Get an Eco Score of 100%

You too can get an Eco score of 100%.

At first I thought that that I would never be able to accomplish this feat.  I was always driving up and down hills and trying to avoid other cars, that I would never succeed in reaching this lofty goal.  But I did it.

There are two gauges on the top of the dash that give you a good idea of your performance.  These two gauges will become as important if not more so than the speedometer. The gauge on the left is State of Charge (SOC), effectively the fuel gauge. The one on the right is a Charge gauge, it shows the charge used and it can be positive (to the left) or negative (to the right).

Accelerating

You will want to concentrate most the attention that you would give to the dash instruments, to the gauge that shows charge. If you can keep the charge from ever breaking 50% when accelerating or driving, then this will improve the Eco score.  Accelerating using the kick-down will push the charge usage up to the maximum and destroy any decent Eco score that you may have created. Also, driving at or above 70 mph can use more than 50% charge.

The difficulty in keeping the charge meter from crossing the 50% mark is that acceleration will be slow.  This slow acceleration will not make you popular with other drivers. Personally, I've had to make an effort to refrain from bolting, because I know that I can do it.  But if I want to keep that perfect score, I can't use the kick-down too often.

Braking

It's not tough to figure out, after a few tries, how much distance you will need in order to stop the vehicle.  The Smart ED does have more motor braking by default than the typical internal combustion engine vehicle.  As soon as you lift off from the accelerator, the ED will engage the regeneration and slow you down.  If however, you've opted for the regeneration paddles, you can control how aggressively the vehicle slows and recharges.  But it is key to getting that high score, that you brake appropriately.

When braking, you can get the best recharge by barely tapping the brake pedal.  This turns on your brake lights and maxes out the needle, which means you pushing the max back into the battery (about 90 Amps).  The regeneration will reduce as you slow down.  

The ECO bar is quite effective in encouraging a driver to drive more efficiently.  It's right there at the bottom of the screen and hard to miss.  But if it seems impractical or a false ideal, think of it as paying yourself back.  Sure you're driving electric now and saving already, but if you drive at 100% ECO, you're saving even more.

Public Plug-In Electric Vehicle Charge Etiquette

Until electric car charging gets to be as fast as pumping gas, there will have to be some decent sharing going on.  Like the classic “nobody is watching” scenario, people act very differently when there’s no other person around to tell them that they should probably wait their turn at the charging station.    A person may desperately need to use the charging station, because they know that if they don’t start getting some charge now, they may not be able to get to their next appointment on time.

The change from the old standard, that we've all lived with for our entire lives, is that getting fuel has its costs..  Fueling a gas vehicle takes a few minutes and may cost a lot, but fueling an electric will take a while and won’t cost much.  This is the trade off.  If you don’t have a lot of time, it’s too late to complain that your electric car takes an hour to charge.  

Pure Battery Electric

Consider that people who drive pure battery electric vehicles cannot merely visit a gas station to refuel, where those with plug-in hybrid vehicles can. Although plug-in hybrid vehicle drivers would like to charge as much as the next electric vehicle driver, they have an alternative. Thereby, it would only seem fair to allow the pure battery electric vehicle driver to get a full charge.

Plug-in Lock

Some electric vehicles have a locking ability to maintain control over the plug until charging is complete, but not all do. In line with the ideal of the Charging Etiquette it would be considered appropriate to leave any plug connected until charging is complete. Fortunately, if the vehicle does not have an indicator for the charge, the station does. Once charging is complete, the station will terminate and disconnect the lock (if there is one).

Owners of Electric Vehicles should not be offended if the charging has been completed and another person takes the plug. However, as charging stations are, as yet, not ubiquitous, it is prudent to track one's vehicle status and move the vehicle once charging has completed.

Do unto others...

It's reasonable to think that the best situation is not the most common and that there will be occasions when you or another is in some form of peril. The justifications are innumerable, but it is how we handle them that it is important.

• If you are in need of charge and the plug is taken, it is reasonable to leave a note on the windshield of the current user.  
• You may want to leave your mobile number and kind remark for a future response time.
• If your vehicle has finished charging, please considerate of others and move your vehicle to another space.
• If you need a charge and you can see clearly that the other has finished, remove the plug with the same care that you would for your own vehicle.  
• Please try not to lay the cable across the other vehicle or wrap it tightly around any wheels or bumper.  
• If the cable will not reach, do not force or attempt to stretch it.
• Make no assumptions about the state of the other vehicle.
• You do not know the situation of the other EV owner, as to whether they have a back up generator or that you feel that they have "enough" charge.
• You do not have the right to unplug a hybrid plug-in, regardless.

