beale IV
Wonder how long it will take before the addicts strip the cables out and sell the copper?
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
Excuuuuuuuse me, they are called “palmetto bugs” around here.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
Never thought the Florida justice system, Republican overlords, stupid small town cops, and general Florida Man-ness would acquit itself better, NRA lobbyists and all, than MO.
I know MO is a kind of miserable place–my cousins grew up there, after all–but wow.
Like, wow.
shelley
Jeez, I’m not that much of a recluse…what the heck are those things?
Roger Moore
@feebog:
I don’t think the Tesla is the right car for a single-car household, or if it is, you’ll need to rent if you’re planning a long trip. That might not be a bad idea anyway. I get the distinct impression that a lot of people buy a car with the idea that it has to be able to handle anything they might want to do, so they wind up with a vehicle that’s too big and fuel hungry to be a sensible choice for their regular driving. They’d be better off getting a sensible daily commuter and renting for the occasional time when the family is in town or they’re going on a big trip.
shelley
Oh, is it a charging stations? (The dawn breaks)
Gosh, that photo will make Gov. Christie cry.
Roger Moore
@shelley:
Charging stations for electric cars made by Tesla Motors.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
Btw, those cousins, like myself, direct descendants of slaveholders from Virginia, Welsh but probably a bit German too because of the conspicuously German given names, also married into more recent immigrant German families.
These people BRAGGED about being descended from slaveowners. Meant they were upper crust, sophisticated, sure we’re on hard times but we’re better people. Voted Republican, whole nine yards. Bragged the fuck about it. Fought over who inherited the damn plantation sugar bowl that was buried in the backyard during the Civil War bragged about it. Cried about the wrong branch of the family getting it.
Ended up in Midwest. KS, OK, MO, TX.
This is the real face of white America. Everybody stop fronting.
(The other side of my family kept it a closely guarded secret for years that their family owned slaves. A sense of shame, yes, but also lying to themselves and their children. It’s time and past time to be honest about this shit. It doesn’t negate the good that was done, in fact, it casts it in sharper relief.)
I hear a lot of white people whine about how their ancestors are more recent immigrants. Most of my DNA comes from more recent immigrants but guess what, sparky, whites marry other whites and there you go. As long as you perpetuate white supremacy, all the lies, and the hate, and the violence, you can never, ever wash your hands of it.
And again, stop fucking fronting. Behind closed doors, you brag about this shit. And you concern troll about “those people”.
RaflW
I looked at Tesla’s web site the other day (before getting sticker shock) and saw that I could drive from Minneapolis to Denver via the Tesla rapid-charge stations. But I’d have to stop several times for 30 minute refills.
For now, I’m opting for a 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5l. They improved the combined mgp by 2 over the 2014, and by 7mpg compared to my last Subaru, which was a ’98 Forester (which I let go in 2006).
I did consider the Prius V, but with part-time Colorado mountain living, I just couldn’t go for the FWD. I tested the Subaru hybrid, but the battery is too small, so not enough mpg boost for the extra hoopla, cost, etc.
I’m hoping for a robust hybrid from Subaru in the next 4-5 years…
.
ETA: Or a diesel, FFS. I drove a 6-spd Ford Focus turbo diesel in Italy on summer vacation. It was fast, fun, and a fuel-sipper. Damn American consumers (and some oddities of U.S. EPA rules…)
some guy
NICE. there are a few public chargers here (2 at the University, a few around town, one each at the Mercedes, Nissan, and Toyota dealers) but there needs to be dozens more. A charging station in and of itself is cheap, a few thousand dollars.
more charging stations now!
Iowa Old Lady
@Howard Beale IV: In Detroit, we lived in a neighborhood of big old houses built in the 30s, some of which had copper gutters and downspouts. Thieves used to strip those. I’d forgotten that.
@efgoldman: Oh you will have fun, Grandpa.
Mnemosyne
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer):
Did you ever see Henry Louis Gates’s ancestry show (the one they stole for “Who Do You Think You Are?” on network TV)? Wanda Sykes got the ultimate good news/bad news: her family had always been free (descended from a white indentured servant woman who had a relationship with a black slave) but they were also slaveowners themselves (on a very small scale) waaaay back in the day (mid-1700s, IIRC).
