The Hyundai Ioniq is not being produced anymore, but its spirit lives on in the new Ioniq 6. In this post I compare the specifications of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Specifically, the 2020 Ioniq Electric and the 2023 Ioniq 6 Long Range 2WD. The data for each vehicle comes mostly from evdb. This post is basically just me discussing with myself how badly I want an Ioniq 6 over my current Ioniq Electric, but I figured I might as well share my findings.

Physical dimensions

First off, the 6 is bigger and heavier, which is a disadvantage. It will be harder to maneuver and park in small spaces, and heavier cars take more resources to build, and are potentially more dangerous to others.

On the other hand, and as the following sections show, the extra size and weight enable several advantages, and at least the Ioniq 6 has world-class efficiency despite its weight. Plus it has a pedestrian-friendly shape and modern collision avoidance safety features. So with that out of the way, let’s continue.

Cargo capacity

The 6 has more cargo space, a (small) frunk, and a tow hook. The only disadvantage is that the 6 is a sedan, which means its trunk opening is smaller than on the liftback Ioniq Electric.

The 6 also has more legroom for passengers.

Driving

The bigger 6 unfortunately has a similarly bigger turning radius. But the 6’s higher mass is compensated by more torque, and it accelerates faster from 0 to 100 km/h. The Ioniq Electric, like most EVs, is already pretty snappy in city driving, and the faster 0–100 time of the 6 is not really necessary for normal driving. The biggest advantage of the 6 might be comparably more torque at higher speeds for more responsive overtaking on the motorway. The website automobile-catalog.com has approximate torque curves for each model.

The Electric is front-wheel drive, while the 6 is rear-wheel drive for better traction, handling, and interior layout, as is the future of 2WD EVs. (The 6 also comes in an all-wheel drive version not otherwise described in this blog post. Unfortunately the Hyundai developers did not use the opportunity for the RWD to have a smaller turning radius than the AWD version, unlike for example the VW ID.4 where the RWD version has an amazing 10.2 m turning radius instead of 11.6 m for the ID.4 AWD.)

Range

The 6’s improved aerodynamics, among other things, make up for the increased weight, to bring a slight improvement in efficiency. Combined with a bigger battery, the 6 drives around twice as far on a full charge. Especially nice is that the range is slightly more than doubled on the highway which is really where range matters the most. A huge improvement.

These range numbers are evdb Real Range numbers, which are much more realistic than WLTP numbers, in my experience. The consumption/efficiency numbers are evdb Real Range Vehicle Consumption numbers, where I have converted the units.

Charging

As important as the capacity for range is the capacity for adding range, so to speak. Here, the 6 is not just twice as good as the Electric. On three-phase 16 A, the 6 adds range three times faster. This big difference is because the 6 charges especially quickly on 16 amps, while the Electric is especially slow due to its single-phase on-board charger.

On a powerful DC charger, the 6 is almost six times faster, when the conditions are right. This is again by going from the Electric’s slow DC charging to the 6’s world-leading DC charging. The Electric has the dubious advantage of taking almost no hit in charge speed when only 50 kW DC chargers are available. The 6 also supports reverse charging (V2L), where the car can power your household electronics or even charge another EV.

Supercharger compatibility

Tesla opening up their Supercharger network to non-Tesla cars is a big deal. Tesla Superchargers have become my preferred fast-charging stations in Denmark, as they are cheaper and better than the competition — at least for compatible cars. The Electric has its charge port on the rear left side like Teslas, whereas the 6 has it on the rear right side. Thus, the Electric works perfectly with the Superchargers’ typically short cables.

More importantly, there are reports of the E-GMP cars (Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Kia EV6) not working properly with Tesla V3 Superchargers. One article from Motortrend from march 2023 describes the problem, as tested in the US, while the Federation of Danish Motorists here in Europe briefly mentions the problem in an article (in Danish) from three weeks ago. If and when this will be fixed I don’t know, but I really hope it will get fixed as more V3 Superchargers are built. Or perhaps the fix is just to wait for V4 Superchargers with their higher voltage and longer cables.

Discussion

Overall, the Ioniq 6 as a dedicated EV is a massive improvement over the Ioniq Electric which was built on a platform that also supported gasoline hybrid versions (with and without plug-in). The 6 also costs more than the Electric did by something like 50%. But then again, some essential specs have improved by more than 50%.

I would like a cheaper and slightly smaller EV with Hyundai’s newest technology. Something like the Ioniq 6 Standard Range (365 km evdb Real Range), but in the size of the Ioniq Electric. Or even in the liftback body of the Ioniq Electric. Basically, I just want the Ioniq Electric with more range and faster charging. Barring that, the Ioniq 6 seems to be pretty amazing.

Som medlem af Coop kan man få skræddersyede personlige tilbud på dagligvarer. De tilbydes i Coop-appen og skal aktiveres før de træder i kraft, og gælder i en begrænset periode for et begrænset antal varer. Jeg har prøvet funktionen, og Coop holder ikke helt hvad de lover, selvom jeg da sparede nogle penge.

Jeg aktiverede fire forskellige personlige tilbud, og købte ind i min lokale Kvickly. Det viste sig at priserne på hylderne i ingen tilfælde var de samme som Coop-appen havde oplyst varen ville koste som ikke-medlem. Tre af varerne var billigere end appen påstod, mens Taffel-chips var dyrere! Havregryn var i butikken billigere end mit dermed ubrugelige personlige tilbud, men i det mindste kom jeg til at betale butikkens billige pris, frem for mit dyrere personlige tilbud.

Set fra den lyse side fik jeg noget rabat. Men Coop har ikke holdt hvad de lovede omkring varernes fulde pris. Ved at angive for høje før-priser ser mine personlige tilbud bedre ud end de er. Og tilbud er ikke noget butikkerne giver os for vores blå øjnes skyld — deres formål er at ‘nudge’ os til at købe mere. Og så var der chipsene som i butikken var dyrere end listeprisen — heller ikke et godt look.

I sidste ende er der intet nyt under solen. Et tilbud — personligt eller ej — skal bedømmes alene ud fra prisen, ikke ud fra før-prisen.

As a kid back in the 1990s I was spellbound by the Star Wars movies. I didn’t fully grasp the story, but everything was so cool: Spaceships, droids, aliens, and lasers! So cool! I had Star Wars toys, and I recorded the movies from TV, to watch again and again in all their blurry VHS glory. Now we have high-definition streaming, from which I’ve spent the past week watching the “Star Wars: Andor” series’ first season, and it has blown my now grown-up mind.

For having “war” in its name, the Star Wars franchise is generally family-friendly. Good and evil are clearly laid out and color coded. The enemy soldiers have face-covering masks, or are droids, so it doesn’t feel as serious when they’re shot in large numbers. Plus there are attempts at comedy, some better than others.

“Andor” is something else entirely. Andor is Star Wars for adults. It shows the oppression of the Empire and enraging unfairness of its bureaucracy. It shows how oppression leads to rebellion, and all of the treachery, fear, mistrust, solitude, and courage being a rebel involves.

There’s no good or evil, just people. Some work in factories and shops. Some work for the Empire. Everyone can become a victim of imperial authoritarianism, whether they’re rich or poor, guilty or innocent, or loyal to the Empire or not. We feel for people on both sides. People on both sides make hard choices and do unheroic things.

Star Wars has never felt more real to me. At the same time it’s the most gripping Star Wars show I’ve seen (as a grown-up), but also the one that makes me think the most about suffering and injustice in the real world, here on Earth.

I created a Tesla account to be able to charge my (non-Tesla) car at Tesla charging stations. When I tried to charge at a Supercharger, I had to add my credit card info, but then the Tesla app also wanted a billing address. The only problem was that the country selector was locked to the United States, where I don’t live.

I was not going to give a fake address, and I’m not even sure it would have worked anyway due to validation between billing address and credit card info. After some googling I found out that a Tesla account is bound to a country, and that you have to get in contact with Tesla to get it changed. There was no telling how long that would take, so I left the Tesla charging station and found another place to get some juice.

Later, I learned that the language selector of the Tesla website is a combined language and country selector, and that the active language/country at the time of the account creation determines the semi-permanent account country.

This is pretty bad usability. The user is not made aware that they are choosing a country, and on top of that, the choice is cumbersome to change later. Good usability involves the user understanding the consequences of their actions as well as an easy way to undo an undesired action.

The first problem would be easy to fix: By simply adding an explicit country selector to the main part of the sign-up form, the user is aware that they are choosing a country. I don’t know why we’re are not allowed to change our own account country, but I did find a quick workaround: I deleted my Tesla account and recreated it in Danish, and then I was allowed to add my Danish address. After confirming the next day on my trip home that I can now charge at Superchargers, I’m happy that I now have access to even more places to charge my car.

• “Type hints are the most obvious way to make a dynamic language more static. In effect, you get the best of both worlds: you can write dynamic code but are required to be more careful about what types you expect to get and use at any point.”

• “Dictionaries are for unknown data.” In other words, if you know while writing the code which keys are going to be in your dictionary at runtime, you should use an interface (TypeScript), struct (Ruby), or dataclass (Python), instead of a plain dictionary/object.

This reminded me that if you’re a Python programmer, you should definitely know about dataclasses (since Python 3.7, 2018) because they do both of the above, as fields of the dataclass are specified using type annotation syntax.

For example, if you write:

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from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass
class InventoryItem:
    name: str
    unit_price: float
    quantity: int = 0

Then the @dataclass decorator adds something like the following to your class at runtime.

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def __init__(self, name: str, unit_price: float, quantity: int = 0):
    self.name = name
    self.unit_price = unit_price
    self.quantity = quantity

def __repr__(self):
    return (f'InventoryItem(name={repr(self.name)}, '
            f'unit_price={repr(self.unit_price)}, '
            f'quantity={repr(self.quantity)})')

def __eq__(self, other):
    return ((self.name, self.unit_price, self.quantity) ==
            (other.name, other.unit_price, other.quantity))

Dataclasses can do more than that, but those are the basics. Typically, the dataclass decorator itself doesn’t actually care about the types (str, float, int) — it mainly uses the type annotations as a concise syntax to specify the names of the fields. But since dataclasses are pretty useful, they become like a “gateway drug” to using and learning more about Python type annotations.

Magic

The Stack Overflow blog post then seems to backpedal with the recommendation “Be more explicit than you need to be”. After all, having the dunder methods (__init__ etc.) generated automatically is less explicit than writing them out yourself. But the blog post clarifies that “The only real things that should ever be doing metaprogramming or reflection are frameworks themselves” which makes it ok again to use dataclasses since they are part of the standard library.

I agree; “magic” stuff should mainly be done by frameworks, and only when the benefits are tangible. And I think dataclasses are so useful (and again, part of the standard library) that it’s ok to expect readers of your code to know or be willing to learn about them.

However, in combination with other slightly magical things, I was recently wondering if the code I was writing was a bit “too magic”:

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from dataclasses import dataclass
from rest_framework import serializers

@dataclass
class Thing:
    my_foo: int

@dataclass
class SpecialThing(Thing):
    my_bar: int

class SpecialThingSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
    MyFoo = serializers.IntegerField(source='my_foo')
    MyBar = serializers.IntegerField(source='my_bar)

    def create(self, validated_data):
        return SpecialThing(**validated_data)

This code can deserialize a JSON object such as {"MyFoo": 1, "MyBar": 2} into my (pep8 compliant) dataclass as an object with the representation SpecialThing(my_foo=1, my_bar=2). This overall journey should not be too surprising, but the individual steps to get there are not very explicit:

• The Django REST framework serializer will produce the validated_data dict {'my_foo': 1, 'my_bar': 2} because when working in reverse (deserializing), the source field name becomes the target, so MyFoo becomes my_foo, etc.
• This dict is **unpacked as keyword arguments to instantiate SpecialThing
• The auto-generated SpecialThing.__init__ correctly handles both of these keyword arguments because one is inherited from the Thing dataclass.

I love how compact the code is, but I also have to acknowledge that it might not be clear to Python novices without the above explanation. But in the bigger picture I think this example is still within the limits of what is reasonable because:

• The overall purpose of the code (deserialization) is fairly straightforward once you are in the context of Django REST framework
• The code doesn’t use programmatically constructed variable names, so it passes the grep test, as mentioned in the Stack Overflow blogpost
• The magic is done with the standard library and DRF, the main framework of the codebase.

In the end, you should write so it makes sense to the people who are going to read it.

I’ve used the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II for almost a month and the Jabra Elite 85t earbuds for 4–5 months. Both are flagship products, with the Boses being released a few months ago, and the Jabras two years ago. This means that by now, the Jabras only cost around half as much as the Boses. That doesn’t make the Boses better at everything, however. Depending on what qualities you value, one or the other could be the better pair.

