Comment by danjayh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by danjayh | Hacker News Reader

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I have a Ford Fusion Energi plug-in. Force air cooled using the computer's choice of cabin air or outside air (no dedicated AC evaporator). Battery is at 72% capacity (5.5 total kwh of 7.6 when new) after 40k and 3.3 years. Usable capacity is at 65% (~3.7-3.9 kwh down from 5.7-5.9 new). I would never buy another plug-in or electric vehicle that doesn't have some form of active cooling powered by the air conditioning sytem. Liquid cooling without a chiller powered from the AC system is insufficient. At minimum, chilled air routed from a dedicated evaporator through the battery (older Escape hybrid, Outlander PHEV), and ideally, a liquid system with a heat exchanger to the AC system (Tesla, Volt, Bolt, Pacifica hybrid, maybe others?)

Anyway, with Michigan's $0.15/kwh electricity and a climate that's either way too hot or way too cold, the break-even point for electric vs. gas is about $1.90 a gallon ... so at least for now (with gas below the break-even point), it doesn't hurt so bad that the battery capacity is so low.

Wait: that's NOT an EV. That's an hybrid car that can run on electricity only for a very limited distance and limited speed. You basically do not use your battery, only move it around.

Is it a vehicle that's capable of being exclusively powered by electricity? Yes? Then it's an electric vehicle.

All EVs are only capable of running on electricity for a limited distance and limited speed. Eventually they all run out.

And the fusion energi can go 85mph in ev mode, so the speed is not limited in a meaningful way. You can also lock out the gas engine to keep from accidentally starting it with a heavy foot...

Hum, actually any car can be "exclusively powered by electricity", see start&stop systems or a mere 1st speed/reverse + starter motor...

IMO an electric vehicle is a vehicle capable of run with electrical motor's in any condition. So a modern hybrid-series ship is actually electrical because it's propulsion is electric only, parallel-hybrid vehicle are not electrical since they can't really work only on electrical motors except for limited usage.

21 miles and up to 85mph when the battery is new (although at 85mph the range would be considerably less). Electric heat and a.c., electric transmission lubrication. Mechanically, its as much an ev as the volt, with about half the battery. Were it not for the cooling problem, it would be a fantastic car. So much bigger and more usable for a family than the volt (it has a real back seat, unlike the volt, and can be loaded up with lux stuff in the platinum trim, unlike the volt).

More importantly, phevs with an ev mode that are intended to be driven as an ev for a significant portion of their miles are devalued by battery degradation in a similar way to pure evs (because of you pay all the cash for the expensive phev systems,you don't plan to be forced to use it as a plain hybrid).

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