One side of my family immigrated here in the early 1900s, but the other side makes me eligible for membership in the DAR, so I’m sure there’s some slave-owning in our past since it was legal in the North until the late 1700s.
Bill E Pilgrim
@shelley: They’re portals into another world. You step through the center in whatever backwater small town you’re in and emerge in Northern California in the next century.
A surprising number of people immediately jump back through. (It’s okay, I’m from Northern California, I kid the place but we go way back, so I can say things like that.)
They even give you a little rubber rope railing to hold onto.
Iowa Old Lady
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): It’s always interesting to point out that most African Americans have ancestors here dating from far before most European immigrants.
Amir Khalid
@efgoldman:
Yes, it works just like cellphones that way. There is no standard because everyone developed their own tech from scratch, everyone would like the industry to adopt their way as the standard, and no one wants to bear the cost of converting to someone else’s standard.
some guy
@efgoldman:
there are 4 plug types:
Type 1 – single phase vehicle coupler – reflecting the SAE J1772/2009 automotive plug specifications
Type 2 – single and three phase vehicle coupler – reflecting the VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2 plug specifications
Type 3 – single and three phase vehicle coupler equipped with safety shutters – reflecting the EV Plug Alliance proposal
Type 4 – fast charge coupler – for special systems such as CHAdeMO
there is a Beta/VHS thing going on, though
The Japanese-developed CHAdeMO standard is favored by Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Toyota, while the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) International J1772 Combo standard is backed by GM, Ford, Volkswagen, and BMW. Both are direct-current quick-charging systems designed to charge the battery of an electric vehicle to 80 percent in approximately 20 minutes, but the two systems are completely incompatible.
some guy
the picture Betty posted is the Tesla Supercharger, which is a fast charging system specific to the Tesla Model S
Sir Laffs-a-Lot
My family descends from slaveowners as well. Both sides of the family emigrated from the Trondheim area of Norway in the late 1860s to mid 1870s so they missed the ante bellum era and the ACW. However, our ancesters were some of the Vikings who invaded, plundered and enslaved Ireland in the the 9th and 10th centuries. I have fun with that on St Patrick’s day until they start to chase me.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: I would even be happy with self-driving cars, damnit. I can’t believe that I’m almost 35 and I still have to drive myself. Feh.
some guy
@efgoldman:
well, the J1772 fast charger is the sole type used here in my town. even the Nissan dealership uses that type. utlimately, the J1772 will probably win in the continental US, just like VHS did, simply by sheer numbers and market inertia.
the biiger issue is number of public locations. Your range is determined by where you can make sure you have enough chargers to be able to do a roundtrip. my buddy has a Smart, and if he takes it to the beach (which he hasn’t yet) he needs to make sure he can find a charger in St. Augustine, get the car charged fully for a return trip, and then go and play in the waves.
you can always use your built in charger, but it is very slowwwww.
srv
@RaflW: You might ask John about his lovely Subaru (not the art piece in the field).
J.
Am I the only one who hears OMD’s “Tesla Girls” every time she sees or hears the word Tesla?
dmsilev
@efgoldman: Well, iRobot would be happy to sell you a Roomba. It’s a start.
Iowa Old Lady
@dmsilev: I saw a video the other day of a cat in a dragon suit riding on a Roomba. Was that on here?
dmsilev
@J.: I think ‘large magnet’ myself.
Pogonip
Nakedcapitalism.com is desperately looking for someone in the NYC area to take a big black dog whose time at the animal shelter is running out.
Mnemosyne
@J.:
Is it weird that I’ve heard that song a million times (approximately) and never knew the title? It’s not one of my favorites, so I mostly heard it on the radio.
Ruckus
@feebog:
Know someone with a current model and he has taken several long trips with it. Currently(no pun intended) you have to plan a bit for a quick recharge station but Tesla makes that easy(and getting easier by the day) and that only takes according to him 15-30 minutes. So he has a coffee, lunch, etc while the car charges. For around town he says it’s never a problem keeping enough charge to make it a daily driver. Except for the initial cost, around $100K. It is a beautiful car, looks great inside and out. He says it is fast and handles well and is very comfy.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
A quick look says that they’ve standardized on a common design*. It looks as if Teslas can use the standard chargers but also have a proprietary one that lets them charge much faster. I wasn’t able to figure out if there’s a way for other EVs to work with the proprietary Tesla chargers.
