Testing a New Camera and Talking EV Chargers

[@kakashi3543]

I hope somebody is hearing you regarding the national parks charging infrastructure. You are perfectly right about it!

[@ab-tf5fl]

I think to make trips to national parks cheap and scalable with EVs, we're going need a massive increase in availability of level 2 overnight charging at hotels and vacation homes near the park. If every such place within a two hour drive of the park had chargers there, a modern EV would have enough range to drive from hotel to park and back to hotel again, without stopping to charge at all. Two obvious alternatives, mass DCFC near the park entrance and level 2 at popular trailheads inside the park itself both have drawbacks. Most national parks have huge differences in visitor counts between peak and off-peak seasons, so enough chargers to handle the peak-season demand would result in massive overcapacity in the off-season, making it difficult for charging providers to recoup their investment without enormous peak-season charging fees. Level 2 at trailheads sounds good at first glance, but most trailheads have either limited or no electricity, and getting the required power needed to charge dozens of vehicles at once would require dozens of miles of power line construction, which would be cost-prohibitive. Compared to these solutions, mass level 2 at hotels and AirBnbs near the park, where there is already plentiful electricity around, would be much cheaper. Two good things going for EVs as vehicles to visit national parks are 1) optimal hiking weather matches perfectly with when EVs are at their peak efficiency, and 2) EVs are very efficient driving the slow, windy mountain roads that national parks typically have. Put the two together, it is entirely possible that, within the park boundary, an EV rated at 250 miles of range and an ICE vehicle rated at 350 miles of range actually have the same range. Of course, it is also possible that up and coming battery improvements result in longer-ranged vehicles, rendering a lot of national park infrastructure issues much less problematic.

[@plugandplayEV]

Love the extra visibility and perspective. Don't miss out on that razor sharp scenery when you stop, though... those NoCal and National Park views are gorgeous! Appreciate you and all you do.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thank you, Steve!

[@tonym4813]

Eric, great to see you back on the road for a bit. Loved the “passenger” perspective, contrast issues aside. TY for what you do. 2023 Bolt EUV here in no small part due to you and Steve @plugandplayEV. Be well !

[@paulgipe6684]

Hang in there Eric. Tough time. Good to see you back.

[@thenetworkarchitectchannel]

Looks great! I agree doing iPhone vid looses out on the great scenery driving through and the system you have looks to be a great solution. Terrific landscape you were driving through. Boundless rolling grass covered hills. Best wishes to you and your love ones about the care needs.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks, Walter!

[@ArtiePenguin1]

Yup, the dynamic range on the camera seems nice. 📷😎 I know way too much about that with my filmmaking background.

[@evibes512]

Like the 360 view and the scenery of the drive! Filter or settings you mentioned will help with the contrast.

[@johnanderson9735]

Thanks for your reporting, you cover a lot of details that no one else does, and I hope your efforts increase awareness on EV issues and infrastructure gaps as you pointed out here.

[@anthonyc8499]

Hey Eric, sorry to hear about your family situation. That’s never easy. The camera quality is great! The gimbal motion is a bit weird though and I would prefer it to be more static with both yourself and the view out the windshield setup, rather than the camera panning to just look out front. Electric Era from Seattle is opening several DCFC stations in NorCal this spring and summer. I’m really curious about their equipment and plans for the future. I saw they recently hired someone away from Circle K to be their VP of Site Planning.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks! The drift was unintentional, but I thought it showed the views well. Still figuring out the settings. Yes, I forgot to mention Electric Era in this video, but I've had my eye on their build out. They have some sites that I plan to visit later this year.

[@DavidDrivesElectric]

Love the new 360 camera! I have one too but I haven't done any videos for my channel with yet. BTW, I'm totally with you about the chargers in areas that have little or noting yet. National parks should all have several L2 in their parking lots. I mean *several* as in more than the typical 2 plugs. If I drive to a park, I need to have chargers available even on a busy day.

[@EV-Darryl]

Great video, thanks from Illinois/Florida.

[@BensEcoAdvntr]

Appreciate the update! The camera setup is pretty nice but struggles a bit with high contrast scenes. Overall I think it should work well.

[@kqschwarz]

I like the new camera, but the world outside your vehicle is badly over exposed. I might suggest a 4-camera setup: 1. A dashboard-mounted camera looking back at you 2. A ceiling-mounted camera focused on the speedo-display behind the steering wheel. 3. Another ceiling-mounted camera looking at center console display. 4. A dashboard-mounted camera looking forward through the windshield with exposure set to the outside light (this last one could be your current pano camera). That will be 4 video streams to edit together, but the results will be extraordinary. All the best.

[@ArtiePenguin1]

I do a 2 camera setup on my channel and even that seems like a lot. I also have a filmmaking and editing background, so I can't imagine how much work it would take someone with less experience. I think in general, this 360 setup works well. Eric can just verbally call out words/numbers on the dash or instrument cluster that are too small to see on camera. My 2 camera setup is a front camera showing the unobstructed view out the windshield and an over the shoulder camera that shows the infotainment screen and me operating the steering wheel. Personally, I'm not one to show my face on camera. The small amount of my eyes that show up on the rear view mirror is enough, lol

[@Snickers4211]

I like the panoramic view Eric 👍

[@pashko90]

Hi. I wanna be honest with you, as an ev owner for 5+ years. I just lisen your videos most of the time like a podcast.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thank you for listening!

[@DS-mz7dy]

I like the camera. Is it on some kind of floating gimble?

[@newscoulomb3705]

It's a 360 degree camera, so that was just a drift across the field of view.

[@chrisw443]

Nice 360 camera.

[@jpbananaman]

I'm here for dog cam, hell yeah.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Time to break out the fancy dog bed! 🐕

[@ArtiePenguin1]

Great discussion and nice camera. Is it an Insta 360 cam? Or perhaps another 360 cam... EDIT: The dynamic range on the camera seems good, you can see your face and the view outside on a sunny day just fine ☀️ The mic sounds good. I recently upgraded my own mic setup to the DJI Mic 2 because the GoPro Media Mod was very unreliable and would just switch back to its internal mic on a whim.😮

[@newscoulomb3705]

Hey, yup. Insta 360. Overall, I think it's okay. I'm using the DJI Mic as well. I just couldn't justify the additional price for the Rode.

[@ArtiePenguin1]

@@newscoulomb3705 The DJI Mic works fantastic. You have the new Mic 2? I just got it 2 weeks ago and I'm really happy with it. A big improvement over a lav mic and the GoPro media mod that I was using!

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

In the past two years EVGOs have been the most reliable for us, Charge Point never works, EA a coin toss maybe works half the time.

[@Bfranklyn731]

Video quality is a/ok!!

[@williamway-wp8kh]

I miss you where are you?

[@nomadichippie]

Rewatching videos

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thank you! Hopefully, I can get some fresh content pushed out soon.

[@midlifemods]

I'm okay with less of you in the camera view. And my gas station also has snacks. And lottery tickets. I plan on winning one day soon.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Sounds like the camera paid for itself in the first shoot. More News... Les Coulomb.

[@Supernaut2000]

The video looks all washed out.

[@newscoulomb3705]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@rp9674]

Doggycam, yes, like the wide angle cam too. Dialog is clear, would like less ambient hiss. IONNA? CHARGEPOINT L2s have been pretty good for me. I think mass L2s at national parks would be good, esp 48a.