If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that having the entire US electricity generation capacity in one large, open, poorly secure location is a fantastic idea, and nowhere is grid maintenance and power reliability a higher priority than in Texas.
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Right. We’ll take both of them.
This calls for a Come and Take It flag with a pile of sand.
A friend of mine bought one of these 5 months ago. He said it’s the best car he’s ever owned.
His one (and only) complaint is range. 215 (real world) miles is not a problem with 90% of his driving experiences, especially with the 800v fast charging capability that takes him from 5% to 80% charge in 18 minutes. For the longer drives that make up the remaining 10% of use cases, he was so bothered that he engineered a solution.
He bought this:
…and, installed a switchable generator. He first ran on gas then switched to propane since it runs so efficiently. Here’s the interesting part; he then plugged up the generator to the charging port on the car. While the car is off, it charges great. But, it has a failsafe so that, when the charging subsystem recognizes the plug and current, it disables vehicle movement. So, he had a “friend” in the Czech Republic build a patch that overrides the failsafe. So, he drives along while the vehicle is charging. Just like a Prius. That said, I think running the generator while driving is probably illegal in most states so there is that. But his range issues are a thing of the past. Ha.
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I’m surprised that car comes with a trailer hitch.
The only unsurprising thing in this entire tale is the involvement of an Eastern European country.
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Just blowing off nervous energy before the game. Thought I’d share my personal observations as an EV driver since 2012 (2012 Nissan Leaf, 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid):
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Adaptor standardization will likely come (at least in US) in the same way that VHS beat out Betamax (not by federal regulation) – J1772 CCS (combo plug) will likely be it. My Leaf has both a J1772 plug for level 1 (110, 3-5 miles/hour, adaptor comes with car for use at home) and level 2 (208 to 240, 10-80 miles/hour, can install at home with plug for large appliances; $200-$500 unit plus installation) charging as well as a CHAdeMO plug for level 3 (DC charging). In 2012, DC charging was primarily Tesla’s proprietary charger, and Nissan’s adoption of CHAdeMO could have shifted the market to that standard but for the fact that there were not enough demand for non-Tesla DC chargers since the Leaf’s ~80 mile range made it a commuter car and not practical for long distance driving. As a commuter car, all that the Leaf needed was a household plug at night and/or a level 2 charger in the garage at work. Level 2 chargers are much less expensive than the ~50K level 3 chargers discussed in the video, and at least here in Northern California, they are getting to be fairly common in garages and shopping center parking lots.
Roughly around the same time that Nissan came out with the Leaf, GM came out with the Chevy Volt which was a plug-in hybrid that ran on electric for about 35miles before it needed to use gas. It had only a J1772 plug for the battery. It allowed most people who had access to level 2 charging at work to drive to/from work with only electric, but took away range anxiety. I went with the Nissan in 2012 because I was not sure I would have access to charging at work at that time, and my round trip commute was longer than 35 miles. We made our second electric car a Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid because its all electric range of 45 miles was the highest on the market for plug-on hybrids, which maximized our ability to drive electric, but its hybrid technology let us drive long distances without being having to take charging into consideration. Notably, all of the plug-in hybrids that have come out since then have only come with the J1772 plug which only worked with level 1 and 2 charging since these smaller batteries did not need fast charging to fill up relatively quickly ( easily get 20 miles in the span it takes to do a weekly Costco run).
Now that there are a number of options for 200-300 mile range battery powered cars, there is demand, beyond Tesla owners, for DC chargers. Most, if not all of these are equipped with the J1772 CCS combo charger that allows charging at all the J1772 Level 2 chargers in parking garages and shopping centers, and at DC chargers that have J1772 CCS “nozzles”. This is why Tesla has created a J1772 CCS adaptor for their cars (mentioned in the video). -
More infrastructure is needed, but not to the extent one would think as 1:1 replacement for gas stations. The 4’ from gas station (or 1 station for every 23 Teslas) criteria overestimates the need for DC fast chargers, in my opinion. Most charging will not be happening at the equivalent of gas stations. For most trips, if there are opportunities to top off with a level 2 charge at the destination while you shop/visit/go to appointment, that would allow drivers enough charge to keep their batteries relatively full. Any deficit incurred during the day can easily be made up at night at home. The only real need for DC fast chargers will be on the highways.
