This is a love letter to Schwalbe. I love their Big Apple bike tires. If you have a mountain bike that is going to serve most of its life pounding the pavement these are for you. My Redline 29er mountain bike does 95% of its miles on the pavement, and it does it on Big Apples.
They’re big and fat so you keep the same look and level of comfort, it just lowers the rolling resistance because you’ll sound less like a jeep driving down the highway.
Changing tires has an immediate and apparent affect on how your bike handles. The same thing goes for toy cars and full-sized ones. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2-wheels or 4, those little patches of rubber are the only thing connecting you to the road.
More Big Apples
I got my son a set to put on his Haro Flightline. We’re going on some longer rides this summer – mostly on Minnesota’s expansive network of paved bike trails. He doesn’t have the luxury (or allowance) of keeping a separate road & mountain bike like dad.
It’s a relatively quick change (~30 minutes) to go back to stock tires if we’re going to head out to the single track trails.
He also was our lead out man for most of a 28 mile ride on the Heartland Trail. They really help him roll fast!
3 out of 4 bikes on this trip used Schwalbe tires š
Brand Loyalty
Because of my great experience with Schwalbe, when it came time buy studded tires, I went for the (terribly expensive) Ice Spiker Pros. They cost more per tire than the snow tires on my Subaru. But I wasn’t concerned about quality because I knew from my past experience it was going to be great.
My only gripe is that I wish they were cheaper, especially for the smaller sizes. I want to get a set of Big Apples for my cargo trailer – but they’d cost more than the trailer itself! But I can’t complain – whenever I buy their products it’s money well spent. šø
Remember how your dad’s 10-speed from the 70s/80s had an extra set of brake levers by the “tops”? They were for the top part of a drop style handlebar, like this:
Whatever the case is, I’m still fond of them and wish they were still a thing. Bike manufactures mostly solved this problem by putting ergonomic hoods on the brake levers so you can rest your hand on the top of the bar where it curves down.
Like driving with your hands at 9 & 3 the paddle shifters are easier to reach… but I can still press the brake when I’m cruising at 12 & crotch š I want the same thing on my bike. I like keeping my hands on the tops when I’m relaxing, and I don’t want to do an emergency hand move if I need to stop quickly.
These cute little add-ons go in-line with the drop levers to provide full braking ability from the tops. When you’re adding them, you’ll need to remove and reinstall your bar tape, so I took the opportunity to get some new bar tape – went with Lizard Skins 3.2mm tape in blue to add some color.
Another thing to know is that there are several sizes of cross levers for several sizes of handlebars. Tektro offers sizes in 24mm, 26mm, and 31.8mm. My handlebars from the original Cross Check complete spec are 26mm at the stem, then taper down to 24mm. After removing the bar tape, you can see this is the farthest inward I could place the levers:
If I wanted to go closer to the stem I would have had to purchase the 26mm version – just be aware of what your setup is before purchasing levers.
You’ll need to cut your brake cable housing. After removing your bar tape, pull out the brake cables. Keep in mind that you might need to replace your brake cable(s) if they’re frayed. Figure out where you want to cut your cable to put the new levers in-line – remember to measure twice and cut once! I cut my brake cable housing 65mm from the brake hoods.
So I went to the bike shop and bought a new front brake cable and a Park Tool CN-10 Cable/Housing cutter. I noticed on the new brake cable that the manufacturer spot-welds the end to make sure it won’t fray:
I thought to myself, why not do something similar at home before cutting the cable so it won’t fray? I decided to try and solder the cable with my TS-100 soldering iron. Apparently this is not a new or novel idea š I started by applying some flux to the place I wanted to cut:
Then I added enough solder to soak into the cable and create a “solid” section:
I cut it and it turned out pretty good. In the image below you can compare the soldered section (left) with the original spot-welded section (right).
