News Coulomb is a channel devoted to providing first-hand accounts of life with renewable energy technologies. My goal is to provide education on strategies and techniques that will empower people to transition away from non-renewable, unsustainable energy sources and to build self reliance.
From News Coulomb. I recently picked up a 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Redline for review, and I couldn’t help myself. I hopped right onto the freeway in the middle of a heavy rainstorm to see how the system would fare. So far, I think Super Cruise is doing great, though I’m not sure that I…
From News Coulomb. As we begin to discuss more topics related to the public charging infrastructure, I feel that we need to start adding a bit more depth to definitions and terms that we are using. A "public charging provider" seems reasonably easy to define because all that is required is that the charging provider…
From News Coulomb. @KyleConner recently visited San Luis Obispo, California while traveling in a CCS EV, and he was concerned with the disparity in DC fast charging options between Tesla’s Superchargers and the public providers. I personally have a long history with charging in San Luis Obispo, and in fact, the EVgo charger that Kyle…
From News Coulomb. I frequently peruse PlugShare to keep tabs on sites I’ve visited or might one day want to use, but I’ve noticed that a number of the early sites that I used to rely on for travel in my Chevrolet Bolt EV are no longer listed. For some, I saw references to the…
From News Coulomb. Tell us how you really feel, Eric. Well… I don’t personally use EV trip planners (route planners as they are sometimes called), and I think that in their current form, they are largely unnecessary. Most require the driver to know enough about their car and their route that the trip planner itself…
From News Coulomb. I’m still processing timber I gathered from the National Forest, and I realized that one of my Greenworks batteries is nearly 8 years old. I see a lot of people who are under the impression that lithium batteries simply die and are of no actual use after just a few years, so…
From News Coulomb. I’ve been seeing more and more comments by auto journalists recently claiming that EVs need to charge as fast as they possibly can. They are essentially making the claim that slower charging EVs shouldn’t exist. In my opinion, this is wrong. All of the collected data we have shows that most Americans…
From News Coulomb.
From News Coulomb. In a recent video, Kyle @OutofSpecReviews interviewed Arcady, CEO and Founder of Freewire, and I wanted to respond to a point that they made during the video. According to Arcady, Freewire’s business model is to install a single charger and expand in response to demand. The problem with that model, in my…
From News Coulomb. So after six years, it finally happened. My Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery died. These batteries will typically last about three years, so this battery exceeded its lifespan by nearly double. Last year, I also replaced the 12 V AGM on my Chevrolet Volt, and it was a similar age. It’s possible that…
From News Coulomb. While doing a quick local shopping trip in my Bolt EV, I loaded up Torque Pro to get some additional readings. During the trip, I also comment on and check out some of the public charging infrastructure in Northern California. Charging sites used in this video: ChargePoint, Vittles Family Restaurant, Anderson: https://www.plugshare.com/location/197381
From News Coulomb. This video is the final leg of my trip back from the LA Auto Show. For this route, I decided to return through the Eastern Sierras, with temperatures down into the low teens. Because I started early in the day and high in elevation, it was a fairly relaxed return home, so…
From News Coulomb. On a recent trip, I was able to use the recently updated Electrify America site in Baker, California. This site ticks off all the boxes. It is located at a convenience store travel stop, and it has both full, pull-through parking and a complete solar canopy. The site features 12 BTC Power…
From News Coulomb. After the LA Auto Show, I started making my way home, but I decided to explore a bit of Southern California on the way back. A lot has changed with the public charging infrastructure, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see what changed while I try to help my Bolt…
From News Coulomb. On a recent trip down to the LA Auto Show, I had the chance to do a 10% to 80% charging test in my Chevrolet Bolt EV. I also include some tips for why I charge in a particular way and how it can influence the overall charging times. Charger used in…
From News Coulomb. For my trip down to the 2022 LA Auto Show, I decided to restrict my charging to only using the EVgo network. At this point, most EV owners and journalists covering EVs are hyperfocused on the Electrify America network; however, in terms of network size, charging speeds, and growth, EVgo is a…