Noise reduction

I am easily distracted by noise and sound which is why I wanted great noise reduction, and Bose did not disappoint. The noise reduction of the QuietComfort Earbuds II is fantastic. I think they’re almost as good as the over-ear Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, which is an amazing feat.

I use the term noise reduction instead of noise cancellation, because noise cancellation is only one component of the total noise reduction. There’s passive isolation (think earplugs) which the Boses do better than the Jabras, because the Boses get a better seal in my ears. Jabra describes Elite 85t with their oval ear tips as a semi-open design, so it’s not so strange they have less isolation. (Most Jabra true wireless earbuds except for the 85t’s have round ear tips and are described as a closed design.) It’s a bit strange though that the Boses get a better seal while also having an oblong shape (though more stadium than oval).

The next part of noise reduction is active noise cancellation (ANC). The Jabras have good ANC, but the Boses have possibly the world’s best. Third and finally, I count noise masking as part of noise reduction: The use of regular wide-band noise to drown out irregular noises. Bose does not list noise masking as a feature of the QCE II but I do think they use it a little bit. More than other ANC products I’ve tried, the QCE II has a white noise-y hiss in the background (even with occasional hints of static). I’ve seen some people on Reddit be very unhappy about this, but to me it’s acceptable since the QCE IIs are so good at reducing external distractions which is what I use them for. I don’t know if Bose used masking on purpose or it’s just a consequence of their beefy ANC. Either way, it works.

Winner: Bose

Connectivity

Both the Boses and the Jabras can be paired with (remember) multiple Bluetooth sound sources, but the Boses can only be connected to one source at a time, while the Jabras can be connected to two at the same time, known as multipoint. From what I read, the first-generation QCEs could easily be switched to another sound source by pressing the button in the charging case, but the QCE II case button is only for pairing, not for switching between paired devices.

Bose has other products with multipoint such as the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, it just seems they didn’t find room for it in the earbuds. To switch sources, Bose suggests using the Bose Music smartphone app, but I find it too slow to use. Instead I use the target device’s Bluetooth menu to “steal” the connection. For example if the Boses are connected to my Android phone and I want to use them with my work computer, I press Win+K to open the connections menu, and select the Boses which then disconnect from my phone and connect to the computer. But then when I walk out of the office and the Boses lose the computer connection, they don’t automatically connect to my phone in my pocket.

Both products have stable Bluetooth connections, but the Jabras just automatically connect to the two most recent devices within range, and it Just Works.

Winner: Jabra

Sound quality

The Jabras sound good, but the Boses sound very good, with much deeper bass, probably helped by the better seal in my ears. In fact, I’ve had to reduce the low end a bit in the equalizer, so now it’s perfect.

Another kind of sound quality is how good phone/voice calls sound to the people in the other end, listening to you. I have not tried being on the receiving end of these earbuds, but my impression, based on other people’s reviews and tests online, is that both products are acceptable but not great for call quality. However, from the music listening experience alone I will definitely say:

Winner: Bose

Charging case

Both cases feel smooth and sturdy, even though closing their lids sounds a bit clacky. If they could have fit a soft-close feature for the lids, that would be really nice. Either way, the Bose case is pretty large while the Jabra case is smaller, though not small.

Each case has a battery status LED. Jabra indicates high, medium, and low battery state of charge by green, (greenish) yellow, and red. Bose lumps high and medium into one with a white light, and low battery is amber. The Jabra one seemed more intuitive to me, though I think the Bose colors might be more inclusive to color blind people, which is nice.

It’s very easy to get the buds out of the Jabra case, while it’s easiest to use two hands to get one bud out of the Bose case. Combined with a bit slow connection and auto-calibration, it takes around 15 seconds from I open the case until I can start using the Boses. With the Jabras, it takes 5 seconds as I can take one bud in each hand, and they connect quickly. The Jabra buds snap very satisfyingly back into the case after use, while the Boses require more precise handling to get back in, and have a less satisfying snap. Small things, but the Jabra case is just a joy to use.

Winner: Jabra

Comfort

After using the Jabras for months, I was amazed the first time I put the Boses in my ears. They felt much better than the Jabras, and the fit was more secure. After the initial impression, and after wearing the Boses for some hours, the difference did not feel as large, but the Boses are still a bit more comfortable. The Boses are also more customizable in terms of fit and stability, while the Jabras fit less securely in my ears.

Winner: Bose

Controls

The two products take different approaches: Jabra uses physical buttons while Bose uses a touch sensitive surface that you both tap and swipe. The Jabras don’t have the swiping actions so you control volume by holding down the buttons — hold right bud to increase volume and left to decrease. With Bose, each bud has full control of volume by swiping up/down, plus more actions you can do on either side such as one tap to ⏯, two taps to ⏭, and three taps to ⏮.

The Bose controls look better on paper, but the Jabras feel way better in real life. You can use the physical buttons quickly and effortlessly and always know if you pressed the correct number of times. All control actions have around one second of delay before they happen which is why the physical feedback is even more important. The touch surfaces are slower to use, require more precision and don’t give haptic feedback so you’re not sure if a tap registered and consequently if you tapped the correct number of times. And the touch surface doesn’t work with gloves or headgear that covers the ears. I love that I can use the Jabras through clothing.

Winner: Jabra

Transparency mode

Transparency mode uses the earbuds’ microphones to let you hear what’s going on around you without taking out the earbuds. Bose calls it Aware while Jabra calls it HearThrough. Bose Aware mode provides great transparency once the feature is turned on, but it’s annoyingly slow to turn on because it requires a long press, and then you have to wait for the voice prompt to tell you you’re in Aware mode. It’s faster to take a bud out than to wait for the Aware mode to turn on, so I usually just take one bud out if I need to briefly talk to someone. Jabra HearThrough is easy and quick to turn on, with or without gloves, with a single press of the left earbud, but the sound quality is not especially good.

The Jabras have the advantage that they can work in “old school” mode with neither of the newfangled ANC and HearThrough features turned on, whereas Bose only lets you fade in a straight line between Aware (max transparency) and Quiet (max ANC) — you can’t turn off the smart features. Bose on the other hand has a potential advantage with its ActiveSense feature which tries to be transparent while also cancelling/reducing loud noises in your surroundings.

It’s a draw.

Mono mode

Mono mode means using one earbud alone. Both products have the right earbud as the primary one, meaning that the left one is not designed to be used alone. An advantage of the Bose touch surface controls is that using only one bud gives you almost all controls on that one bud. The only choice you have to make is whether long press triggers mode switch or voice assistant, as you cannot have both on the same bud. The left Bose bud can actually be used alone for playing audio (no calls) as long as the right bud is turned on, i.e., not in the case, to relay the audio data from your phone/computer.

For Jabra, the single/double/triple press of each bud can be assigned to different actions except for volume control. Even though long pressing the right bud normally increases volume, this is disabled in mono mode, probably so you don’t set the volume too high using the right bud and then can’t get it back down because you’re not wearing the left bud which has the volume down button. You can however use the right bud to activate your device’s voice assistant and ask them to change the volume. The physical button with its limits again has the upside that it works through fabric. Finally, the right Jabra bud actually fits pretty well in the left ear, and I do use it like that occasionally.

It’s a draw.

Battery life, Water resistance

Bose claims “up to” 6 hours on a single charge and 24 hours in total including the charging case. Jabra claims “up to” 5.5 hours on a single charge and 25 hours including the case. I have not tried to confirm the numbers, but both products are totally adequate. In practice I charge the Jabra case more often, but I think that’s because its battery indicator shows a non-full battery after using only (my guess) one third of the charge whereas the Bose case shows normal status until you have used two thirds of the charge.

As for water resistance, both products are rated IPX4 (splash proof), but I’m not going to test the limits of that!

It’s a draw.

App support, Wireless charging

Both products have supporting smartphone apps. When the Jabra Sound+ app starts, it connects very quickly to the earbuds and you can use the app almost immediately. The Bose Music app, even though my phone is already connected to the earbuds and playing music, sometimes needs to “find” the earbuds when I start the app which is frustrating to wait for.

Both apps contain settings, mode setup, equalizer, help/tips, etc. The Jabra app has some extra features: It shows the case battery state, which is really nice, and it can play soundscapes like White noise, Pink noise, Waterfall, Ocean waves, etc.

The Jabra case can be charged wirelessly on a Qi charger. So could the original QCE case, but not the QCE II case. Not important to me, though it definitely is to some people.

Winner: Jabra

Conclusion

Here’s a summary of each category winner:

The two products win approximately the same number of categories, but some categories are more important than others. To me, noise reduction is paramount, which is why I prefer Bose overall, but it’s no landslide victory. While I enjoy the ANC when working at the office, I also dislike having to switch Bluetooth sound sources manually, often multiple times per day.

Going outside in the winter, I definitely prefer the Jabras, with their physical buttons that I can use unhindered by winter getup. In hindsight, I should not have bought the Jabra Elite 85t’s with their semi-open design, as they let in too much external sound for my taste. I might have preferred their newer Elite 5 or 7 models.

The best product would be a lovechild of Bose and Jabra with the fit, ANC, and sound quality from Bose and everything else from Jabra. That would be hard to beat (except perhaps on call quality).

Back in December 2009, I saw the premiere of the movie Avatar, and was completely enraptured by this beautiful fictional blue world. I went to the cinema to watch it multiple times. I studied Na’vi, the language constructed for the movie (which has a real grammar behind its pleasant alien sound). I ordered the movie for pickup at Blockbuster at the midnight DVD release (yes, a physical Blockbuster store!) I just absolutely adored the movie. Fast-forward to the present, and we finally got to watch the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water.

This post is not a review, or at least not a very comprehensive one. It is just a short praise of a movie that managed to transport me 13 years back, back to a time before I was a dull grown-up with a mortgage. Back to when a good movie meant a movie I enjoyed, rather than one that critics enjoyed.

Did the movie have flaws? Yes.

Did I love it? Yes.

Did I shed a tear? Yes.

Am I going to watch it again? Yes.

I’ve driven the Hyundai Ioniq Electric for two years now, and it’s time for some more stats. While the car model is not for sale anymore, it will exist on the used car market for many years to come, and I’m going to continue documenting my experiences with it here. Despite being discontinued, the car remains one of the most energy efficient mass market vehicles on the roads today.

The Ioniq Electric reports energy use per distance (e.g., kWh/100km) or distance traveled per energy amount (e.g., km/kWh), depending on your preference. The car has three counters: A trip with automatic reset (after four hours of parking), a trip with manual reset, and a long-term counter with manual reset. I reset the long-term counter a couple of times, so I do not have the car’s own efficiency value for the past two years. But I do have a log of all the times I charged the car, so I know how much energy I put into the battery and how far I drove. This gives me an overall vehicle efficiency of 6.46 km/kWh.

This value includes all the energy spent under all of the real-world conditions of the shifting Danish weather, HVAC use (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), tires (AllSeasonContact), driving styles and speeds, etc. The figure is the vehicle efficiency and so does not include charging losses. It does however include the energy used by the car while it is parked, which I estimate to be around 50 kWh/year. (I didn’t get the Bluelink option to make the Ioniq internet-connected. An app-enabled online car could use (much) more energy while parked.) By correcting for the assumed 50 kWh/year drain, I get a driving-only efficiency of 6.83 km/kWh (still including HVAC and everything else while driving). In the table below, I compare my performance with the WLTP results and the Electric Vehicle Database’s Real Range (also driving only) numbers:

The table also shows the range which is calculated as the efficiency multiplied by the usable battery size which is 38.3 kWh. (If the range seems too low for you, Hyundai are on their way to fix it with the upcoming Ioniq 6 sedan which is expected to keep the efficiency of the Ioniq Electric while almost doubling its range.) I do not report my car’s own range estimation as it is not representative of the long-term. It depends only on recent driving conditions, as well as HVAC considered either as turned off or with its instantaneous power draw, neither of which are long-term representative.

The results give me a lot of confidence in EVDB to not overestimate efficiency and range, like the WLTP often does. My results being better than EVDB might be down to the fact that I drive slightly less on motorways/highways than an average driver, or that the Danish weather is slightly warmer than in the EVDB model. Speaking of the weather, let’s look at how efficiency changes with the seasons.

Efficiency over time

The following diagram shows the driving efficiency average for each two-month period (Nov-Dec, Jan-Feb, etc.) for the past two years, ranging from 4.7 to 8.4 km/kWh.