*Actually, that’s not quite true. What they’ve standardized on is including the complicated electronics on-board, with a standard connector that lets you plug the car into ordinary household current. Most models provide an adapter that lets you plug them into a regular wall socket, but that won’t provide enough power to charge very quickly.
gogol's wife
@Iowa Old Lady:
Surely you mean a shark suit — it’s a classic video.
Southern Beale
Nashville has Blink chargers all over the place. Seeing a Leaf on the road is as common now as seeing a Prius.
I really don’t understand why Musk decided to not go with the standard charger, but instead had to have his own. It’s like, why create a dual platform? Haven’t we been down this road with VHS/Beta and Apple/Miscrosoft? I thought it was a douchey thing to do.
Teslas are nice looking cars, though, and if I had a spare $100Gs lying around I might buy one. But my Leaf is awesome and I’ve already invested in the charger, so I doubt a Tesla is in my future.
Mike G
Where?
Southern Beale
Speaking of old folks and Caddies today — where’s it’s 105 degrees I might add — saw an old guy sitting in his caddy Escalade, engine running, air conditioning on, driver’s seat reclined, fast asleep. I went into a business at 2 pm and I left at 3:15 pm and he was still there. He was there for OVER AN HOUR, engine running, A/C on.
That is such a huge pet peeve of mine. All the heat his car was kicking off into the parking lot on an already brutally hot day, not mention air pollution. What an ass. I hope the fucker runs out of gas.
I mean shit, there’s a movie theater 1/2 block away and an infinite number of businesses (including a shopping mall). Obviously he was waiting for someone at a nail salon. Have them call you when they’re getting ready to leave and you can come meet them. How hard is that?
Elizabelle
@efgoldman:
Both you and Siubhan will be in DC next week? Wow!
Let’s do a meetup fer sher.
DCists and NoVans and Marylanders?
Got to say Murphy’s upstairs in Old Town Alexandria was very easy; free parking on street at that hour. And we could barhop/pubcrawl/conga line. Whatever …
Elizabelle
Tesla chargers are beautiful. They say “The future is here and damn, is it expensive!”
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Micro-USB, but the point stands–there’s finally a good deal of gadget standardization. Regardless, we have a tangle-drawer packed with proprietary connecting cables for everything from GPSs to cameras to flashlights to sound systems to bluetooth gagdets to toys…ad nauseam. Generally takes half an hour to extract the needed one. And don’t get me started on wall warts.
Betty Cracker
Oh Jesus, Dylan Byers of Politico has written an article about Vox Media not living up to the hype. That’s like Ted Nugent criticizing Kanye West’s bad manners.
Roger Moore
@Southern Beale:
The Tesla can use the standard chargers. The special Tesla design is to make it practical to charge the car faster. The bigger the car’s battery, the more time it takes to charge with a given amount of power. With a Tesla, a standard 240V/40A charger will take about 2 hours to recharge 1 hour of highway driving, and their special 240V/80A charger will still only add about one hour of driving per hour of charging. That’s not practical for somebody who wants to take a road trip, so they needed a special charging system that’s much faster.
muddy
I wrote to Bernie Sanders and said What about charging stations at Post Offices? Always easy to find.
Xenos
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): I have some ancestors who were Union men from Tennessee. I went ahead and tracked down their census records from 1860, and sure enough they had three unnamed “African” men living in their house. Sure was nice of them to be so hospitable!
No-one ever talked about it, no information has been left behind. Maybe it is too much credit to them to say they may have been ashamed, but at least they had the virtue of being ardent haters of the Confederacy.
I suppose those three men could have been kin, and maybe I could track them down. But I doubt they really would want me showing up for Sunday dinner someday. Since there are thousands of African Americans with my last name I should just treat them all like brothers and sisters, just as the more reputable religious authorities tell me I ought to be doing, anyway.
skerry
Another suicidal man with a knife shot dead by police in my community today. Second in 2 days.
Southern Beale
@Roger Moore:
Really? I thought they couldn’t use the standard chargers. By “standard chargers” I mean the Blink chargers that were installed all across Tennessee as part of the DOE’s project. I have a Blink charger in my garage, and there are Blink chargers all over Nashville in public places. There are also GE chargers but they are the same as the Blinks.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: Everyone involved with Politico is a pox on the once semi-respectable profession of journalism.