Getting ICE'd

Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles are still by far the most prevalent vehicle on the road.  Although you may be aware of the latest trend in fuel efficiency and electric vehicles, not everyone is aware yet.  More than likely a person that parks an ICE vehicle in an EV space is not aware of the mistake and leaving a hurtful note will not bring them to justice.  

It is appropriate to leave a note to help in informing the population of the distinction.  It is not appropriate to verbally punish a person for that mistake. As the saying goes "a little kindness can go a long way."


A more concise list of these ideals can be found via PlugInCars.com

Smart ED Basics

You've got to understand the basics of anything before you can use it.  As an engineer, I sometimes think that I know it all before I get started and this is often due to the fact that I have some experience with mechanical or electrical devices.

The Electric Vehicle (EV) certainly looks like a car, but it doesn't exactly act like one.  This post will cover the basics of what you will want to know about an electric car and in this case the Smart ED.  Hopefully, you have at least had the chance to drive a vehicle that uses an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), as some of the information in this post will depend on that prior knowledge.

Getting Started

It's important to note where all the controls are on the vehicle.  Like an ICE vehicle an EV will have a steering wheel, shift controller, accelerator, and brake pedals. The display panels are similar except for two extra gauges on top of the dash.  These two gauges are for fuel and its use.

The gauge on the left shows how much fuel (charge) remains.  The gauge on the right shows the rate at which the fuel is being used. But there is something special about electric vehicles that cannot be done with ICE vehicles.  When braking, the electric motor can be used  to re-capture some of the lost energy. It's like putting fuel back in the tank.

Fuel 

The fuel for the Smart ED is electrical charge.  If you've used a smartphone then you're already somewhat familiar with the electric car and its energy source. The Smart ED uses electricity just like so many electronic devices that we use in our lives every day.

Unlike ICE vehicles, each EV must be equipped with the proper charger in order to refuel the battery (with electricity).  Depending on the capacity of the battery and the charger will determine how long it takes.

The Smart ED has a 17.6 kWh battery and an on-board charger rated at 3.3 kW, so at that fastest it will completely recharge in about 5 hours.

Shift Controller

Electric vehicles do not have the same sort of transmission that you might find in either a manual or automatic ICE vehicle.  In an automatic ICE vehicle you may find more than just the Park, Neutral, Reverse, and Drive.  But because an ICE vehicle has only a narrow band of speeds that are useful, a transmission is used to allow the engine to operate more efficiently at higher and lower speeds.

The EV does not have "gears" per se, but it does at least have Park, Neutral, Reverse, and Drive.  ICE engines usually only spin in one direction so when you need to go in reverse, a gear is inserted to change the direction that the engine spins the wheels.  But when you want an EV to run in reverse, you need only spin it in reverse.

Acceleration

Many of us are quite familiar with labeling the pedal on the right, as the "gas" pedal.  But no gas used to propel an electric car, the more generic term is the "accelerator" pedal. Most electric motors do not require a transmission to change the gearing ration between the motor and the wheels in order to find the optimum performance, the way an ICE does. Electric motors can spin up to much faster than ICE without overheating.

As electric motors do not have to use a transmission to accelerate, there is no need to think about changing gears.  The motor starts and continues on spinning up with greater speeds. Internal combustion engines have a particular range of speeds that are the most efficient and use the transmission to acquire that speed.

The Smart ED has an electric motor capable of about 50 hp, but nearly 100 ft-lbs of torque.  If you floor the accelerator, there's an additional bit of room at the very bottom know as the "kick down".  When you hit the kick down, you will feel a significant increase in the power, like having a nitro pack built-in

Braking

Electric cars are unique when it comes to slowing or stopping.  Although it is possible to use an internal combustion engine to slow the vehicle (called engine braking), the same action when used in an electric car can will generate electricity.  Most electric vehicles are equipped with the ability to increase or decrease the amount of resistance that the motor implements when using it to stop the vehicle.   The greater the resistance, the more energy is generated, and in turn the more quickly the vehicle slows.

Using the regenerative ability of an electric motor to recharge the battery every time that you need to stop, not only increases the longevity of your brakes, but improves the range of the vehicle.

