EV Musings

The previous two entries about my visits to Fairfield and MUM (here and here) mentioned opportunities for electric vehicles (EVs) to charge in town. So you've probably gathered that I'm curious about electric vehicles, of which there are two types: plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which can go a certain distance on electricity before switching over to the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), and battery-only EVs. Because I live in Columbus, Ohio, any potential for all-electric travel to Fairfield faces the question of recharging the car along the way, and that's what this blog post is about.

The Long-Distance Competitors
As of this writing, the candidates for extended EV drives are the Chevy Bolt, a Tesla, the soon-to-be-released 2019 Nissan Leaf, and the soon-to-be-released 2019 Hyundai Kona EV. The EPA ranges are 238 miles for the Bolt, 220 or 310 miles for the Tesla Model 3, depending on the battery size, and expectations are for 225 miles for the 2019 Leaf and 258 for the 2019 Kona EV. Other manufacturers promise vehicles with similar ranges, such as the Jaguar I-Pace and the Audi e-tron. Thus, the EPA range of all these EVs falls within the 220-250 band, except for the long-range Tesla at 310.

The actual range will be more or less, depending on the your speed, headwinds, hills, hot or cold temperatures, and so forth. For example, the Bolt is rated at 255 miles in the city, and 217 on the highway. Stress it by driving at 75 mph with the A/C set on 72º on a warm day, and the range is about 190 miles. My drive to Fairfield is 98% highway miles.

Charging and Range
Charging speed slows down as the battery becomes more charged, rather like pouring water into a glass without spilling it: you have to slow way down for that last bit. It's usually better to head off again after reaching 80% than to wait a long time for the last 20%.

Daytime quick charging is the focus of this post. We'll consider charging to take the battery to 80% of its EPA range, and we'd better deduct another 10% as a safety margin and buffer against adverse conditions, among which the driver can control only one, speed. Thus, after a fast charge, your next charge should be within 70% of the EPA range. That's 154/217 miles for the Model 3, 157 for the 2019 Leaf, and 167 for the Bolt, and 180 for the Kona. If you prefer to drive at the speed limit plus five or ten, knock off another 5-10%.

Fast Charging Standards
There are three different connectors used for fast charging: the Bolt and Kona use the CCS/SAE standard, the Leaf the CHAdeMO connector, and Teslas use the Tesla Supercharger.

Both the Bolt and Leaf advertise 90 miles of range gained in 30 minutes of charging, but there are caveats. The Bolt can take up to 80 kilowatts of charging power, and the Kona 70 kw, but most CCS/SAE charging stations in the U.S. top out at 50kw, and not all will deliver that much. The new Leaf may charge at 100kw, but most CHAdeMO charging stations are, again, 50kw. The Tesla Superchargers are rated at 120kw, but like all the others, the charge rate slows down as the battery fills; Tesla owners see a "tapering-off" begin when the battery reaches 30% charged, however, the charge power doesn't drop to 50kw until the battery is 70% charged.

Headed for Fairfield
The distance from my place to Fairfield on a direct route is 550 miles, plus any small detours for lunch, etc. Here's a map from the crowdsourced site PlugShare showing the CCS/SAE fast chargers along the route. It's a screen grab, so always check for updates. Click on the image to enlarge; Fairfield, in the upper left, is marked by a yellow circle.

There's not much between Indianapolis and Fairfield, is there? You'll need to stay someplace where the Bolt can get a 100% recharge overnight, which I do anyway if driving by myself.

If you overnight in Champaign, then it's ~185 miles to the Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington (one CCS/SAE charger). If you overnight in Bloomington instead, that reduces the next day's distance to Catfish Bend to ~130 miles, but Bloomington is ~175 miles from Indianapolis. Remember, for the Bolt the 70% range is 167 miles and the Kona 180 miles.

Many of these chargers belong to a commercial network, such as ChargePoint, while others are free. Consult PlugShare or individual network websites, and set up an account with the dominant network(s) on your route.

A CHAdeMO map:

Again, it's ~175 miles between downtown Indianapolis and Bloomington, IL, where there is one CHAdeMO charger. Burlington, IA (Catfish Bend again) also has one CHAdeMO charger. Some CHAdeMO stations are at Nissan dealerships, some of which don't allow a vehicle to charge there if you didn't buy it there. Call ahead to verify.

A Tesla Supercharger map:

The stations are more evenly distributed. In particular, note that the Iowa City superchargers are only ~60 miles from Fairfield, and both Champaign and Bloomington host superchargers. All the Tesla supercharging stops on this route have eight stations.

Biting your nails yet? Consider possible contrary circumstances: the stations with only one or two connections may be busy, or blocked by a gasoline car parked in the charging spot, or out of service.