From News Coulomb. I was able to attend the LA Auto Show this year, and even though they only had one media day, I was able to check out most of the EVs and chat with a couple of public charging providers. Overall, the show was great, but I noted an important trend. At least…
From News Coulomb. My recommendation is that whenever someone gets a new EV or their EV undergoes some sort of major work, they should set aside some time to make sure everything is functioning and working before they take their EV on a long trip. Before I head down to the LA Auto Show for…
From News Coulomb. Tesla recently announced on their blog that they are opening their proprietary plug standard to now be a public standard that they are referring to as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Couched in the wording of the blog post is a very disturbing message: Telsa doesn’t think that they should have…
From News Coulomb. I just had my Bolt EV’s battery replaced under recall at 156,789 miles. Up to this point, the original battery has been great, though it has lost about 10% of its original capacity over the years. The replacement was easy and straightforward, and it required less than a full day to complete.…
From News Coulomb. I’ve already posted videos about ChargeNet’s Grand Opening as well as EV Range’s building out some of their first sites, but the overall road trip was interesting as well. On this trip, I purposely avoided the major charging networks — something I might continue to do in the future — in order…
From News Coulomb. "I’m here to tell you, you don’t need an electric truck!" Sound familiar? Because I’ve been hearing it a lot recently. Sure, there have always been folks that say that if you aren’t using your truck for work, you don’t need to be driving a truck. Now, though, it appears to have…
From News Coulomb. On my recent trip down to check out ChargeNet, I stopped by another new charging provider: EV Range. They were started by former Recargo employees, and they have a lot of experience designing and building public charging sites. They have already brought a couple of charging sites online, with several more in…
From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly on this trip.* On my recent trip down to Trajectory EV, I stopped by yet another EVgo "Ultium Ready" charging site that recently came online. This site features four 350 kW Delta DC fast chargers and two 100 kW…
From News Coulomb. I stopped by the grand opening of ChargeNet’s firs charging site. This site is located at Taco Bell in South San Francisco, and it is designed to provide the maximum benefit to both the business site host and EV drivers. Overall, I think this is an excellent business model, and I’m looking…
From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly.* I stopped by Trajectory EV to check out their workshop and interview Sean McCluskey. Trajectory EV is a full-service EV workshop, offering services from repairing factory EVs to building and fixing EV conversions. They specialize in the Ford Ranger…
From News Coulomb. *I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly.* Well, I decided to get back to my site reviews, and this site is one of the newer, more exciting public charging sites that are coming online. These are the more basic GM-funded, "Ultium Ready" EVgo sites, which appear…
From News Coulomb. While I was reviewing the 2022 KIA EV6 RWD Wind, I decided to stop by a 500 V CCS charger. In this case, I chose a 24 kW ChargePoint CPE100, which is restricted to a maximum output voltage of 460 VDC. Because the Hyundai and KIA E-GMP batteries charge at much higher…
From News Coulomb. For my return trip from Fully Charged LIVE! in San Diego, I decided to take the scenic route back up Highway 395. This turned out to be a bit longer than I initially planned in miles and time, but it was a decent excuse to take the scenic route back along the…
From News Coulomb. About a year and a half ago, a story broke that Gotion, a Chinese battery maker specializing in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for automotive and grid-tie use was partnering with a major, unnamed U.S. automaker. The plan was to provide 200 GWh of battery cells from 2023 to 2028, which that…
From News Coulomb. This is a slightly different format than my Day One coverage. For Day Two of Fully Charged LIVE!, I was able to interact with more of the vendors and businesses. Aptera, Fisker, and Vinfast were all crowded and busy taking orders, so I didn’t spend much time with them; however I was…
From News Coulomb. I decided to break my coverage of Fully Charged LIVE in San Diego up over two videos. I spent most of the first day chatting with friends (new and old) and watching panel discussions, so this mostly a response video to the things I heard and saw. I hope you enjoy listening…
From News Coulomb. While returning home from Fully Charged LIVE in San Diego, I decided to stop by a Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) charging site on Highway 395 in Bishop, California. The site is basic, but well thought-out, and it includes six charging stalls that each provide up to 1000 V and 500 A. Currently,…
