EV Cars/Trucks

[Valiant]

I still wish we were trying to push hydrogen cells more.

Evs are great until states and federal tax regulations eventually hit you for new taxes that will need to be created. I assume you will eventually be charged a mile tax per year. What is the cost to replace the batteries? Do they have memory problems after so many charges? The fact they may be more hazardous to the environment than gas, From mining, recycling, disposable.

Good step forward. But a hybrid is the way to go for most of the country that has winters.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Valiant

I still wish we were trying to push hydrogen cells more.

Evs are great until states and federal tax regulations eventually hit you for new taxes that will need to be created. I assume you will eventually be charged a mile tax per year. What is the cost to replace the batteries? Do they have memory problems after so many charges? The fact they may be more hazardous to the environment than gas, From mining, recycling, disposable.

Good step forward. But a hybrid is the way to go for most of the country that has winters.

The local electric coop said that the infrasturcture wouldn't support a charging station and they'd have to run wire a long way to get it there.

I'm no electrical engineer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but that does not bode well for the local infrastructure if the entire town gets EVs and plus them in at night.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

The local electric coop said that the infrasturcture wouldn't support a charging station and they'd have to run wire a long way to get it there.

I'm no electrical engineer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but that does not bode well for the local infrastructure if the entire town gets EVs and plus them in at night.

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

[ScareCrowe]

Originally Posted by DaFace

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

I'm not sure which number you're referencing (30 vs 50 amps), but even 30 would be massively inefficient for a modern AC. For instance I just went & looked, the 4 ton unit at my work's minimum circuit ampacity is 16.7. The unit probably actually draws less than 15. That's a 20 year old 4 ton unit (the biggest residential unit is 5 tons) hardly the most efficient thing you'll find now days.

So you could basically run two 4 ton AC's for what you use to charge your car, now if you're wife wants one to that's 4 AC's & god forbid you get the 50 amp version, no the two of you are using the equivalent of like 6 AC units just to charge your cars.

Also adding 2 cars at 50 amps a piece is a massive electrical upgrade. Most people with gas appliances have 100 Amp service running their entire house.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ScareCrowe

I'm not sure which number you're referencing (30 vs 50 amps), but even 30 would be massively inefficient for a modern AC. For instance I just went & looked, the 4 ton unit at my work's minimum circuit ampacity is 16.7. The unit probably actually draws less than 15. That's a 20 year old 4 ton unit (the biggest residential unit is 5 tons) hardly the most efficient thing you'll find now days.

So you could basically run two 4 ton AC's for what you use to charge your car, now if you're wife wants one to that's 4 AC's & god forbid you get the 50 amp version, no the two of you are using the equivalent of like 6 AC units just to charge your cars.

Also adding 2 cars at 50 amps a piece is a massive electrical upgrade. Most people with gas appliances have 100 Amp service running their entire house.

Eh I don't know. Like I said, I know nothing and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but my stove requires a 50 amp breaker, and both this house and the last one I had both had 50 amp service to the stove. So IDK what my total service is, but it's probably higher than 100.

But yeah, if you have to get new circuit runs through a finished house (if some dumbtard doesn't put the breaker in the garage), or God forbid have to run new copper to the pole, that's tougher.

[Macroach]

Originally Posted by DaFace

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

DC fast chargers such as the Tesla superchargers would take some development but as you say, they are mainly for people passing through.

I know it’s different depending on the region of the country, but where i live, the biggest load is peak AC usage in the summer. Most of the heating is from natural gas and it doesn’t get that cold here. So a typical load curve in the summer is a steady climb until around 5-6 pm. The local utility (where I also work) is very aggressive with load peak management, using time of use pricing to encourage people to charge their EV’s when load is the lowest.

In my house I have a Tesla charger but I could have easily installed a NEMA 14-50 RV style plug and used that as well. Because of the pricing breaks for EV owners, I set the charge to occur between midnight and 6 am, at a price of around 8 cents / kWH.

I love the Model Y Performance. If anyone is interested in geeking out over any aspects of it, I would be happy to build an even bigger wall of text.

