While most of us are driving around in regular gas-guzzlers waiting for some nationwide electric vehicle infrastructure to be built so we can move away from petrol, Sydney council members are going to trial the Mitsubishi i-MiEV for six months to see what it’s like. Lucky them.
The trial will see 40 of the emission free vehicles trialled by council members and government officials, which will be charged at Sydney council’s Kent street parking station using a standard 15Amp power point.
During the course of the trial, the council will collect information on energy consumption and emissions to compare it with hybrid and petrol vehicles, apparently. Sounds like a pretty good excuse to be the first in the country to drive around the vehicles. Hey Mitsubishi! I’ll collect data for a free car too!
[via StreetCorner]
Craig
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:07 PMA standard Australian power outlet is 10 amp not 15. If it’s 15 then it isn’t standard.
Chris Deke
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:29 PMA standard power outlet is 10Amp. A standard 15 Amp power point is 15 amp. These are very common in industry (I have one about 5m away from me powering a rack of servers, for example)…less so in homes.
Steeeve
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 2:19 PM15A is the standard ‘heavy duty’ outlet. Many people have them in their sheds and, as Chris says, common in industry.
The only difference in the plug is a larger earth pin and the only other difference is heavier wiring than used in 10A household wiring. 10A plugs still fit into 15A sockets but not the other way around.
Anyone could have a 15A plug installed in their garage/carport/side of their house for charging an EV like this.
matt
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 2:50 PMcould they just make it run off two 10 amp sockets? or would a single, dual 10amp socket power point only support 10amps across the two sockets?
Tim
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 2:01 PMBlade Electric Vehicles have been converting Hyundai Getz’ to full electric for years. Some councils around Australia are already running them.
Ron Van der Weyde
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 3:35 PMA 15 amp outlet has the same guage wire as a 10amp outlet, it is restricted in that only one outlet of 15amp is allowed on the circuit , while a 10amp outlet circuit may have up to 20 outlets.
Both are protected by a circuit breaker of 15 to 20 amp (depends on when it was installed)
Timmy Connor
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 3:47 PMMonash University has a few electric vechicles it uses for staff for ages now
Cootified
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 4:24 PMHangon, if 40 of them are on trial, would that mean an increase in electricity usage in turn burning more coal?
Gorhob Perkins
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 9:46 PMNo doubt they had to get 40 so they can swap them over while waiting for the things to charge.