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I’ve always thought building a wind farm within Wash DC would generate massive amounts of power from bloviating politicians.
The hot air would be put to good use instead of just global warming.
Do the same with the UN building in NYC…
I dunno, but for some reason I’m thinking of the “smart” line of cars.
…
The company gave up on the US and Canada market (for that product line) in 2019.
Because many of the younger people don’t recall the “smart” car …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnI-LiKCtuE
I think one of them was attacked by a Moose and came second in the battle.
Tim two
Does anybody think we have spare generating capacity lying around equal to 42% of current consumption?
Does anybody think the changeover will be instantaneous? It will happen over several decades during which a lot of people will install their own electricity generating systems at home and in offices and factories. The load on the grid might even diminish as EV are charged at night at home.
This would be expensive, and the logical way to pay for it is to charge more for the electricity.
Electricity prices might even drop!
The Captain
We get very little power from solar in Nova Scotia,
Connect a cable to sunny Cuba, your favorite island. LOL
Imagine all the power during hurricane season. LOL
The Captain
Can the grid actually handle the electric grid?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfyG6FXsUU
#TLDR - it’s much less of a problem than the fossil fuel industry is trying to scare you into. This is NOT a big problem.
I would think that spare generating capacity or battery storage could easily add 4% per year. The transition to electric cars will be a slow,and slowly accelerating, trend over the next ten to fifteen years, not an immediate need.
Exactly and some of the capacity will not come from utilities but from home and business installations.
The Captain
Leap,I don’t think the only issue is the economic tipping point. The vast stock of ICE vehicles are replaced at a rate of about 5% per year. Until the economics are truly compelling,quite a few of those vehicles will stay on the road. Hence my ten to fifteen years horizon,which may be optimistic.
285 million registered vehicles versus sales of about 17million is 5.9 percent.
17 years with no growth,20 with some growth tossed in.
Does anybody think the changeover will be instantaneous? It will happen over several decades during which a lot of people will install their own electricity generating systems at home and in offices and factories. The load on the grid might even diminish as EV are charged at night at home.
If the home generating system is solar, it’ll be difficult to charge the EV at night.
PSU
no home windmills around here
Surely this is not about politics … or is it?
The media keeps promoting hysteria about food prices, due to a grain “shortage”, so the US will use more grain to make fuel…fuel that is less efficient, so drivers will realize increased fuel consumption…but consumers have the intelligence of a turnip and can only comprehend the price on the pump…meanwhile, farmers celebrate larger synthetic demand for their product, on top of the already increased demand due to disruptions in supply elsewhere.
Anymouse <cancelled the new (Honda) car plan, keeping the Micra with new tires and oil change.
VW pi$$ed me off. The CFO commented a couple weeks ago that VW is joining GM and Ford in chasing higher ATP and GP per car, and will aggressively cut their lower priced models. According to the CFO, if they lose customers because they can’t or won’t pay the higher prices for cars that are too big to fit their needs, the company doesn’t care.
Meanwhile, VW is decontenting the models it still has. A top of the line Taos, stickering well over $30,000 is missing things like lights in the glove box and foot wells. It doesn’t even have a light in the switch for the dome light so you can find the switch to turn on the dome light to illuminate the areas that should have lights but don’t. The Taos has “ambient lighting” that can be rendered in any of 15 colors, and an illuminated grill, but a light so you can see inside the car? Nope, can’t do that.
Apparently, VW’s profit maximization program includes not publishing printed brochures anymore. I had to go to a VW dealer for new wiperblades, because aftermarket ones that fit are no longer available. Neither the VW dealer, nor the Audi dealer next door had any brochures. The guy at the Audi store said they don’t print brochures anymore “go to the web site”. The VW and Audi web sites zuk, only contain a small fraction of the information that used to be in printed brochures.
To get the interior material quality and small features that my $21,000 Jetta wagon has, in a similar size car, from VW Group, now would require going to an Audi Q3, which starts at over $36,000. I could write that check, but I would feel dirty.
I have had too many close calls with burst coolant hoses to be comfortable driving an old car on long trips. I priced out a set of replacement coolant hoses for my Jetta: $500. Labor for installation and a load of fresh coolant would probably bring the whole job to $1,000. I could continue to enjoy the quiet and refinement of my $21,000 wagon, if I did that. Then, it would be a matter of when service parts start transmuting to unobtainium.
Steve
Does anybody think we have spare generating capacity lying around equal to 42% of current consumption? I certainly don’t. Sure, we have SOME - there are seasonal, weekly, and daily cycles of power consumption, and the utilities try to provide for the expected peaks - but THAT much?
This would mean that we’d need to build LOTS of new generating capacity - and if we do it in the form of windmills, we need capacity of about 3X to 5X the desired electricity (because the capacity factor for wind is so low) plus LOTS of storage capacity (because the wind sometimes blows when you don’t immediately need the electricity). This would be expensive, and the logical way to pay for it is to charge more for the electricity.
