Electric car facts

It has been almost 2 years of driving the Nissan Leaf!

So far it has lived up to its promise. A quiet ride in carpool lane for local commuting. 

Given my kids tell me that I drive like an old grandma, it is no surprise that the leaf has 5 miles/kwh. Leaf forums tell me that this is a pretty good record for a car that has since seen 15k + miles

One intersting thing is that the Leaf gives you an estimated miles left as you drive.. and that can sometimes be like the Windows File download or copy dialog box "time remaining" prediction!

You drive 3 miles and get back 5 more.. then you drive back 4 miles and lose 9! Net result is that the car was driven 7 miles and it shows 4 miles consumed. These numbers are also a function of recent trips and who knows what logic?!

One gets used to this after some time. Also if you remember which routes have roads that slope down vs. roads that slope up, you can optimize your mileage!

Only downside this year is that the Leaf is behind on the 10k mile per year we signed for in the lease. So far the dealership is getting a better deal. 

The charger is now fixed and the car is back on the road! These photographs were taken few weeks ago on a route that always makes me laugh when looking at the dashboard.

Here is to more fun!

In search of a Millionaire

After this post on Tire pressure Indicators, I wanted to see if the person who actually came up with the idea, is in fact a millionaire. Just to get some closure on the fantasy that if I had come up with that idea, I would have millions of $$ and ergo, not have to worrry about rising college tuition costs sometime in the future!

So, decided to track down the US Patent numbers on this thingy and see who came up with this. Here is a link to the patent from 1985, if you would care to read about it!

If you don't, the interesting thing is that "people have been trying to do this since 1914"!!! and there are various versions developed over time that evolved with the tires.

Here is a patent that describes the example I cited in the previous post. This is from 2003.. and here are some latest ones from 2005!! This last one looks close to what the Sienna has for an onboard system!

The learning?

Lot more tire pressure patents from Taiwan than US in recent years.

Things have evolved from a little stick that you insert in the valve stem, to the same thing built into the air inflation system to permanent visual indicators and onboard computerized systems that monitor pressure irrespective of the vehicle being stationary or moving...

Taiwanese govt. seems to be pushing their dudes to come up with a nice solution.

Chances are, none of these dudes are millionaires. They are all salaried employees like yours truly who got another patent award displayed on their cubicle wall!

I now know a lot more about tire pressure sensors, than I cared to know a few hours ago!

You have been bored with an information overload, when all you wanted to see or read about was the cute things the little ones say or do. Well, there is always tomorrow and I did post this earlier!

Here's to all the wannabe millionaries sitting in those tiny cubicles, coming up with ideas that change the world, one step at a time!

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Smartass Sundar

Driving back from work to home on one of the worst highways in the local area. Worst in the sense that the highway is in really bad condition. As soon as you merge in, the noise level increases tremendously due to the roughness of the surface and the numerous bumps.

As is customary, I just have the radio on and drive, zombie mode. The dude on the radio is going on and on about greenhouse gases, auto industry, environmentalists recommendations and suddenly something jumps out and wakes me up..

"we can significantly reduce greenhouse gases if everyone in America can inflate their vehicle tires to the correct pressure! under inflated tires cause not just more wear and tear and frequent tire disposal, but they also decrease gas mileage!"

the inventor in me went to overdrive!

What? Is that really that simple? Half the time I dont check my tire pressure. Is this the real reason for all the noise or is it the crappy highway. In this day and age when we have diapers which turn color on the outside, when the little one does a number on the inside, how come we dont have an automatic tire pressure indicator that goes red or green? Should I patent that and make millions? If it is that easy to improve gas mileage, there should be one already? and given free with every tire! Hell, it should be built into the tire and there would probably be a law that mandates all tires have built in pressure sensors that alarm when the tire needs to be inflated some more! So far we have not seen anything like it!

Smiling from ear to ear on hitting a possible jackpot and visualizing myself as the next tire sensor baron, I came home, logged on and went on the internet and checked for tire pressure indicator ... and the future tire sensor baron sank into the couch more like a tired senseless moron.

Looks like there is one out there (or god knows how many more). But they want 15 bucks for four sensors. Now, I am upset! Why shouldn't tire manufacturers who charge 75$ a tire add this under 5$ sensor to the tire? Why doesn't the state of California which is hit so hard with emissions, mandate that all tires come with sensors?

I am going to see if someone gives out these things for free. In the meantime, if any of you who read this blog, know of any other such indicator that is cheaper or free, let me know. For now, it is back to the gas station to check tire pressure...

ps. there is an automatic tire pressure indicator in my Toyota Sienna van. But this light is perpetually on!! I know my tires have the right pressure (every local mechanic has told me so, except the toyota service!).
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