Hi,
Medical/Literary Update and Cars:
Not much to tell medically that I didn’t cover in the previous newsletter. There has been no decision yet on whether and when I might have the ablation procedure to (hopefully) cure my A-Fib.
My right hand is healing nicely, but I haven’t done much more writing.
I did decide to attend my 60th Deep Springs High School Reunion next month (May 2025), so I wasted (wasted?) some time planning the route, something I do much more with an electric car than I used to with an ICE vehicle.
When I bought Evie (my used 2021 black Chevy Bolt EV) in 2023, the dealership had installed some software that monitored the health of the main battery. For the next 6,200 miles I could only charge the battery to 80%, or 20% fewer miles than I will be able to get on one charge once the software release me from the limitation.
Since I haven’t been able to drive Evie very much, the limiter is still active, so I can (technically) only drive 200 miles before topping off Evie’s battery, instead of the 250 miles I will (technically) be able to drive when I can charge to 100%. A more accurate way of saying that would be to replace the phrase “technically” with”under ideal conditions.”
Whenever an EV is charged, their dashboard will display a range of potential miles, Maximum, Median, and Minimum. That range is actually a guess, based on how you have been driving the recently. Usually, before I leave town on a road trip, I will have been driving in town at in town speeds (some highway [faster] and a lot of suburban streets [slower]). Just like in an ICE, faster speeds, jackrabbit starts, etc. will deplete the battery (fuel tank) more quickly.
In an ICE vehicle there will be gas stations easily in reach if your tank gets low. It’s getting better for EVs, but there still are some gaps between some cities, especially in rural areas. Planning ahead lets the EV driver know exactly where charging stations are, how much they will cost, and even whether a charger is working or not, and whether it’s currently being used by someone. Anyway knowing a lot of that in advance relieves a lot of the worry about where to charge, and lets me know if any particular trip will be possible. Charging to 100% isn’t actually necessary, even for road trips, but the extra 50 miles or so will make it a lot easier.
Until next time,
Michael
For an explanation of why I created the pseudonym Deep Springs, read this:
https://www.aggravatedbook.com/name-substitutions/
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