Bar Tape
If you’re anything like me I suggest setting aside a couple hours for this project as you’ll be wrapping (and re-wrapping) your bars to get it just right. Two reference materials I kept close at hand were the Lizard Skins instruction diagram:
I did manage to undo and redo it correctly. Notice the tape angles are all symmetrical. We’ll see if it holds š¤
Post-Ride Verdict
The top levers work great – I don’t have to frantically move my hands from the tops to the hoods if I need to brake quickly.
I like the bar tape so far, the best part is Lizard Skins come with screw-tighten bar ends. My old Cinelli bar tape had press-in ends that would fall out on occasion.
When I was getting back into R/C for the 2nd time, circa 2003, I made a conscious choice between getting an HPI Super Nitro Rally and the HPI RS4 (electric) Rally. The music of 18,000 RPMs sounded like a ton of fun, but in the back of my head, it just wasnāt worth it. Smelling [ā¦]
When I was getting back into R/C for the 2nd time, circa 2003, I made a conscious choice between getting an HPI Super Nitro Rally and the HPI RS4 (electric) Rally. The music of 18,000 RPMs sounded like a ton of fun, but in the back of my head, it just wasnāt worth it. Smelling like nitro fuel, tuning the engine for the weather, proper maintenance and storage were just a few reasons. Plus all my previousexperience was electric.
At the end of 2020 I donated my Subaru WRX to Newgate School. It was feeling its age and had several gremlins that I didnāt want to deal with: a fuel filler neck that wouldnāt refuel at full speed, an undiagnosed misfire on cylinder #1, and a slipping clutch. Like my decision to bypass nitro, the time was right to give up the rumbly EJ motor sound for the whir of a 200HP electric motor.
Introducing the official Meatball Racing vehicle: Chevy Bolt
There were only ever two Chevrolet vehicles I ever considered buying, the Bolt and the Corvette. Yes, these vehicles are on opposite sides of the spectrum, but they both serve a different niche, and Iām a sucker for specialized vehicles. The Corvette is a no-nonsense performance machine. The Bolt is a no-nonsense electric vehicle (EV) ā long range for a comparatively low price.
But the Bolt is no slouch either ā my WRX could do a quarter mile in 14.3 seconds. With a couple bolt-on modifications my personal best was 14.001 at The Strip. A friend at the track suggested I unbolt the passenger seat and try again for a sub-14 run. I declined as I always wanted to run my WRX in a streetable trim.
The Bolt can do a quarter mile in 14.9 seconds ā less than a second slower than my turbocharged performance car ā and the Bolt is made for efficiency, not power. Electric motors are just great for both
Similarities to modern RC cars
The Bolt has some interesting similarities to modern-day RC cars, mostly in regard to the batteries. Lithium batteriesā cells need to be balance charged, so the charge rate slows as you approach 100%. Not everyone understands this because theyāre using to pulling the gas pump lever to full tilt all the way to the top. On EVs the fastest charge rates happen in the first 2/3rds from 0%-66% charge. After that the charge rate needs to slow so balancing can take place effectively.
Also, lithium batteries donāt like freezing temperatures. Itās well known that EV range goes down 1/3 in the winter ā even more if youāre blasting the heater. For those that like to run RCs in the winter, you probably know that charging your batteries right before you go out helps. This is because the heat from charging helps them start warm. When theyāre cold you lose maximum power (amp) delivery ā effectively cutting the C Rating down.
To combat this many EVs (including the Bolt) have a charge schedule and departure settings. You tell it when you normally leave and it will charge the battery right before you go to help retain some of the heat from charging.
But my favorite similar RC feature is the way it drives. Instant torque at zero RPM! Thereās no gear shifting as the motor has enough torque to get it going quickly from a stop all the way up to its maximum speed of 93mph with a single gearset. Check out how simple the drivetrain is in this video:
Also thereās one-pedal driving ā this is the way driving electric was meant to be IMHO. Shift to L and itās like you enabled drag brake on your ESC. Press the accelerator down and you go, lift off and you brake. It puts the regenerated power back into the battery, and once you get used to it, you rarely have to use the brake pedal ā the car has the smarts to put on the brake lights appropriately.
