The Week #165

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  • I finally got a call that my car will be ready next week. Initially it was going to be ready on Sunday, because that's when the coatings will be finished, but due to scheduling conflicts with my sales guy, we'll pick it up Saturday, and I'll bring it in for a couple of hours for them to do the coating.

    The final thing I've been researching are the "charge cards", which are cards that allow you to use rapid chargers.The thing is, they all require a monthly fee to maintain as well as charge for the time using the charger. This means the pricing is set around what larger vehicles will consume in 30 minutes (the standard charging time), so people with smaller batteries that will consume a theoretical maximum of 15kWh, end up paying around ¥200 kWh...which is very expensive. Thankfully all chargers also allow you to charge as a visitor and the rates are more reasonable.  I wish Octopus Energy had a charge card that just put it on my bill like I consumed it at home (I'm speaking purely as a customer. I am not aware of any plans or details to do anything EV in Japan, other than our EV tariff, which is public...and I'll likely be changing to).
  • Planning to live a  charge card free EV life, I've also started installing the various "e-money" cards for the big shopping centers like waon (for Aeon malls) and Nanaco (for anything 7-11). Why? These large malls often have EV charger points that let you charge for much cheaper rates. Aeon in particular has 30 minutes for ¥300, but you've got to use their waon card for payment. For large EVs with big batteries, they're pretty much selling wholesale or using it as a loss-leader...for smaller EVs like mine, it's roughly what I'd pay per kWh during "EV time".
  • I don't talk about work too much on this blog, but we're hiring for a Senior Product Manager at work. I've been doing this along with leading the tech team for the part of Kraken that I work on... and while it worked when the team was smaller, the team and product have grown to the point where it can't be a part-time job.
  • We've gotten a break from the summer heat. Most days are still above 30, but it's not reaching the highs that it was and it's not 30+ degrees 7am any longer. I think this reprieve  from the heat has made it easier to get out and start running again.
  • Speaking of running, I've started a free trial for paid Strava. Clicking about, I really like the route planner / suggestion feature. As I start going for longer more regular runs, I think letting the computer suggest routes for me will take out some of the rut and help me explore even more.
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