Author Archives: Steve Noctor

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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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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Charging your EV at an RV Campground 

February 2020. California.

This weekend while visiting the Mount Shasta area we stayed overnight at a Lodge / RV campground and charged our car on an RV electrical hookup. I plugged in that night and we left the next morning with 281 miles of rated range (and a warm cabin).

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Tesla Model 3: Rated Range over Time 

October 2019. California.

I bought a 2018 Long Range RWD Model 3 in April 2018. I have fully charged the car 5 times. At 24,000 miles a 100% charge gave me the full advertised rated range of 325 miles (520 km). At 43,000 miles a full charge gave me 300 miles of rated range. At 5 years and 67,000 miles I got 291 miles of range.

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Electric Road Trip: Touring the American Southwest in a Tesla Model 3 

October 2019. American Southwest.
 

In October 2019 I went to New Mexico for 5 days of work. The trip to Albuquerque would have been about 1200 miles as the crow flies, but rather than fly I drove there in our Model 3. The full trip was 2,700 miles through 6 states. I used 17 Superchargers and paid $92.66. Driving electric reduced my emissions by over 70% compared to driving a car that gets 25 MPG (or burns 9.7L / 100km).

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Mom Steps Up – Gets a Plug-in Car 

November 2019. New Jersey.

My mother is 84 years young and maintains a very active lifestyle. I remember being 4 or 5 years old and always wanting to race her, I was always trying to keep up and wanted to be faster than her. Here we are 50 years later and I’m still trying to keep up. I get daily exercise reports from her fitness watch and she’s literally miles ahead of me every single day.

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Travelogue: Weekend Camping with the Model 3 

August 2018. California.

Late last summer we decided to head out of town for one last weekend getaway before the kids started back to school. So we loaded up our Model 3 for a weekend of camping in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Continue reading →

CHAdeMO Charging the Model 3 

July 2019. California

Last night I received the 2019.24.4 software update for our Model 3. So this morning I tested Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter to determine the rate of charge, and see how many miles I’d get and how long it would take to charge from a given SOC. Summary: 45 minutes gave me 139 miles of rated range and cost $8.69. Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter is easy to use and provides more charging options for the Model 3.

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