I have no clue if this is correct, shit is over my pay scale but it friggin makes sense. Read on with an open mind!
Got this from my buddy Mark Reed... an interesting take on Electric Cars.
“As an engineer I love the electric vehicle technology However, I have been troubled for a longtime by the fact that the electrical energy to keep the batteries charged has to come from the grid, and that means more power generation and a huge increase in the distribution infrastructure. Whether generated from coal, gas, oil, wind or sun, installed generation capacity is limited.
A friend sent me the following that says it very well. You should all take a look at this short article.
IF ELECTRIC CARS DO NOT USE GASOLINE, THEY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN PAYING A GASOLINE TAX ON EVERY GALLON THAT IS SOLD FOR AUTOMOBILES, WHICH WAS ENACTED SOME YEARS AGO TO HELP TO MAINTAIN OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES. THEY WILL USE THE ROADS, BUT WILL NOT PAY FOR THEIR MAINTENANCE!
In case you were thinking of buying hybrid or an electric car...
Ever since the advent of electric cars, the REAL cost per mile of those things has never been discussed. All you ever heard was the mpg in terms of gasoline, with nary a mention of the cost of electricity to run it. This is the first article I've ever seen and it tells the story pretty much as I expected it to.
Electricity has to be one of the least efficient ways to power things, yet they're being shoved down our throats. Glad somebody finally put engineering and math to paper.
At a neighborhood BBQ I was talking to a neighbor, a BC Hydro Executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious.
If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you had to face certain realities. For example, a home charging system for a Tesla requires 75 amp service. The average house is equipped with 100 amp service. On our small street (approximately 25 homes), the electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than three houses with a single Tesla each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.
This is the elephant in the room with electric vehicles. Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So, as our genius elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy these things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive new windmills and solar cells, but we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This later "investment" will not be revealed until we're so far down this dead end road that it will be presented with an 'OOPS...!' and a shrug.
If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following. Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. It's enlightening.
Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine." Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.
It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned, so I looked up what I pay for electricity.
I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 Mpg = $0.10 per mile.
The gasoline powered car costs about $25,000 while the Volt costs $46,000 plus. So the Canadian Government wants loyal Canadians not to do the math, but simply pay twice as much for a car, that costs more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to drive across the country.
our crv uses the battery a lot around town till ya press the gas too hard and gas engine turns on. we bought it for a commuter car to drive 90 mi a day, works great for that.
hondas are only 1600.00 more for hybrids over regular ones so its not really cost prohibitive. when we're in the mountains and coming downhill the engine rarely turns on and has electric braking with paddle shifters to control the roll. it also has no transmission like you know as normal, it nevers shifts gears just keeps building power the faster you go, works great and gets 37mpg [Reply]
Heat is a major impact. Depending on the car and the temperature, I'd guess maybe 20-40%.
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Yep. Pretty significant impact. Manufacturers suggest that if you live in a cold weather climate, you "pre-heat" the car before going on your commute/trip. You do this by leaving the car plugged into the charger and starting the car. Let the cabin warm up while the car is still plugged in to preserve your battery range. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Roundup:
Hmmm, 75 Amp service??? Is that the reason most come with a 120 volt charging system? That is some info that appears incorrect.
Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk
The entire OP is garbage. Can you charge a Tesla at 75 amps if your home supports it? Sure. Do you have to? No. My home charger goes at 30 amps, and that's more than enough for an overnight charge, though it might be a little tighter with a long-range Tesla. (And yes, you can charge on a 120v system. It's just slower.)
And I have no idea what the "our neighborhoods can't handle it" is getting at. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
A standard hybrid just uses a small battery to capture some of the inefficiencies from things like braking. Functionally they're just a gas car that gets really good mileage.
Plug in hybrids do theoretically have a concern with old gas if you literally never drive it long distances, but I'm not sure why you'd buy one if that's how you planned to use it.
I guess I fall into the more disparaged age category in regards to this...."old people" and Republican. Odd thing is I have always been interested in EV's as they sound viable and sensible.
What has been off-putting for me is the occasional snarkiness of those who wish to "educate" me with the same attitude of the old Jimmy Fallon IT Tech character from SNL
Treat me like an interested and possible client and you might get a convert. If not you are just Charlie Brown's Teacher.
(After reading this I realized it may sound as if I am accusing you of coming off that way. I am not...just one of my pet peeves with renewable energy people) [Reply]
I get the fuel tax angle, but did anybody ever find out/post how much on average it costs to take a Tesla from almost no charge to being fully charged? $1, $2, $10, $30?
A lot of variable in that, but as a person interested in an electric truck some day it's something that should be out there. [Reply]
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
I get the fuel tax angle, but did anybody ever find out/post how much on average it costs to take a Tesla from almost no charge to being fully charged? $1, $2, $10, $30?
A lot of variable in that, but as a person interested in an electric truck some day it's something that should be out there.
Depends on the battery capacity and your electric rates, but it would be in the $10 range. [Reply]
You'd think we were all going to be forced to get an electric car next week the way people are complaining about issues that haven't been addressed yet [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Certainly a truck with a big battery would be more than that (probably still just in the $15-$20 range, though).
Agree, but my lifestyle sort of requires a truck and, fair being fair, it takes a lot more to fill my truck than most people pay to fill their cars. I'm still very interested and it sounds like the technology to make my daily ride (still a truck) is about to happen. And that's awesome. Honestly, I don't mind having both. Gas for longer runs (pulling a trailer from KC to St. Louis and back all in the same day), an electric truck for "in the KC area" runs. [Reply]