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electric vehicle
Juice readers. My sense is that we have those in powerful government posts who fail to look ahead in their decision making. A quick peek in my rear view mirror exposes the downside of shifting upwards of 25% of our corn production to ethanol and the ultimate cost it has been to all Americans, both at the supermarket in the increased costs of beef, poultry and eggs, and the tradeoff of higher burning temperature of Ethanol blended gasoline which translates into fewer MPG while our president is demanding higher mileage in future Detroit designed cars and trucks. I call this experiment “ready, fire, aim.”
David Spady, State Director of Americans for Prosperity, has just released his latest video on “Common Sense” that addresses electric vehicles and the cost of electricity in California that spikes up based on consumption. Sadly another misguided effort when you let the federal government rather than the private sector ignore a “cost vs benefit” analysis. In addition to the penalty Americans will pay to power up these electric vehicles check out the Volt forecast vs actual sales.
David Spady’s brief video is provided below:
Note: Having retired from power electronics the spelling of “watt” is correct in relationship to “volt” in the headline
You do realize that Chevy developed this car on its own and has nothing to do with Government demands? It’s been called one of the most innovative cars in the world, American Exceptionalism at work and all you can do is think of the minor details. yes, minor.
The Volt still runs on gas, more people could merely power their personal cars with solar panels on the houses. An industry that is also booming in California, more jobs!
It’s not rocket science Larry if you actually want to find a solution rather than whine about such a stupid detail that can easily be fixed and take people off the grid and save them the hassle of the up and downs of energy costs.
It’s getting old.
Do you work for SCE or perhaps a solar energy company?
Would you like to exchange utility bills where we are punished by Edison for simply turning on one too many light bulbs above the baseline.
And for the record. While we don’t have a plug in vehicle president Obama is mandating a huge increase in MPG for future designed cars while we continue burning ethanol in our tanks.
Are you saying that the leader of our federal government does not have his hands around our necks on this topic?
Coal powered vehicles (plug in electrics) seems a step backward to me. While CA may be an exception to that rule most electricity is still coal generated. We have another problem in CA since 33% renewable energy is now mandated. (Another lame idea that will drive more jobs out of state.) We can’t produce electricity they way “renewable energy producers” want to because of ESA based greenies. Windmills kill too many birds, make too much noise. Solar installs in the middle of the desert will kill too many desert tortoises, kangaroo rats. Can irrigate crops because of the delta smelt. The nimby list goes on and on. Oh, I forgot, no natural gas fired peakers in my backyard, but I refuse to turn down my AC either…disgusting really.
Since most solar panels are on home installs and our cars are going to be parked at work during the day, without benefit of those solar panels to recharge them, but recharging the grid as a whole, with really screwy rules on who can or can’t sell back that energy, the entire matter is really in flux. (no pun intended) If every car in in LA or Orange Co. was changed over in the next few years we would have HUGE electricity problems. The grid would collapse.
The “green revolution” needs to be completely retooled for a practical and profitable solution. If I could actually sell surplus energy back to utilities, I might invest in solar panels, depending on the return on investment. ROI is key here and one reason why solar companies are leasing panels to homeowners, because large producers of energy CAN sell it to Edison and make a profit, but you and I can’t. Sound stupid? It IS! But that’s what the legislature decided to do.
They specifically wrote the laws that way to screw the little guy out of the market. That was a Democratic majority by the way that did it, the same folks who claim to be environmentally continuousness and friends of the working class. That little guy is exactly the one who could make the greatest impact the quickest.
So you want to have a green input and make a difference, tell them to make changes to the laws and decentralize the monopolies of energy. That would be huge! It’s because the elected are in bed with the energy companies we are in this mess to begin with.
Opened up a BIG can of worms here didn’t you Larry…. 😉
Carl.
That’s our objective. To create and expand the debate with facts rather than emotions.
Emotions too, though!
Let me just add a little more for those who read…
Solar PV cells on your roof would take 7 or more hours for an array of 24 panels of 1.5 square meters each…not counting losses due to heat waste* and transmission in the battery charging.
*Solar panels lose about 10% of their specified watts due to heat waste making them less efficient. So for example, if a panel is rated at 220 watts, then on a hot clear summer day it will only actually produce around 198 watts, because as it gets heated up due to heat waste it’s efficiency falls. If you submerge a PV panel in water it’s power actually goes up, because the water helps carry away the heat waste, which increases efficiency.
So anyway, it takes over 24 typical solar panels to do that charge in 7 hours…while your car is plugged in at home…and you’re at work.
The only real alternatives to that is to have swappable batteries (highly unlikely since they are so heavy,) OR to have extra batteries at home which charge during the day, and then use those to charger your car at night, but you lose about 30% efficiency this way. Let’s do the math 7×1.30=9.1 hrs.
One thing almost never mentioned is the lifetime of the batteries. With normal use they will need replacement every few (3-7 seems to be the consensus, some longer than that) years, and as they are the single most expensive component of the vehicle. If you are using two sets of batteries that then doubles the cost of batteries. Then there is the disposable problem with those heavy metal batteries as well to factor in to the pricing as well.
I have heard, but not done the math myself, it takes over 200-250,000 miles to actually make the return on investment payoff for electric vehicles. Of course the emotional crowds (Vern) the cool factor, and the, I’m doing something (even if it’s not bright) for the planet factor is priceless.
Cheers!
Larry,
I read today that GHG emissions are down to the lowest levels in 15 years thanks to the bad economy. So, we don’t really need Volts on the road, we just need more of Obama’s devastating economic policies to drive us further into his famous ditch and he can personally reduce GHG emissions – who needs the EPA. There’s his next campaign slogan.
Oh, right, I forgot that Obama caused the financial meltdown and recession. Thanks for reminding me.
Newbie. In my remarks I mentioned the impact of diverting corn production from feeding us to Ethanol only to turn on Glenn Beck yesterday where he made the same case. Perhaps I can take his prime time slot as he departs from FOX. At least I can get paid while being verbally chastized for these posts. I can surely mess up a chalk board.