pioneer11

Another drawback with run flats is that if you get a nail in the tread, tire shops will not plug them. You are out the cost of a new tire. I had a BMW 3 series with run flats that took nails in the tread twice. Of course the second nail was in the one that replaced the first tire.

Very nice

Is the OEM L1 under-powered for preconditioning in cold weather?

You need to get a pro electrician to check out your house wiring. The breaker and GFI protect two different things. Breakers trip on high current. GFIs trip when the currents in hot and neutral differ (meaning juice is going to ground some way it should not).

For sure, having 240 available in the garage is huge.

What is the cost of installing a separately metered EVSE? Actually, the best scenario is when my rich uncle pays for my L2 and the electric bill.

Yes, I included charging efficiency. See where I wrote in my post: In your calculation you double dipped on charging efficiency. I didn't consider preconditioning in the scenario. If you like a warm and toasty car in the winter it will favor the L2.

I have now had 3 vehicles with oil life monitors and I just change the oil on the first weekend after it hits 10% remaining.

I have never had a vehicle that knew about DST so I have no reason to worry about it. Heck, I remember the day when car clocks were inherently inaccurate.

It is hard to make economic sense for an L2 over the standard equipment L1. Let’s take a look at a probable best case scenario. Setting the basic parameters, assume a driver makes 2 round trips of 20 miles each work day with sufficient time between trips to fully recharge on a L2. He will drive 40 miles per work day, all on electricity if he has L2 charging. Take the same scenario but with L1 charging. He will get about half a charge in the same time, meaning that he will get 30 miles on electricity and 10 miles on gas. Fixing the variables: Electric range- 20 miles Electric efficiency- 38 kWh/100 miles (ref. EPA) Charging efficiency 70% for the L1 and 80% for the L2 Cost of electricity- $0.10/kWh Gas mileage- 38 mpg (ref. EPA) Cost of gas- $3.00/gallon L2 cost- $495 (from an earlier post, assumes he has an existing 240v supply available) Assume he makes these trips 5 days/week and 48 weeks/year (4 weeks for vacation, holidays etc.). That’s 240 days per year. The driver with the L1 will spend about $1.90 per day combined on electricity and gas. The driver with the L2 will spend about $1.40 per day on electricity, saving $0.50/day or $120/year. This scenario pays out in just over 4 years. Is that good enough? It depends on your motivations. Most business investment decisions require a 3 year or better payout. Some of you will think a 4 year payout is good enough. I don’t. If you are on a 3 year lease or intend to keep your car less than 4 years this makes no economic sense. If you are going to keep your car longer than 4 years or expect to replace it down the road with another plug in it starts to make economic sense. Keep in mind this scenario does not include a cost for upgrading your location to install a 240v supply. If this costs $500, the payout doubles to 8 years. If $1000 it triples to 12 years. Of course, your mileage may vary, void where prohibited etc. And, if your motivation is to minimize your gas usage, go for it. I have some more thoughts on this (for another post, this one is long enough).

thanks

Just brought home a 2015 SE yesterday. It replaces a 2012 Volt. Aside from 20 fewer battery miles and that sorry excuse for a trunk I like it much better. The Energi has a much nicer ride than the Volt. The battery range I expect will cover me for at least 5 days of the week since I have a short commute. Looking forward to many happy miles.