Track Hauler
Iāve already loaded it up to take to the RC track:
This 1:1 scale electric car is a great addition to round out the current 1:10 scale buggy, car, and truck collection
Our family did our first post-COVID airplane trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. We were there for a week, so I looked up Intermountain RC Raceway (IRCR) ā a place I had visited before but never raced at. Their off-road club racing is Wednesday night, so I got the B6 ready to hit the clay. [ā¦]
Our family did our first post-COVID airplane trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. We were there for a week, so I looked up Intermountain RC Raceway (IRCR) ā a place I had visited before but never raced at. Their off-road club racing is Wednesday night, so I got the B6 ready to hit the clay.
It was also the first airplane trip that I wanted to bring my RC car on. Normally on road trips itās a no-brainer. This would be a learning experience ā hopefully you can learn from my (many) mistakes.
I could (and probably should) have just packed my car to travel on the airplane as it was only $30 per checked bag ā I thought it was going to be $50. Instead I mailed my car to a relative at our destination for $40. If youāre looking for a good video on packing your car for air travel, check this one out by Team Associated:
I also donāt have a fancy Ogio bag. But I do have several boxes from package deliveries. I saved a larger one to pack my 1/10 scale buggy:
What to bring
Before I packed my car, I went club racing at my local carpet track. While I was there I took stock of everything I used throughout the night. Since I know I wonāt need everything, I wanted to make sure I had enough to work on the car plus some extras so my night wouldnāt immediately end if I broke something.
For the parts organizer box, I had to make sure it would fit in my shipping box with the car. Then I had to choose what to put in it. I started with my spare parts ā I only packed the ones I was likely to break ā suspension arms, castor blocks, etc. Then I only packed tools that I would likely need:
An aside about the bare wheel mounted on my buggy in the photo: When I went to switch my car over to the clay setup, I remembered I purchased and glued up a set of new Electron & Positron tires. The sad news was that I screwed up on the Positron rears ā theyāre a directional tire and I mounted one backwards Rather than delay my shipment, I mounted a wheel and sent it. Then I took some time to un-mount the tire with acetone so I could reverse it and re-glue it.
I brought the (correctly mounted tire) and the LiPo batteries on the airplane. I put the batteries for my car, transmitter, and screw driver in a lipo bag for the trip. It saved from having to pay a hazardous materials fee at the post office.
Tires
Tires are the biggest difference maker on your car when it comes to they way it drives. Rather than guessing or bringing a bunch of different tires, I called IRCR to see what the preferred setup was. Luckily most of the guys driving stock 1/10 scale buggies run a the same setup as they do at clay tracks near my home:
I spoke to IRCR race director on the phone and he said that when grip is really up theyāll switch to Shadow (S3 compound) front and rear. He also said they have them for sale in the pro-shop at the track. I opted to bring my Electron/Positron setup and would purchase additional tires at the track if necessary.
Thatās why I brought the collapsible cup ā to quickly mount up tires. I glue one tire bead to the wheel, spray some CA kicker into the cup, then put it upside down over the tire. The glue dries in seconds while Iām gluing the next bead. Rinse and repeat.
Local Purchases
I purchased some Simple Green for $5 at the local Walmart to clean tires in the cleaning station. I should have instead asked on the phone about cleaning stations ā the track had several ready for racers to use. One less thing I had to bring.
Practice & Preparation
<Insert Racer Excuses Here>
I meant to get to the track around 4 on race day to have a couple hours of practice before qualifiers started at 7. With traffic, I arrived at 5 and still had to make ride height and camber adjustments.
I realized quickly during practice that my tire package was wrong. When I spoke to the race director (RD) on the phone, he mentioned that it would be a new layout. My thought was it would still be a little loose, so having new treads would be beneficial.
I think the RD thought I was coming a week earlier than when my travel dates were. The track was clean and compacted.