In the next diagram I add the daytime air temperature in my region of Nordjylland, Denmark. (Data source. I calculate/approximate daytime temperature as the average between (1) the average daily peak temperature in the period and (2) the overall average temperature of the period.)

The efficiency correlates fairly well with the temperature within the 0–20°C range, but the efficiency actually rises faster than the temperature in the spring. This could be caused by the spring sunshine:

It might be that the sun dries wet roads faster and slightly increases the road and tire temperature compared with the air, improving efficiency. Either way, here’s the same diagram with the efficiency turned into range, from 179 to 323 km:

The efficiency at a given time of year is still just an average of different driving styles and speeds. Here’s how speed affects efficiency.

Efficiency and speed

I tested the efficiency of my car at different speeds. On a calm and sunny Sunday at the end of May, I drove a motorway round trip three times at different speeds. I started at 50% state of charge, then drove the 46.6 km loop and charged back up to 50%, then repeated two more times.

The Danish Meteorological Institute reported 21°C (in the shade), while my car (in the sun) said 24°C. Without using the air conditioning, I drove on the E45 motorway from the Clever charger at exit 33 Haverslev to exit 36 Onsild and back. Of the 46.6 km round trip, 43.4 km (93%) were motorway, while 3.2 km (7%) were on/off ramps and other roads. On the motorway I set the cruise control to 95, 115, and 135 km/h which in true speed should be around 90, 110, and 130 km/h.

This resulted in the following efficiency values reported by the car, for the full round trip. From the vehicle efficiency I derive the vehicle consumption and the resulting range.

If the trip ends at a destination/home charger, driving faster simply means you’ll get there faster, by spending more energy (and therefore money). However, if the journey is longer and requires charging along the route, driving faster also means waiting more for charging. Here’s the time I spent driving and charging:

This table shows the resulting average speeds, which are lower than the cruise speeds because of the driving off-motorway, and again lower when including the time to charge the battery back up:

The Ioniq Electric 38 kWh, because of its limited charging speed, is not too fast on long journeys. In Youtuber Bjørn Nyland’s 1000 km challenge series, the Ioniq 38 achieved an average speed around 70 km/h in the winter, similar to veteran EVs Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe. If you pay a bit more, there are some EVs with a great trade-off between price and long-distance speed around the 90 km/h mark: Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro, VW ID.3, Cupra Born, Tesla Model 3 SR+. Finally, you can get around 100 km/h and up with the newer Ioniqs, Kia EV6, and many models from Tesla and the German automakers.

But as seen in Bjørn’s videos, sustaining a high average speed on a long journey means there’s almost no time to eat or take breaks on the trip. And that’s why even a slower-charging, affordable EV such as the Ioniq Electric can be good enough.

Det er en ny æra for offentlig opladning af elbiler i Aalborg. Efter en meget begrænset udvikling i 2021 er der i foråret 2022 åbnet flere nye offentlige ladepladser i Aalborg og Nørresundby. Nu er det næsten altid muligt at finde en ledig offentlig lader, når man skal bruge den. Dermed er det blevet meget nemmere at kombinere elbil med at bo i lejlighed, samt at være plug-in-bils-gæst i Aalborg.

Mulighederne er blevet bedre både for hurtigladning (specielt da Circle Ks ladere nu er åbnet igen) og for offentlig destinationsladning, hvor bilen holder parkeret i et antal timer imens den oplades. Aalborg Kommune og Clever har i løbet af foråret åbnet 24 destinationsladere fordelt på fire forskellige kommunale P-pladser:

• Sømandshjemmet, Aalborg: 6 ladere
• Vejgaard Bymidte, Aalborg: 6 ladere
• Garvergade, Nørresundby: 6 ladere
• Havnegade, Nørresundby: 6 ladere.

Sømandshjemmet havde i forvejen to af kommunens 2 kW-ladestik, som nu er erstattet af seks 11/22 kW-ladestik fra Clever. Aalborg Kongres & Kultur Center har også længe haft to af kommunens 2 kW-ladestik, og disse er også planlagt til at blive erstattet af Clevers.

Det er skønt at der nu er plads til opladning af seks biler samtidig, i stedet for de typiske to ad gangen som de fleste ældre ladesteder har. Men der er flere fordele. For det første har de nye ladere parkeringsregler der er nemme at forstå (så nemme som parkeringsregler nu kan blive). Dette er også i modsætning til andre, ældre ladesteder som ofte er på private områder med uklare regler. Der ikke rart at parkere med frygt for en dyr parkeringsafgift, så det er rart at de nye kommunale pladser har klare regler.

For det andet er det vigtigt at de nye kommunale pladser er gratis at holde på. Den pris man betaler for strøm fra offentlige ladere er i forvejen 2–3 gange dyrere pr. kilowatttime end ved hjemmeladning, så det er dejligt at man ikke skal betale dyr parkering oveni. Specielt hvis man har en ældre eller billigere elbil der lader med en lavere effekt, kan dyre parkeringspladser (fx 16 kr/time) mere end fordoble den i forvejen halvdyre omkostning for at lade offentligt.

Ud over nye ladere på kommunale P-pladser er der også kommet andre offentlige ladere til, fx 4 stk. ved Nordelektro på Skibsbyggerivej og 4 stk. ved Centrica på Skelagervej. (Desuden flere i dyre P-huse, samt flere ikke-offentlige ladere ved boligforeninger, arbejdspladser mv.).

Sammen med de nye lademuligheder er æraen for gratis opladning i Aalborg næsten slut. Circle K har lukket for gratis ladning og Aalborg Kommunes gratis ladestik til elbiler er halvvejs med at blive erstattet af Clever-ladestandere. Gratis ladning har været et privilegie som gjorde det muligt at køre elbil ekstremt billigt i Aalborg indtil nu. Nu må det nøjes med “bare” at være billigere end benzin og diesel.

My car supports Android Auto which lets me connect my smartphone and use the phone’s apps on the car’s infotainment system including touchscreen, speakers and microphone. Examples include Google Maps for navigation and Spotify for music, as well as Google Assistant voice commands.

It normally requires a wired USB connection between phone and car, but AAWireless is a device that acts as a wireless bridge between phone and car while the device stays plugged in to the car, so your phone can stay in your pocket or bag. I’m happy so say it works well so far.

With the product being crowdfunded, and just being a consumer electronic product in general, I was prepared for some problems. To my pleasant surprise, the product Just Works for me. After the initial Bluetooth pairing, the device connects quickly when I turn the car on, and the car’s touchscreen is responsive. I did not use the accompanying app to configure or update the device, as it was not necessary for me, and because I didn’t want the app to update the device’s firmware, as some reviews complained about problems with a recent version of the firmware.

The AAWireless device uses less than 1 W of power from the wired USB connection which is nice. I don’t know how the phone’s power consumption is affected and I have not yet tried longer trips with the AAWireless. But based on my limited experience with it, I’m happy with the purchase.

Foråret har bragt bedre muligheder for offent­lig opladning af elbiler i Aalborg, til glæde for både gæster og os der bor i lejlighed eller af andre årsager ikke har egen ladeboks. Situa­tionen er blevet bedre både når det gælder hurtig­ladning og destinations­ladning. Dette indlæg handler om det første.

Hurtigladning er den slags ladning hvor man typisk holder 15–45 minutter afhængig af bilen, lade­standerens hastighed, og hvor langt man skal køre. Ofte kan man tilbringe vente­tiden på tank­station, toilet, lege­plads, indkøbs­center, fastfood­restaurant eller Netflix.

Indtil nu

Hurtigladning i Aalborg har ikke fungeret så godt frem til nu. I 2020 var der kun tre hurtig­ladere i Stor­aalborg: En ved Stor­centeret, en ved føtex Eternitten, og en ved Q8 Scheels­mindevej ved Møllen. Hver af disse ladere er af den gammel­dags slags med kun ét CCS-stik, dvs. at der typisk kun er plads til hurtig­ladning af én bil ad gangen.

Efterhånden som antallet af elbiler steg i 2021 blev det sværere at få plads ved de få ladere der var, specielt ved Storcenteret og Eternitten. Eternittens ladestander var (og er) tilmed låst inde uden for føtex’ åbnings­tid, hvilket for­værrer problemet. Scheels­mindevej var nem­mest at få plads ved, måske fordi det var den dyreste lader til 4,90 kr/kWh (drevet af E.ON), mens de andre kostede 3,50 kr/kWh (drevet af Clever). Alle tre havde (og har) en lade­hastighed på 50 kW.

I starten af 2021 fik Circle K Hadsundvej en stander med to 150 kW CCS-stik som tilmed var gratis at benytte som del af en længere­varende prøve­periode der endte med at vare over et år. Det var på den ene side skønt at lade gratis når man fik plads, men på den anden side gjorde popular­iteten at det ofte var svært at få plads uden at holde i kø. Jeg mødte endda nogle som havde mulighed for at lade hjemme, men som alligevel kørte forbi Circle K for at få gratis strøm. I starten af 2022 fik Circle K yder­ligere en stander med to stik på Sønderbro.

Tesla, hvis ladere ikke er offentligt til­gængelige i Danmark, har heller ikke en såkaldt Super­charger hurtig­ladestation i Aalborg.

Godt nyt hos Q8

I april 2022 har hurtigladning i Aalborg ændret sig betydeligt, med store ændringer hos tank­station­erne. Q8 har fået seks nye stik à 150 kW, hvilket i sig selv er fantastisk, men de har også gjort en masse ting rigtigt som gør el nemmere og mere behageligt at bruge:

• De viser elprisen på pylonen/standeren man kan se ude fra vejen, på lige fod med benzin- og dieselpriserne, som vist på billedet øverst på siden. (Prisen er p.t. 4,95 kr/kWh og hvis du er vant til at tænke i liter frem for kilowatt­timer, så kan jeg anbefale denne artikel fra FDM.)
• De har placeret en af ladestanderne (to stik) under tag, så man kan stå i tørvejr lige som dem der tanker fossile brænd­stoffer. De resterende standere står ikke under tag, men til gengæld er der god plads i bredden på deres parkerings­pladser.
• De tager imod Dankort/​betalingskort, så man ikke er tvunget til at bruge (endnu) en mobil­app. Der er dog stadig mulighed for at bruge apps.

Desuden har jeg ikke indtryk af at Q8 over­driver den ladehastighed de tilbyder. De rekla­merer med 150 kW, hvilket virker realist­isk at de kan levere, selvom jeg ikke selv kan teste det. Dette er i mod­sætning til Circle K som reklamerer med 300 kW, men skriver med småt “Denne lade­stander kan lade én bil med op til 300 kW, eller to biler med op til 150 kW hver”. Desuden har jeg snakket med andre elbilister ved Circle K og hørt at laderne ikke nød­vendig­vis leverer den lovede hastighed til de (dyre) biler der kan tage imod så meget. For­håbentlig er det et problem Circle K får udbedret.

Dårligt nyt hos Circle K

Hos Circle K er der også store ændringer her i april. De har længe snakket om at sætte betal­ing på deres ladere, og nu har de gjort alvor af det. Man kan læse at de har opsat betalings­løsninger på alle kædens lade­standere. Dette er rimeligt og forventet, og er ikke den dårlige nyhed. Endda er det positivt at det kommer til at mindske træng­slen ved laderne.

Den dårlige nyhed er at alle fire Circle K-lade­stik i Aalborg siden omkring midt-april har været ude af drift, og ikke har fået monteret auto­mat til betal­ings­kort endnu. Jeg formoder de fleste Circle K-​ladere i Danmark fungerer med betal­ings­system som medierne siger (og som jeg personligt har set hos Circle K Framlev​/​Harlev vest for Aarhus). For at gøre det værre i Aalborg henviser de endda fra den ene defekte/​deaktiv­erede ladestander til den anden.

Når de engang i maj forhåbentlig har fået mon­teret betalings­systemet og genåbnet laderne bliver det skønt med 13 hurtig­ladestik i Stor­aalborg fordelt på Q8, Circle K, Clever og E.ON. Men det må siges PR-mæssigt at være en fan­tastisk dårlig afslutning på en ellers fantastisk god prøve­periode for Circle K i Aalborg.

Fremtiden

Til sommer planlægger Clever at åbne Nord­jyllands største lade­station med 16 stk. 300 kW-​ladestik i Nørre­sundby. Det blivere mere end en fordobling af antallet af hurtig­lade­stik i Stor­aalborg, så det bliver godt.

