Author Archives: Steve Noctor

Supercharging I: Solo Road Trip

December 2020. California and the American Southwest.

The driving range of electric cars on the market today can easily meet the daily driving needs for the average person. In my case I charge my Model 3 for about 2 hours every night in the garage for daily driving. But what about charging an electric car on longer drives and road trips?

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Electric Road Trip in the Tesla Model Y

July 2020. California.

Last week we took our Model Y on a short road trip to visit Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Crater Lake is 350 miles from our town, not very far, but it was a long enough drive to get a feel for what it’s like taking the Model Y on road trips.

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Model Y Delivery and First Impressions

June 2020. California.

In March of 2019 we reserved a long range dual-motor Model Y with standard wheels in midnight silver. Yesterday we went to our local Tesla Service/Sales Center to pick it up. We had been scheduled to pick up our car back at the end of March 2020, but at the last moment delivery was understandably delayed by the pandemic. Three months later we got our car on the summer solstice.

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Camping trips in our 2012 Rav4 EV

May 2020. California.

Our Rav4 EV is 7 years old now, has 88,000 miles / 140,000 km on the odometer, and continues to serve us well. Nowadays we use it most for commuting back and forth to work (35 miles / 55 km per day), for shopping, and running errands. But we’ve also gone on lots of family trips in our Rav4 EV over the years.

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Repost: Winter Snow Adventures in a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV

January 2016. Sierra Nevadas, California.

This article was originally posted on the Transport Evolved website in January 2016.

We live in California’s Central Valley about 100 miles from beautiful spots in the Sierra Nevadas, and we try to get up there as often as possible. Our town sits just above sea level, so traveling to the Sierras involves a climb of 7000 feet. This could be a problem for EVs that have 80-100 miles of range and no options for rapid DC charging, especially in the winter.

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Repost: Celebrating the 2014 National Drive Electric Week in a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV

September 2014. California's Coast.

This article was originally posted on the Transport Evolved website in September 2014…. yes, things have changed!

This year we celebrated the National Drive Electric Week by taking
our electric car on a road trip. We drove our 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV on
a camping trip with friends to Bodega Bay on the California coast. What better way to celebrate this national event than by using domestic energy to power our trip?

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Quick Charging a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV with CHAdeMO

September 2015. California

This article was published on the Transport Evolved website in 2015 after we added a DC Quick charging port to our 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV.

While market share of electric cars still has a way to go, the number of electric cars on the road today has reached the point where companies are springing up to serve the needs of electric car drivers. Third party companies sell aftermarket accessories, home charging stations, mobile charging cords and more.

Now, we can add to that list a DC quick charging port for the 2012-2014 Toyota Rav4 EV.

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Test driving the ELF, a solar-powered electric bicycle

October 2015. Sacramento, CA.

This article was originally posted on the Transport Evolved website in 2015.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride a solar-powered electric bicycle? A couple weeks ago I saw a unique bike pedal down the street past my office. It really caught my attention and since the name “ELF” was visibly painted on the side a quick search led me to the manufacturer website. Better yet, soon afterwards I met the owner who was kind enough to let me take her bike for a spin.

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Republished 2015 Review: The Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Sedan

October 2015, California.

This article was originally posted on the Transport Evolved website in 2015.

It’s been hailed by Toyota as the next big thing in environmentally-conscious transport, contains a $50,000 hydrogen fuel cell stack which must be made by hand at great expense to the Japanese automaker, and has a global production volume of less than 6,000 cars over the next few years.

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Every Day is Earth Day: Driving Electric Reduces Carbon Emissions

April 2020. California.

Have you wondered how much of a difference it would make for the environment if you started driving electric? This year for Earth Day I analyzed our data from 15 years of driving to compare the carbon emissions produced by the gas-powered and electric cars we’ve owned.

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