Feeding them to wild, rabid dogs would be unfair…to the wild, rabid dogs.
burnspbesq
@some guy:
There is a double charger in the parking structure at my fancy-schmancy upscale office building. There are ALWAYS two cars there.
Iowa Old Lady
@gogol’s wife: Yes! It was a shark suit. I apparently found the whole thing too odd to remember clearly.
The toilet in my master bathroom just broke. Crap. So to speak.
burnspbesq
@Southern Beale:
If the guy is driving an Escalade, he’s almost certainly a dick. You’re just piling up additional evidence.
Southern Beale
@trollhattan:
God that is such a huge pet peeve of mine. And fucking Apple, man. Every time I upgrade my technology (i.e., new iPhone, iPod, laptop, etc.) suddenly the old charger doesn’t work, so I have to keep the old one AND the new one if I want to continue to use the old item for some reason, which I often do. On top of which, my husband is anti-Apple so we have all of this crap TIMES TWO because his Samsun cellphone and tablet and laptop all use different chargers. And don’t even get me started on the damn cameras, as I use a Nikon and he uses a Canon.
And this shit makes me crazy when we travel because I have a backpack full of chargers. Makes me nuts.
drkrick
@Iowa Old Lady:
It’s even more fun to consider that a lot of people who consider themselves white do, too. The same ones.
Gindy51
@Another Holocene Human (now with new computer): Half of my family came over on the bloody Mayflower and not only owned slaves but burnt witches and ran the stock yards in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. A real bunch of lovely folks, that side. All infighting about one measly, stupid dollar that someone else got. I hated family reunions when we had to go there. Now my dad’s side, worked in the stockyards as butchers and herders, well they were a hard assed bunch but put on no airs. My dad’s prejudice came from the southern blacks coming up north and taking the whites’ jobs because they’d work cheaper. Luckily for me, I didn’t inherit any of the bull shit either of them spouted and they were warned severely it had better never be heard by my daughter or else. Now a days I am so glad they are both dead because I just shudder at what I’d have to hear if they were alive with one of “them” as president.
Steeplejack (phone)
Waiting to board at Dulles. I’m not a security expert, so call me crazy, but they were running people wholesale through TSA Pre. It looked like a “Let’s reduce this massive line” move to me, but what do I know?
Viva Las Vegas!
Hal
Why does the media let people make claims like this? This woman is getting death threats? From who? I also have to laugh at all the people holding up signs that say innocent until proven guilty when they have clearly made up their minds that he is completely innocent and the killing was justified.
Ruckus
@Hal:
Logical thought does seem to pass conservatives right on by doesn’t it? Almost like they aren’t capable of it at all.
Iowa Old Lady
@efgoldman: That happened to Mr IOL and me the last time we flew too, but since it was the Cedar Rapids airport, it didn’t matter much. The two of us constituted the whole line.
Betty Cracker
Watching the Bucs spank the Bills in preseason football, which is obviously meaningless. But I like to see the Bucs win, a rarity here lately, and it’s even nicer that they’re beating the Bills because my in-laws are all from Buffalo.
The Bucs’ new uniforms are HIDEOUS! But the numbers font is kinda cool. Looks vaguely Klingon-ish.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Yes, I’m heading up your direction towards the end of the week, en route to my first-ever visit to New England (not counting a couple of long-ago conferences in Boston, during which I hardly got out of the hotel).
I hope that some people will be around, even though it is going to be Labour Day weekend. As efgoldman mentioned, he and I have been in touch about a possible meeting, and I am very eager to meet Valdivia, and you, and I’m sure there are others I’m not remembering right now. (Steeplejack, sadly, will be in Las Vegas and I don’t think will be back in time.)
If you want to organize a BJ meetup at Murphy’s or wherever, that would be terrific! My email is my handle @ gmail dot com. If you want to contact me that way, we can look at possible days/times, and exchange phone numbers. Thanks! I’m beginning to get excited!