De stigende elpriser spørger også. Clever har varslet prisstigninger fra juni, som vil presse deres lynladere (150+ kW) op til være marked­ets dyreste i løssalg (6,50 kr/kWh uden abonnement), endda dyrere end Ionity. Dog vil deres 50 kW-ladere med 4,75 kr/kWh fortsat være blandt de billigste, hvilket er dejligt for os med en “gammel­dags” elbil der ikke lader hurtig­ere på en lynlader end på en “gammel­dags” 50 kW-hurtiglader.

Folk i den indtil videre lukkede Tesla-klub kan også glæde sig over at der skulle komme en Aalborg Supercharger i tredje kvartal i år.

Ud over hurtigladning er destinations­ladning (mens man holder parkeret i flere timer) også blevet bedre i Aalborg i april, og står til at blive endnu bedre snart. Det kommer i mit næste indlæg.

I have been working with a slightly heavy C# code base that takes around a minute to build and start up. This is enough time that I’ll switch to another program each time I start a debug or test run. But it’s also short enough time that if I get side­tracked for five minutes, that’s four minutes of Visual Studio sitting idle.

One day I stumbled upon a setting in Visual Studio named “Play a sound when tests finish running”, and from there a button to open the main Windows Sound settings where a number of events in Visual Studio can be configured to trigger a sound. This feature is simple but great. Now I can switch context and always hear when I need to come back and work from a breakpoint or a finished test run. I can also use different sounds to distinguish positive and negative outcomes. Using the built-in Windows sounds, I found that these work great:

Especially the Ta-Daaa! fanfare when the tests pass is a nice way to be called back to Visual Studio. Happy coding!

Offentlige ladepunkter for elbiler — de orange punkter er hurtigladere. Skærmbillede fra PlugShare.

En elbil oplades typisk i et roligt tempo mens den er parkeret hjemme, på arbejde eller ved en offentlig destinations­lader. Men når man skal køre langt benytter man ladere med høj effekt, så man kan komme hurtigt videre. Dette indlæg handler om hurtig­ladere i Danmark, med fokus på motorvejen mellem Aalborg og København. På de 416 km mellem de to byer er der 64 CCS-stik langs motor­vejen til hurtig­ladning, og nogle flere i byerne omkring motor­vejen. Dette er et rigtig godt udgangs­punkt når man kører turen, men for at optimere rejsens tid eller pris kan man med fordel benytte nogle ladere frem for andre.

I øvrigt håber jeg at dette indlæg bliver hurtigt forældet, i form af forbedringer af infra­struk­turen. For nylig kom for eksempel nyheden at Fyn i 2022 får Danmarks største lyn­ladestation med plads til 28 elbiler. Det siges også at de kommercielle lade­netværk arbejder på et fælles betalings­system der skal gøre det nemmere at bruge landets ladere med færre apps og brikker. Men lad os træde et skridt tilbage og fokusere på nutiden.

Først er der elbilens “VHS/Betamax-konflikt” omkring hvilket stik og hvilken teknik man bruger når man hurtig­lader elbiler. Elbilernes Betamax hedder CHAdeMO og VHS (vinderen) hedder CCS som står for Combined Charging System. Der findes stadig mange CHAdeMO-stik rundt om i landet, men nye elbiler i EU sælges nu stort set kun med CCS. Der er også Tesla som har deres eget system, samtidig med at de afhængig af model og adapter også kan benytte offentlige ladere af både CHAdeMO- og CCS-typerne. Jeg vil dog kun fokusere på CCS i det følgende.

En hurtig­lader er en lade­stander som tilbyder bilen mindst 50 kW (kilowatt). Det er forskelligt pr. elbil hvor meget af den tilgængelige effekt som den kan tage imod. Nogle elbiler kan ikke udnytte 50 kW fuldt ud, mens andre (dyrere) elbiler kan sluge 250 kW eller mere når det er tilgængeligt. Begrebet lynladning bruges når ladestanderen tilbyder mindst 100 kW, typisk 150–350 kW.

Fra Aalborg til København

Der er 64 CCS-stik mellem Aalborg og København inden for 1 km fra E45 og E20. Hvis man kigger op til 5 km fra motorvejen er der 13 stik mere, og op til 10 km yderligere 10 stik. Og hvis man inkluderer rastepladser på “den modsatte side” kommer der 10 mere, men dem vil jeg ikke tælle med da det at anvende sådan en kan medføre en omvej på 10–30 km, da man ikke bare lige kan krydse over motorvejen. Jeg tæller heller ikke selve Aalborg og København med i de 64 da det er mere normalt at bruge AC-ladning (typisk 11 kW) når man parkerer nær sin destination. Alt i alt er der en rimelig mængde hurtig­ladere langs motorvejen, og nogle ekstra der kan bruges som backup hvis der skulle være trængsel ved en af de primære.

De 64 stik er ikke jævnt fordelt. Nogle findes på en enlig stander der også ofte inkluderer en til to andre stiktyper, men altså kun ét CCS-stik. Nogle steder står to, fire eller flere standere sammen. Og nogle steder er flere forskellige netværk/firmaer repræsenteret på samme lokation inden for nogle hundrede meter af hinanden. I alt er der 22 lokationer med 1–10 stik hver, 3 i gennem­snit. Over de 416 km fra Limfjordsbroen i Aalborg til Langebro i København er der i gennemsnit en lokation hver 19 km. Lokationerne er dog heller ikke jævnt fordelt og spænder fra 2 km mellem Nyborg og Knudshoved til 46 km mellem Haverslev og Randers. I den følgende tabel inkluderer jeg også Horsens og Odense der har hurtig­ladere, selvom de ikke ligger ud til motorvejen. Tabellen viser antallet af CCS-stik fordelt på netværk og ladehastighed:

Afstanden mellem ladestederne måler jeg mellem de relevante motorvejs­afkørsler. Laderne står 0–1 km fra motorvejen, bortset fra kategorien “Hurtige byladere” som jeg bruger om hurtig­ladere der står 2–10 km fra motorvejen. Byladerne står primært ved indkøbscentre, hvilket gør at de oftere end motorvejs­ladere er i brug af folk der bor i lokal­området. Desuden kan den P-plads de står på være aflåst uden for indkøbs­centerets åbningstid. Alle disse ting gør at jeg kun betragter dem som en reserveløsning ved motorvejs­rejser. Jeg har ikke optalt hurtig­laderne i Stor­københavn præcist, men der er mange. Ud over Clever og E.ON findes der bl.a. også hurtige byladere fra fx Spirii, Sperto, Circle K og Lidl.

Kort over hurtigladere i Aalborg og København, samt langs motorvejen imellem.

Hvilke ladere skal man vælge?

Faktisk behøver man slet ikke at vælge da man kan bruge alle ladere vha. apps som kan opsættes på få minutter. Men laderene koster ikke det samme at bruge. Et abonnement hos Clever giver adgang til Clevers hurtig­ladere (50 kW) og Clever og E.ONs fælles lynladere (175 kW), i tillæg til mange af 50 kW-byladerne som også drives af Clever. Hvis man betaler efter forbrug, i mod­sætning til fastpris­abonnement, koster hurtig­laderne 3,50 kr/kWh og lynladerne 5,00 kr/kWh. (Ud over apps kan man også bestille en ladebrik/RFID-tag som gør det lidt hurtigere at starte ladningen på et givet netværk uden at skulle fedte med sin telefon og afhænge af internet­forbindelse.)

Et abonnement hos E.ON giver adgang til E.ONs hurtig­ladere og Clever/E.ON-lynladerne, samt nogle hurtig­ladere i København. Til forskel fra Clever tager E.ON samme pris for hurtig­ladning og lynladning: 4,90 kr/kWh. Hvis man har en elbil som ikke kan udnytte lynladernes høj hastighed, er det en ulempe at man ikke kan spare penge ved at holde sig til de langsommere hurtig­ladere når man betaler efter forbrug, som hos Clever. (Prisen man betaler afhænger kun af den effekt laderen tilbyder, og ikke af den effekt bilen aftager.) Omvendt tager E.ON en marginalt lavere kWh-pris end Clever for præcis de samme lynladere, igen hvis man ikke har fastpris­abonnement. (Jeg har ikke inkluderet priser på fastpris­abonnementerne, da de afhænger af flere ting, men de kan ses hos Clever og E.ON.)

Til sidst er der Ionity som har de hurtigste ladere, men også tager den høje pris af 6,20 kr/kWh. Prisen kan dog reduceres hvis man har et abonnement via en af de bil­producenter der ejer Ionity: BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Audi og Porsche. Herunder opstiller jeg nogle eksempler på hvordan man kan udvælge sine favorit­ladere — og så have alle de andre i reserve:

Jeg har lavet et diagram over om hvornår fastpris­abonnement giver mening i dette indlæg. Selv benytter jeg primært Clever ekskl. lynladere, da jeg betaler efter forbrug og Hyundai IONIQ 2020 kun har minimal fordel af lynladere. Men hvis jeg havde en bil der kunne udnytte dem ville jeg benytte lyn­laderne. Antallene af steder og stik i tabellen medtæller kun motorvejs­laderne, men ikke hurtig­laderne i byerne, selvom man også får adgang til de fleste af dem med et Clever-abonnement, samt nogle i København med et E.ON-abonnement. Desuden giver både E.ON og Clever (men ikke Ionity) adgang til en lang række destinations­ladere/AC-ladere over hele landet.

Hvor mange opladninger har man behov for?

Et oplagt spørgsmål er hvor mange ladere der er behov for og hvor tæt de skal stå. Derfor vil jeg se på hvor mange opladninger man har behov for. Svaret afhænger af bilens rækkevidde, som igen afhænger af køre­hastigheden og vejret. Med Hyundai IONIQ 2020 som eksempel på en elbil med mellemlav række­vidde (typisk 200–300 km) kan Aalborg–København køres på 1–3 oplad­ninger. Hvis vejret er godt (15–25°C) burde man kunne klare turen med én opladning ved at køre med 100–110 km/t. Jeg forudsætter man starter med fuldt batteri og slutter på 10% som en sikkerheds­margin mod uforud­sige­ligheder. Opladningen efter ankomst kan som regel foretages mens bilen er parkeret ved en destinations­lader, uden at man behøver at vente i bilen, men en hurtig bylader kan også bruges hvis man vil flytte bilen igen en halv times tid senere.

Hvis man synes det er kedeligt at køre under hastigheds­grænsen, kan man bare køre turen med 130 km/t med to opladninger om sommeren eller tre om vinteren. IONIQ 2020 kommer dog ikke så meget hurtigere frem med 130 km/t, da de ekstra ladestop spiser meget af den vundne tid. Til gengæld får man ekstra pauser til at strække ben, gå på toilettet, arbejde, spise, hygge, eller hvad man nu har lyst til. Hvis man synes ovenstående lyder undervældende, så kan elbiler med større række­vidde og hurtigere ladning heldigvis klare sig med færre og kortere ladepauser:

Jeg brugte A Better Routeplanner til at sammenligne turen for nogle forskellige bilmodeller, med resultaterne i tabellen herover. De bedste elbiler på markedet i dag er allerede der hvor mange mennesker har behov for flere pauser end bilen har. Og i øvrigt kan de dyrere elbiler ofte også selv medregne den nødvendige opladning i deres navigations­system, så man ikke selv behøver planlægge opladningen på turen. Men hvis vi vender tilbage til de billigere elbiler der skal lade oftere, så er det specielt vigtigt at der er nok ladere med jævne mellemrum.

Hvor mange ladere er der behov for?

Jo nemmere det er at lade, jo mere attraktivt er det at køre elbil. For at det skal være rigtig nemt skal der bl.a. være nok ladere til at der altid er én ledig når man skal bruge den, der hvor man skal bruge den, således at man ikke behøver at planlægge turen på forhånd.

Allerede nu er der en god mængde ladestandere i forhold til antallet af elbiler på vejene. Men efter­hånden som antallet af ladere og elbiler stiger forventer jeg at det bliver lidt mere forud­sige­ligt at hurtig­lade. Lige nu er situationen nemlig at mange af ladestanderne er enkelt­stående. I min begrænsede erfaring er de enkelt­stående ladestanderne på raste­pladserne som regel ledige når jeg ankommer, men når en lader er optaget, ved man ikke om det tager 3 eller 30 minutter før den bliver ledig. Med mindre man er heldig at kunne snakke med den ladende elbilist, og det viser sig at denne næsten er færdig med at lade, så kan det være spild af tid at holde og vente. Derfor er det usmart at ankomme til en enkelt­stående lader med meget lavt batteri, og derfor er det stadig en fordel at planlægge sin tur på forhånd, i hvert fald hvis man har noget man skal nå i den anden ende. Nogle synes det er sjovt at nørde med planlæg­ningen, men flertallet vil nok foretrække ikke at være afhængige af at skulle gøre det.