Level 2 Chargers
Slower "Level 2" chargers, a standard called J1772, are sprinkled along the route, typically offering charging rates between 6.6 and 9.6 kilowatts. Most vehicles will accept J1772 charging between 3.3 kw and 7.2 kw.

Tesla vehicles can use the J1772 stations, with an adapter, but there are also Tesla Destination Chargers, which offer charging rates between 6.6 and 17.2 kilowatts. Here's a map of those:

These chargers are suitable for the necessary overnight full charge, but many are located at parking garages, restaurants, or shopping malls. Those places can be useful for a modest bump in range over lunch, say, but are not where you'd leave your car overnight. It'll be necessary to consult PlugShare or other resources to find your overnight charging spot at a hotel, campground, or RV park.

SuperCharger Pics
I've taken photos of several Tesla Supercharger stations on my Fairfield route. The Bloomington, IL superchargers are inconveniently located (in an urban parking garage several miles off the freeway), so I skipped those.

Here is Dayton, Ohio lineup, on the edge of a Meijer parking lot.

Dayton, Ohio closeup.

Indianapolis, next to La Quinta.

Champaign, Illinois, Meijer parking lot.

Davenport, Iowa. Now we're in HyVee territory instead of Meijer.

Davenport closeup.

Iowa City, Iowa. Another HyVee location, only ~60 miles left to Fairfield.

Taking the direct route from Bloomington to Fairfield, along I-74 and US 34, the longest leg is ~185 miles. The 310 mile version of the Model 3 has no problem with that route, and the 220 mile version could work with an overnight in Bloomington, likely plus a stopover at the destination charger in Peoria, or at a J1772 charger in Burlington, to add a bit of range. If we accept adding 75 miles of driving to swing through the Davenport and Iowa City superchargers, the longest leg is reduced to ~140 miles, Bloomington to Davenport, and the last hop to Fairfield is just 60 miles.

And that's my take on it!  Long-distance EV travel is still for early adopters, the second stage after pioneers. Those who bought the first Tesla Model S sedans in 2012 were true pioneers!

Fairfield 15: Poems, Pens, and Public Charging

In November 2017 I was ready to return to Fairfield, Iowa, and MUM (Maharishi University of Management) for extended meditation time, especially after a health surprise since my last visit. Fortunately, the schedule I had picked allowed me to attend a multi-performer event at Revelations Café immediately on arrival. I was especially interested to hear Bill Graeser, my favorite poet.

Bill frequently recites from memory.

There were other talents on display, including story-telling and music.

Then I drove down to the Men's Peace Palace,

and moved into my uncluttered but comfortable room.

With en-suite bathroom.

The ground-floor lobby.

The incoming Comp Pro class had its group photo taken at the new amphitheater.

Nearby was an odd work that reminded me of an oversized "Tower of Hanoi" puzzle.

But who could lift those weights?

Other campus upgrades had happened in the last 7½ months, such as the new decking on the footbridge over Crow Creek.

A few yards further on benches had popped up along the path.

Here's a full moon night from the steps of the Student Union.

Just north of campus construction of townhomes and cottages had continued.

The first two ranks of townhomes were completed and fully occupied.

On the Fairfield town square many building facades had been refreshed,

or were in the process of being refreshed.

Faux windows on the top floor of the Elks building.

This work was partially paid for by grants, and partially by the building owners. Some owners apparently weren't interested.

Well, it's hard to get 100% participation in anything.

Storefront changes in downtown seem inevitable with every visit. The lobby of the Fairfield Inn had been converted to a retail outlet for the Tokyo Pen Shop, in business since 2008.

 I browsed here twice and bought a pen, a marker, and a small tin of pig-shaped paper clips.

 (Spoiler alert: the retail shop was vacated when I returned in March 2018, but the online business is still thriving.) Next door a game store had been replaced with a by-appointment tattoo parlor.

Another downtown discovery was the Asian Pho Bistro. The exterior can be easy to overlook,

 but the interior is clean and well-decorated, the service is friendly,

and the Thai and Vietnamese cuisine is top-notch. Every chef's pad khee mao is different, and theirs is excellent. There is a choice of proteins; I selected tofu.

The Bistro had been recommended to me by Tom Hall, the TM teacher whose wife Jill, also a TM teacher, had instructed me in the technique back in the early '70s. Here we're noshing in the Student Union.

At this time of year walking to the Men's Dome for the morning group meditation was in itself a sky and color meditation.

Fall foliage and the Dome, illuminated.

There were, of course, also foggy/frosty mornings.

The Jefferson County Loop trail was a major walking goal for me. The sections between the campus and Chautauqua Park I had been on many times before, a couple other sections just once, and many sections not at all. I added some of these on this visit, but not all. This merits its own future blog post.