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Agreed. I’m not much of a pub-crawler now that I’m in my dotage. But I’m certainly up for a couple of glasses of wine, food of some description, and mostly, lots of good conversation.
scav
@Hal: Well, at least we’ve now acquired some canaries — we’ll know we’re making progress the more we make the Darren Wilsons of Show Me MO Privilege cry behind their sunglasses and smudge their raccoon mascara. Would pay good money to have a Steve Hewkin sprinkler, actually. guard
some guy
@burnspbesq:
Thrre is a double charger in the parking lot of the office complex I bring my daughter for therapy. Lots of medical offices there. At lay one of the two is being used every Tues at 4.
There is only one other double charger in town, unfortunately.
some guy
@burnspbesq:
Thrre is a double charger in the parking lot of the office complex I bring my daughter for therapy. Lots of medical offices there. At least one of the two is being used every Tues at 4.
There is only one other double charger in town, unfortunately.
different-church-lady
Why did “Also sprach Zarathustra” pop into my head when I saw that pic?
Suzanne
I am sitting here at the hair salon, waiting for someone to fix the disaster I have made of my head.
Seriously, I need to give up dyeing my own hair. I’ve splattered my walls so much it looks like a crime scene.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Seattle’s dismantlement of Chicago last night must be eerily familiar to the rest of the league. They seem to have not missed a beat and if anything, are better than last year.
trollhattan
@Suzanne:
Detective: “Why is this blood green?”
Betty Cracker
You East Coast travelers / residents keep an eye on the tropics. Looks like a hurricane might blow up your way
PurpleGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Are you coming through NYC? If so, when? It’s been some time since NYC had a meet-up and I don’t think we must have DougJ present to have one.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
REDRUM
Steeplejack (phone)
@efgoldman:
My boarding pass didn’t say squat. I mean they were running (what appeared to be) hordes of ordinary flyers through. They were actively telling clueless people all around me, “No, don’t take your shoes off, and I don’t want to see your computer. Move it!” Good times.
SiubhanDuinne
@PurpleGirl:
I had not really planned to be in NYC this trip, but the back end of my tour is loose enough that I might consider it. Would be probably sometime the week of Sept. 15 if it happens. No promises, but let me take another look at the itinerary, the calendar, and the exchequer. I do have friends on the UWS who could put me up for a night or two, but I don’t like the idea of driving/parking in the city. I hated it when I lived there almost 50 years ago, and I can’t imagine it’s gotten better :-(
But I’m not ruling it out.
ETA: DougJ would be value-added.
Steeplejack (phone)
I’m on the plane now, which is suspiciously (but delightfully) underpopulated. Got my Skymall, my Nook and a United mag with a clean crossword. Steep like.
And I told the flight attendant I am willing and able to man my exit row, and I even offered to throw someone off the plane as a demonstration. Not necessary. So everything’s cool.
different-church-lady
@Suzanne: I love the blues. Is that Robert Johnson?
PurpleGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: No problem if NYC is not in the plans on this trip. I know you mentioned wanting to make a number of trips and another time would be okay too.
trollhattan
Am not putting this in the happy thread above. Again, part the infinity.
Thank God the 2nd held firm against those who would have denied a mentally ill American his guns, ammo and permit.
NotMax
There are a pair of charging stations in the parking lot of the electric company headquarters building here.
I noted that both had an “Out of service” sign on them each time I went there to pay my bill over the last 2 months.
PurpleGirl
@trollhattan: Unfortunately, it is possible he never a doctor about his mental health problems and there was no paper trail that would have kept him from getting the gun permit(s), guns and ammo.
Iowa Old Lady
@Steeplejack (phone): It’s been ages since I was on a plane that wasn’t full. You’re right to be suspicious.
Chris T.
“The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!”
“Yeah, and if you don’t like any of those, you can just make up your own!”
As others have noted there are several “standards” for EVs. The most common one at this point (at least in the US) is the J1772 connector:
http://m.eet.com/media/1200053/sae-j1772c.jpg
All this thing really is, is a glorified electric dryer / RV-outlet plug. It has some good stuff to keep you from electrocuting yourself even if you’re plugging your car in outdoors while it’s pouring down rain, and it’s quite sturdy, so the units go for several hundred bucks (but really could cost less than $100 in appropriate quantities).
The downside is that even at the newer higher “6.6 kW” charge rate (newer Leaf cars), it takes an hour to get 6.6 kWh.
