Moved to electric: My Tesla Adventure

[tfboy]

Out of interest, are the charging cables locked in place when charging? Or could it turn into another evening activity of the local young scamps unplugging them?

As DH said, the Mennekes connector, known as a Type 2, can lock in place with a pin that drops in to secure the cable both in the car's charge port and at the Type 2 socket on the charge station.
Type 1, aka J1772 is a single-phase only charging plug / socket used on some other EVs like the Nissan Leaf, Mitsu Outlander. These don't have the auto lock feature, but some of the plugs have a securing hole on the trigger mechanism through which you can use a padlock to prevent someone pressing the button to unlock.
The locking feature is required also for safety to prevent someone pulling out the plug whilst charging which can lead to arcing and other dangerous things!

[directhex]

As DH said, the Mennekes connector, known as a Type 2, can lock in place with a pin that drops in to secure the cable both in the car's charge port and at the Type 2 socket on the charge station.
Type 1, aka J1772 is a single-phase only charging plug / socket used on some other EVs like the Nissan Leaf, Mitsu Outlander. These don't have the auto lock feature, but some of the plugs have a securing hole on the trigger mechanism through which you can use a padlock to prevent someone pressing the button to unlock.
The locking feature is required also for safety to prevent someone pulling out the plug whilst charging which can lead to arcing and other dangerous things!

Sadly, some local young scamps worked out that while the cable is padlocked to my car, they can unplug it from the wall once charging ends

[tfboy]

Sadly, some local young scamps worked out that while the cable is padlocked to my car, they can unplug it from the wall once charging ends

That is actually good charging etiquette - you've finished charging so the post should be made available to others. Although normally, only someone else needing the charger would do it. At least if it is local scamps, they can't pinch the cable as it's still locked to the car.

[directhex]

That is actually good charging etiquette - you've finished charging so the post should be made available to others. Although normally, only someone else needing the charger would do it. At least if it is local scamps, they can't pinch the cable as it's still locked to the car.

Not helpful when my car alarm goes off in the wee hours!

[Ttaskmaster]

Chargers built into lamp posts is one on-street strategy

Unless the cables are long, I envision plenty of bad parking preventing chargers from reaching many cars... and plenty of people tripping over cables.

[tfboy]

Unless the cables are long, I envision plenty of bad parking preventing chargers from reaching many cars... and plenty of people tripping over cables.

Providing the lamp posts are by the road, then trip hazards should be non-existant, providing a parking space is available by the lamp post. Having a long cable would increase trip hazard, so having short one or any excess kept under car is the safe and practical solution

[DanceswithUnix]

Perhaps the lamp posts could transfer power by microwave beam to the roof of the car, what could possibly go wrong?

[Ttaskmaster]

Providing the lamp posts are by the road, then trip hazards should be non-existant

Many are not, so you'll have to relocate a load of lamp posts, which will cost...

providing a parking space is available by the lamp post.

Which they are often not.
So either you need more lamp posts or longer cables.
You're local - Go have a look at parking around the estates near Palmer Park. Grange and Pitcroft Avenues, for example.

so having short one or any excess kept under car is the safe and practical solution

Excess is not practical, as people are lazy and will leave them trailing out.

[directhex]

Many are not, so you'll have to relocate a load of lamp posts, which will cost...


Which they are often not.
So either you need more lamp posts or longer cables.
You're local - Go have a look at parking around the estates near Palmer Park. Grange and Pitcroft Avenues, for example.


Excess is not practical, as people are lazy and will leave them trailing out.

Right, blah blah, lots of problems.

It's still an improvement over feeding a BS1363 plug through a letterbox & having the cable dangling across the entire pavement. It's a technology whose availability can inform future planning, more than it can be used in retrofitting existing lights.

[jimbouk]

Surely the cars can just drive themselves off to the nearest available changing spot, then get a robot arm to plug themselves in. When they're done, pop back to the local street. Get the charging quick enough and a few cars could do the same thing in one spot overnight.

