Why so many acronyms?

Falcon L

My driving life has changed recently and I'm trying to figure out if an electric car would fit into my life. I've been trying to read up on the real life experiences of current drivers, but I'm faced with a wall of acronyms.

It's very difficult to follow a discussion when people are throwing acronyms around in every post. Is it so difficult to type out what they all mean? It would make life much easier for those of us who are delving into this world if plain English was used.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

BoatMad

Falcon L wrote: »

My driving life has changed recently and I'm trying to figure out if an electric car would fit into my life. I've been trying to read up on the real life experiences of current drivers, but I'm faced with a wall of acronyms.

It's very difficult to follow a discussion when people are throwing acronyms around in every post. Is it so difficult to type out what they all mean? It would make life much easier for those of us who are delving into this world if plain English was used.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

What TLAs would you like explained

Falcon L

BoatMad wrote: »

What TLAs would you like explained

Yup, that just about says it all.

Gumbo

Falcon L wrote: »

My driving life has changed recently and I'm trying to figure out if an electric car would fit into my life. I've been trying to read up on the real life experiences of current drivers, but I'm faced with a wall of acronyms.

It's very difficult to follow a discussion when people are throwing acronyms around in every post. Is it so difficult to type out what they all mean? It would make life much easier for those of us who are delving into this world if plain English was used.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Give some examples of the abbreviations you are finding.

zilog_jones

It might be good to have some brief glossary as a sticky. In particular, things like SCP and FCP (standard and fast charging points) seem to be specific to Ireland, and the acronyms are (from what I can see) not used officially by ESBN.

Might be good to cover terminology found elsewhere, e.g. "portable EVSE" vs. "granny cable", "fast chargers" in the UK not being fast at all, etc. as there's a lot of info from the US and UK online that may be even more confusing without understanding the differences.

KCross

Isn't our esteemed moderator(@cros13) working on that?
I think he said he had some material written up almost ready to sticky

KCross

Falcon L wrote: »

My driving life has changed recently and I'm trying to figure out if an electric car would fit into my life. I've been trying to read up on the real life experiences of current drivers, but I'm faced with a wall of acronyms.

It's very difficult to follow a discussion when people are throwing acronyms around in every post. Is it so difficult to type out what they all mean? It would make life much easier for those of us who are delving into this world if plain English was used.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Unfortunately the EV world is an electrical world which is full of acronyms in itself.

Writing them all out everytime would be very tedious. Once the new stickies are written up including a glossary and newcomers read those first, they will then be good to go to converse in the forum.... until then, what ones do you need explained and we will try to get you going?

BoatMad

Heres a list relevant to Irish Drivers of Electric Vehicles

EV , Electric Vehicle
BEV , Battery electric Vehicle
HEV, Hybrid Electric Vehicle
PHEV, Plug in Hybrid Vehicle
ICE, a soon to be obsolete form of private car propulsion ( internal combustion engine )
Iceing access to chargers being blocked by bloody selfish bas%ards
EVSE ,EV Supply Equipment, , often called a home charge point ( and not a home charger ) , but EVSE is a generic term
Charge point, CP a place where a EV can be charged , may contain a EVSE, a SCP or a FCP etc
SCP , Slow charge point, as used Ireland to mean AC chargers typically 22kW or less
FCP, Fast charge point , Typically meaning a high rate DC charger , CCS or Chademo & more lately also equipped with high power AC , ( Fast AC)
SOC state of charge , how much is in your battery, most commonly expressed as a percentage
C The charge rate of the battery as expressed as a multiple of " Capacity ", , e.g. a 2C battery, rated at 20kWh would charge at a max of 40Amps
kW, Kilowatts , a measure of power
kWh, Technically a " derived unit of energy ", more commonly used to represent consumption ( in Units ) or capacity of a battery
Type 1 connection, The Type of connection used to connect standard single phase AC to a Nissan leaf 5 pins ( consists of Live, Neutral, Earth,control pilot , proximity ) also called the SAE J1772 ( USA ) formally known as IEC 62196 - Type 1
Type 2 ( sometimes called the Mennekes connector ) standard European AC charge plug/socket, typically found on SCP pillars and home EVSEs , 7 pins ( 3 phase AC , neutral , control pilot , proximity ) , properly known as IEC 62196 -Type 2
CCS : Combined Charging Systems. A grouping in a plug of both AC and DC charging , AC being IEC complaint and DC also being IEC compliant, rather bizarrely the " Combo plug" as its known , is NOT a current IEC standard , yet its fitted to many charges and cars. ( Ioniq etc )
CHAdeMO: a DC charging system originally developed in Jaoan, and most notably fitted to the Nissan Leaf, IEC 62196 - Type 4 , CHAdeMO ( note capitalisation ) is an acronym for Charge de Move !!. ( the name is actually a pun on the Japanese "O cha demo ikaga desk ", which means lets have a cup of tea )
Regen: a term merely the use of the electric motor to recharge the batteries when freewheeling , and hence provide retardation instead of using the brakes ( or as well as using them !)
"One foot driving ": a technique in EV driving , so that the accelerator , using regen acts as a brake, meaning that the right foot does not have to be moved from the pedal to slow the car
"Drafting"A technique deployed by EV drivers to tuck into behind large goods vehicles to get a free tow !.
Hyper Milinga US term , used to mean a method of driving that extracts the best range for a given charge
Granny Cable, a cable , contains the electronics of a domestic EVSE , with a domestic plug on on end and a Type or Type 2 plug on the end that connects to the EV. seemingly called that as that is what you use when visiting your " granny " , allows a slow charge to be extracted from a domestic plug , typically 10 amps ( approx 2Kw)
GOM The " Guess-o-meter", the range indicator in an Electric car, named after Nissans famous version