Might actually be cheaper. In some locations, the daily peak consumption can be 100% of the nightly low consumption, so that’s a lot of the needed spare capacity right there. Operating a large capital asset like a power plant say eight hours a day instead of four hours a day obviously makes the per unit cost lower.
I’ve always thought building a wind farm within Wash DC would generate massive amounts of power from bloviating politicians.
This would require a redesign to aim the fans toward the ground since hot air rises.
Does anybody think we have spare generating capacity lying around equal to 42% of current consumption?
There are only a few “dreamers” and assorted talking-without-thinking-it-through folks out there that insist the switch to EV can happen in a few short years. It can’t, and it won’t. At best it can happen over 15-20 years, and even that doesn’t come close to 100% switchover.
So now the question changes - can we add 42% of generating capacity over 20 years? And the answer is definitely yes. But, is it really 42% additional capacity? I don’t think so. Based on my experience, the EV that replaced my old car (both equivalent generic 4-door sedans) is at least 3 times more efficient (and seemingly almost 5 times more efficient). So on average we will need less equivalent electricity to move all those vehicles from place to place, much less. Maybe it isn’t 42% additional capacity, maybe it’s only 14% additional capacity (over 20 years) … and that will be trivially easy to accomplish.
The vast stock of ICE vehicles are replaced at a rate of about 5% per year. Until the economics are truly compelling,quite a few of those vehicles will stay on the road. Hence my ten to fifteen years horizon,which may be optimistic.
I’m guessing 10 to 15 years before the majority of NEW cars being sold will be electric.
(Key word: guessing. I won’t pretend to better than that.)
If someone’s driving a 20-year-old beater, there is typically no economic case for that person to buy a new electric car - because there’s no way they can afford to buy ANY new car. More likely, if that old beater dies, they’ll buy an 18-year-old beater.
I had to go to a VW dealer for new wiperblades, because aftermarket ones that fit are no longer available.
They are generally available.
These standard ones from Bosch will fit your Jetta - https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Clear-Advantage-24CA-Wiper/dp/B… $11.53
And there are fancy ones available as well from RainX - https://www.amazon.com/Rain-X-830124-Silicone-Endura-24-Inch… $26.48
And Advance Auto Parts has 3 different brands that will fit the Jetta. I assume NAPA and the other shops do as well.
If the home generating system is solar, it’ll be difficult to charge the EV at night.
Why?
The Captain
Thought occurs, if everyone starts driving EV’s will the price of electricity rise?
Yes, because they will have to move “fuel taxes” from gasoline to electricity to make up for lost revenue.
JLC
Why?
Okay, to be more specific, it’ll be hard for the homeowner to use their solar system to charge their EV at night unless they spend more money to have a backup battery or use utility supplied electricity. If they do install a backup battery on the house, they will need to oversize their solar system to both supply daytime needs and recharge the backup battery.
PSU
Okay, to be more specific, it’ll be hard for the homeowner to use their solar system to charge their EV at night unless they spend more money to have a backup battery or use utility supplied electricity. If they do install a backup battery on the house, they will need to oversize their solar system to both supply daytime needs and recharge the backup battery.
Or, like most home solar systems, the owner maintains a connection to the grid in order to avoid the need for batteries, and just sizes the system so that net energy produced ~= energy consumed. During the day the system feeds power into the grid, helping shave down the daytime peak. When the sun isn’t providing enough power for the house, it pulls electricity from the grid. Charging the car can be scheduled for later at night after the evening peak tails off to avoid contributing to problems meeting the evening peak.
If someone’s driving a 20-year-old beater, there is typically no economic case for that person to buy a new electric car - because there’s no way they can afford to buy ANY new car.
Admittedly, our 2004 Sienna is only an 18 year old “beater,” though it looks like maybe 5 years old at most. We did recently have to put about $1,200 into it, but I love it’s flexible floor plan, from 7 passengers to carrying 2 people and 2 10’ kayaks to our most recent adventure. I don’t love it’s 17mpg at best, being AWD, nor the cost of the run flat tires. I am not looking to replace it any time soon, not because we can’t afford to, but because there is no need to, and it would be environmentally questionable to junk this one for a new electric pick up truck that I could be tempted by, not to mention financially questionable.
IP,
taking care of her trusted inanimate allies and appreciating their service
. So on average we will need less equivalent electricity to move all those vehicles from place to place, much less. Maybe it isn’t 42% additional capacity, maybe it’s only 14% additional capacity (over 20 years) … and that will be trivially easy to accomplish.
Don’t most EV owners charge their vehicles at home, overnight? The morning electric power ramp and afternoon peak power are 2 to 4 times the overnight base load. There’s plenty of electric power generating capacity already available to charge a big fleet of EVs overnight.
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/patricia-valderrama/electric-ve…
80% of EV charging is done at home.
intercst