EV news. Hybrid News. A Path Forward.

Sato-san on Toyota's new outlook on Toyota BEV's...Lexus is first

https://jalopnik.com/toyota-will-lean-on-lexus-to-accelerate-its-electric-ve-1850107023

 

I don’t pay too much attention to critical race theory, personal belief is that we are equal no matter the color of skin, or socioeconomic status since we are all mortal.

Would hope we can figure it out before we destroy ourselves, while yes it is hard to predict the future, however the way it looks now the extraction of resources will continue to march on since you can’t change human nature, because there are profits to be made. The only difference between oil and things like colbalt, lithium, rare earth minerals, copper, etc…is the holes in the ground will be bigger.

Read an article that states the only way for EVs to become viable on a grand scale is Fusion. Still have the issue of energy storage and the massive amounts of resources it will consume. Hopefully we can discover a better method.

With the invention of the automobile, it created great freedom, helped the human race explode in population. Like it or not oil has increased our life expectancy. It also is destroying the very planet that we need to exist on no matter the method of propulsion. No one really talks about all of the infrastructure that is required for autos. “It isn’t a deer in the middle of the road, it is a road in the middle of a forest.” Mind boggling amounts of ecosystems have been destroyed to never come back. We are all to blame.

In the future, highly doubt we will be allowed to drive our own vehicles, let alone building them for enthusiasts. Guessing outright ownership will go away, only subscriptions to self driving vehicles will exist.

That or Sky-Net takes over, deems humankind as a threat thus exterminating it us.

 

First electric short-trip ferry set to sail in California next year

https://electrek.co/2023/02/14/first-electric-short-trip-ferry-set-to-sail-in-california/

 

DC-to-DC solar-powered EV charger
25 kW of fast DC charging at home

Taking fossil fuel electric suppliers out of the loop for home charging.

https://electrek.co/2023/02/14/dc-to-dc-solar-powered-ev-charger/

https://vimeo.com/659377651/e2b10205cf?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=141061946

 

In before the “but we need X to build Y” nonsense because folks forget there is no free lunch, but this one costs less long term.

 

Gotta break some eggs to make an omelette

 

Have you seen the price of egg’s lately?

 

Good move. Converting solar DC into AC, to then convert the AC into DC, is a wasteful process.


I hope to see some changes to how we are positioning solar. Solar is already disrupting (and not in the good way) power generation with many places seeing over-production during the middle of the day. There are other efforts out to take this energy and store it for use later in the evening but many require large construction, geographical constraints (pumped hydro), or exceedingly large batteries.

If instead of looking into storage we incentivize electric car charging during the day from solar sources (solar awnings, business rooftop solar, etc) then we reduce that overproduction during the middle of the day and have less need to time-shift that production into the evening. Even better is using the car itself as a storage for your house to leverage in the evening since power usage spikes around 5pm. This does put more wear on the battery however, still, using batteries we already plan to have is better than building new, large, stationary systems.

 

It's DC to DC, solar panels produce DC direct from the panels.

 

Yes, that is why its a good move.

 

Ah I misread your post. My bad

 

I’ve noticed that most people really don’t know how many solar panels are needed to provide power. I live essentially off grid in my trailer with 350 watts on the roof and a 100 watt suitcase panel that I put on the ground. In the last three weeks I’ve generated 21kw of power. Plenty to power everything for the trailer but not even close to being anything meaningful for charging an EV. Coworkers that have seen the setup always ask if I charge my truck off “that big ol’ solar panel by the trailer” which is really the little 100w suitcase.

 

This is why I'm wondering how this will work. The video does say a combination of panels, battery storage and grid supplied converted AC to DC will give the 25 kw charge throughput. Go to the 1 min mark in the video.

 

https://bikerumor.com/vanlife-can-you-charge-an-electric-vehicle-with-rooftop-solar-panels/

 

Agreed.

I'm pricing a home built system now and would need around 50 400w panels to run my house. That would be around 1 full charge on a Tesla.

That said, they also don't understand the amount of energy stored in a tank of gas....or how much of it is wasted

 

They’d have to have a battery pack with the solar panels and charger in order for it to work. I’d envision it as basically a whole home solar system but with an added DC charger. Using Victron’s solar output calculator for my area I’d need 5kw of solar panels and at least 20kwh of battery storage to make it useful. If I only used that solar energy for charging my truck I could get a daily charge between 9-35 miles a day depending on the month.

 

I need to do a ground based solar system. Where do you guys get your panels from or were they pro installed?

 

I did my own install but it’s simple 12v based stuff on the trailer I live in. I am probably going to add another 180w panel on the roof soon to give a total of 630w of solar.

 

I'm looking at doing it myself. Santan Solar is one of the places I have priced from, although there are others.

In my area Solar is an ABSOLUTE RIP OFF.
Our life has high usage, 26,000kwh a year. To equal that (which would NOT zero my bill) I would need around 50 panels. Without batteries I was getting quotes in the range of $60,000. The only one who was cheaper was Tesla (solar, not solar roof) at around $35,000, but they don't serve the area.

Pricing it myself I'm looking at around $30,000 in hardware.

This is what makes me mad. I could put a whole ROOF on my large house for less than $30,000, but just INSTALLING solar is that much. The local companies are absolutely ripping us off. The irony, looking up the companies that do solar near me only one of the ten I looked up had an owner with solar for their own property.

Frankly, I blame the "environmentalists". Not for being environmentalists, but that because they pay the extra in order to be environmentally friendly. I say this because when buying solar at $60,000 you end up even after 20-25 years, or no financial benefit (but no financial loss either). For those just looking at if financially then it makes no sense, but if your intent is to be better for the environment only then being "even" is being ahead. I don't have an issue with doing solar for the environmental benefit, but I expect if this was a purely financially driven decision it would be cheaper for all of us (and it is cheaper other places of the world, we pay 2-3x as much per KW as say Europe, or Australia).

 

Or if you want to stay somewhere for 40 years that's perhaps a different argument, my friend did panels but he's planning to remain in his house for eternity and leave it to his children after.

Not sure for my house as I never looked into it; and frankly, it would be an overimprovement for my house anyway. Put it this way, my metal roof just ran me close to 11K 2 years ago when prices were way high for building stuff.