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I’ve tracked battery degradation in the EVs we’ve driven during the past decade. The short answer is that our Nissan Leaf lost a lot, our Chevy Bolts not so much.
Since switching to the Bolts, we’ve traveled nearly 70,000 miles on three different batteries. Each battery has lost about 5% of its capacity over 20,000 to 30,000 miles. Importantly, this modest capacity loss hasn’t affected how we use the cars or how far we can drive them.

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Yes it is. Back in 2022 I wrote two articles on solar and wind-powered EVs. The former I said held … Read more

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I came across an article by Michelle Lewis at Elektrek on a recent scientific paper on the mental models we … Read more

Point Reyes National Seashore Ev Charging At The Visitor's Center.

There’s a post making the rounds on social media about how terrible Tesla EV batteries are and listing reasons why … Read more

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My historical journey into the deep recesses of wind energy took another odd twist yesterday. I was updating my bibliographic … Read more

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In mid March Nancy and I saddled up our Bolt EV and headed out to the Carrizo Plains National Monument … Read more

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In late January this year, Nancy and I took a 400 plus mile road trip to Salinas, California, the home … Read more

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We stopped at Caltrans Shandon rest area on Hwy 46 as part of a road trip from Bakersfield to the … Read more

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Santa Barbara County has installed a new solar-powered level 2 station in New Cuyama.

We first noticed this station at the end of November. It was taped off then and when we passed it again a week later it was still taped off. Both times the indicator on the EVSE suggested the batteries were fully charged. We have no idea why it was taped off. It looked operational.

For those who don’t know, New Cuyama is the back of beyond. It’s on Route 166 that runs east and west, leading from the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley to the coast.

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Chuck (Charles) Longabach took an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a new car. He’d always wanted a new Volvo. He’d owned … Read more