How am I going to charge my electric car?

[arg]

5 hours ago, GrndPndr said:

Actually, I figure if I buy one, I will never need it.  Stuff works that way doesn't it?

Get one that'll run propane. They can sit for a long time and still run.

[JimNtexas]

I amin Austin.  We have been hit hard by this winter storm.  Roads have been impassable for the last two days.  Last night it went down to 5F!  A new record low.

Lots of pipes breaking, especially in apartment buildings.

All utilities in Texas have been ordered to reduce power consumption.  Allsources of power, even nuclear, are suffering from outages due to frozen plumbing.  Windmills are pretty much shut down.  Natural gas is reduced also, but not as bad.

The City operated power grid said they would rotate power outages, but really it looks like you either have power or not.  My daughter, for example, has been without power for two days.

I live on the edge of the city, but get my power from a large electric coop.  My power rotates on a fairly predictable schedule, 2 hours off and about four hours on.

Because the roads are so bad the stores are running out of food since the trucks can’t make deliveries.

I have a Harbor Freight 2000 watt generator that helps us limp through the outages.  Being a former EWO, I also have a Ham radio station that can operate off grid on solar power when our society finally breaks  down.

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by JimNtexas
typo

[HuggyU2]

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-06/wind-turbine-blades

[Majestik Møøse]

On 2/15/2021 at 11:01 PM, kaputt said:

But not farther!

Well the Model S Plaid+ will do <9s quarter mile and >520 mile range. Quickest production car ever built and completely American. Makes supercars look kinda dumb. What’s not to like?

[ryleypav]

9 hours ago, JimNtexas said:

I amin Austin.  We have been hit hard by this winter storm.  Roads have been impassable for the last two days.  Last night it went down to 5F!  A new record low.

Lots of pipes breaking, especially in apartment buildings.

All utilities in Texas have been ordered to reduce power consumption.  Allsources of power, even nuclear, are suffering from outages due to frozen plumbing.  Windmills are pretty much shut down.  Natural gas is reduced also, but not as bad.

The City operated power grid said they would rotate power outages, but really it looks like you either have power or not.  My daughter, for example, has been without power for two days.

I live on the edge of the city, but get my power from a large electric coop.  My power rotates on a fairly predictable schedule, 2 hours off and about four hours on.

Because the roads are so bad the stores are running out of food since the trucks can’t make deliveries.

I have a Harbor Freight 2000 watt generator that helps us limp through the outages.  Being a former EWO, I also have a Ham radio station that can operate off grid on solar power when our society finally breaks  down.

 

 

 

That picture is from 2014 in Sweden, when the company Alpine Helicopters was testing de-icing windmill blades during an ice storm with boiling water. 

 

I get the irony, but it's a false narrative using that picture for the current events. 

[SurelySerious]

2 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:

Well the Model S Plaid+ will do <9s quarter mile and >520 mile range. Quickest production car ever built and completely American. Makes supercars look kinda dumb. What’s not to like?

There’s not really a sound to it; ICE supercars have that passion thing that electric cars absolutely lack. Formula E cars might be really quick...but it doesn’t stir a lot of emotion. 

[SocialD]

2 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:

Well the Model S Plaid+ will do <9s quarter mile and >520 mile range. Quickest production car ever built and completely American. Makes supercars look kinda dumb. What’s not to like?

 

Damn, I hadn't been paying attention enough to know that Tesla had anything other the standard 3 or S.  133k base price...you really have to want to get to that next stop light faster than the next guy, to spend that kind of cheese on a car.  

[ecugringo]

21 hours ago, SocialD said:

 

The costs seems stupid high for the ROI, at least when our base had a solar field installed a decade ago.  Based on the cost to install vs the numbers that were quoted for cost savings, it's going to take ~69 years to get our money back.  That doesn't even account for mx and panel replacements, which will need to happen well before the 69 year point.  

To your point about subsidies.  I bought a plane from a guy in the solar industry and over some campfire beers, he pretty much backed up what you say.  I'm guessing that's the reason his business was built around repairing/maintaining solar fields, not building/owning them.  It's also why he's about to sell out in his mid-30s, so he can just raise his family and fly his planes.  A decent option for solar is to own the land the solar field sits on...

I live in the burbs of Denver in a very large new subdivision (hoping covid will allow me to work from a more rural part of the country near a smaller city).  Due to the tax breaks the state gives, we get hit up couple times a month by some sales kids trying to push solar.  I dont think they have any college behind them, the pitch is it doesn't cost anything to you....Its a scam industry.

My buddy up the road purchased a system.  It costs a bit over $20k.  The loan is 20 years.  He said his payment is about $90/mo.  We're on gas and electric.  Summer months his electric might hit $130.  I dont know what happens if he moves, but the life of the system is about 25 years.  Seems like a lot of work to have $0net electric bill.  Maybe he can generate more and sell into the grid?  

[arg]

I got a little emergency going here. The beer I left in the barn is froze.

Edited February 18, 2021 by arg

[uhhello]

6 hours ago, ecugringo said:

I live in the burbs of Denver in a very large new subdivision (hoping covid will allow me to work from a more rural part of the country near a smaller city).  Due to the tax breaks the state gives, we get hit up couple times a month by some sales kids trying to push solar.  I dont think they have any college behind them, the pitch is it doesn't cost anything to you....Its a scam industry.

My buddy up the road purchased a system.  It costs a bit over $20k.  The loan is 20 years.  He said his payment is about $90/mo.  We're on gas and electric.  Summer months his electric might hit $130.  I dont know what happens if he moves, but the life of the system is about 25 years.  Seems like a lot of work to have $0net electric bill.  Maybe he can generate more and sell into the grid?  

Net metering allows sale of excess production back into the grid in most states.  

[BashiChuni]

solar will work but i think its still 5-10 years away from being commercially viable

[Snuggie]

We looked into getting solar when we lived in Las Vegas. You can get a good deal on panels and not have to pay anything for electricity. I knew guys who had Teslas and their monthly electric bill and commuting cost to Creech was $0. 

But leased panels are a pain to deal with when selling a house. My wife is a Realtor and has to deal with a few solar panel sales. I would only put them on a house I planned on staying in long term. 

[Majestik Møøse]

10 hours ago, SurelySerious said:

There’s not really a sound to it; ICE supercars have that passion thing that electric cars absolutely lack. Formula E cars might be really quick...but it doesn’t stir a lot of emotion. 

A steam engine sounds much more iconic than a diesel-electric freight train. That’s why I’d like to buy an old Alfa someday - the sound and the feeling. But my next new car will be electric. And American.

9 hours ago, SocialD said:

Damn, I hadn't been paying attention enough to know that Tesla had anything other the standard 3 or S.  133k base price...you really have to want to get to that next stop light faster than the next guy, to spend that kind of cheese on a car.  

People spend $2-3m on cars that are slower, soooo

Edited February 18, 2021 by Majestik Møøse

[jazzdude]

What if electric cars pumped in fake engine sounds, like some modern gas cars?

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/22834/from-acura-to-vw-bmw-to-porsche-car-companies-are-getting-sneakier-about-engine-sound-enhanceme

Problem solved!

[Prozac]

3 hours ago, jazzdude said:

What if electric cars pumped in fake engine sounds, like some modern gas cars?

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/22834/from-acura-to-vw-bmw-to-porsche-car-companies-are-getting-sneakier-about-engine-sound-enhanceme

Problem solved!

Just not the same thing as knowing there are cylinders and valves and camshafts all whirring in reaction to little explosions and making a lovely sound while they’re at it. While electric is looking more and more like the future, and my daily will likely be all electric sooner rather than later, there will always be a spot in my garage for something with three pedals and a gas tank. The automobile didn’t kill the horse. It just turned it into a plaything (for the most part—-depends on where you live and what you do). The same will be true of the fossil fuel-electric transformation. 