Everyone else was on slicks and I had fully treaded tires. I didnāt give myself enough time to prep and glue a set of Shadow S3 tires ā plus I forgot my tire punch
If I were super serious about racing, I would have come to practice the day before and had everything dialed. But Iām just a casual club racer looking to have some fun.
You know whatās fun? Just driving the car. I got used to it being a little loose during practice, so I just keep running it as-is and worked on my racing line.
Changing tires for the main
Then another racer named Jason lent me a spare set of Shadow S3s for the main that were ready to go. The only laps I was able to test them out on were the check-in laps before we lined āem up and sent āem for the race. It was quite a difference maker. I felt a lot more confident in the corners and probably could have squeezed the trigger for more speed, but I just wanted to stay consistent. My goal was to try and turn a 16-second lap, but the best I managed was a 17.01
I still had a great time despite the lackluster finish. Honestly it was just fun to turn some laps. A local friend who races 1:1 scale cars competitively met me for the mains. Afterwards I dialed the throttle down a bit and handed him the controls. After turning about a dozen laps he said āThis is addictive!ā Maybe I can convince him to race my B6.2 when I upgrade to the B6.3
Before LED lights were popular, my house had mostly CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs. One thing I liked about CFL bulbs was the warm-up time, they’d come on a little low and get brighter as they warmed up. This was especially welcome for any late night bathroom trips.
For the garage door opener, I did something different. I installed a “fancy” GE CFL bulb that had an instant-on feature. Here’s an example dual halogen/CFL setup. I don’t remember if my bulb was a hybrid, or if the ballast would just overdrive the bulb to achieve full brightness right away, then back down as the bulb warmed up. š”
It worked OK, but I noticed my garage light wasn’t staying on for the couple minutes it was supposed to. Finally, in 2021, I got tired of 20 seconds of light in the garage and thought to change the bulb to see if my fancy one didn’t agree with with our Craftsman 3/4HP opener.
The next day I noticed something. The garage door wouldn’t close using the keypad remote. Hmmm.. I had never changed the battery in it, so maybe that was it? It didn’t help.
Maybe I needed to put the opener into learning mode again to pair the keypad after I changed the battery? While I was re-programming the remote, things seemed a bit fussy. Finally I got it to pair. I went up to the opener and noticed the antenna was hanging down when it wasn’t previously. I moved the antenna and then things seemed to start working again. Was my antenna loose? Was I going to have to replace it? š¤
Then I recall bumping into one of the door sensors while I was reorganizing the garage (which is when I decided to replace the bulbs). There were some cobwebs, so I cleaned them off and made sure the alignment was good.
In the past I’ve occasionally had problems with the door sensors when sunlight shines directly on one of the sensors which blinds it from seeing the actual signal. I thought maybe sunlight had something to do with it because the door always seemed to open, but not shut.
Was it that simple? Was radio interference causing my issue? The antenna is right next to the bulb. I unscrewed the one bulb near the antenna – just enough to turn it off. And then everything worked. šŖ
For the record I originally was using these FEIT Electric 100W bulbs:
These are nice bulbs, but they caused radio interference with my Craftsman garage door opener.
I wanted a working garage door opener and working garage door lights. So I went back to the store and bought a set of General Electric 100W LED bulbs:
These work – I can open the garage and close it! The lights stay on for the prescribed amount of time. Even though both brands of bulbs have the same FCC messaging on the box, in this case it paid to go with the bigger brand name.
Weird to think that this was the cause the whole time – it was hard to wrap my brain around it. The garage would open because at that time the lights are off. When the door opens the lights stay on for a couple minutes and come on again if the door sensor is tripped. When the lights were on, there was enough radio interference (right next to the receiver antenna) to block the signal.
We recently got a 240V outlet installed in the garage so we could buy a Level 2 charger, so I decided to make an adapter to test it out. The adapter instructions from the Bolt site recommends 14 gauge wire or bigger. I had some 12 gauge wire leftover from another project so I used that. All I needed to buy were the plug ends. I got a convertible 14-50 / 14-30 power plug and a female 5-20 end.