ASIDE: “watts” or “kilowatts” (kW) are how fast the energy comes over. They’re like the gallons-per-minute coming out of a shower head or a garden hose. The energy you store in the batteries is measured in “kWh”: rate (kilowatts), multiplied by time (hours). This is like the “gallons” in a bucket, or in a swimming pool in the yard.
A short-hand way to remember and think of this is to read “mph” wherever you see “kw” (and then “miles” where you see “kWh”, which is a little confusing since kWh has that “h” on the end). But “3.3 kW” is “3.3 kWh/hour”, like “3.3 mph”. It’s really quite pokey and slow.
(END ASIDE)
A small-battery EV (a golf cart, for instance) is like a kiddie pool. You can fill it with a hose, or even a bucket and trips from the sink, it’s just not that big.
A big-battery EV (Nissan Leaf) is more like your hot tub. You can fill it with a little garden hose, but it will take a while.
The biggest Tesla is like an Olympic-size in-ground pool. That’s why you really don’t want to use a little garden hose to fill it. Bring on the fire truck and the fire hose!
With gasoline, you can literally measure the energy in each gallon: one US gallon, burned, yields just under 34 kWh of energy—of which the majority is lost to heat, but that’s another problem (see below). The point is there’s still more than 10 usable kWh in a gallon. So, conventional car efficiency can be, and is, measured in miles per gallon (or gallons per mile, or for Hummers, gallons per foot :-) ).
The EPA rates EVs in “kwh per hundred miles”, which is like rating cars in “gallons per hundred miles”. (Or litres per 100 km, as is done in many countries.) Here a smaller number is better. The EPA rates the Leaf at 34 kWh per hundred miles.
Back to those chargers: as I mentioned, the newer Leaf chargers are 6.6 kW. The old ones are 3.3 kW (half that). The 120 volt “convenience chargers” are half that again, more or less (actually slightly less, usually). That’s what the fuss is all about. Even 6.6 kW is just a garden hose: it takes you an hour to get 6.6 kWh and that’s only a bit over what you can use from a gallon of gasoline, in a conventional car.
Fortunately EVs are far, far more efficient in turning “energy” into “movement form point A to point B”. So you only need 34 kWh to go 100 miles, if you’re getting what the EPA says. But at 6.6 kW it takes you just over 5 hours to store that all up (34 / 6.6 = 5.1) . You could store that same 34 kWh all in one gallon of gasoline, which would take you about 5 minutes at a conventional pump. (And then you’d need a car that gets 100 mpg, of course. The Leaf gets EPA’s “99 mpg equivalent”, i.e., it does “get 100 mpg”. You just have to pour the energy in via wires instead of as a liquid explosive.)
But this is why Tesla does not use J1772. Even Nissan does not want to limit people to J1772, hence the “CHAdeMO” chargers. There’s a 2009 update to J1772 that allows for up to 19.2 kW (about 3x faster) but CHAdeMO goes to 62.5 kW (9.5 times faster than a poky 6.6 kW). The SAE folks are proposing a new “Frankenstein plug” version of J1772 that can go as fast as 90 kW. The name “Frankenstein plug” is appropriate: it’s really big and scary looking. Even the base J1772 plug looks big and scary—I think the designers wanted to make you feel like you were using a gas-station pump handle, to “make you comfortable with it.” Most of these charger plugs are like that.
And: proposed. That’s the problem, there’s so many standards already and all of them suck, so Tesla made up their own. The Tesla connector is sleek and easy to work with, and still offers the required safety while giving you the ability to charge at speeds up to 120 kW (again, read “kW” as if it were “mph”).
trollhattan
@Chris T.:
Great post!
Since Tesla is making their patents open for others to use, is it possible the charger configuration might become an accepted cross-platform standard, or is the not-invented-here mentality still status quo?
Chris T.
Oops, I forgot to mention the “other problem”.
In the summer, it’s too hot out, the car is too hot, everything is too hot. You start the conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) car and the engine gets hot too because you’re wasting most of the 34 kWh in each gallon of gasoline, turning it into heat.
Ah, but in the winter… In the winter, it’s too COLD out!
You start up your ICE and the engine gets hot and, aahhh, lovely warm heat! Yay!
Your Nissan Leaf, on the other hand, is very efficient. It turns its 34 kWh (actually a bit less, the thing only holds 24 kWh in the first place) into motion, from point A to point B, with almost no wasted heat.
