Seeking sustainability since 2006… the journey continues. Please join us.
Eric Elfner 
I strongly dislike FaceBook the company and its implementation, but the idea is outstanding! For years I have searched for alternatives… For years I have thought about just giving in… I primarily want to share my existence with others (mostly family and friends; also open to more general sharing), but I refuse to give control … Read more
After literally years of planning, I’m finally underway with my journey to a “Net Zero” energy house. Efficiency Vermont thinks any house can get to net zero, but only certain homes can do it at a reasonable cost. I’m trying to do it at the most reasonable cost possible. Net zero is the balance between … Read more
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about Tesla’s sideview cameras and how good they are for FSD (Full Self Driving, City Streets). You can see my previous post about a possible location improvement, but that was just kinda for fun. This analysis is for real, and seems to point to a serious limitation. Can the … Read more
As a long-term fan of Tesla (and investor in TSLA), I have enjoyed watching the evolution of the Telsa FSD (Full Self Driving) feature. If you have read my previous posts, you know that I think that it will be a long time before Tesla or anyone else completely solves FSD. Path of FSD Progress … Read more
Oh my. So much to say and so little time. I think I’ll just make this short and sweet. First of all, I own TSLA stock. I do not own a Tesla car, but rather own a Chevy Bolt (you can see why I made this choice here.) FSD is Tesla’s Full Self Driving add-on … Read more
In February 2021, Edmunds reported the range of several EVs. Telsa was more consistantly below the EPA range estimates than other manufacturers. Tesla’s engineers called Edmunds and challenged the numbers stating primarily that they had not run the batteries to empty, but rather relied on the car’s reported range available. Edmunds then ran a new … Read more
While I was shopping for my first EV, I thought that a plug-in electric car would be optimal. For around-town driving, I would be totally electric. But for longer trips, I would not be limited by either slow charging or the lack of charging stations. Definitely seems like a great transitional car type as we … Read more
Okay, the primary drawback of battery electric vehicles (BEV) is charging. Well, of course, it is a bit more complicated than that as in many circumstances charging is a benefit of BEV. For example, I as well as many other BEV owners will charge at home and plugin almost every night. This means my car … Read more
I have been an EV owner now for about 6 months. I purchased a used Chevy Bolt 2017 in August of 2020. You can read more about my purchase decision on my SmartGigDriver site. At about $22k it was twice as expensive as any car I had ever purchased (and I’m pushing retirement). I have … Read more
I recently watched the excellent YouTube video “The Electric Charging Problem” by Wendover Productions (~3M subscribers, Sam Denby). In this video, he argues that the limiting factor for the adoption of EVs in the US is NOT car price, but the available range. And, he expands this to analyzing that more charging stations would pretty … Read more