Pro-tip:
If you’re starting from scratch and don’t have 14+ gauge electrical cable laying around, you could just pilfer a short 14+ gauge extension cord.
I carefully cut the outer sheath off of the cable and left about 2″ of wire for the 240V plug and 1″ for the “normal outlet” side.
Normal Outlet Side
I stripped the ends of the wires and wired up the normal outlet side first. Green is ground. White goes to the larger port of the outlet, indicated here with a silver screw. Black goes to the narrower outlet blade, indicated with a brass screw.
240V Plug
I removed the bottom pin that is used to differentiate the 14-50 (50-amp) and 14-30 (30 amp) plugs. This gives maximum compatibility to use at a 30 or 50-amp outlet. The mopar charger will only draw 12 amps, so it’s safe to use with either style outlet.
I wired up the 240V plug starting with green for ground. Black goes clockwise from ground if you’re looking at the prongs (CCW when you’re looking from the back as shown here). White goes on the other side.
Because the 240V plug is made to have thick wires coming out for a big 50-amp draw, the comparatively thin 12-gauge wire just dangles loose coming out of the plug. To provide some actual strain relief for the wires, I used some pipe insulation foam that I had laying around from another project. I cut it to fit the wire diameter and used CA glue to affix it to the wire sheath.
Now when I fasten down the strain relief bridge, it actually grips the foam and wire.
This last bit is optional, but extremely important. I put a label on the plug that says 240V EV ONLY! Just so no one tries to plug something else in and winds up letting out the magic smoke.
Testing
Even though it was stated from another PacHy owner that it works, I was still nervous trying it out as the included charger only indicates 120V – and it’s $350 to replace from the dealer.
An EV owner that lives nearby me remarked that the Level 1 and Level 2 chargers are really just fancy extension cords – the charging circuitry is located in the vehicle itself. So I crossed my fingers š¤ plugged it in, and got all green lights on the charger.
Then, I plugged the charger back into 120V power to do some testing. With 41% charge it was going to take 8 1/2 hours to charge using the normal wall receptacle.
When I plugged it into 240V power, the van thinks it’s hooked up to a full Level 2 charger because it sees the high voltage, but hadn’t drawn any amps. This was because I set the van to charge from 9PM-9AM during off-peak times.
Pro-tip: if you want to skip the charging schedule and charge immediately can you do a double plug. Plug the charger into the vehicle and then unplug immediately, then plug it back in within 10 seconds.
Once the van was actually charging and drawing amps, it updated the charge time and settled in at 3 1/2 hours.
Verdict
Not bad at all! Switching to 240V doesn’t get you a full charge in 2 hours like a 30-amp Level 2 charger will, but I estimate it could do a full charge in less than 6 hours.
I said it before, the 30-mile electric range doesn’t necessitate a Level-2 charger at home because it can do a full charge on 120V in 12 hours overnight. But this is an incredibly cheap way to double your charge rate if you have a 240V outlet available. It’s also a great portable solution if you find yourself somewhere with an RV-style outlet – like a campground āŗ
It cost me less than $30 to make! If you’re thinking about a Level 2 charger and don’t want to shell out a bunch of cash for an electrician to install a 240V outlet and spend a bunch on a Level 2 charger itself – this is a great bridge. Call the electrician first and make this cable. You’ll be ready for Level 2 and can charge fast(er) in the meanwhile ā”
Remember drum corps? Remember WGI? Remember movies? Remember bar trivia? It’s been a long time, but I think we’re getting back to normal.