Wait! Waddaya mean “wasted”?! It’s FREEZING out here, I want more heat!
That’s one problem with EVs in the winter: they’re too efficient and don’t waste, I mean produce, enough energy as heat. At least for some parts of the country. You folks in Florida and Sandy Eggo can ignore all this. :-)
Chris T.
@trollhattan: It might. We can hope. NIH (Not Invented Here) is awfully hard to overcome, but the Tesla charger is somewhere in that “must be at least ten times better to get people to switch” range.
(And Tesla have adapters so that you can plug your Tesla into all the old charger-plugs, too, if you’re willing to sit around and wait while you fill your Olympic swimming pool with a 3.3 kW hose. :-) )
feebog
@Ruckus:
They are beautiful cars and I would really like to take the plunge. But we do a lot of traveling by car, and I can’t see the point in spending 80K for a car my wife (mostly) will just drive around town. If I’m going to spend that much I want a car that I can drive anywhere, any time. I think Tesla is about 5 years away from that point.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: One time, while getting ready for a party, I cut my leg pretty badly while shaving, and got watery blood on the floor that I didn’t have time to clean up until I got home. I also decided to trim my bangs, and got hair all over the place. I realized how it could have looked to the police later.
Going light ash brown. Currently, the bleach has made my hair look orange. Argh. Have to look good for Monday, because they’re taking my corporate picture. Also have a zit. THAT BASTARD.
Iowa Old Lady
@Suzanne: Someone I worked with routinely colored her own hair, and on one occasion, was shocked to find she was now a red head. The box she bought said brown but the bottle inside had been switched with another box.
CaseyL
@Iowa Old Lady: Am I a bad person for laughing? Am I a paranoid person for thinking I better check the color tube from now on when I do my hair?
Maybe she’ll decide she likes being a redhead and stick with it.
trollhattan
@CaseyL:
As a (mean) prank it would rank right up there.
Iowa Old Lady
@CaseyL: I didn’t laugh in her presence, but I’ve told the story several times because it’s quite amusing if it’s not you. So no, not a bad person.
danielx
Hell has officially frozen over. Article title: Erick Erickson Admits Redstaters Don’t Show Christian Values – Flames Ensue
Suzanne
@Iowa Old Lady: I have had a nightmare about that happening, and I check the number on the tube against the box every damn time. That’s useless if there was a mix-up at the factory and they put the wrong goop in the tube, though.
The last time I ever went to a Walmart, I was looking at the hair dye, and Every. Single. Box. had been opened, and some component of the kit was missing. That was when I realized that not only do they treat people like ass, they don’t even do it well.
muddy
@Iowa Old Lady: My mother would stock up on other colors when her brand was on sale and her color was out. Then when she used them later she would get very angry that they had switched it on her. The color she got was medium ash brown, but then she would wash it about 20 times as soon as she colored it, so it would be lighter. I suggested buying light ash brown, but was informed it was the wrong color, she had always used the darker one.
Also, it’s very important to use a semi-permanent color, and not permanent. Permanent = whorish dye job. Semi-permanent = just a little rinse.
Iowa Old Lady
@Suzanne: I’m surprised they don’t at least put one of those little circle seals to close the box.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
If ever in the world there were a paragraph summing up Balloon Juice in all its glory, this paragraph would be it. Just. Perfect.
dr. luba
@Steeplejack (phone): Same thing happened to me in early July at DTW. I thought maybe they’d gotten some better screening equipment, or perhaps the VIP line wasn’t busy. It didn’t look busy, so it didn’t seem like they were trying to rush people through.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
Speaking of nightmares (this is an open thread, I hope!), I dreamt a couple of nights ago that I wanted to interview Hillary Clinton (on radio) and she told me she could give me only five minutes, tops. So we sat down side-by-side, and a tech set up a couple of mics, and about two seconds before we were to go live, the producer told us, with great glee, “We were able to get the whole 30-minute slot. Go!”
Hillary was pissed. I was terrified.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Southern Beale:
Which is why I’m still hanging on to my camera that takes 2 AA batteries.
Steeplejack (tablet)
I guess everyone has moved upstairs, but I wanted to achieve closure in this thread.
