We own EVs. Ask Us Anything.

[J Alynn]

I think it’s a similar principle, yes. I spent a time doing powerlifting and geeking out with the coach about physics, but biomechanics are still something I have only—at best—a surface-level understanding of.

Making a bunch of implied assumptions that arms work as beams, we can guesstimate the difference in torque on the shoulders...
My arms are about 1 meter long when bent appropriately for holding a chainsaw.

My Stihl 391 has a mass of about 9 kg when full of fuel and with a 20” guidebar and chain.
That’s a torque of about 88 Nm (65 ft-lb) on my shoulders when I’m cutting.

A Stihl MSA 300 has a mass of about 5.7 kg without the battery, but with chain oil.
I’m not sure about the backpack adapter mass, but let’s say it’s a full kg (I think it’s likely much less since it’s just a few contacts in plastic).
The torque on my shoulders would be about 65-66 Nm (48 ft-lb).

With a 1.8 kg battery on the saw, it would be 7.5 kg and 73.5 Nm (54 ft-lb) torque on the shoulders.

With the backpack, the torque on the shoulders would be reduced by about 13% compared with the same saw with a battery in the saw.
Compared with the MS 391, the torque would be reduced by about 35%.

I’ll take it.

And there is the science I love. Thank you for mathing for us right brained folks

 

[J Alynn]

While I'm running the Milwaukee equivalent (M18 Hatchet), the DeWalt pruning chainsaw looks to serve a similar purpose. Small, portable and cuts through smaller stuff in a flash. Great for average storm debris when we lose larger branches. I rarely get a bigger saw out nowadays.

Need to look into one if these for small limbing

 

[J Alynn]

We've had a 16" 60V DeWalt saw for a few years now and it is one of the best purchases I have ever made. Why? Because my wife will use it. She won't go near a gas saw due to having trouble starting it, the noise, and the smell. But with the DeWalt she has no issues and is self-sufficient. We have 2 batteries (one that came w/ the saw and one that came with our weedeater) and we quit before the saw does. I think the 16" is a good size as you can take down bigger stuff but it's still small enough that it doesn't wear you out running it.

But I guess to the OP's question, there are only 2 choices - batteries or cords. I think if you had 3 x 3Ah batteries with 2 chargers plugged into the Scout you would have no trouble keeping a saw running all day.

Great to here and appreciate all the feedback.

 

[J Alynn]

GREAT point about the wife thing! My wife won't use the Stihl weedeater, but she'll use the Milwaukee one. She also likes the handheld blower and keeps the driveway and deck clean too, things that were historically my responsibility.

So you are exterior and wife typically interior chores? Seems to be our house rules which works well. And I do majority of cooking and she cleans up which suits me just fine

 

[speedrye]

So you are exterior and wife typically interior chores? Seems to be our house rules which works well. And I do majority of cooking and she cleans up which suits me just fine

Somewhere around there. I handle maintenance/fixing, shopping and chauffeur duties while she handles schooling and inside chores. She enjoys doing stuff outdoors, but more the planting/gardening and occasional clean-up while I deal with the rest. We all dive in when we have storm/tree debris (so many trees!), as the extra hands are helpful then. She does most cooking nowadays, but I still get grill/griddle duties and there are certain meals I make. Kid is more and more helpful each year.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The decision by Scout to use an 800 Volt architecture for its batteries is going to have a huge impact on their success.
I hope they’ll also be less conservative on the charge curve as well.

We’re on a 750 mile round trip road trip in the Silverado.
The distance to our first overnight stay is 330 miles. We didn’t need to charge for this leg. But we did need to stop for bio reasons.
IONNA has installed new 400 kW chargers along our usual route, so we decided to make that our stop. It was about halfway between our departure point and our destination. We arrived with 56% on the battery. We got to the chargers and I didn’t realize they have different stations for NACS vs CCS1, so I parked at a NACS charger, pulled out my adapter, and plugged in. IONNA negotiates with Chevrolet so the truck just started charging.

We went to find a restroom and some dinner. Total time spent was 30 minutes on the dot, none of it waiting for the vehicle.
We charged to 91% in those 30 minutes. The average charge rate was 143 kW, including the cliff after about 80%.

Totally unnecessary, but quite great. And because of the adapter, lower than it could have been. Next time I’ll try the native CCS1 plug.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I'm away from home. My partner is not. The grid just went down. But our home did not.

This is exactly why we don't rely on the truck for backup. If we had relied on the truck for backup, she would be without power.

An EV is great for all kinds of things, including for supplying energy to power a house. For it to be useful as an automated failover in a power outage, it needs to be connected...not 500 miles away.

 

[cyure]

I'm away from home. My partner is not. The grid just went down. But our home did not.

This is exactly why we don't rely on the truck for backup. If we had relied on the truck for backup, she would be without power.

An EV is great for all kinds of things, including for supplying energy to power a house. For it to be useful as an automated failover in a power outage, it needs to be connected...not 500 miles away.

Oh I’m glad she’s not alone and sitting in the dark.

 

[J Alynn]

I'm away from home. My partner is not. The grid just went down. But our home did not.

This is exactly why we don't rely on the truck for backup. If we had relied on the truck for backup, she would be without power.

