Race is on as carmakers shut, switch or sell combustion engine factories

[PigsDad]

Ok, remember NIMBY ?

I think you are assuming new generation needs to just come from new power plants. I think most of it will come from home solar, especially as improvements in efficiency make strides. A single panel could run a typical house in the not too far distant future.

Kurt

 

[Brett]

With all electric vehicles the Government will have to start sharing a mileage tax to maintain the roads.

Also the Truck Manufacturers are far in the process for self-driving trucks.

it is a problem, some states are now collecting higher registration fees for electric vehicles
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...ctric-cars-as-new-laws-take-effect-2019-12-30

 

[easyrider]

The Texas issues are self-inflicted, IMO. No other state is on it's own like they are, so I don't think to the degree of what happened in Texas could very easily happen in other states.

Kurt

Most of the grid is over 100 years old especially heading East of the Rockies. A good portion of the grid is over 100 years old West of the Rockies. So the grid is an antique. Only 33% of generated power makes it to a source so the grid in is 77% inefficient.

There is no single company that runs the grid. Ownerships of utilities is mostly for profit. These are just a couple of the many obstacles to updating the massive power grid.

I agree that Texas issues are separate issues regarding billings but any weather event that hit a state dependent on green energy could be problematic in regards to delivering power, imo.

Bill

 

[vacationtime1]

Shouldn't electric cars be recharged during non-peak electric hours?

Easier on the grid; easier on the budget.

 

[Rjbeach2003]

Let market demand and the free economy drive the transition to EV, not some group of nutcases in Congress. We didn't need laws to ban horse drawn buggies when cars came along, either.

Lets go back in time and rescind the laws that Congress passed to encourage the building of Railroads across America. The gave away millions of acres of land to Capitalists to entice them to build the RRs. There are countless instances of Congress fronting seed money to industries that they believe, although might not, will benefit that USA in the long run.
Look at Space. Private companies are now building launch vehicles etc. that would unlikely be done with private investment alone. Now it's economically practical for private companies t build satellites for private use, paying NASA, Russia or now private companies to launch.
We have been importing oil from the middle East for decades, the shipping lanes being protected by the US Navy. We have literally, as a country, spent trillions of dollars protecting the oil supply.

I could go on and on, but I will stop here. It is a relatively small price to pay to underwrite private companies seeking to power our country with renewable resources.

 

[MrockStar]

I think you are assuming new generation needs to just come from new power plants. I think most of it will come from home solar, especially as improvements in efficiency make strides. A single panel could run a typical house in the not too far distant future.

Kurt

Ok i wil bite, so solar to charge my electric when i get home during Nov to Mar in norther MI where is cloudy 90 % most days and dark 5:30 Pm -07:00 when iam home from work and very cold= less efficiency for charging batteries. I am an electronics Technician for 38 yrs so iam familiar with this technology and no i did not forget solar/wind power. But i hope efficiency in batteries and solar/wind continues to improve.

 

[Passepartout]

A mileage tax? How do you recommend we replace the current fuel taxes to maintain our roads?

We pay a $75 annual EV surcharge to register our Honda Clarity plug-in.

 

[Passepartout]

Lets go back in time and rescind the laws that Congress passed to encourage the building of Railroads across America. The gave away millions of acres of land to Capitalists to entice them to build the RRs. There are countless instances of Congress fronting seed money to industries that they believe, although might not, will benefit that USA in the long run.
Look at Space. Private companies are now building launch vehicles etc. that would unlikely be done with private investment alone. Now it's economically practical for private companies t build satellites for private use, paying NASA, Russia or now private companies to launch.
We have been importing oil from the middle East for decades, the shipping lanes being protected by the US Navy. We have literally, as a country, spent trillions of dollars protecting the oil supply.

Aircraft building and airlines probably would not have been developed if it were not for airmail subsidies. And at least one Middle East war has been fought to assure cheap oil to fill American luxury cars. Americans pay ~$2.50 a gallon while Europeans and Asians pay the equivalent of ~$8.00 a gallon. Solar and wind powered electricity is the big equalizer.

 

[PigsDad]

Ok i wil bite, so solar to charge my electric when i get home during Nov to Mar in norther MI where is cloudy 90 % most days and dark 5:30 Pm -07:00 when iam home from work and very cold= less efficiency for charging batteries. I am an electronics Technician for 38 yrs so iam familiar with this technology and no i did not forget solar/wind power. But i hope efficiency in batteries and solar/wind continues to improve.

I am talking about the whole system, not just your house. Traditional power plants are built in order to supply the demand for power at peak times. However, if we have more solar power being generated across the nation during those peak times, we won't need to build as many power plants. People's cars are generally recharged at night, when the demand is low so there wouldn't be the need for more power plants to meet that demand. But hey, theses are just thoughts -- everything changes. Batteries and solar panels are going to continue to be more efficient, so it will be interesting to see how that affects the grids and our power needs.

Kurt

 

[x3 skier]

I propose instead of a subsidy/tax break to purchase electric cars or solar panels or windmills, a tax be applied for funding the increase in generating capacity.

Cheers

 

[Snazzylass]

We pay a $75 annual EV surcharge to register our Honda Clarity plug-in.

You're killing me. LOL! I'm not following your math. When we are all driving EV's will $75 be enough to keep our roads paved and repaired? I doubt it.

 

[Passepartout]

You're killing me. LOL! I'm not following your math. When we are all driving EV's will $75 be enough to keep our roads paved and repaired? I doubt it.

Hmmmf. $75 is about the fuel tax on 175 gallon of gas ($.43 per gal) and at an average of 50 mpg, that's the tax we'd pay on almost 9,000 miles of driving. And remember, our car is a hybrid. We buy around 200 gallons of gas a year too. So we pay for our road use either way. That help?

Out here in the boonies where we live, it's a loooong way between charging stations, and the dirty little secret of electric car range is that they do their best around town, where they can benefit from regenerative braking and recapture some of those electrons you use to get the car up to speed. But on the highway, those miles of advertised range are substantially shorter. Our car may go 50ish miles on battery around town, but on the highway, at 80 mph, that range shrinks to 20 or so. So we switch to gas (hybrid) when we hit the highway going on trips or to our second home.

Caesar is getting his pound of flesh out of us, believe me.

Jim