I øvrigt kan det være en streg i regningen hvis en enkelt­stående lader er i stykker — det kan desværre ske. Clever og E.ON tilbyder mobilitets­garanti/vejhjælp i tilfælde af en defekt lader, men den kræver at man både er abonnent og har tjekket inden ankomst at laderen ikke allerede er fejl­meldt (mere plan­lægning). Og garanti eller ej, så tilføjer vejhjælp en større forsinkelse. Som alter­nativ til de enkelt­stående standere kan man gå efter ladesteder med mange stik på samme sted:

Fordelen er at en optaget eller evt. defekt lader er et meget mindre problem, og at der nok snart bliver en ledig plads, hvis der ikke allerede er det når man ankommer. De fleste af disse mange ladere er også de hurtigste (og dyreste), hvilket kan være et plus eller et minus afhængig af ens bil og abonnement. Da der er længere imellem stederne med mange stik er det også godt at være bevidst om hvor man skal huske at lade (hvis bilen ikke selv guider dig via navigations­systemet).

Fremtiden

Efterhånden som der kommer flere elbiler er der også behov for flere ladere, og omvendt. Det er en hønen og ægget-situation, men heldigvis står det ikke stille. Clever udmeldte i oktober 2020 at de vil etablere 10.000 nye ladepunkter inden udgangen af 2025, hvoraf 500 skal være lyn­ladere og 100 skal være normale hurtig­ladere. På kortere sigt opsætter Circle K og OK hurtig­ladere ved deres tankstationer. Circle K har allerede bygget fire lynlade­stationer (med mindst to CCS-stik hver) og har yderligere 14 stationer planlagt i år. Man kan se nogle af disse, samt nogle fra OK og Lidl, under “coming soon” på PlugShare. Det var først for nylig at jeg på denne måde opdagede Circle K-lynladeren i Aalborg. Det viser sig endda at den er gratis at benytte i en prøveperiode der ind til videre har varet et halvt år!

Langs motorvejen håber jeg at nogle af de eksisterende enkelt­stående ladere får en makker, så der kommer et ekstra CCS-stik på stedet. Der kunne også godt bruges enkelte nye lokationer mellem Aalborg og København. De 46 km mellem Haverslev i Nordjylland og Gudenåen-raste­pladserne ved Randers kunne halveres ved at placere en ladestation ved motorvejen nær Hobro. De 74 km over Fyn mellem Middelfart og Nyborg kunne også bruge mere end den ene nuværende opladnings­mulighed på Kildebjerg-rastepladserne, men heldigvis skulle der jo være 28 nye lynladere på vej ved motorvejen nær Odense.

Det er ikke kun gennemrejsende der får glæde af de nye lynladere ved Odense. Lokale beboere, ikke mindst dem der ikke kan få egen hjemmelader, kan benytte hurtig­ladere i nærheden som alternativ eller supplement til destinations­laderne, specielt ind til mængden af destinations­ladere forhåbentlig kommer til at stige i fremtiden.

Selvom der er plads til mange forbedringer er det allerede nu forholdsvis nemt at køre elbil for mange danskere, specielt de mange der bor i hus. Selv bor vi i lejlighed og klarer det også fint. Der er selvfølgelig nogle for hvem det stadig vil være upraktisk, men for de mange med et normalt kørselsbehov vil jeg foreslå at springe plugin-hybriden over og gå direkte til ren el. For miljøets skyld, og for pengenes skyld.

Fordi det hele virkede nyt og ukendt valgte vi Hyundai privatleasing hvor man kun er bundet i ét år, i modsætning til de fleste firmaer jeg har fundet som binder én i tre år. Volkswagen har også et koncept hvor man kan lease en ID.3 i seks måneder. Men nu hvor jeg er blevet vant til elbil tænker jeg ikke på at slippe af med den igen — jeg glæder mig bare til næste gang jeg skal ud at køre.

Getting an electric vehicle while living in an apartment was a bit of an experiment. Public charging is still a bit rough around the edges, but it turned out manageable, and in fact quite cheap, with the help from some free charging. Here’s my experience with EV charging in the past six months.

From November to April I drove our Hyundai IONIQ Electric 3034 km (1885 mi) while keeping a charging log. I charged 37 times in total, on average from 56% to 92% state of charge. This covered various situations such as a small top-up to 100% before a long trip, a motorway fast-charge up to at most 80%, a full recharge after a long trip (the biggest being 11%->100%), and various city charging in between. Some of the charging sessions were tests to try out the various charger types and charging networks to get comfortable with the process.

Disregarding the tests, I charged on average every 100 km (62 mi). On long trips I gradually became more comfortable with going farther between charges, with the longest stretch being 263 km (163 mi) in the spring. But for city charging with a limited number of public chargers, it remains practical to charge when the opportunity arises, without running down to a low state of charge each time.

Charging in the City

Most charging sessions were on slow destination chargers, and most were in Aalborg where we live. We rely on public chargers as we live in an apartment and don’t have our own home charger. It works like this: Drive to a charger, find a free socket, plug in, and walk 10–20 minutes home or to work. Later, I walk back to pick up the car when I need it again, or when it’s done charging.

Remaining charging time at a slow charger.

A home charger would be much easier to use, but for city dwellers with EVs, this is how it works at the moment (unless you drive to work and that workplace has chargers available). Each city and town will be different in the density, availability, and reliability of public chargers, and improving this infrastructure will be an undertaking for the next many years.

Going back and forth to the charger takes a bit of time, but the walk is healthy. However, driving in vain to find all charger sockets in use is annoying. For commercial chargers, you can usually look up their availability status online before going, but not all chargers are commercial, as we’ll get to later. In practice, sharing a limited number of public chargers takes a bit of foresight. If I know I’m going on a long trip, I start trying to charge up to 100% a few days in advance, so there’s time to come back later if the chargers are all in use the first time around. Another option would be to use fast-chargers (more) on the trip, but the IONIQ’s fast-charging speed is not as good as many other EVs in that regard.

Parking Problems

You shouldn’t block a public charger if you’re not using it — that is etiquette and usually also part of parking regulations. But it can also make using public destination chargers a hassle. If you plug in to charge late in the evening, it might be that the charging will finish in the middle of the night. Do you get up to move the car in the middle of the night? Do you skip charging altogether? (Probably not.) Do you pick up your car some time the next morning, hoping to get there before the parking attendant and other EV drivers in need of some juice? (Perhaps.) I try to plan my charging so I don’t block the charger unnecessarily, but it’s not always practical to do so, neither for me nor other EV drivers.

For EVs to become mainstream, I think the charging situation needs to become easier and require much less planning. As a start, the parking rules could be relaxed so the parking-only-while-charging requirement doesn’t apply at night. Ideally there should be enough parking spaces that you could leave your car some extra time after charging finishes while someone else could take over the socket you used. Such a grace period would also be helpful when you want to charge to 100%, because the car’s estimation of when the charging will finish can be a bit off.

Some EV parking signs in Danish. (Elbil is the Scandinavian word for electric automobile.)

In other situations, the parking time is limited. There is a parking lot in Aalborg where the two EV spots have a two hour limit but their charging sockets supply at most 11–12 amps. It’s nice to have a few parking spaces that are reserved for EVs, but with those sockets the charging itself is almost inconsequential since you add at most 15 km (9 mi) of range per hour. That’s like going to the gas station for only 1 liter of gas!

In another place they had 11 kW outlets and a three hour parking limit. That will get you far if your EV has a matching 11 kW on-board charger (OBC) which adds range at up to 60 km/h (37 mph). A plug-in hybrid/PHEV can also typically fill up its smaller battery completely in three hours. But for cheaper EVs with slow OBCs like the IONIQ, you’ll get at most 20 km/h (12 mph). I think something needs to be done here to improve the situation for social equality in EV adoption. The solution at Aalborg Zoo is nice: “No time limit while charging”. That way, all EVs get the opportunity to add meaningful range, while still not allowing blocking the parking spot unnecessarily. The last part just requires parking attendants to check the charging status and not just the parking disc. I’m not sure, but I have the impression that many parking attendants don’t yet understand or care about EV charging.

Another problem is when many of the public chargers are placed in expensive parking garages. It might be okay to use them once in a while when out of town, but when you live in an apartment and rely on local destination chargers in your daily life, you definitely don’t want to pay €15 for an eight-hour charging session — on top of the charging cost. Despite these problems, using an EV in Aalborg and Denmark works fine, and the charging has in fact been very cheap as we’ll get to soon.

Energy and Efficiency

In total I drove 3034 km (1885 mi) using an estimated 524 kWh of energy, or a bit less than 14 full charges of the 38.3 kWh battery pack. That comes out to 5.79 km/kWh (3.60 mi/kWh), or 17.3 kWh/100km (27.8 kWh/100mi). This was for the Danish winter half-year, using Continental AllSeasonContact tires, and my driving comprising 40% city, 20% open road, and 40% motorway. It also gives the average range of 222 km (138 mi) from a full charge for these conditions. As described in my previous post, efficiency and range depend heavily on speed and weather, so the results will be better in the summer. Also, some of the driving was economical but I also did a lot of unnecessary (but fun!) acceleration.

Economical driving from Odense to Aalborg, Denmark.

There are two things to add. First, the total energy is not only used while driving. The IONIQ, like regular cars, has a 12 V battery that discharges over time. The IONIQ, unlike regular cars, can keep the 12 V battery in shape automatically, using a bit of juice from the main driving battery. This will take around one percentage point of charge from the main battery per week, at least when it’s freezing. My calculated average efficiency and range includes half a year of parking, so during driving alone, the efficiency and range is a tiny bit better than the numbers above indicate.

Second, it’s not all the energy that comes through the charging cable that makes it to the battery. During charging, some electricity is lost as heat, plus the car needs some electronics running, and it might even spend energy on battery cooling or heating to optimize the charging speed, depending on the car model. The loss is around 10–15%. So getting 524 kWh into the IONIQ will actually have required around 600 kWh in total. Let’s see what this means for the cost.

Cost Complexity

EV charging prices vary a lot, at least in Denmark where legislation is complicated. Most EV price calculations I’ve read assume you will install a home charger, but for many city dwellers that is not an option, so I will instead exclude home charging. That removes some of the complexity of EV charging prices, including home charger installation, home charger purchase vs. rental, combined home and public charger subscription, time dependent electricity tariffs, electricity tax refunds, and interaction between tax refunds and the use of solar panels and geothermal heat pumps.

Public charging is still complicated, though: Pay per kWh or a fixed price per month, or somewhere in between. Use one provider, or multiple, or a meta provider, or somewhere in between. For fast-charging, the price can depend on the charging speed, or potential partnerships between EV manufacturers and charging providers. In some countries you also pay per minute.

You can also be lucky and have access to free charging. Our municipality has a few sockets in Aalborg for free EV charging, which is a nice “carrot” for EV adoption. Some hotels and supermarkets have free charging. For example, Lidl supermarkets have free chargers in some countries and are getting it in Denmark. Car manufacturers also sometimes offer some free charging. Hyundai started giving away six months of free charging with new leases, less than a week after we got our IONIQ. Tesla also sometimes gives away free charging.

Charging Cost in Denmark

As mentioned in the previous section, there are many possibilities. Here I will compare what I do with a few simple alternatives. Blessed with tax-paid electricity in Aalborg, I mainly use those free sockets when at “home” — a 15-minute walk from our apartment. When all the free spots are taken, or when out of town, I use the Clever charging network, with other networks such as E.ON, Spirii and Ionity as possible backups. Because I don’t use the commercial operators so much, it’s cheaper to pay by the kWh instead of using a flat rate subscription.

In the last six months I paid only 676 DKK (€91 or $111) for 191 kWh, while getting the remaining ~409 kWh for free. However, not everyone has the privilege (or patience) to use free charging, so I’m going to show some alternatives. Electricity prices and taxes vary by country, so I’m not going to convert the following prices as they are not directly comparable to other countries anyway. But here are the current prices in DKK/kWh for some charging network products and charger speeds (with Aalborg Municipality thrown in so you can see that my free charging is also slow charging):

By mixing some of the above speeds and networks, you’ll end up with an average price per kWh. If you only use public chargers, you might end up at 3–5 DKK/kWh and if you can mix in free charging, you can get under 3 DKK/kWh. My average was just over 1 DKK/kWh for the past six months. I’m using these rates in the following graph, which also includes a typical 650 DKK/month flat rate subscription without a home charger included.

I made the chart based on a consumption of 5 km/kWh including charging loss, corresponding to the 5.8 km/kWh vehicle consumption that I got for the Danish winter half-year. In comparison, every time the Hyundai IONIQ drives 5 km, the Mercedes EQC will drive 4 km, and the Audi e-tron S Sportback will drive 3 km using the same energy. However, the majority of EVs fall somewhere between the EQC and the IONIQ — including Audi’s upcoming Q4 models, and the very-long-range Mercedes EQS.

The chart shows that what is cheapest depends heavily on your driving. Long-distance drivers will profit greatly from a flat rate subscription, while I would pay 5–6 times as much as I currently do. Before getting the IONIQ, I didn’t know it would end up like this — I just knew I wanted to support the push toward a greener future (and try out some cool tech while at it). And while charging turned out way cheaper than gasoline, the total cost still could have been lower by choosing a conventional car with a weaker internal combustion engine and a manual transmission. But for comparable cars driving an average 20,000 km/year or 16,000 mi/year, EVs already have ample opportunity to have a lower total cost of ownership in Denmark as well as the USA.

Update 2021-06-26, 2023-06-21: Minor fixes.

In late 2020 we decided to get a car. After relying on the extensive Danish public transport system for many years, it was time for a “socially distanced” means of transportation. My friend Jon had just got a Hyundai Kona Electric — a mini-crossover with good range. This sparked my interest in electric cars, and after a month of research and testing, we ordered its sibling, the 2020 IONIQ Electric. It’s a frugal yet fun car with good value but some drawbacks.

Range and Efficiency

The Hyundai IONIQ is a fairly normal small family car, except of course that it’s electric. The first thing people want to know about an electric vehicle (EV) is the range. In my opinion, charging speed is at least as important as range but we’ll get to that in a bit.

The rated range is 311 km (193 mi) according to the WLTP standard. However, the WLTP can be optimistic for the Danish climate, and having a single “combined driving” range number in your head can lead to disappointment when you travel by motorway/highway — which is where range often matters the most.

Driving an EV makes you more aware of the factors that affect efficiency: Speed, temperature, weather, tires, weight, aerodynamics, etc. Even though these affect regular internal combustion engine (ICE) cars as well, you’re just more likely to notice them in an EV. Here’s how much it matters:

Driving at 130 km/h (~80 mph) on a dry road just below freezing, with the heat cranked up, I got:

• 4.3 km/kWh (2.7 mi/kWh) or 23 kWh/100km (37 kWh/100mi), or
• 38 km/L (89 MPG US) or 2.6 L/100km in fuel equivalents, or
• 165 km (102 mi) estimated range

Driving at 80 km/h (50 mph), and slowing down for the occasional town, in 9°C (48°F) gave:

• 8.8 km/kWh (5.5 mi/kWh) or 11 kWh/100km (18 kWh/100mi), or
• 78 km/L (183 MPG US) or 1.3 L/100km in fuel equivalents, or
• 337 km (209 mi) estimated range

Notice the amazing efficiency. While the Hyundai IONIQ’s range is not fantastic, its efficiency is. It was in fact the world’s most efficient production car, before the Tesla Model 3. But even so, range depends heavily on speed and weather. I have not yet tried the car in the summer but I expect to get 250 km (155 mi) of range on the Danish motorways at 110–130 km/h (~70–80 mph).

For short/city trips, the IONIQ is great. It’s snappy, quiet, and clean, and I never worry about range, only charging it once or twice per month. But for long trips, charging speed is at least as important as range, and the 2020 IONIQ’s fast-charging speed is unfortunately not especially good — a trait shared with most of the least expensive EVs.

Charging Basics

EV charging is complicated, compared to the ol’ gas/petrol fill-ups. Charging speed varies by a great deal, depending on the power that the charging station will deliver and the power the car will accept. The power that the charging station can deliver can roughly be classified into home/destination (AC) charging which takes hours and (DC) fast-charging which takes minutes. The power that the car will accept is governed by the car’s battery management system, and depends on the exact battery technology used in the car, but also on the state of charge of the battery (fullness percentage), and even the battery temperature.

Fast-Charging

For long trips, a big battery with a long range is nice for the first leg of the trip if you start off fully charged. But after that, the big battery is not of much help if it takes a long time to charge. It would be faster overall to have a smaller battery that charges quickly. The best is of course a big battery that charges quickly.

Charging speed is generally expressed in kW (kilowatts a.k.a. kilojoules per second), but another useful metric is km/h or mph, as in “how much range can I add in one hour of charging”. This makes it easy to compare vehicles with different battery sizes and efficiencies, based on some combined driving style.

According to the EV Database, the 2020 Hyundai IONIQ will charge at 210 km/h (130 mph), when connected to a 50 kW fast-charger — that is, a charger that will deliver as much power as the car wants, up to 50 kW. This charging speed is comparable to that of a Chevrolet Bolt, Renault Zoe, or Nissan Leaf (small battery). While 210 km/h (130 mph) is fast as a driving speed, it’s not a crazy charging speed. In case of the IONIQ it means spending 50 minutes to charge it from 10% to 80% state of charge. (The slow charge from 80% and up is typically reserved for home/destination charging.) Taking a break once in a while is a good thing, and 50 minutes can be a nice food break on a roadtrip. But many breaks only need to be short, and with the 2020 IONIQ, up to a third of your time will be spent charging on long trips.

More expensive EVs will be able to accept charge at a faster rate. Everything over 300 km/h (~185 mph) also requires faster charging stations providing from 75 kW up to 350 kW, which may be rarer than 50 kW stations. Around 400 km/h (~250 mph) charging speed we find cars such as Ford Mustang Mach-E, the long range versions of Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona, and, ironically, the older 2016–2019 Hyundai IONIQ with a smaller battery. Further up we have the Polestar 2 and the top versions of Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4, and Skoda Enyaq. Even further up we have Audi, Porsche, and Tesla. The upcoming IONIQ 5 crossover should be able to compete at the top, at up to 960 km/h (~600 mph) charging speed.

At the moment, many EVs are great city cars, but only some are great for long distance. Or rather, they have the potential to be great, if paired with good charging infrastructure — this is a topic for another time. I expect to post an update when I get more personal experience with longer trips. Also note that while the IONIQ’s charging speed is not great, the car is fully capable of long trips, and has a good range for the price. More city-oriented EVs have shorter range or will be pushed to their limit at highway speeds.

Home/Destination Charging

Home or destination charging is slower, but just like fast-charging, available power vs. receivable power applies. The slowest form of charging is trickle charging using an ICCB (In-Cable Control Box) cable. All EVs are slow charging with this type because power is limited by supply rather than demand. A household outlet might supply at most around 2 kW and should only be used for prolonged periods in emergencies or if the outlet has been properly installed for it. Slightly faster are the few CEE camping outlets that our municipality have installed for public use in the city, where I get 2.6 kW. At this speed, a full charge of the Hyundai IONIQ’s 38 kWh battery from 0% to 100% takes 17 hours. Cars with bigger batteries will take proportionately longer.

Proper home/destination wallboxes, like the one in the picture above, typically supply 11 kW using three phases. This is the market standard, and what many EVs will accept. For example, the long range versions of Hyundai Kona or Tesla Model 3 will take 7–8 hours for a full charge, and often less, because you don’t run the battery down to empty every time (or ever). A few cars, such as the Renault Zoe, will slurp up 22 kW if the wallbox can supply it.

The Hyundai IONIQ with its single-phase charger is unfortunately more limited. I might explore this in a future post, but in practice I get only 3.5 kW out of an 11 or 22 kW wallbox, and a full charge takes 13 hours. As with fast-charging, the 2020 IONIQ is slow. On the other hand, home or destination charging doesn’t need to be fast, unless you drive a lot. There’s more interesting stuff about charging such as parking, prices, economy, etiquette, reliability, and the availability of chargers for people like us who live in an apartment, but for now I want to talk about the car itself.

Driving the Hyundai IONIQ Electric

As with many EVs, the best part about driving the Hyundai IONIQ is the acceleration. Known as instant torque, an electric motor supplies high torque from low RPMs whereas an internal combustion engine (ICE) needs high RPMs for high torque. It also reacts quickly to pedal input, and has no downshifting delay or turbo lag. Even though it is a modest car with “only” 100 kW (134 BHP) and a 9.7 second 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) time, it is still pretty fun in the city. At medium speeds like 30–70 km/h (~20–45 mph), flooring the accelerator will push you back in your seat. It’s no Tesla, but it makes me smile.

At low speeds the acceleration does not feel quite as strong for some reason, but it can still leave regular city drivers behind when the stop light turns green, all without making noise. At highway speeds of 110 km/h (~70 mph) and up, the acceleration feels fairly average. More powerful EVs will still be snappy at high speeds, and of course extremely snappy at low speeds. Compared with similarly priced EVs, the IONIQ has a high top speed of ~180 km/h (~110 mph), probably thanks to its good aerodynamics. The car feels very stable on the road, but the suspension feels too firm for a family car, and I need to go over speed bumps quite slowly.

Braking

One of the advantages of electric cars, including hybrids, is that braking turns the kinetic energy back into usable electrical energy instead of losing it as heat. In the IONIQ, like in most EVs, the brake pedal will regenerate power using the motor when pressed lightly, and only apply the disc brakes when pressed hard. In between the two is a transition that works pretty well.

Power regeneration, and therefore braking, also occurs when letting go of the accelerator pedal, with the level of regen being configurable in the IONIQ. The default setting feels exactly as how I remember driving an automatic transmission ICE car, but it is possible to both lower and increase the regen from that. Level 0 is like coasting in Neutral, except pressing the accelerator still speeds up the car. Level 1 is the default mild regen. Levels 2 and 3 get you into one-pedal driving territory.

In one-pedal driving, the accelerator transitions smoothly between full acceleration and medium braking, with the brake pedal and disc brakes only required for emergency braking. Unfortunately, the IONIQ, like older Teslas, does not brake all the way down to a standstill when you release the accelerator, and so I still use the brake pedal at stop lights. The Nissan Leaf, and newer Teslas, allow for complete one-pedal driving all the way down to zero. (As an aside, Tesla separates itself from other EVs in that the brake pedal does not regen, and apparently, the newest Teslas can only do one-pedal driving — no coasting.)

Noise and Sound

I love the ability of an EV to accelerate quickly without making noise. In fact, every time I hear a loud car or motorcycle in the city I realize how considerate EVs are to other people. In mean, please have fun in your sports (ICE) car, but please do it somewhere else. Even the majority of normal people in normal ICE cars produce a background level of noise in the city that is detrimental to our health — like the emissions.

While I like the lack of noise, the IONIQ can be too quiet. It is actually equipped with a loudspeaker for its VESS “Virtual Engine Sound System” which makes a sci-fi humming sound to alert pedestrians, but it’s just not very loud. We live on the Aalborg waterfront where pedestrians often walk in the middle of the street and the less observant pedestrians will not hear the car when I approach from behind. I patiently wait behind them but it would sure be nice to have a volume knob for the VESS.

While reversing, the VESS plays a distinct and louder “ding” sound. Again, I’d prefer just having a louder hum but at least the ding is noticeable. In fact so much that I usually turn it off when parking at night, as the ding can be heard from inside nearby apartments. It’s not as loud as an ICE, but different.

The inside of the car is quiet at low speeds, but somewhat noisy on the highway due to wind and rolling noise. More expensive cars will have more sound insulation, but you can’t get everything in an economy car.

Practicality and Features

The good efficiency of the IONIQ comes in part from its good aerodynamics — not just a low drag coefficient, but a low cross-sectional area as well. The car is 145 cm (4’9”) tall and that has a few disadvantages. The sloping liftback roofline means that the back seat does not have a lot of headroom. Even in the front, with the driver’s seat lowered all the way down, my big lockdown hair sometimes touched the ceiling until my recent haircut (I’m ~188 cm (6’2”)). The rear window does not have great visibility, and there’s no rear windshield wiper.

The charge port is located on the side of the car like a regular fuel door which is a bit annoying since many public chargers in Denmark seem to expect you to charge from the front of the car. Actually, it’s probably more correct to say that the charging stations are annoying.

The IONIQ includes plenty of tech such as automatic lane keeping and emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, heat pump, heated side-view mirrors, heated seats, heated steering wheel, parking sensors front + back, backup camera, etc.

Like probably a lot of other new cars it also has a touch screen that doesn’t work with gloves (presumably a capacitive touch screen). At least the climate control “buttons” below the touch screen work with gloves (presumably resistive touch buttons). Thankfully, the steering wheel buttons are old-school push buttons (unlike in the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4).