However we’re not completely out of the weeds yet. I talked to a friend who works in an rural school district. He was the first person I knew personally to get vaccinated. But when I talked to him last week, he said the school published the percent of school teachers & staff that had been vaccinated. It was a paltry 44%. Clearly people are making a choice to not get vaccinated. š
Did they not just live through what is hopefully the worst year of their life? Do they want to live like this forever? Some think the vaccine is just sugar water. If it is, it’s the strongest sugar water I’ve ever had b/c it kicked my ass. Others think Bill Gates put microchips in it
I.JUST.CAN’T. Rant over, let’s get back to baseball ā¾
It was a sad realization, but the the last date night Jessi and I had was to a Twins game in September of 2019. She bought us tickets in the upper deck on the first base side, between home and first. If you’ve ever been to Target Field, the upper deck has an open view of the field and flexible seating for people in wheelchairs, etc. You can go up to the upper-upper deck, Or go down to the lower-upper deck and sit in the few rows that are in front of the limestone deck walls. We were in that lower section of the upper deck, in front of one of the limestone walls.
Sitting there was exciting because several foul balls came up to our deck and bounced off the limestone walls in the adjacent sections. Keep alive and be sure to watch the game. š³
It was a tight game, by the 3rd inning it was tied at 3. Sano came up to bat. He hit a foul ball that was careening toward our section. I watched it the whole time. As the ball grew in my vision I could tell that it was slowly listing to my right. I thought, “I’ll just lean over to the left and let the ball hit the limestone behind us.”
Then the guy sitting directly in front of me stood up, reached out, and snagged the ball out of the air with one hand, no glove. WOW that was close! My adrenaline was pumping. The man who caught the ball was middle-aged, attending the game with his dad. His dad remarked to us that he played catcher in high school. Holy crap, what a grab. I was so taken aback that I missed Sano’s homer to the upper-upper deck:
May 2021
We got 4 tickets to the Twins game on May 15th, 2021. Taking the whole family isn’t a date, but it would still be fun. With the mask mandate recently lifted for outdoor gatherings, it would maybe seem like real life. I still wore mine getting to my seats and buying food (even though I’m fully vaccinated) – mostly out of respect for everyone working the food stands.
By the 5th inning, we were down 4 to 1 against the Oakland A’s. It wasn’t looking good. I even thought about leaving the game early š¤ Sano would prove his mettle again… In the bottom of the 8th he helped the Twins rally, scoring a three-run homer to make it 4 runs total – putting the Twins ahead 5 to 4. The team stayed calm in the 9th to hold onto the lead and win the game.
My daughter was excited that Minnesota won. They played music and shot off some fireworks. I tell you it felt like real life. š
In 2019 my wife and I went to a Discovery Dinner at the local nature center. It was a presentation about electric vehicles. The presenter, Jukka Kukkonen, was an automotive engineer by trade. He switched his focus to hybrid and electric vehicles as he knew clean energy would be the way of the future. We left the dinner with one major point in our head:
If you’re going to buy a hybrid vehicle, make sure it is a plug-in hybrid.
At that time we had a Toyota Highlander Hybrid (not a plug-in). It was fantastically reliable with over 250,000 miles on the clock. Never had to replace the batteries. No major engine or drivetrain issues. Consistently 20-27MPG – not a stunner, but much better than most other SUVs of that era. Every time we drove that car over 200,000 miles it felt like a gift.
For our next vehicle, had set our sights on the Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid. I always wanted to go straight to minivan ownership when we became parents. I understood a van’s utility and could look past the soccer mom image, she couldn’t.
After Jessi got a new job in 2020, it was time. We shopped for used Pacificas as the new ones are upwards of $40k. We wound up getting a deal on a 2017 model that had 120k miles on it – am I concerned? Nope, and I’ll explain why…
Joining the neighborhood Minivan crew
PHEV Awesomeness
Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) are the best of the two worlds we currently live in. You plug it in and get up to 30 miles of driving all-electric. You really don’t need a level 2 (240 volt) charger, as the 30 mile range will recharge in 12 hours overnight with the included 120 volt charger.
When you run out of battery, the gas motor kicks in and the two work in concert to get better mileage than a gas motor alone can’t. There’s no range anxiety, but you can still plug in at the mall or the grocery store (usually for free) to extend your electric range.
