[ref http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-EVLN-Leaf-owners-beware-the-gas-station-car-wash-tp4672092.html ]
In reference to Cor's valid comment (below), as our EV-cause dream is realized, more and more EV-noob drivers are coming online, and they are going to word their experiences badly/unfairly/inaccurately (equating everything to the EV rather than the real issues). Such is life amongst the un-EV-educated/un-EV-enlightened. We (the plugin community) will have to be tolerant of it, and gently let them take ownership as their idea, that the issues aren't the EV (careful now, an ego is a fragile-bomb that can back-bite if defused roughly). I posted this news piece because I am seeing more of these (released to the public with some on a seestanblog.com petulant level) ... and I had had a couple of similar experiences. After having my S-10 Blazer conversion EV a while, I chucked (recycled) the heavy steel wheels for new lighter mag-style ones (attracting more attention to my EV) and a set of Goodyear Invicta (no longer in production) lrr tires. At the time, Bill Egan of Goodyear was an excellent tire resource for the EV community (he did his company proud), advising the EV racing community on what type of GY lrr tire to use and at what pressures front and rear depending on the vehicle and weight distribution. These lrr tries did tend to slip on wet pavement/on rainy days when pushed beyond their design (driving a 2ton EV up and down twisty-turny mountain roads). >From all the good-EV-deeds I have done, I had earned press credentials that gave me an in to drive some of the production EVs of those times. When I had an Honda EVplus for a day (my Blazer happily charging at my hp work site), before a mid-day show, I took the EV+ to a new station that was built to cater to the silicon affluent clientele, The Car Spa (an easy convenient way _back-then_ to drop some dough on your sweet ride). I was hoping the EV+ was going to be so much more accepted by the non-EV-knowledgeable public than my Blazer EV conversion, that I took a chance and turned the keys over to the attendant at the counter for their riders to use. But yea, sure enough, they had problems. I was keeping an eye out encase they did and spotted the driver confused as to how to get the EV+ moving. I went over and instructed him, with him saying, 'Oh, its just like a regular car', and he was off toward the ramp to let their conveyor system push vehicles through the wash-rinse-wax-n-dry tunnel. Upon its return, a different driver expressed that the EV+ did not line up with the wheel tracks like other cars. After happily not seeing any body damage to the EV+ I was responsible for, when I drove out of their lot to head to the show with a fresh zip-wax coating on it, I did notice, the EV+ tires did slip a bit on turns. But after the soap and or wax wore off the traction surfaces, the EV+ drove fine. In a different experience back in my Blazer years later, I chose to use an automated quick wash that was part of a stations' services. It was pretty straight forward, so I did not have to interface with a gas person to explain I did not want any chemical-fuel. You just drove up to the beginning of the machine built into the side of the station, ran your credit card though it, chose your wash-n-wax options, and rolled up your windows. The conveyor work engage and pull you through their machine. My S-10 Blazer fit their tracks with no problem. After the robotic arm power rinsed and then soaped, with different roller arms coming down and going around to 'non-touch' wash the surfaces, the 1st arms then rinsed and waxed, with powerful blowers to push the water off the car more than actually dry it. When I was finally released from the automated machine, I had trouble leaving after the cycle had ended. I too had a brief back thought that I might get stuck. But as an experience EV driver, I knew thus did not blame the EV, but knew it was the lack of traction on the soapy/waxy lrr tires that was the culprit. Perseverance allowed me to eventually get-out of the clutches of their machine and drive away. It pretty clear that the experiences of the writer of the news piece had could have happened to any vehicle that had tires that lost traction, and not just because it was a Leaf or an EV. For EVLN posts use: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble+template%2FNamlServlet.jtp%3Fmacro%3Dsearch_page%26node%3D413529%26query%3Devln%26sort%3Ddate {brucedp.150m.com} ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_with_a_Blog#Premise ref seestanblog.com ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv343.shtml Had had is the past perfect form of have ... [video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNQk0VPX3nY Blackadder - You Twist And Turn Like A Twisty Turny Thing 123koekje321 Mar 16, 2012 Blackadder Season 2 Episode 5 "Beer". ] ... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunnyvale-Car-Spa-INC/259820914107409 The Car Spa http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-EVLN-Leaf-owners-beware-the-gas-station-car-wash-tp4672098.html On Mon, Oct 13, 2014, at 06:01 PM, Cor van de Water via EV wrote: > What a hogwash article! > This has litterally nothing to do with EV, but everything with the > ability of the driver to deal with slippery surfaces and the design > of the car wash to allow a car getting "trapped" on low friction > surfaces. The electric drivetrain has no part in this car wash's > trapping scheme or the ability of the driver to negotiate this > treacherous terrain, so I am puzzled why the heading was chosen to > warn specifically the Leaf owners, as if they are the only drivers > that would be affected by slippery car wash surfaces. > To me, this sounds like fear-mongering of a person who rather sits > in a 4WD truck, but I may be biased. > I have never had an issue negotiating any terrain that I wanted to > cross in my FWD Prius or in my RWD electric truck. I can't remember > which year I last visited an automated car wash. I wash my vehicles > at most once a year (not because I am lazy but out of conviction to save > precious water resources for drinking, not unnecessarily shining up > paint that eventually gets dull anyway). Occasionally I will clean > windows to be able to drive safely and for the rest I just let the wind > and rain take care of the dust on my truck. - -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-EVLN-Leaf-owners-beware-the-gas-station-car-wash-tp4672092p4672106.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