On and Off

The IONIQ is built on a platform that includes a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid version, and this makes it feel “last gen” compared to cars built on pure EV platforms. Among other things because it uses the old on/off paradigm:

• Get in
• Turn car on
• Switch to Drive
• Drive
• Switch to Park
• Engage parking brake
• Turn car off
• Leave car

The key is wireless and the parking brake will disengage automatically in Drive, but it’s still more steps than is necessary. It’s especially easy to forget to turn the car off after use because there’s no motor noise/vibration to make you feel that it’s on. And if (when) you do forget, the IONIQ lets out a prolonged, piercing beep when you close the door from the outside. Instead, a simpler and friendlier sequence would be:

• Get in
• Switch to Drive
• Drive
• Switch to Park
• Leave car

The Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 work like this, except even switching to Park is optional — it will automatically apply the parking brake when you open the door, and turn off when you leave.

Conclusion

Overall, the IONIQ Electric is a nice car. It’s fantastic for city use, and unlike cheaper EVs, it’s fully capable of long trips — as long as you are patient when charging. If long trips are only occasional it is still a good EV for the price. The best value would be if you have your own home charger and a medium long daily commute. But in the end, charging speed is the 2020 IONIQ’s Achilles’ heel when it comes to using the car as your only or primary car.

A Tesla Model 3 SR+ would be bigger and better in range, acceleration, and charging speed, but it would also cost 75% more to purchase in Denmark. In between the IONIQ and Model 3 are some good options though: Peugeot e-208, Hyundai Kona, Nissan Leaf e+, Volkswagen ID.3, Volkswagen ID.4, and Skoda Enyaq. The upcoming IONIQ 5 and its sister Kia EV6 also look very interesting. In general, the future is set to bring a lot of exciting development in EVs.

If you want to know more about EVs I can recommend the YouTube channel of Bjørn Nyland for car reviews and tests, and Plug Life Television with more background info on charging, economics, society, and the environment, as well as some beautiful EV roadtrips. Also check out Fully Charged Show including their EV beginner’s guides.

Of course, Mercurial is not dead, but being removed from Bitbucket is a big deal (at least to me). But this news also gave me an occasion to reconsider Git vs. Mercurial, and writing this post has actually given me a newfound, if not appreciation, then at least understanding of Git.

Init

When I started university in 2006, SVN had recently replaced CVS as the cool thing. So for group work we used SVN and it worked fine. Well, except for all the file conflicts we got. And the awful tree conflicts. Come to think of it, it didn’t work that great. Luckily distributed version control systems had been maturing in the meantime.

In 2009 we started using Mercurial. It was like SVN, except it was actually good for collaboration! Now you could store a safe snapshot of your own work before trying to merge other people’s changes in. Also merging generally worked well. Also it was fast.

All was good, but there was also this Git thing people on the internet were talking about. Coming from SVN, Mercurial made sense and Git didn’t. (Linus Torvalds, being Linus Torvalds, made Git purposely different from the CVS/SVN family.) Git did seem to be more flexible at the expense of being less elegant. As was written back then: Git is MacGyver, Mercurial is James Bond.

My group mates and I kept using Mercurial, but as I started my PhD, collaboration with new people, not least my supervisor René, made me spend more time with Git. It got better when I began to understand that the differences between Mercurial and Git start at fundamental concepts such as branches and merges.

Different Concepts

“Branch” doesn’t have the same interpretation in Mercurial and Git. In Mercurial, a branch is a sequence of commits all sharing a (permanent) name. In Git, a branch is temporary and is represented by a reference to the current commit at the tip of the branch. Once gone, you can’t tell which branch(es) a commit used to be part of.

In Mercurial branches are also shared between clones of the same repository. Everybody works on the same branch, and you can hg pull to get the newest version of the branch, and then hg update your working copy. In Git nobody works on the same branch — there’s just people working on different branches that might or might not have the same name. You can’t “update” to the newest version because you already have the newest version of your own branch by definition. But you can merge another branch, possibly with the same name, into your own.

In Mercurial, merges are used for merging divergent branches or heads. In Git, everything is a merge, even if only one branch has changed. But at the same time, a Git merge might or might not create a merge commit. By default, a new commit will only be created if the two branches had diverged, i.e., work had been done on both. Otherwise, the current branch will just be updated to point to the same commit as the branch being merged in. It makes a lot of sense once you get used to Git, but before that it’s just confusing.

Different Commands

Learning Git from an SVN/Mercurial background meant relearning a few words. “Revert” means something new in Git and “shelve” is called “stash”, but that’s not bad. Instead, what is annoying is that many simple Mercurial commands don’t have simple, memorable equivalents in Git:

Show the hash of the current commit:

1
2

hg id
git rev-parse HEAD

Show which commits would be pulled or pushed:

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2
3
4
5

hg in
git fetch && git log ..@{u}

hg out
git fetch && git log @{u}..

Mark a file to stop tracking, but don’t delete the file. This one is especially weird in Git because you don’t remove something -​-cached, you cache (stage) the removal of something:

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2

hg forget
git rm --cached

Print the root directory of the repository and the URL of the remote repository:

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3
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5

hg root
hg path

git rev-parse --show-toplevel
git config --get remote.origin.url

List the version controlled files:

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hg manifest
git ls-tree -r --name-only --full-tree HEAD

Git is Git

I have been using the above commands as aliases in Git, but I have wondered if doing that somehow prevented me from learning the “true spirit” of Git. I have now come to the conclusion that the essence of Git is its architecture and data model, and not its incoherent command line interface. Learning the user interface is just a chore, and using aliases to smooth it out is fine.

I’m not bashing Git because it’s different from Mercurial, but because it is internally inconsistent and, as another blogger puts it: Git doesn’t so much have a leaky abstraction as no abstraction. Here are some of the inconsistencies and lacking abstractions:

• Concepts can have multiple names, like the index a.k.a. the cache a.k.a. the staging area (which would be okay if Git didn’t already have so many concepts)
• The branch origin/master is your (local) remote tracking branch, but master alone can refer to your local master branch or to the remote’s master branch depending on context
• The git checkout command famously does too much: It can check out a branch (merging in uncommitted changes in the process if you want, or creating a new branch manually or automatically if you want), and it can restore or overwrites individual files in the working copy
  • However, the new Git 2.23 released this month has started experimenting with the new, more specific, and subject to change git switch and git restore commands (similar to hg update and hg revert!)
• The notation A:B sometimes means <src>:<dst> (a refspec) and sometimes <rev>:<path> (path in a revision — to be distinguished from a pathspec which is a third concept that can use the colon in a third way)
• The notations A B and A..B mean the same thing to git diff but not to git log
• The notations A..B and A...B mean somewhat opposite things to git diff and git log
  • To specify branches A and B symmetrically you need git diff A..B but git log A...B
  • git diff A...B and git log A..B mean “from the common ancestor of A and B, to B”

In the end, I think Git is a good tool despite its command line interface. But if you’re the type of person who needs to understand something in depth to feel comfortable with it, you have a lot of reading to do. If you already know the basics, git help gitglossary will get you started on 80+ underlying concepts that will help you on your way to master the world’s favored VCS!

I googled the problem and found lots of tips, but none of them worked. Later I found a solution, that I’ll post here in the hopes of helping someone else.

Toward The Solution

Before I found the solution I checked several things after googling the problem. I confirmed that the microphone did work in other apps. In fact, it even worked in the Google app itself when activated by touch instead of voice. I didn’t have other voice assistants installed that could somehow conflict with Google Assistant. I couldn’t retrain the voice model as some recommended since the whole Voice Match feature was unavailable. I tried rebooting, uninstalling Google app updates, clearing its cache, reinstalling the updates, rebooting some more, all to no avail.

Besides the system Voice settings’ language preferences, the Google app’s Assistant settings also have language preferences. Here, I also had English (tried both US and UK), so that couldn’t be the unsupported language either. Finally I went to the system settings’ main language preferences, which are a third language setting in the same Google/Android ecosystem. My main language was set to “English (Denmark)”.

Solution

It’s not enough to use a supported language, the regional variant also has to be supported and set in the correct one out of three sets of language preferences. “English (Denmark)” doesn’t work, but setting the main system language preferences’ top or only language to “English (United States)” does. Presumably English from other primarily English-speaking regions works as well.

After changing my main system language to “English (United States)” I could now activate Voice Match a.k.a. “OK Google”/“Hey Google”.

Problems

The above is more of a hack than an actual solution, because it prevents me from using Danish regional (time, date, number, etc.) formats on Android while using Voice Match.

When I got my Pixel 2 I had set it myself to “English (United States)”. This worked fine until I later installed Google Fit and wanted its calendar view to use Monday as the first day of the week, rather than Sunday. The app didn’t have it’s own setting for this, but it worked after I changed the main system language to “English (Denmark)”. I don’t use Google Assistant every day, so when “Hey Google” later didn’t work, I didn’t immediately make the connection to the region change.

If the original error message had been “This feature is currently unavailable for English (Denmark)”, rather than the generic “this language”, it would have been much easier to fix. Even better, Android should use the Voice settings’ language as the voice language. Or the Assistant settings’ language as the assistant language. Or stop having so many language settings! Or let Voice Match fall back to a supported language variant if the chosen one is unsupported.

More Problems

Speaking of Google Assistant problems, I just read that many of the linguists that helped create Google Assistant were treated with mistrust and being paid less than 20% of what permanent staff makes, while also expected to do unlogged overtime. I appreciate that not all skills are in equal demand, and therefore pay, but that’s no excuse to treat people with a lack of respect on top of low pay and inferior health insurance. I think Google should choose to treat all its workers with dignity. #DontBeEvil

In Microsoft Windows you can “pin” apps to the taskbar so you can launch them with a single click. You can right click and pin an app when it is running in the taskbar, or anytime through the start menu. But some apps, such as RemoteApps and Desktop Connections, cannot be pinned.

No “Pin to taskbar” option from running RemoteApp

No “Pin to taskbar” option from the start menu

Solution

Here’s how I pin RemoteApps to the taskbar for easy access:

1. Open the file location of the RemoteApp from the start menu (see image above)
2. Open the Properties dialog for the RemoteApp shortcut and copy the Target
3. Pin a random app to the taskbar, e.g. Command Prompt, to be a temporary placeholder.
4. In File Explorer, go to the folder
   %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
5. Open the Properties dialog for the placeholder app shortcut
6. Overwrite the Target by pasting from the clipboard, and click OK
7. In the start menu, the RemoteApp can now be pinned
8. Unpin the placeholder from the taskbar

Details

It might seem like a roundabout way to deal with multiple shortcuts instead of simply adding the desired shortcut to %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar. Unfortunately, simply adding a shortcut in the TaskBar folder will not make it show up in the taskbar. This is because the registry decides what is displayed. (The relevant information is at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband but it is not easy to edit by hand.) The recipe above tricks Windows into letting the RemoteApp be added the normal way so the registry gets the correct info. Tested on Windows 10 Enterprise, version 1803.

Jeg prøver noget nyt og skriver på dansk. Jeg startede med at skrive denne artikel på engelsk, men nu hvor jeg har skiftet til dansk føler jeg ikke vores allesammens Rejsekort behøver nogen introduktion. Det er normalt for tech-bloggere at komme ind på it-sikkerhed eller brugervenlighed når det gælder Rejsekortet, men i dag vil jeg snakke om noget lidt andet, nemlig hvordan man undgår at snyde sig selv i Rejsekortets indviklede rabatsystem. Vest for Storebælt kan man nemlig i flere tilfælde spare penge ved at rejse mere hver måned.

(Men først lige én kommentar om grafisk design: Sort tekst på en blå baggrund, som på billedet af mit rejsekort herover, er dårligt design. Min billedbehandling overdriver lidt her, men illustrerer faktisk fint hvor svært det er at læse sort på blåt under dårlige lysforhold. Nå, tilbage til rabatten.)

Rejsekortets Rabatter

Rejsekortet giver to typer rabat på rejser: tidsrabat og mængderabat. Tidsrabat gives når rejsen starter uden for myldretiden, mens mængderabat afhænger af hvor mange rejser man har haft i de foregående tre måneder. Rabatterne afhænger desuden af typen af rejsekort, transportmidlet, samt både udgangspunktet og destinationen.

Tidsrabatten er nem at få — man skal lægge sin rejse uden for myldretiden (som kan være kl. 7–11 og 13–18 på hverdage, men det afhænger af region, transportmiddel og type af rejsekort, naturligvis) — men derudover afhænger den ikke af noget. Derfor fokuserer jeg på mængderabatten, som på mere indviklet vis påvirkes af fortiden. Jeg antager desuden at man benytter et personligt rejsekort for voksne — I modsætning til flex, anonym, barn, ung, pensionist, handicappet, hund/cykel, pendler, pendler kombi, erhverv/institution, glemte jeg nogen?