An EV is great for all kinds of things, including for supplying energy to power a house. For it to be useful as an automated failover in a power outage, it needs to be connected...not 500 miles away.

Funny after years of discussion this has never come up and mentally I guess I think we will always be together if something like that happens. New perspective

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Oh I’m glad she’s not alone and sitting in the dark.

There have been at least four grid failures or shutdowns so far this year.

She's quite resourceful and would have been fine. But it's worth every penny we spent on the battery backup to not have to worry about her.

Arguments about payback period/return on investment in monetary terms only go so far...

 

[cyure]

Quick question for all you EV owners.

I keep hearing how you don’t need to do anything when you stop the car and get out and walk away from your vehicle.

Does your car beep to let you know it’s locked? Is there a button you can push to make double sure the car is locked?

 

[maynard]

Quick question for all you EV owners.

I keep hearing how you don’t need to do anything when you stop the car and get out and walk away from your vehicle.

Does your car beep to let you know it’s locked? Is there a button you can push to make double sure the car is locked?

All of our PHEV vehicles had fobs and the one Volvo EV we had also had a fob.

 

[bwdavis7]

Quick question for all you EV owners.

I keep hearing how you don’t need to do anything when you stop the car and get out and walk away from your vehicle.

Does your car beep to let you know it’s locked? Is there a button you can push to make double sure the car is locked?

My Hyundai has a fob or you can use your cellphone remotely from almost anywhere to check the locked status. You can also have the app notify you if left the car unlocked.

 

[apex96]

Quick question for all you EV owners.

I keep hearing how you don’t need to do anything when you stop the car and get out and walk away from your vehicle.

Does your car beep to let you know it’s locked? Is there a button you can push to make double sure the car is locked?

Most new vehicles have many ways to lock. Most vehicles still come with a key fob or have one as an option (tesla/rivian). You can likely lock a vehicle by simply pushing the interior lock button as you step out, before closing the door (may not work on all makes and models). Most have some form of mobile application that will allow you to lock the vehicle remotely. Most have a spot on the handle where capacitive touch will lock the doors as well.

Almost forgot proximity sensing, a lot of newer cars have a proximity sense feature that when enabled will lock or unlock the vehicle as you walk away or towards it (with key fob in hand).

 

[R1TVT]

Quick question for all you EV owners.

I keep hearing how you don’t need to do anything when you stop the car and get out and walk away from your vehicle.

Does your car beep to let you know it’s locked? Is there a button you can push to make double sure the car is locked?

If I walk away and I'm using PaaK or FOB, my Gen1 R1T locks and hoots (like great horned owl).
I like the hoot more than the "chirp".
But that's just my preference and a setting.

If I push the lock button on the FOB or the App, that's fine, but it doesn't actually do anything since the truck is already locked.
If I use my key card or my wrist band key, I need to physically hold it to a spot near the door handle to "make it lock".

This is a really good read on all the different ways Rivian let's you lock / unlock anyway: https://rivian.com/stories/unlock-your-vehicle & for Gen2: https://rivian.com/stories/software-digital-key-46

 

[cyure]

If I walk away and I'm using PaaK or FOB, my Gen1 R1T locks and hoots (like great horned owl).
I like the hoot more than the "chirp".
But that's just my preference and a setting.

If I push the lock button on the FOB or the App, that's fine, but it doesn't actually do anything since the truck is already locked.
If I use my key card or my wrist band key, I need to physically hold it to a spot near the door handle to "make it lock".

This is a really good read on all the different ways Rivian let's you lock / unlock anyway: https://rivian.com/stories/unlock-your-vehicle & for Gen2: https://rivian.com/stories/software-digital-key-46

Oh our Scouts need a fun lock noise.

 

[Broverlander]

Oh our Scouts need a fun lock noise.

Okay, so this was new to me too when I got my Rivian. Some EVs have a "start" button and some don't. Some you just walk up, the car unlocks, you get it, buckle your seat belt, step on the brake, put it into drive, and walk away. That's how Rivian works. I love it. The proximity sensing is amazing. You walk up, it's open. You walk away, it locks. I know it locks because I have the owl hoot sound.

Scout looks like it has a start button. In theory, it works the same. You just have a press the start button before you press the brake and press it again after you park.

P.S. Yes to the fun lock noises! I'd like a lot more to choose from than Rivian has. It can't be that hard to just store 10-15 in there.

 

[R1TVT]

From a security perspective, Gear Guard is pretty great but I honestly hardly ever take the time to use it. You can get alerts and live camera views inside the Rivian app (remotely). I noticed one of my buddies hanging out by my truck the other night while I was parked downtown and caught him on camera showing one of his friends my truck.

 

[jeremydunworth]

My Hyundai has a fob or you can use your cellphone remotely from almost anywhere to check the locked status. You can also have the app notify you if left the car unlocked.
View attachment 19874

In addition to all this, when my Ioniq 5 is locked the side view mirrors fold in and the door handles sit flush with the doors. When unlocked the side view mirrors are extended for regular driving and either the driver door handle or all four door handles are extended away from the doors so driver and passengers can easily open the doors.

When I get out of the car and leave it, this is how I normally check if it is locked, are the mirrors folded in and the door handles flush with the doors.