Note that CP ( Charge point ) , may contain a charger or may not, for example a SCP plugged into a leaf, is using the onboard charger of the car, whereas the same car plugged into a FCP, issuing a charger in the CP itself and not in the car. An EVSE is a CP but is not a charger !

Falcon L

Thank you BoatMad. That'll explain a lot. I could figure out a lot of the stuff, but the GOM one had me stumped. The explanation of some of the terms is most welcome too.

I'm booked into try the new Zoe just as soon as the dealer has one. I hope I will be able to get back in to my oil burner after the few days of electric driving.:D

mel.b

Here's another list of acronyms, slightly tounge in cheek in parts :P

WHAT THEY MEAN: A-Z of (mostly) electric vehicle terms

QUICK REFERENCE

Amp: Short for Ampere - name of physicist who discovered it. Measure of electric current.

AC: Alternating current. Most charging points are AC but all electric motors are DC. Batteries can only accept DC. This means AC supply must be converted by the car's charger to charge the battery. Power grids are run on AC as the charge points are cheaper. They're just accessing existing power. Air conditioning can consume a lot of power. Most new EVs use a heat pump for heating and cooling: more efficient at maintaining temperature.
Battery: Where your electricity is stored. EVs generally use lithium-ion batteries. They provide relatively high energy density and charge quickly.
Cost: To install a new home-charge point costs around €900 (incl VAT) but ESB is doing more than 2,000 for free.

DC: Direct current. Most makers use this for fastest level of charging as it's simplest. See AC above.
EV: Electric vehicle.
BEV: Battery electric vehicle.

Future: EVs will have longer range.Grid: If you could harness the energy from Ardnacrusha hydrostation, it would charge an EV in seconds.


Home charging: Most conveniently done overnight. ESB provides 1,200 public charging points, all accessed via a single RFID card. Currently free to use. Most charge at 22kW AC.
ICE: Internal combustion engine. When a charging point has been 'ICEd', it's been blocked by an ICE vehicle.
Joule: Standard energy unit.
Kilowatt hour: See 'watt' below.

Lithium ion: Regarded as most efficient batteries.
Motor: EVs have motors, not engines.
Newton metre (Nm): Measure of torque/pulling power.
Optimistic: Government plan for 10pc of new car sales being EVs by 2020.

PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle): Runs primarily on petrol/diesel. Battery provides limited electric-only range.
Quick-charging points: 80 in Ireland, mainly on or near motorways. Can charge some EVs to 80pc in 30 mins.
Range: How far an EV will go on one charge.
Range anxiety: Fear you haven't enough battery left to finish your journey.
Range extender: Some EVs have an ICE engine as a generator to recharge battery. Regenerative braking: When you slow down/brake, the car's system can convert the energy to increase battery range.
SEAI: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Provides grants of up to €5,000 for a BEV, €2,500 for PHEV.
Torque: EVs have total torque (pulling power) available from the start.
Urban: Popular misconception that EVs are only suited to cities. Rural drivers cover longer daily distances often well within EV range.
VRT relief: Up to €5,000 for a BEV, €2,500 for PHEVs, €1,500 for ordinary hybrid.
Watt: Measure of electric power: 1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (kW). A kilowatt hour (kWh) is the amount of energy required to sustain power consumption of a kilowatt for an hour. On your electricity bill, a kWh is referred to as a unit. If your car has a 41kWh battery, multiply your unit cost by 41 to find how much a full charge will cost you.
X: Model X, Tesla's electric crossover.
You: Would an EV work for you? Ask a salesperson.
Z: Just happens to be an EV called ZOE from Renault.


Taken from this article http://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/time-ministers-pulled-on-green-jersey-and-played-for-ev-ireland-35795273.html

There's also a list here on the Nissan website...

http://home.nissan.ie/downloads/NissanLEAFFAQsV2.pdf

BoatMad

Quick-charging points

that term is not used in ireland , FCP is used, fast charging point.

mel.b

I guess the author was struggling to come up with anything else for 'Q'. Can't have an A - Z without Q:pac: