Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The problem with electric vehicles....

This country has WAY more generating capacity than it needs.... except for on a few hot afternoons in July. On average, the grid has more than 30% of its total capacity idled (shut down for maintenance or off line for lack of demand).

A first year engineering student could rig up a charging system that stopped charging EV’s when there is peak demand. A second year engineering student could rig up a system that would allow EV’s to send power to the net when there’s more demand than supply in the grid, and then recharge the EV during low demand periods. A third grade engineering student could figure out how to allow the EV owner to sell that power at peak rates, and buy it back at low rates.

The Ford Lightning already allows owners to use it as a backup power source in case of power failure. It’ll run the average house for three days.

Our daughter lives in Portland, OR. Their peak use power rate is 5x the off peak rate. Simply charging your car after 10pm can save you a lot of money over time.

Hey Dutch, are you an EE? Seems Iike you know this stuff pretty well.

Nah, I started paying attention to this stuff a few years back, and it’s become kind of a hobby to watch the technology develop and change. My primary interest is in the economics behind it.

Posting about it on the ‘Fire and watching the grumpy old farts shake their fists at these new fangled inventions while yelling “buy a horse” is a guilty pleasure....

LOL!!

And you believe that? I do not..

When I can drive where I drive without having to worry about charging I'm in. Guessing I'll be dead first.

I don't have a clue why anybody would want a hybrid.

I don't believe it, I can do third grade math. Try it, if you dare.....

Why is everyone so angry with EV's?

Every single city dweller that buys one decreases the demand for fuel, and limits their own range to 300 or so miles from home.

Right?

OK...





Please correct my math...

Thanks

But... if that Musky dude gets to doing 3rd grade math...

Maybe... EV is part of the equation... for urbanites that don't do no long hauling of heavy loads...

Buying an UAW built EV is like buying a Ryobi sawzall with a 1.0 Amp-hour battery.

Just saying...

His idea about how a horse emits CO2 that recycles back to plants and then back to oxygen, but the Corvette’s CO2 doesn’t recycle, seems a bit selective by plants that don’t know the origin of any CO2…

And don't forget about horse and cow farts.

Oh, happily.

The Ford extended range battery is rated at 131 KWH (https://insideevs.com/news/559064/ford-f150-lightning-battery-comparison/). By your numbers, the average house draw is 1.25 KW.

131/ 1.25 = 104.8 hours. Which is more than 3 days, but let me know if you need help with that math, too?


In case you're curious, the numbers you quoted are max charging RATE, not CAPACITY. Other than that, nice cut and paste.

What I'd like to know the straight truth on is how and who is going to pay for all the necessary increase in electricity producing facilities nation wide to keep up with the ever increasing demand of electric vehicles? Tax increases? Usage rate increases? Or...?

The same way new facilities have been paid for the last 50 years and more. The companies (sometime municipalities) issue shares or bonds or use private funds to build the facilities, and get paid back by selling electricity. Those who generate cheap will return the most money to investors (which explains the increase in wind and solar generation, and the dearth in new nukes). Solar in the south is currently the cheapest way to generate electricity (though the Trump era tariffs have bumped that cost up a fair bit, TINSTAAFL).

I love all these “the sky is falling” EV discussions. Just grow up and stop trying to paint a perfect situation where they won’t work. Because for a lot of people they do work, and work well. Especially as a second vehicle in the household.
For us, our daily mileage is 40 miles unless we run to Knoxville.Then we drive 160-180. Any decent EV would handle that. We own other vehicles for when we tow or road trip.
Plenty of companies now offer free charging to workers. Making it another win.

I’m in no hurry to buy one since what we own are all in good shape. But when the time comes I’ll have no remorse about joining the club.

There are many reasons that I don't care for electric vehicles. I would venture that some dislike them solely because they don't use gasoline.