Range

If there's one thing that I've come to see in a completely different way, it's range. Drivers of ICE vehicles take some solace in knowing that with a full tank of gas, range is not a problem.  This is only a recent notion, as before 1950 gas stations were not nearly as common as they are today. Electric vehicle drivers can take solace in knowing that they can recharge nearly anywhere, as the electric infrastructure of modern society has placed hundreds of millions of electrical sockets in nearly every building.

Ah, but what of the range of the electric vehicle?  ICE vehicle drivers are familiar with the necessity of finding a gas station, every so often.  EV owners are familiar with refueling every day.  The closest analog to the daily recharge is the use of a Smartphone. Most people charge the smartphone every day so that it can be used all day.  The same goes for an electric car.

The statistics say that 50% of all modern citizens drive no more than 30 miles in a day and that 80% drive no more than 50 miles in a day.  Most electric cars can easily cover 50 miles of daily driving.

The Smart ED comes with an EPA-noted range of 63 miles per full charge, at the least 58 miles, but some people have been able to get as many as 90 miles.

Conclusion

There's a whole new world of electric vehicles just waiting to be explored and utilized.  Electric vehicles are fun and useful (but mostly fun).   They're not so different from internal combustion engine vehicles, at least externally.  But once you get used to charging your car like you do your smartphone (every day), it won't take long to forget about the prior need to go to a gas station.

You won't feel bad that, although your range in a day may be limited to between 60 and 100 miles, you're spending less than half as much money on fuel as you might have in a Prius.  If you charge at a public charging station, it is actually possible to never pay for fuel.  Do you know of a gas station that gives fuel away for free?

Lastly, I have yet to get bored with the fun of 100% torque, 100% of the time.  Acceleration in an EV is almost too fun and almost unnervingly quiet.  Unless you love the roar of an internal combustion engine, you may be pleasantly surprised by the silent rocket that is the Smart ED.  It might be small, but it's got plenty of power.

California Vehicle Rebate Project

Many of us who are, at the very least, interested in electric vehicle, may not be aware of just how easy it is to get the Federal and State incentives.  For those living in the State of California the process could not be more simple.  Granted you will have to incontestably prove that you did purchase / lease a qualified clean vehicle and that you live in California, but beyond that it's merely a waiting game.

The California Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) website streamlines the entire process.  They are quite aware that you may not have gotten your permanent license yet and are still willing to work with you.  Follow these simple steps and you will be on your way to a rebate of up to $2500.

1. Buy or Lease a Zero Emissions (ZEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric (PHEV), or Fuel Cell vehicle (FCV) in California
2. Visit the CVRP site https://energycenter.org/clean-vehicle-rebate-project
3. Find your Vehicle in the list and click the Apply Now link
4. Read through the eligibility requirements list, check the box at the bottom, and click Accept. There are some stipulations, but they're most semantics. 
5. Fill out the Application form and click Apply at the bottom
6. Check that all the information is correct and hit Submit at the bottom. Consider printing this document via the printer icon at the top, right-hand corner
7. Gather the necessary documents, and send them to the address below within 14 days of the application
1. CVRP application form
2. Copy of your temporary or permanent DMV vehicle registration
3. Copy of the final, executed vehicle lease or purchase agreement
4. Proof of residence in the form of a cable or utility bill, or vehicle registration.

California Center for Sustainable Energy
Clean vehicle Rebate Project
9325 Sky Park Court, Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92123

I got my acceptance letter within 6 days and the notification that I would receive the check for $2500 within a month.  The check can take up to 90 days to actually receive, but once you have the two steps of verification, you will receive it.

A final note for those who are concerned about taxes.  This is a rebate, it is not taxable.

I Bought an Electric Smart Car

It's a challenge for me to express the full ideal what the electric car means in just one sentence, one paragraph, or one article.  So I have chosen to write out the ideas as they come in this blog.  Although I already have another blog that chronicles the intrigues of all eclectic vehicles, this blog is dedicated to the my experiences with the Smart Electric Drive (ED).

On Wednesday, October 30th 2013 I purchased my first electric car.  I then proceeded to drive it all over the San Francisco South Bay Area.  I logged 85 miles the first day, hitting at least 5 separate charge stations and taking pictures (like the one above).

Why did I buy an electric car, especially one so small as the SMART ForTwo Electric Drive?  First off, it's tiny.  It's only 106-inches tip to tail and barely 65 x 67 inches in the other ways.  And yet it's like the TARDIS (bigger on the inside than the outside).  It's literally the smallest production car available in the U.S.

But why electric?  There are just so many reasons, it's tough to enumerate them all, but that is what this blog is about, to let you in on the good and not so good about about electric cars.