From News Coulomb. I decided to drive my 2017 Chevy Bolt EV down to Fully Charged Live event in San Diego, so look forward to some coverage and my thoughts soon. Overall, the trip went about as well as expected. I initially planned to avoid the Electrify America network as much as possible, but I…
From News Coulomb. I wanted to share a fairly common grocery shopping run in my Chevrolet Bolt EV to illustrate a point about how much EV range some people need in order to really benefit from transitioning to electric. Along the way, I visit some charging sites and illustrate how it would have been possible…
From News Coulomb. I thought I’d drop a PSA for Ford Ranger owners. I’ve seen a lot of comments regarding the Ranger not having a cabin air filter, and I’ve seen a number of other comments complaining about the Ranger’s cabin blower fan output. I can confirm that the Ranger EV has a cabin air…
From News Coulomb. In this video, I decided to take a peek inside the 1999 Ford Ranger Electric’s onboard Level 2 AC charger, which I am replacing with a 6.6 kW, Valeo Siemens unit. Despite originally connecting through an Avcon plug, this charger uses the same SAE standard that was eventually adopted by every other…
From News Coulomb. While I had the 2022 KIA EV6 Wind for review, I decided to take it on a "1,000 km challenge" made famous by @Bjørn Nyland . The EV6 did great, as expected, with some surprising results based on the chargers used, my charging strategy, and the 70 mph posted speed limit of…
From News Coulomb. While I had the 2022 Chevy Bolt EV for review, I decided to run it through a 1,000 km (621.4 mi) speed challenge. This is a test that @Bjørn Nyland runs on EVs out in Norway, so I like to run these tests to gather additional data points and to compare results.…
From News Coulomb. I decided to do a quick shopping trip and test out my nearly six year old Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery degradation after over 150,000 miles. I’ve provided two estimates in this video because after a software update early in its service life, my Bolt EV was reporting about 2 kWh less capacity…
From News Coulomb. The Fuzzy Panda recently released a scathing "report" about EVgo, which resulted in a massive devaluation of EVgo’s shares. In this video, I dive into a few of the particulars that Fuzzy Panda mentioned, and voice my concern about why the report omitted so many positives aspects of EVgo, including their assets,…
From News Coulomb. GM just activated the option for Plug and Charge with their vehicles across the EVgo network, and this includes offering that functionality to the Chevrolet Bolt EV. My 2017 Chevy Bolt EV that is pushing 6 years old is now able to use plug and charge on EVgo. In order to make…
From News Coulomb. I recently had the opportunity to test out the new 2022 KIA EV6. This car is the "Wind" trim, which is the middle trim level between "Light" and "GT." Despite being a relatively expensive car (the version I reviewed had an MSRP of $48,710), the EV6 offers a lot of value for…
From News Coulomb. 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV production has resumed, and these cars are back on the menu. GM has also announced that 2023 production will be delayed until late July, so we’ll still see several more months of 2022 production. Overall, the 2022 Bolt EV is a solid offering that can easily replace an…
From News Coulomb. I want to start doing some videos with discussions and feedback about some of the methods and tools I’m using to complete my Ford Ranger EV restoration project. To start with, I want to discuss the various types of tape that I’m using to package cell groups and wrap busbars and connections.
From News Coulomb. Welcome to the Loop! As I prepare to receive my new Chevrolet Bolt EV battery and get ready to start reviewing a number of new EVs, I decided to come up with a testing routine that would enable me to test compatibility, functionality, and interoperability between various charging providers and EVs. In…
From News Coulomb. I apologize for being a little slow in releasing new content, but I have been a bit constrained by my internet connectivity. However, that should change now, thanks to finally receiving my SpaceX Starlink satellite internet.
From News Coulomb. GM has announced that they are restarting production for the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV, so we should finally start seeing them available for purchase soon. In the meantime, I am still waiting on my battery replacement, but I thought I would share my take on the things that I think need…
From News Coulomb. While I finish constructing my Ford Ranger Electric battery pack, I thought I’d discuss some EV topics. In particular, I wanted to explore the idea of mixing battery chemistries, cell formats, or even super capacitors within the same pack in order to provide better performance with a lower cost and weight. In…
From News Coulomb. I’ve seen a worrying trend in the EV community where some EV owners feel that they should have priority access to 350 kW chargers because their EVs use an 800 V architecture; however, that is fundamentally wrong for several reasons. First, it ignores the fact that many 400 V electric vehicles can…