I am wi-fi-in’ from the friendly skies, my people! Six bucks bought me three hours of pretty speedy Internet access, and I’m writing this somewhere over Arkansas. (Hope that link works; it’s long as hell.)
This has turned out to be a dream flight. In the five rows ahead of me, including mine, eight seats out of 30 are occupied. I haven’t been on a plane this empty since sometime in the ’90s. (It’s a 737.) I’m sucking on a Bombay Sapphire and tonic and loving life. This is the way to fly! And it’s a good omen for this trip—three weeks of dog-sitting for wingnut brother and keeping an eye on elderly mum.
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker: Aware of the possibility, but thank you. Traveling again on Monday.
raven
@Steeplejack (tablet): And I’m sitting at home at the internet totally sucks. A storm rolled through while we were at the movies and that may be the problem.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@raven:
How’s the Mohs aftermath? I saw some of your earlier comments, not sure if I saw all. You got a 4″ cut, but it’s probably razor thin, right? How many “passes” did they have to take? And has your face bruised up?
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack (tablet): Sounds like a wonderful flight! You mentioned doing some nature-related sight-seeing. Gonna go see the Grand Canyon?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Betty Cracker:
Might be a little too far. I’m going to be living with an old Italian greyhound (very small) and a newly adopted fresh-off-the-track regular greyhound. There is a lot of desert, with interesting stuff in it, right outside Vegas, so I’ll probably do some day hikes. Gotta see how the pooches take to Uncle Steep’s managerial style.
Betty Cracker
Well, have fun with the hounds.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Betty Cracker:
Always. I am a cat and dog person, but I’ve mostly had cats as an adult because of my ramblin’ guy lifestyle. But I am a certified master of the hounds at Bro’ Man’s palatial estate (another greyhound haven), and I look forward to being wedged into bed between the other brother’s hounds for the duration. (I think Italian greyhounds were originally bred as hot water bottles.)
J R in WV
@Pogonip:
Nakedcapitalism.com isn’t very desperate at all, as all they have is a photo of the dog, with NO text at all. I clicked on the photo, and got a huge list of links ONE of which was about the poor dog, hidden in the midst of political and financial links.
The other day I found a page acting desperate to find a home for a dog with no method of communicating with the poster at all, no email address, no phone – nothing! Not a good job, people. A Tumblr page or something like that, no way to respond without joining whatever Tumblr is… not sure that would have helped.
People, there are non-private methods of communicating, email is one of the oldest, but many of us refuse to join proprietary networks like Facebook or Tumblr (whatever that is!) who strip people of their privacy and manipulate them for a profit. Fuck that.
Monday I’ll call and see what the story is at the town shelter. We have dogs and cats, if this boy is good with cats maybe I could drive NE and meet someone in central PA. Long Island is a long, long way from SW West Virginia. I can’g believe there aren’t rural suburban folks much closer that could make room for a nice dog.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Mnemosyne: Ooo, thanks for the tip. That was a great program. That story about John Legend’s ancestors could make a great movie.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Betty Cracker: ROFL, you have such a way with words, Betty! And it’s true, too!
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@skerry:
I seem to remember a time when cops tried to talk suicidal people down instead of killing them. Am I delusional?
One of my wingnut coworker’s favorite stories is from when he was an EMT with the fire dept in WPB County in the 1970s or early 1980s and the cops were called for a paranoid schizophrenic, big naked white guy known to the police, who was terrorizing restaurant patrons with a butcher knife and screaming that he wanted the local news station. The cops convinced the EMTs to approach him with a tranquilizer. The EMT talked the guy into accepting the shot, convincing him it was something he wanted, like vitamins or something. Btw, wingnut coworker told this story with the moral being that schizophrenics are a burden on taxpayers. I don’t think he was embellishing the basic details.
And more recently in my community we had this complete jerkface disabled elderly alcoholic verbally abusive pustule (white guy–around here they’re ALWAYS white guys) who attempted to commit suicide by cop. Get this: he robbed (er, stole from) a convenience story, stole beer I think, and then waited outside for the popo, then attempted to get them to shoot him but they didn’t play his game and just dragged him to jail for the 49873450981740928732014th time.
White privilege, like dead puppies, is no fun at all.
Alex S.
Tesla is the future. The others will try to destroy them like they killed the cable cars.
Cain
can’t wait get my tesla next month!