EV life so far...

"Is that a Jeep?" - Suburban troglodyte standing on the curb.

Ok, if you're an American in your 30's and you think my triangle van looks like a Jeep then you drink way too much cough medicine.

It's St. Patrick's day and it's still cold enough to reduce my range. We had a couple of freak warm days that hit 80 degrees and the improvement was instantly noticeable. I drive the EV exclusively except for when I need extra speed or range. At my current rate of consumption I won't put gas in the DeLorean for over a month.

The DeLorean steering and handling has slowly degraded over the last year. Dry-rotted suspension bushings and worn out ball-joints are the cause and not only is the EV saving me fuel but it's also saving me from damaging my stainless pride any further while I set aside the cash for suspension parts.

The winter range limitation is bugging the crap out of me though. I promised myself I wouldn't drop $800.00 on a fancy compact onboard battery charger but there has to be a compromise between "nothing" and "too much". I was actually considering building a battery charger but I stumbled on a brand-new, simple battery charger on the internet for only $150.00. It's heavy, but compact, plugs into an ordinary 110v wall outlet and can assist in equalizing charges because it has a variable voltage output from 12 to 72 volts. I can charge 2, or all batteries or any combination in between. I can choose between 5 & 10 amps. Not fast, but adequate.

Now as liberal as Maryland is, it's still not California. We don't have "public charging stations" at every Park 'n Ride or Costco like Cali does. Even so, I did scope out lots of 110v power outlets at the Metro parking garage. I have a good, heavy gauge extension cord. If I can even park on the same row as one of these outlets, the van can charge up nice and slow for the 10 hours I'm away and I'll have a full charge to drive home on every day! I'm going to mount the charger under the passenger seat I'm fabricating.

I'm trying to decide between just plugging in and feigning ignorance if the garage employees catch me or actually asking permission and trying to explain my EV to a bunch of minimum wage workers who barely speak English and might turn me down just for spite and not because of any regulations.

At least now, I'm not always bound to stop when I hit the "point of no return". If there's an outlet where I'm going, and I have the time to let it charge, I can exceed 15 or 20 miles in one direction.