I've been interested in electric cars -- hasn't Tesla shaken things up! -- and checked out the three Level 2 (240 volt, AC current) charging stations in town that I know of. One is on the MUM campus. I've seen a Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, and BMW i3 charging here.

Another is behind the Kum & Go gas station and convenience store.

And the third is at the gas station/convenience store island in front of the huge Hy-Vee parking lot.

I also spotted that white Volt here.

At the Unity Gallery, inside the MUM library, there was an art exhibit. I was particularly intrigued by the small sculptures I nicknamed "twisty art."

Perhaps some kind of clay or polymer that can be manipulated before hardening?

I wandered through a lot of territory during this visit. MUM and Fairfield continued to evolve in 2017.

Fairfield 13: Sprucing Things Up

In November 2016 I embarked on yet another two-week visit to Fairfield, Iowa, and the campus of Maharishi University of Management (MUM), where I participated in extended group meditation sessions. It was also a chance to catch up with several friends.

My usual place to rent a room wasn't available, so I did some online searching and found a great alternative. Here are two panoramas which together take in the whole room. Note the separate sink/toilet nook and shower; the shower is entered from the room itself. It works!

Lots of light.

If you need more space, the adjacent living room and kitchen can be rented at additional cost. I just needed a place with the basics. 

The view from that front bay window.

My traveling companions, Pork Chop and George, loved the scene.

Looking back from the street. It was a delightfully quiet place to stay.

For several days I saw this praying mantis hanging around the gate in the fence.

It was a mild November, and getting up early to head to the Men's Dome, the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome, I admired many sunrises.

At first I thought I faced an indirect route to reach the Men's Dome, but my host let me know that there were communal paths through the intervening neighborhood. (This playback has been accelerated by 2.8 times.)



Seven months had flown by since my March visit, and a lot had been going on, the results easily spotted.

Just in front of the Argiro Student Union a miniature Vedic Observatory had been constructed. These come in all sizes, from tabletop to 1½ acres in Vedic City.

Here's a view of the center structure. The innermost ring denotes the visible planets, plus the rising and descending nodes of the moon. (The moon's orbit around the earth is somewhat tilted with regard to the earth's orbit around the sun -- otherwise there would be a total eclipse of the sun every month!)

The second ring lists the signs, such as Capricorn, etc., and the third demarcates the 27 or 28 nakshatras, or lunar mansions, one for each day in the lunar month. Lunar mansions appear in many systems of astrology, although I'd never heard of them until recently and they do not seem to be emphasized.

The campus road leading to Argiro from the north now has so much pedestrian traffic that it's been blocked off to vehicles.

Within walking distance of my room the expansion of North Campus Village continued. There's a waiting list for the townhomes being built here.

What about goings-on downtown? Well, the sushi joint Shokai now occupies the corner that had been Mohan's.

Mohan Delights was in the process of moving into a south-facing storefront on the square. They will have a west-facing entrance from the alley.

There's now a donut shop in the renovated but closed movie theater, where the lobby and concessions had been.

Repair and facelifting appeared to be the order of the day.

All around the square, and adjacent to it.

Back on campus, the bridge over nothing in particular, which had been in such bad shape that it was blocked off in my last visit, was undergoing renovation. I had to check it each day to see what the elves had done next.

New posts and railing, but no finials, and the little seats at either end have no top.

 Now we have a top to sit on.

 Finials going up.

These globes date from the original bridge.

It is good to be able to see the bridge at night.

The nearby bridge over Crow Creek has warning tape along the flanks of the entrance. Dead brush and trees are being removed, and until new plantings are made, yellow tape mitigates the risk of someone stumbling over the edge.

Saplings of several species had already been installed around the Women's (Bagambhrini) Golden Dome.

The stairway from the north parking area to Argiro was also bustling.

Storm water flowing down the steep hillside was undercutting the poured-concrete stairs. Plastic barrier sheets were put in place and well-anchored with stones.

The interior of the student union held some surprises and revelations. This is a view of the lobby.

This student-initiative poster in the lobby surprised me. Twenty years ago, even fifteen years ago, MUM administration was rather strait-laced, but now the University is moving into the same era as its students. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Some things, however, will never change. This is an example from the food services feedback board.

There was one more surprise.

I'll wrap up this report with some odds and ends.

An electric car charging station next to the Sustainable Living Center.

A campus electrical map showing the two points to disconnect the Men's Dome solar panels from the grid.

A pig in the garden. Yay!

Moon and clouds, taken from the entrance to the Men's Dome.

There, I got through the entire post without talking about a particular election that occurred while I was in Fairfield. (I voted by absentee ballot.)