Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Charging an all-electric 2022 Kia Niro
Low battery blues
2022 Kia Niro EV: A little more cord would have gone a long way.
I’m the sort of person who would be glad to own an electric car. I just need it to be affordable, fun to drive, and able to make 300 miles on a single charge. So I was excited when the guy at the car-rental desk offered me a spacious, crisp-white, all-electric 2022 Kia Niro crossover as an alternative to a homely econobox gasoline car.
Day one with the car was a dream. Then it came time for charging. The Kia offered three options: the main two involved connector ports inside a cute cubby compartment embedded in the car’s front grille. One worked with faster charging units, but I soon learned that you pay significantly more for the speed. Then, stowed in the back was a 120-volt, three-pronged plug at the end of a cord that proved too short to reach any of the outlets in my condo-complex home. Had it be a couple dozen feet longer, I might have avoided the troubles to come.
I found my first charging station via the interactive map on the Electrify America app, and the charging unit did its work quickly, easily, and inexpensively. I powered the car up to about 120 miles of range in about an hour. My confidence boosted, the next day I let the car fall to just under 40 miles remaining. Then I got a call from a publisher that I’d being trying to make happen for months. I chatted for a chunk of time, during which I drove stupidly and somewhat aimlessly around La Jolla.
The author after his first charge-up, blissfully unaware of the sorrows to come.
Bong-bong. “-- miles remaining” read the message on the LED display. Not enough juice left to even estimate the range! Ending the call somewhat abruptly, I began what turned out to be an hours-log hunt for a nearby, functional charging station. First, I found a two-unit station behind a closed office complex not far from UCSD. It instantly began charging — but not my car. While the car continued losing power even as it was plugged in, the thing threatened to drain my bank account.
I got a zap worth eight miles at another unit before it inexplicably stopped charging and refused to start up again. That began my real wandering: Hillcrest to Rancho Bernardo and back, in search of precious electricity. Sometimes, I limped in with just a couple of miles left on the gauge. But I did learn something new: there are a handful of free charging stations in San Diego, one of them at the old DMV lot in Hillcrest. It even has two charger ports…but only one of them works. And when I arrived there, a very nice gentleman was using the other one. I turned back to my app, and it sent me to Whole Foods on University. Naturally, it boasted a bunch of the eco-friendly charge stations. And naturally, they were all occupied by Teslas, plus one Jaguar. I shopped. I ate. I entertained myself. I never did get my turn.
Joe Biden’s recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill includes $7.5 billion dedicated to installing 500,000 new stations. Until then, I’ll wait on my purchase — and maybe even my next rental.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Charging an all-electric 2022 Kia Niro
Low battery blues
Charging an all-electric 2022 Kia Niro
Low battery blues
2022 Kia Niro EV: A little more cord would have gone a long way.
I’m the sort of person who would be glad to own an electric car. I just need it to be affordable, fun to drive, and able to make 300 miles on a single charge. So I was excited when the guy at the car-rental desk offered me a spacious, crisp-white, all-electric 2022 Kia Niro crossover as an alternative to a homely econobox gasoline car.
Day one with the car was a dream. Then it came time for charging. The Kia offered three options: the main two involved connector ports inside a cute cubby compartment embedded in the car’s front grille. One worked with faster charging units, but I soon learned that you pay significantly more for the speed. Then, stowed in the back was a 120-volt, three-pronged plug at the end of a cord that proved too short to reach any of the outlets in my condo-complex home. Had it be a couple dozen feet longer, I might have avoided the troubles to come.
I found my first charging station via the interactive map on the Electrify America app, and the charging unit did its work quickly, easily, and inexpensively. I powered the car up to about 120 miles of range in about an hour. My confidence boosted, the next day I let the car fall to just under 40 miles remaining. Then I got a call from a publisher that I’d being trying to make happen for months. I chatted for a chunk of time, during which I drove stupidly and somewhat aimlessly around La Jolla.
The author after his first charge-up, blissfully unaware of the sorrows to come.
Bong-bong. “-- miles remaining” read the message on the LED display. Not enough juice left to even estimate the range! Ending the call somewhat abruptly, I began what turned out to be an hours-log hunt for a nearby, functional charging station. First, I found a two-unit station behind a closed office complex not far from UCSD. It instantly began charging — but not my car. While the car continued losing power even as it was plugged in, the thing threatened to drain my bank account.
I got a zap worth eight miles at another unit before it inexplicably stopped charging and refused to start up again. That began my real wandering: Hillcrest to Rancho Bernardo and back, in search of precious electricity. Sometimes, I limped in with just a couple of miles left on the gauge. But I did learn something new: there are a handful of free charging stations in San Diego, one of them at the old DMV lot in Hillcrest. It even has two charger ports…but only one of them works. And when I arrived there, a very nice gentleman was using the other one. I turned back to my app, and it sent me to Whole Foods on University. Naturally, it boasted a bunch of the eco-friendly charge stations. And naturally, they were all occupied by Teslas, plus one Jaguar. I shopped. I ate. I entertained myself. I never did get my turn.
Joe Biden’s recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill includes $7.5 billion dedicated to installing 500,000 new stations. Until then, I’ll wait on my purchase — and maybe even my next rental.
Comments