In the first 6 months we had the Pacifica, we put on 5,000 miles: 3,000 electric and 2,000 gas. If the previous owner had the same experience, that means out of 120k miles, the gas motor was only responsible for 48k of them. 120k miles doesn’t sound too scary then, eh? Worst case scenario the gas motor worked 2/3 of the time so it effectively has 80k miles.
The bottom line is the Pacifica is an excellent hybrid. Even when the battery reads 0%, it’s not fully depleted. There’s always some reserve to operate in a traditional gas-electric hybrid mode. And when it’s in that mode it uses electric drive way more than our Highlander did.
These are just some of my thoughts on what you can expect as a first time PHEV owner, and some of the quirks of the Pacifica. One thing I want to note is that when the car is in electric mode you hear everything. Tire tread, road grooves, the steering rack – if it makes noise, you’ll hear it b/c there’s no engine noise to cover it up. š
Climate Controls
In our 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the sure way to get the gas engine running is to turn on the heater. When I’d do oil changes on the HiHy in the summer, rather than following the ridiculously complex “force the internal combustion engine to run” procedure, I’d just turn on the heat.
Pacifica Hybrid in Freezing Weather
The Pacifica is similar, but not as bad. One thing is for sure, the internal combustion (IC) engine is going to run from a cold start on cold days. When it’s freezing (below 32Ā°F) the IC engine will run until the coolant temp is 130Ā°F – even if the climate controls are off. This is because the battery coolant, which also acts as a battery warmer in cold weather, is connected to the engine coolant. My suggestion is to run the heater during this time because the IC engine is going to run regardless.
After 130Ā°F if the climate controls are off it will switch to all-electric. Maximum battery power delivery will be limited – lithium batteries can’t sustain high amp draw without severe voltage drop when they’re cold. So if you stomp on the accelerator, the IC engine will kick back on.
If you keep the heater on, the IC engine will continue to run and heat the coolant up to 165Ā°F. It will switch to all electric drive once it’s above 165Ā°F, and then run the IC again when coolant goes below 150Ā°F. On a cold day (0Ā°F) at highway speeds with the heater on, this will mean about 1-2 miles with the IC engine on and then 2-4 miles with the IC engine off. Mostly because the wind chill is very effective at lowering the coolant temp.
I may try putting some cardboard in the grille like Minnesotan’s used to back in the day. š¦
Touchscreen & Software
The center console touchscreen is capacitive, so if you want to operate it in winter, you’ll need to be wearing touchscreen compatible gloves.
I had an issue with navigation system. I don’t actually use the built-in nav, I use my phone. But the problem revealed itself through the compass. I noticed it was wrong a lot of time, sometimes showing the opposite direction I was traveling.
When it was happening, I switched to the navigation map and it showed an icon of the van in the metro area, but it was not on the road I was on. It was sort of “floating” over the map, through fields and neighborhoods. It wasn’t just a compass issue, it was a GPS issue.
I updated the software and that took care of the issue. BTW, plan for 30-45 minutes for the software upgrade. If it’s cold out when you perform the update, bring a warm cup of coffee or hot chocolate. ā
Battery Life & Electric Range
Even with the number of miles on the clock – estimating that the battery pack and motor have traveled 72k miles, it still has good range. In warm weather (without the electric heater running) it will get 25-30 miles. You should probably cut those numbers in half if you’re running the electric heater w/o assistance from the gas engine.š
Best Minivan Ever?
I never thought I’d own a Chrysler. But I think they did a great job and other owners I’ve talked to say the company put a little more care into this vehicle than their normal offerings. We’d be more likely to go with a Toyota, but the Sienna hybrid came out in 2020, and not as a plugin (see above). The 2021 Sienna Hybrid is a plug-in with EV range, but at $40k+ I’d have to wait for someone else to buy it and sell it to me later š Perfectly happy with the decision we made.
Rather than delay my shipment, I mounted a wheel and sent it. Then I took some time to un-mount the tire with acetone so I could reverse it and re-glue it.