[arg]

15 minutes ago, Prozac said:

Just not the same thing as knowing there are cylinders and valves and camshafts all whirring in reaction to little explosions and making a lovely sound while they’re at it. While electric is looking more and more like the future, and my daily will likely be all electric sooner rather than later, there will always be a spot in my garage for something with three pedals and a gas tank. The automobile didn’t kill the horse. It just turned it into a plaything (for the most part—-depends on where you live and what you do). The same will be true of the fossil fuel-electric transformation. 

Talking about the horse, they're still used around here to get the cattle in. My son did it for a short while before he joined the army. Got paid $100 bucks a day. No other feasible way to do it around here.

[SocialD]

8 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:

People spend $2-3m on cars that are slower, soooo

 

LOL that there are, however I don't think that is the target market.  How Tesla gets people to pay 100-150k for a car is amazing.  I'm guessing many people who buy these are the same types who put solar panels on the wrong side of their house, so people on the street/neighbors can see their wokeness in all its glory.

Edited February 18, 2021 by SocialD

[ClearedHot]

21 hours ago, Majestik Møøse said:

Well the Model S Plaid+ will do <9s quarter mile and >520 mile range. Quickest production car ever built and completely American. Makes supercars look kinda dumb. What’s not to like?

Really cool until you want to drive to another state.

[uhhello]

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

Really cool until you want to drive to another state.

Tesla charging infrastructure is pretty robust.  It's obviously going to add more time but not that much.  It's really my only hold up to not buying one yet though.  

[ClearedHot]

7 minutes ago, uhhello said:

Tesla charging infrastructure is pretty robust.  It's obviously going to add more time but not that much.  It's really my only hold up to not buying one yet though.  

I put down the $100 deposit for the Tesla Truck, would be useful around town and running errands.

[uhhello]

2 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

I put down the $100 deposit for the Tesla Truck, would be useful around town and running errands.

Yup.  It looks crazy and I'd drive it daily driver in a heartbeat.

[jazzdude]

 
LOL that there are, however I don't think that is the target market.  How Tesla gets people to pay 100-150k for a car is amazing.  I'm guessing many people who buy these are the same types who put solar panels on the wrong side of their house, so people on the street/neighbors can see their wokeness in all its glory.

If you've got the money, you can afford better toys. Or to buy things as status symbols.

A g-shock or timex watch is accurate and costs less than $100, yet many pilots will still spend several thousand dollars for a watch that is much less accurate. You could even get a smart/gps watch for $500-700 that's accurate with way more functions than just time/date/stopwatch.

[ecugringo]

I thought the Nikoli truck looked pretty sick vs the Tesla, but that turned bad for GMC.  

I have a F150 and love it.  Has a 36 gallon tank I can go 600+ miles on it, the truck is pretty quick for a truck and has a ton of room for kids and dogs.  Its hard not to have a truck after owning one.

[Majestik Møøse]

4 hours ago, SocialD said:

LOL that there are, however I don't think that is the target market.  How Tesla gets people to pay 100-150k for a car is amazing.  I'm guessing many people who buy these are the same types who put solar panels on the wrong side of their house, so people on the street/neighbors can see their wokeness in all its glory.

Dude, I think you have scales on your eyes. Not everything is political or about wokeness. How much do you expect a performance car to cost? Dodge gets people to pay $100k for a Challenger. Double that for a 911 Turbo. The Plaid+ has 1100 horsepower and is the quickest production car ever made. Estimated to be an 8 second car that you can put 200k miles on. For 10% of the cost of hypercars - that are slower and require $50k of mx every 10k miles. I don’t know if there’s a cost/horsepower equation, but no gasoline production car will ever catch up. They’re antiques. Which is fine, I like old things also.

If you only want the world’s second fastest car just get the regular Plaid and save $35k.

[SocialD]

1 hour ago, jazzdude said:

If you've got the money, you can afford better toys. Or to buy things as status symbols.

 

Ya, I guess I never understood the status symbols culture.  

 

37 minutes ago, Majestik Møøse said:

Dude, I think you have scales on your eyes. Not everything is political or about wokeness. How much do you expect a performance car to cost? 

 

Ya probably.  I'm not a car guy...still driving my 2Lt car from 2006.  1.8L of fucking muscle!