Sure it requires an upgrade to the charging points to make them be able to plug themselves in, but seems an easier option than trying to add a charging spot outside every house.

But then again, why own a car when you could just summon a self driving electric car to be at your front door?

[directhex]

Surely the cars can just drive themselves off to the nearest available changing spot, then get a robot arm to plug themselves in. When they're done, pop back to the local street. Get the charging quick enough and a few cars could do the same thing in one spot overnight.

Sure it requires an upgrade to the charging points to make them be able to plug themselves in, but seems an easier option than trying to add a charging spot outside every house.

Can't use smart grid without all those cars on the grid as load balancers.

But then again, why own a car when you could just summon a self driving electric car to be at your front door?

This is why Uber has invested so much in self-drive tech

[Ttaskmaster]

It's a technology whose availability can inform future planning, more than it can be used in retrofitting existing lights.

Plenty of things could hav been used for the future... but most are useless if they can't be implemented, if only with minimal fuss, to today's world. It has to be a multi-phase transition with effective implementation, or it just won't be adopted.

But then again, why own a car when you could just summon a self driving electric car to be at your front door?

The pleasure and the skill in driving it yourself?

[jimbouk]

Can't use smart grid without all those cars on the grid as load balancers.

No reason they can't park themselves somewhere useful any time they're not in use. The problem with any service with peaks in demand is if you want a good service you're going to have lulls. Cars parked in the factory/office car park, plugged in doing there thing.

This is why Uber has invested so much in self-drive tech

Indeed and agreed! Haulage I'd imagine would be the bigger interest but I guess they're scalping a the smaller test-bed to gain public acceptance before hitting harder targets with more jobs lost for 'hard working white Americans' (PR/company ethics tin hats ahoy!)

But then again, why own a car when you could just summon a self driving electric car to be at your front door?

The pleasure and the skill in driving it yourself?

Hence owning 2 stupid cars that are fun to drive Yeah, wonder how many years before non-automated cars aren't allowed on the road in the UK (or at least major roads)? Being thirty-something I'd say in my lifetime. Non-automated, gas guzzling cars will go the way of horses, toys for the enthusiast to to enjoy rather than a practical form of transport. Still need to buy a V8 before all the petrol dries up

[DanceswithUnix]

Surely the cars can just drive themselves off to the nearest available changing spot, then get a robot arm to plug themselves in. When they're done, pop back to the local street. Get the charging quick enough and a few cars could do the same thing in one spot overnight.

Tesla do have a patent on that, so hopefully they will open that up like they have with others.

ISTR it involves driving over a plate that couples to the car from underneath rather than relying on the snake robot arm to unlock and locate the charging port. Ah yes, here you go:

https://electrek.co/2017/04/22/tesla...mate-charging/

Coupling up to the cooling system as well as the electrics is the key here to pushing a third of a megawatt into the batteries. Gulp!

[DanceswithUnix]

But then again, why own a car when you could just summon a self driving electric car to be at your front door?

I think to many that technology already exists in the form of a "Taxi". Even removing the taxi-driver element, other forms of transport may be nicer.

[jimbouk]

Thanks for the link, the arm is really quite creepy!



I've pondered not owning a car (or a modern car and just having a classic for fun) and mixing together either taxis, hire cars or a car club. Certainly wouldn't cost any more per year given that I commute with a bike / train, but car ownership is a 'thing' - a bit like house ownership in this country. Hard to get away from it, and there's always the 'what if' moments such as when I jumped in and drove from Bristol to Glasgow to see my gran in hospital.

Anyhow, thoroughly derailed thread! I'm not really a 'new car' person so an electric car is many years away for me. I am more a fan of smaller cars though. I did try and work out a 'cheap' new electric car but it just wasn't practical for the type of use I have. Certainly good to see the more expensive ones actually being usable and used.