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.
Originally Posted by Holladay:
What kinda pipe? A cable like the ones under the oceans? j/k Would be cool tho.
I am glad this didn't go to DC. There is a lot of quality info to think about and not much politics involved:-)
I think the bottom line, there is no easy answer at this time. It is a complicated issue with a lot of moving parts. As mentioned, time will tell.
You could use a regular pipe, but you'd have to be careful that it doesn't get tangled and pull the earth and the moon into each other.
Thirty years ago, I heard a guy talk about this and I think he was proposing that you use high-intensity energy (microwave?) emitters. Send the energy from the moon and have receivers on earth pick it up. [Reply]
How about a playing card in the spokes too, or some similar noise maker?
It would possibly help people notice you in parking lots and not walk out in front of you.
We have actually experienced that problem with our hybrid in parking lots. I am guessing DeFace has some stories like that.
They changed the rules not too long ago to require EVs and hybrids to have an artificial noise maker, which is frankly kind of obnoxious, but does help to keep people aware that you're there. My Rav4 Prime makes a noise that sounds like some sort of demonic choir singing. My wife's Leaf doesn't have any noise going forward, but it beeps in reverse.
Originally Posted by yellowfin13x:
2021 Tesla Model 3 LRP I am a repub and don't hate electric cars.
There is a car out there for everyone. Gas powered internal combustion engines are not going away anytime soon. There is still a a lot of demand, therefore manufactures can still make money. But EVs are gaining a lot of Mainstream popularity as well. I personally like that there’s alot of variety. [Reply]
How about a playing card in the spokes too, or some similar noise maker?
It would possibly help people notice you in parking lots and not walk out in front of you.
We have actually experienced that problem with our hybrid in parking lots. I am guessing DeFace has some stories like that.
Ohhh...thats interesting. Never thought about it, but sometimes I do rely on engine noise and my peripheral vision while I maneuver through a parking lot, rather than direct vision.
I'd bet as electric cars become more prevalent, we hear more stories like this. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
They changed the rules not too long ago to require EVs and hybrids to have an artificial noise maker, which is frankly kind of obnoxious, but does help to keep people aware that you're there. My Rav4 Prime makes a noise that sounds like some sort of demonic choir singing. My wife's Leaf doesn't have any noise going forward, but it beeps in reverse.
Ohhh....thats fucking hilarious. It's super obnoxious in reverse. Sounds like it's much more faint when in drive, but you can still hear it, right? When he was driving forward back into the garage, with the faint sound, it just sounds like somethings wrong with the car.
Honestly, with how loud it is in reverse, I'd be pretty turned off from buying one after that. I can think of about a million more appealing noises they could have chosen. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TimBone:
Ohhh....thats fucking hilarious. It's super obnoxious in reverse. Sounds like it's much more faint when in drive, but you can still hear it, right? When he was driving forward back into the garage, with the faint sound, it just sounds like somethings wrong with the car.
Honestly, with how loud it is in reverse, I'd be pretty turned off from buying one after that. I can think of about a million more appealing noises they could have chosen.
Yeah, I have no idea why they chose that particular noise. It's very noticeable in reverse, but it's really pretty quiet when moving forward - not any louder than the vents blowing (and I don't think it's on at all over 10 mph or so). You get used to it, but it's definitely weird. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
They changed the rules not too long ago to require EVs and hybrids to have an artificial noise maker, which is frankly kind of obnoxious, but does help to keep people aware that you're there. My Rav4 Prime makes a noise that sounds like some sort of demonic choir singing. My wife's Leaf doesn't have any noise going forward, but it beeps in reverse.
That is interesting, thanks. That is horrible in reverse. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaFace:
Yeah, I have no idea why they chose that particular noise. It's very noticeable in reverse, but it's really pretty quiet when moving forward - not any louder than the vents blowing (and I don't think it's on at all over 10 mph or so). You get used to it, but it's definitely weird.
Yeah, that ain't happening. A pair of wire snippers and an easy fix. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Otter:
Yeah, that ain't happening. A pair of wire snippers and an easy fix.
It'll throw a check engine error if you do that. However, people have figured out how to bypass it with a resistor that will trick the car into thinking all is well. It doesn't bother me enough to go that far, but it's cheap and easy to do from what I understand.
I do wonder if there's any chance bypassing it could come back to bite you, though. I have no idea of the legalities of it all, but I can't imagine an insurance company would be pleased if you bypassed a required safety feature and then ended up running over someone in a parking lot who couldn't hear you coming. [Reply]
Pedestrian fatalities have increased by about 50 percent over the past ten years, which is a huge change. I think that's mostly being blamed on inattentive pedestrians on their phones, but there's some talk that quiet electric cars contribute, too. I suggest screaming out your window nonstop any time you drive an electric vehicle.
But here's another stat that you might find surprising. About 30 percent of pedestrian deaths each year involve a pedestrian with a Blood Alcohol Content of above .08, and it's 42 percent for pedestrians killed at night. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
Pedestrian fatalities have increased by about 50 percent over the past ten years, which is a huge change. I think that's mostly being blamed on inattentive pedestrians on their phones, but there's some talk that quiet electric cars contribute, too. I suggest screaming out your window nonstop any time you drive an electric vehicle.
But here's another stat that you might find surprising. About 30 percent of pedestrian deaths each year involve a pedestrian with a Blood Alcohol Content of above .08, and it's 42 percent for pedestrians killed at night.
Many Harley riders will tell you that's why they are so loud. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
I am very much interested in the electric F-150.
I'm ready to buy an electric 6 seat truck as soon as it's available, but it looks like Ford is only going to offer 5 seats in the F-150, at least for now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MagicHef:
I'm ready to buy an electric 6 seat truck as soon as it's available, but it looks like Ford is only going to offer 5 seats in the F-150, at least for now.
6 seat truck? Is that like an Expedition with a truck bed attached. [Reply]
My next car will be electric, period. But also I live in LA and we just crested $6/gal for gas. FML
F150 lightning is sexy AF, but so is the new mustang. Silverado is gonna be pretty sweet, too. If you have the coin to drop on a p90d model X, go for it, but also the electric hummer is just fucking rad as shit.
When your electric car is faster, stronger, and requires less maintenance than your gas powered one, who honestly can say shit about it? Especially now that they don't look dog ass ugly as a rule (if you want the cybertruck, so be it) [Reply]