Rejsekortets mængderabat

Mængderabatten afhænger af både udgangspunkt og destination, og forudsætter at mindst én af disse to ligger vest for Storebælt (sorry, sjællændere). Rejser over Storebælt har én rabatskala, mens rejser udelukkende vest for Storebælt har en anden, som jeg her vil arbejde videre med. Rejsekortet har teknisk set otte forskellige rabattrin, men vest for Storebælt giver flere af dem samme rabatsats, så jeg arbejder blot med fire rabattrin.

Mængderabatsatserne i procent er ens mellem regionerne, men rejsens grundpris varierer mellem regionerne, og kan også afhænge af transportmidlet. Jeg benytter priserne fra Nordjylland gældende fra 20. januar 2019 i det følgende, men grundprincippet er det samme uanset gamle og nye priser samt region. Det fulde prisblad findes her.

Rabattrinnet i en given måned sættes ud fra den af de tre sidste måneder med flest rejser. Måned skal dog ikke nødvendigvis forstås som kalendermåned. I stedet har man en rabatskiftedato (fx den 5. i hver måned) som afhænger af hvornår ens rejsekort blev taget i brug. For at det ikke skal blive for nemt kan man ikke aflæse sin rabatskiftedato på Rejsekortets selvbetjening, men skal i stedet ringe til kundeservice for at få den oplyst.

Beregning med mængderabat

Hvis vi forudsætter at man rejser det samme antal ture hver måned, så betaler man i alt følgende pr. måned afhængig af antallet af rejser:

Rejser man 14, 15 eller 28–33 rejser pr. måned, betaler man mere pr. måned end hvis man rejste lidt mere. Man kan altså spare penge, fra og med næste måned, ved at rejse lidt mere. Så hvis man har flere steder, man skal hen, kan man blot nyde turen og de 10–72 kr. man sparer hver måned.

Men har man ikke behov for at rejse mere, er der stadig penge at spare ved at foretage nogle få ekstra rejser. Så længe man har opnået et højere rabattrin end normalt gælder det nemlig i tre måneder, hvori ens normale antal rejser også bliver billigere, og man dermed opnår en besparelse:

Prisen for at opnå denne besparelse er at rejse nogle ekstra rejser for at nå op på det næste rabattrin, dvs. nå op på 4, 16 eller 34 rejser i én måned. Dette kan være så lidt som én ekstra rejse eller så meget som 18 rejser for at nå fra 16 til 34. Omkostningen ved disse skal lægges i én måned, men fordelen gælder i tre, så derfor viser jeg her omkostningen pr. måned, dvs. delt med tre:

Jo færre ekstrarejser der er behov for, jo lavere er den samlede ekstrapris. Befinder man sig i de store spænd 11–15 eller 22–33 rejser pr. måned, er besparelsen større end omkostningen. I den laveste del af disse spænd er den samlede besparelse mindst og tidsforbruget ved at rejse de ekstra rejser størst, så man må selv vurdere om man synes besparelsen er indsatsen værd. Mest får man ud af de ekstra rejser hvis man normalt ligger på 30–33 rejser, da man her kan spare 60–80 kr. om måneden vha. nogle få ekstra rejser.

Omkostningen kan bringes yderligere ned: De ekstra rejser kan foretages uden for myldretiden, dvs. med 20% tidsrabat, hvorved de fordelagtige spænd udvides til 3, 10–15 og 20–33. Hvis man tre måneder senere vil gentage manøvren, gøres det denne gang ud fra det højere rabattrin, man har opnået, og spændene er nu, inkl. tidsrabat, 3, 10–15 og 18–33. Med andre ord er det kun hvis man rejser 0–2, 4–9, 16 eller 17 gange om måneden at det ikke kan betale sig at opnå et højere rabattrin.

Længere rejser

Jeg vil også nævne muligheden for pendlerkort. I Nordjylland koster 2 zoner i 30 dage 380 kr., dvs. ca. 385 kr. for en gennemsnitlig måned, hvilket er billigere end 31–33 rejser pr. måned på næsthøjeste rabattrin og 39+ rejser på højeste rabattrin med det almindelige rejsekort:

Jeg foretrækker dog det almindelige rejsekort over pendlerkortet, herunder pendler kombi, da den rabat jeg opsparer på mine daglige, korte rejser også gælder på længere rejser vest for Storebælt med det almindelige rejsekort. Med 40% mængderabat sparer jeg 150 kr. på én tur/retur Aalborg–Aarhus, og 290 kr. for Aalborg–Odense.

Hvis man dagligt eller ofte rejser længere end 2 zoner kan man også spare penge i dagligdagen med metoden med ekstrarejser. Her er fordelen at de ekstra rejser er billigere end de normale, da man kan nøjes med at rejse 2 zoner på ekstrarejserne, da det udelukkende er antallet af rejser — ikke længden — der afgør rabattrinnet. Dermed bliver omkostningen mindre i forhold til besparelsen. Som eksempel ser vi her på 8 zoner, som er afstanden fra Aalborg til Hjørring eller Hobro:

Allerede fra seks månedlige rejser på 8 zoner er det en fordel at opnå det næste rabattrin. Ved 30–33 rejser er der 250–300 kr. at hente hver måned i gennemsnit (besparelse fraregnet omkostning). Ved 26 zoner sparer man altid penge ved at opnå det næste rabattrin, op til 837 kr./måned! Det har jeg illustreret i følgende diagram.

Hvis man lige som før gentager de ekstra rejser efter tre måneder med tidsrabat og det opnåede næste rabattrin, er der endda lidt mere at spare:

Det er nok de færreste der kan klemme sig op i højre hjørne, specielt uden at investere i et pendlerkort hvis man pendler langt, men det er vildt at muligheden er der. Man skal dog huske at det kun hjælper hvis man i forvejen rejser færre end 34 rejser pr. måned. Er man først deroppe, er der ikke flere rabatniveauer at opnå — man kan blot kigge på om et pendlerkort er billigere.

Opdatering 2019-08-28: Lille sprogfejl rettet.

Last year I got the Google Pixel 2 smartphone to try the pure Android experience. It took a bit of time to get used to but I have come to appreciate its simplicity and cleanness. But the main purpose was getting OS updates directly from Google, without waiting for the OEMs. Besides monthly security updates, the new Android 9 came in August. Here are my impressions after two months, including Gesture Navigation, the Overview, Adaptive Battery, and Digital Wellbeing, as well as my thoughts on the Pixel 2 after a year.

Pixel 2 a Year Later

The two things I initially liked best about the Pixel 2 are still the best: The speed and the screen. The speed and responsiveness of the device is still amazing one year and OS update later. This is what using a computer — because a smartphone is a computer — in 2018 should feel like. (Running Windows 10 on a laptop does, incidentally, not feel like 2018.)

The brightness range of the screen is also still great. Not perfect, but I certainly find myself needing Screen Filter less often than before I got an OLED screen. The always-on screen feature that shows the time and notifications when the screen is “off” was also neat at first, but I’ve since grown so accustomed to it that a device that doesn’t have it now feels antiquated. Similarly, the fingerprint sensor on the back was ok at first but now makes the phone feel like a natural extension of my hand (for better or worse). And unlike the in-screen fingerprint sensor of the new OnePlus 6T, the traditional sensor does not blind you with its bright light at night.

The camera and speakers are still great, and I can still get through the day with battery left to spare. To mention a few negatives, the volume rocker is still too stiff, and I’ve disabled the Active Edge squeeze feature completely as it was more likely to be activated accidentally than when I actually needed it.

Android 9

Android 9 was released in August. Installing the update was extremely fast, just like booting up the Pixel 2 was when I first turned it on a year ago. Again, this feels like 2018. Other improvements made me wonder why they weren’t made sooner. The sound volume control now defaults to controlling media volume instead of ringer volume, also when no media is playing. Now you can lower the volume before your embarrassing video starts playing. Simple yet great.

The rotate button works with and without gesture navigation enabled.

Another such feature is the screen rotation button. I prefer having screen auto-rotate disabled so I can keep reading while lying on my side in bed or in the sofa. But for the few times I did want the screen to rotate, it was annoying to have to enable the auto-rotate feature and then disable it later after use. Now in Android 9, if auto-rotate is disabled but the phone senses it’s been rotated, a little rotate button appears that let’s you rotate the screen, once, without messing with the general auto-rotate setting. If you ignore it, the button goes away after some seconds. Made me wonder why this wasn’t built in many years ago.

App Switching and Overview

The Overview/app switching screen of Android 9

As seen in the picture with the rotate button above, there are now two different ways to navigate around Android 9. The new gesture navigation with the “pill” button, as well as the traditional navigation bar.

In the traditional mode, the “Overview button” (the square) opens the Overview where you can see recently used apps and switch to them. A second press of the Overview button switches to the next most recently used app. This can be done quickly, i.e., double tapping the Overview button to switch to the next most recently used app.

Using gesture navigation, swiping up from the pill (or in fact anywhere on the bottom of the screen) opens the Overview, while instead dragging the pill to the right scrolls through recently used apps until you release it.

The Overview mode, besides app switching, lets you select and copy text, even from apps that don’t allow this during normal usage, which is a great feature. It’s also from the Overview that apps can be sent to split screen mode.

To Gesture or Not to Gesture

Since I got the Pixel 2 last year, I have loved double tapping the Overview button, so it was not like I desperately wanted a different way of navigating. Happily, upgrading to Android 9 didn’t force the switch to the new gesture navigation. In fact, I had to enable it myself, by activating the “Swipe up on Home button” gesture.

Swiping up is very smooth, and while you do it, the active app shrinks down to the rectangle/preview shown in the Overview. If you continue swiping up, the app drawer opens. In the Overview you can scroll sideways between the previews, and to select one, you can tap it, or swipe it back down and out to full screen. This part works well.

The sideways drag feature is a mixed bag. It’s good for switching to the previous app with a short, quick sideways swipe — even simpler than the old double tap. If you hold and drag further, the sideways scroll snaps to each app with satisfying haptic feedback, which is even better than the regular Overview. But. The problem with the sideways drag is that in one-handed operation, it invariably leads your thumb into an uncomfortable position.

This is why I prefer the short sideways swipe for the previous app and swiping up to the Overview if I want to go further back. But this leads to a mental overhead: Now I stop and think before gesturing. The old Overview button didn’t have this problem: Every switch starts with a press of the button. Gesture navigation looks fancy, but I have to say my thumb prefers the old way.

Adaptive Battery

According to android.com, “Adaptive Battery learns how you like to use your phone, so the apps and services you don’t use as much aren’t a battery drain”. Unlike gesture navigation, this feature was enabled automatically when I upgraded.

When I travel for work, I book a taxi to the airport ahead of time, and in the early morning on my travel day, the app notifies me when the taxi is ready to pick me up. Except this didn’t happen after I had upgraded to Android 9. In the same vein, the airline app notifies me when the online check-in opens. Didn’t happen either. So mine and Android’s ideas of “using an app” are not the same. I also use the Dropbox app to upload my photos in the background — also delayed from the “optimization”. Luckily, you can stop individual apps from being optimized. On the other hand, I guess this feature also optimizes tons of apps that I don’t need to run in the background. So it’s probably fine after you have set up your exclusions.

Digital Wellbeing

Finally, Android 9 brings the Digital Wellbeing feature which shows you how much you use your smartphone, and offers you ways to reduce interruptions and screen time.

It’s interesting to see how much I use my smartphone. The picture to the right is from one of the aforementioned travel days, which brings my usage a bit higher than usual. But besides the statistics I don’t feel that the feature brings me much. It helps reduce the number of notifications, but I have already disabled the most nagging notifications myself, including all email notifications (try it, it’s great for your sanity).

It allows you to set time limits for app use, but I have already uninstalled my time wasters such as the Facebook app. The “Wind Down” feature helps you go to bed by enabling Do Not Disturb mode and turning the screen grayscale. I already have DND and Night Light on a schedule. The grayscale mode is kinda cool, but I often end up disabling it to see what I’m doing.

I think Digital Wellbeing is a good idea, but I already knew that, it seems. But I could see how many people could benefit from easy access to all these settings to nudge them into reclaiming a bit of non-phone time.

All in all, Android 9 feels like evolution rather than revolution, but that’s fair. Smartphones themselves were a revolution that started only around ten years ago, even though they have now invaded our lives. But we might start seeing some bigger changes to the smartphone market already when next years folds around.