[BleedingRed]

EV's are so amazing! well until is a natural disaster and a power outage..... But honestly some states can't keep up with power generation demands right now. What makes you think adding a tens of millions of EV's will help with that.

[Oxford]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

EV's are so amazing! well until is a natural disaster and a power outage..... But honestly some states can't keep up with power generation demands right now. What makes you think adding a tens of millions of EV's will help with that.

Made sense when you had base-load coal fired plants that had virtually no load at midnight. Well we'll just add one of those to deal with the increased demand.......... oh wait............ gas fired peaking turbine anyone?

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

EV's are so amazing! well until is a natural disaster and a power outage..... But honestly some states can't keep up with power generation demands right now. What makes you think adding a tens of millions of EV's will help with that.

The goal is to get almost everybody in the country to have solar panels. Sure it doesn't make sense for everyone but the majority of the country could have solar panels to create a large amount of their power each month. They are becoming more efficient and affordable everyday.

Or you know, we can just continue to be reliant on foreign oil.

I would think any way to lower our reliance on oil would be a cause for a celebration for your no government types. You can control your estate better without the help of the government.

[synthesis2]

Agreed on the Solar Panels, that would be our next big buy.

But having a all electric car sure makes things easier on the wallet now.

We would be spending around $200 a week with our old cars, my family out in LA said gas prices are out of control.

[frozenchief]

Originally Posted by BWillie

The goal is to get almost everybody in the country to have solar panels. Sure it doesn't make sense for everyone but the majority of the country could have solar panels to create a large amount of their power each month. They are becoming more efficient and affordable everyday.

Or you know, we can just continue to be reliant on foreign oil.

I would think any way to lower our reliance on oil would be a cause for a celebration for your no government types. You can control your estate better without the help of the government.

We have more than enough oil in our own country that we do not need to rely on foreign oil. We have a ton of natural gas, too.

Right now, there are 2 zero-emissions power sources that make financial sense: solar and nuclear. The big issue with nuclear is the tremendous amount of regulations necessary before building a reactor. A 4th generation, liquid salt reactor would have the following benefits: 1) zero emissions; 2) fuel that could be re-processed, i.e., no 1,000 year radioactive toxic waste); 3) proven safety record; and 4) substantially lower cost.

The difficulty is that in the US, any nuclear reactor has to follow the one model that has been approved. And it's an outdated model that was purposefully inefficient so that the reactors could also process fuel for atomic weapons. 4G liquid salt reactors do not do that. The current approved model has safety mechanisms to slow down a reaction to prevent a chain reaction. 4G liquid salt reactors siphon off some energy from the reaction to sustain the reaction. So, old reactors need a break or the engine just keeps going. New reactors need a gentle foot on the gas or else the engine will slow down and stop.

[synthesis2]

for those of you who have EV's now does it not feel great to not have to pay what others are paying at the pump?

We have two cars, a tesla and my work car, I get a gas card so its sort of free in a way, but typically to fill up my car it was $28-32, now its $55 plus, just crazy.

With the tesla looking as how much our electric bill has gone up since having it its only $20-30 a month total and she drives the car 25k plus miles per year so I think we are saving 80% now compared with gas cars.

I know you can get cheaper EV's in the 20k range, I wonder why others are not switching faster?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by synthesis2

for those of you who have EV's now does it not feel great to not have to pay what others are paying at the pump?



We have two cars, a tesla and my work car, I get a gas card so its sort of free in a way, but typically to fill up my car it was $28-32, now its $55 plus, just crazy.



With the tesla looking as how much our electric bill has gone up since having it its only $20-30 a month total and she drives the car 25k plus miles per year so I think we are saving 80% now compared with gas cars.



I know you can get cheaper EV's in the 20k range, I wonder why others are not switching faster?

I like it as much for avoiding gas stations as the cost itself. I don't really think about the savings side since I don't often buy gas, though it's obviously a nice benefit in the long run.

As for not switching faster, it still just depends on your use case. And the ones down at the $20k range will get you from place to place but aren't exactly luxury cars.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by synthesis2

I know you can get cheaper EV's in the 20k range, I wonder why others are not switching faster?

Because the range and time to recharge is still dogshit.