Since drivers are likely to stop more often on long distance drives to charge, and charging does take a longer than needed to fill up a tank of gas, there will need to be more DC chargers along highways and at rest stops than there currently are gas stations, but the need in urban and suburban areas will be for level 2 chargers at existing parking structures. -
The tipping point is near, or even passed, at least in Northern CA. In 2012, I bought the Leaf specifically for commuting as that would decrease the largest chunk of my fossil fuel use. I had no illusions that I could drive wherever I wanted with electricity. Our next car will hopefully be a battery powered car with (near) 300 mile range. In CA, the infrastructure is already in place to allow us to do 99% of the driving we have planned, including fairly frequent trips to southern CA where our kids are. There are a slew of ~300 mile range battery cars coming out in 2022 and my guess is that their sales (if not inhibited by the supply chain issues) will show that we are now climbing up the steep part of the S-curve, indicating that we are beyond the development stage. Like Neil, we would like to take some long trips to places that are not likely to have DC charging infrastructure (now). For those trips, we will need to wait until batter technology improves, or the infrastructure is in place, but I have little doubt that one, or more likely both, will happen, with the right policy nudges.
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Future electricity generation is likely to be more diversified (solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cell, hydro, nuclear, etc.), and if the utility lobbies allow it, more distributed. This means that no single mode will need to be large enough to replace all current generating capacity. Large users (e.g. factories) may also find it more cost effective to generate some of their power on site. Solar and wind are not constant, so balancing the power from various sources, and the storage and supplementation of generating capacity, could become the primary functions of utilities. Solar is the obvious modality for distributed generation, but for consumers to be able to bear the capital cost of installing the panels, there has to be clear, consistent, and favorable net metering rules. This is where regulations matter. Utilities that fight to monopolize generation capacity will likely delay solar implementation in their service areas, but in the long run, I wonder if that would only serve to drive users off grid.
Here in CA, where power has been periodically shut off by the utilities due to fire danger (fallen transmission lines have started a number of fires), there is a lot of interest in combining home solar with battery storage to maintain power when the grid is off. Home battery storage, though, is an expensive luxury in terms of both money and space. However, if you have an electric car, then you have a battery that doubles as transportation. All that is needed is an inverter which allows the charge to go from car battery to your house. When we got solar for our house, that technology was not readily commercially available, but I have seen some ads now for such inverters. The sticking point now, is whether the plug/adaptor standards are set up for this. Ironically, the CHAdeMO standards allow this, but the J1772 CCS standard do not (yet). So my Leaf may some day serve primarily as my back up battery. -
I am doubtful that nuclear will play a significant role in civilian power generation. The primary issue is probably not the safety of the plants, but the waste. The waste problem of energy generation is what got us into the pickle with climate change. Until we solve that with nuclear waste, its application will be limited. That said, nuclear power is necessary for our military to project force around the globe. It is currently the only viable non-fossil fuel option to power our Navy.
The military will also likely provide the clue for other non-fossil energy sources that can do things not well suited to solar/wind/batteries. I find it hard to believe we will be lugging batteries around to depots for tanks and Humvees, or setting up multiple 50K+ temporary charging stations in the middle of deserts. And something lighter than batteries will need to power the planes. This is where the currently less developed technologies come in – biofuels, fuel cells using hydrogen, etc. We will need these for more specialized applications, but can’t wait for them to be ready to change our transportation sector.
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Elon gets a semi
Convoy mode is pretty smart.
It’ll take awhile for me to warm to driverless big rigs. Duel still resides deep in my mind.
However, the whole concept is pretty encouraging and the price is less than I’d have imagined.
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At that price point, and the significantly lower operating cost, I think take up will be robust.
Sending them out without drivers is going to take a while, I think, but the convoy feature will reduce fatigue on the following drivers and battery drain on the following trucks. I can see these being run like a cycling team, where they take it in turns to lead while the others slipstream.
Drivers will be shot up with enough drugs to make an 80s wrestler blush?
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I’d note that the Polestar 2 EV has a vegan friendly interior. I suspect that’s going to be enough to push EVs over the edge.
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The Audi eTron GT has that as an option. And is accounting for 60% of initial sales in Europe and 40% here in the US.
I think pretty much all the EVs have a vegan option for the interior.
I’m surprised they can find enough willing vegans for all that upholstery.
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Is “vegan interior” just a rebrand of “shitty fake leather” like my car has?
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Fine, now I’m willing to eat my car’s interior.
“Genuine cloth seats”
This. I’ve sat in a couple of high-end EV’s with vegan interiors. They are nice, of course. But, it’s just cloth and plastic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s clearly very nice and, supposedly, much more durable than vinyl, cloth and plastics in a Toyota Tercel.
Rich Corinthian vinyl.
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