Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

EV Charging Challenges
I saw an article on the state of EV charging and what Ford is doing. First, I think it’s great that Ford (and others) are trying to tackle this. I don’t love the idea of each manufacturer doing this, though if they have interoperable stations, that’s not bad.

Second, this is one of the reasons I got a Tesla. Before I had an EV, I worried about needing to charge when I was driving around. This “range anxiety” had me stop considering the Polestar and Mach-E because I worried about finding a compatible, working charger.

This is part of a series that covers my experience with a Tesla Model Y.

Stats

Now that I’ve had the Tesla for over a year, this what my charging stats have been:

I’ve tried two non-Tesla chargers and gotten no charge from them. They showed:
- incredibly long charging times
- never got through the handshake to start charging in 5 minutes.
In both cases, I moved a bit further away to a Tesla Supercharger. Neither was a crisis, but it was inconvenient.

However, since those experiences, I’ve only rarely needed Supercharging and those were on trips to the mountains. The Silverthorne charger was needed, but the Idaho Springs one was for peace of mind. I’d likely have gotten home, but didn’t want to chance it and had time.

A New Mindset

Perhaps the most interesting thing about owning an EV is that I essentially have a full tank of fuel every morning. I plug in and charge at night, and I’m full. That means I have my 300miles of range every day.

That’s unlike a gas car where I often wouldn’t think about range because if I started the day with 1/4 tank, I’d just get gas somewhere. Rarely was my tank full, though we usually try to stay well above a 1/4 tank at the ranch.

Now I have a full set of fuel every day (well, usually 80%, so 250miles) and I really never drive further. And I drive all over the Denver area on a regular basis, especially during coaching season. I’m never really concerned about range anymore, though I do keep an eye on it, same as I do for gas fuel.

That’s still slightly strange to me.

Battery Degradation

Some people have worried about battery degradation. In fact, I’ve seen lots of posts in the Tesla groups I’m a part of about people seeing some low degradation. There are also no shortage of random FUD complaints from people who don’t have EVs, but hate them

In fact, I ran things down deliberately the other day to 11% ( I was hoping for sub-10) and then charged to 94%. I’ve heard that it’s a good idea to periodically do this and then recalibrate the battery. This is supposed to help with range.

I don’t know if this helps because the random watching I do of estimated range still seems to be what I had last year. When I got the Tesla, I believe the range was 315miles. If I look at today, I have the charge at 81%. If I switch to mileage, I see 254 miles. If I take 315*0.81, I get 255, so all seems good.

Just to test, I charged to 100%. When I do that, I see 328 miles of range. No degradation for me.

Overall, I think electric cars will dominate in the future, but not everywhere. That makes me wonder if fuel will start to become a challenge at some point and people needing fuel find themselves in the place where people struggling to find a working charger are today.
October 21, 2022
Remote Remote Work

A few years ago, one of my co-workers wanted to work remotely for the winter. They received permission and spent 3 or 4 months in France, waking up early to work for an hour or two, skiing in the late morning and early afternoon, and then coming back to work more at night.

I was quite jealous. Mostly because with family, this wasn’t an option for me. Don’t feel too bad for me as I get the chance to slide down mountains plenty during the winter.

During the pandemic, we’ve seen various locales try to entice workers to come live there, spend money, and work remotely. It’s not simple or necessarily cheap, as many countries require workers to provide their own health coverage. However, it’s nice that there is flexibility from some locales, and from some companies. There are tax implications, so moving residences isn’t always possible.

I love the flexibility of working remotely, which I’ve been doing for 20 years. While I get to Redgate offices 4-6 times a year and work with others, most of the time I’m at home. Occasionally at a coffee shop or restaurant around town, but not too often.

Recently, I took advantage of this to work remotely away from home in another state. I scheduled a week trip to see my daughter play volleyball in college. Extended a weekend trip to reduce flight costs, I ended up working near her campus for a few days while she was in class. Remote from a remote spot away from the home office.

Great for finding some balance in life, but not without challenges. I found a few instances where I didn’t have all the data I expected with me. The ergonomics were different, with hotel and coffee shop chairs and desks not being as comfortable as usual. One small screen instead of 3 large ones, no wrist rest, searching out power outlets, and other small items remind me of how much I appreciate the space I’ve set up at home.

Still, I’m glad I was able to go and visit, without taking holiday. I’d have been on my own most of the time, so spending the day working wasn’t distracting. I hope to do this more in the future, and I hope to see more of you doing this as well to better enjoy life while continuing to earn a living.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

October 21, 2022
Daily Coping 21 Oct 2022

Today’s coping tip is to do something constructive to improve a difficult situation.

My life is amazing, but there are certainly some difficult times. Sometimes at work, sometimes at home, but I have been trying to not focus on the situation and instead look to the future and move forward.

My wife runs a horse training and boarding business and has a few people working for her. That’s good, because it means that I don’t have to do much with horses on a regular basis other than take pictures and enjoy ranch life.

Recently she had an employee quit, which is a burden on a weekly basis. If there isn’t anyone else to feed horses then she has to do it. That takes time and impacts her lesson and training schedule. If she’s too busy, then one of the kids often helps out. I’m, in general, the emergency person.

However, my kids are working their own jobs, and my wife has stress, so I’ve offered a few days lately to pick up a few hours of work. I can adjust my schedule and work at night, so I’ve been taking some time this week to feed horses during midday and handle chores.

I hope I don’t need to do this for too many more days, but I am happy to help her during a difficult time.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

October 21, 2022
Daily Coping 20 Oct 2022

Today’s coping tip is to avoid blaming yourself or others. Find a helpful way forward.

I’ve been busy lately. My days are jammed up with a number of presentations I’m working on for the Data Community Summit. In addition, I still have plenty of “normal” work running SQL Server Central and SQL Saturday. Then, I’m trying to manage this around travel. September had me away from home for about 21 days. October is scheduled to be 11.

It would be easy to blame someone else for pushing some of these commitments onto me or adding things to my schedule. It’s easy to be mad at myself for scheduling in extra trips or time during trips as a vacation when I’m busy.

Better to note the things that haven’t worked well or cause too much stress and try to better manage the future. For now, I need to move forward, so I’m trying to focus on individual tasks and march forward.

I’m also asking for help. I am asking others to send me reminders or meetings when they have asked me to commit to something. I’m asking for them to also tackle small parts of things where they can, especially around organizing and coordinating when I’m just a part of their particular milestone.

While I can and do manage my schedule, I agree to, and get told to, do various things. I’m also sometimes doing this on the road, so having others help me prevent problems is helpful.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

October 20, 2022