Full power communting

"You're so clever!"- Friend

Yeah right. I'm such an amatuer.

With my new onboard 72 volt charger, I've bravely set off on my morning commute to the Metro station. The first time, I rolled into the station having used less than half of a full charge. I easily found a parking spot in front of a column that had a 110 volt outlet and plugged in. I set the charger for only 5 amps because I didn't want to overcharge the batteries while I was away for 10 hours. This charger is dumb and doesn't shut off automatically. At the end of the day when I returned, I found my charge up to about 80%. I learned I can safely increase the rate of charge to the max 10 amp output that this charger will give.

The drive to the station was great. At 4:30 a.m. there's no traffic so I'm not holding anyone up even though I can easily attain the speed limit. The lights are all green so I'm not wasting juice stopping and starting. The ramp that connects the secondary road to the Metro touches a major highway and has a steep hill but the Comuta handles it well. I just put on the flashers when I hit it. It's 45 seconds of delay for whoever is behind me. They can live with it.

The drive home is no problem either because in the afternoon the traffic pattern is horrible and I hit every single red light. I waste some juice by stopping and starting so many times but because traffic never gets above 35 miles an hour, I'm never the one holding things up.

I've learned that the key to maximizing your range really is to maintain maximum RPM's in the motor's main torque band so I keep the van in 2nd gear and wound up tight. I typically make it to the station with 2/3's charge left and that's at 33 degrees F which reduces my capacity.

I've also learned that "topping off" with the charger while I'm in the shower seems to help as well.