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In a US first, fossil fuel power plant workers will be retrained for offshore wind

https://electrek.co/2023/07/07/fossil-fuel-power-plant-ravenswood/

 

I could see needing 745 miles of range in a full size truck that's used for pulling a heavy trailer. That would give about 350 miles of actual range in that configuration. My Tacoma only goes around 300 miles between stops and I've never found that to be a problem. For a car I would hope they had like a 300 mile range with a corresponding cost and weight savings. My Model Y has 330 miles and that is plenty, and I use it for long 9K+ mile road trips. There's only so long you can sit before the body rebels by needing a good stretch or to use the potty. In my case it's about 2.5 hours, or my wife 1.5 hours. Lugging around a huge 750 mile battery makes no sense for anybody not towing a trailer.

I completely agree that the status quo isn't working. Part of the status quo is companies like Toyota and many others pushing narratives for things that will never happen. Stock analysts are notoriously stupid when it comes to science and engineering. A headline reading "Toyota tests a perpetual motion and free energy battery. They predict it will be ready in five years!" will have them upping their stock price forecasts. So, Toyota and others pump out an never ending stream false hope, faint hope and bull shit. While at the same time fostering the narrative that 750 mile batteries and 10 minute charging is something that is needed in all but a few use cases.

I was thinking of was someone that could charge from home actually going to a "fueling" station. In my case charging at home costs me 3 cents/mile. A supercharger costs 8 cents/mile. Gassing up my Tacoma costs 20/mile. Why would anyone go out of their way, to pay more and spend any amount of time, when charging happens as if by magic in the garage? In your nephews case I doubt he views driving to work as going out of his way.

But why? All this does is replace hydrocarbons with hydrogen. I'll grant that could be an improvement. But I struggle in my mind why when it is possible to remove so much costly infrastructure. Here's my version of this graphic:

 

When I’m driving cross country I will go for as long as the tank lasts before stopping. In the case of my last few Ram diesels that’s 550 miles straight. To me there’s no reason to stop if it’s not a drive for fun but rather just a drive to get to the destination.

 

That's a main hub for production and distribution. Store and dispense would be at stores and warehouses so the destination can use forklifts and trailer shunt trucks and other on site vehicles.

 

I wish I could get that kind of mileage out of myself. No way I could spend 6-8 hours of driving without a stretch (of body and brain) and a piss.

 

I know what it is, I just don't understand why it's a good idea. Making and using hydrogen is inefficient AF compared to using the same electricity to power a battery vehicle.

If the only metric that counts is speed then I doubt an EV will ever compete head to head with ICE in a long distance speed run.

 

Dunno.

 

I expect that charging, range, and battery size will all change dramatically in the next few years.

As was mentioned putting big batteries in things makes very little sense when most don't regularly drive anywhere near that distance. Take $10k off the price of the vehicle and have me stop every 180 miles (180 real miles, as in highway in the winter) and I might do so, provided the charging was fast enough and available enough. My guess is 95% of all trips are less than an hour and a half. If charging is fast or if I can know I can top off at my destination then I would likely rather save the money and plug in more often.

When we charge needs to change too. At home charging is nice but that really needs to switch to middle of the day charging. Solar is a great way to generate electricity but it is completely screwing up the balance of the power grid (look up duck curve) That can be improved by putting in large amounts of grid storage but frankly that is silly. Instead we need to shit towards EVs and charging at work, while solar is producing, rather than charging at night and putting in massive grid batteries. Batteries are the worst part of evs, we should not be putting batteries in cars and then building MORE batteries just to charge those ev batteries. Shift the power demand from evs to match the generation from solar.

Hydrogen is a red herring by the oil companies. It isn't possible to get anywhere near enough from electrolysis and is TERRIBLY inefficient to do so. Even if the hydrogen is "free" compression and shipping would still negate most of the benefit. No, hydrogen is a red herring by the oil companies to keep the anti-EV crowd on the fence. And even if we did go hydrogen a significant amount just comes from petroleum products, not electrolysis, which just puts the money back in the oil companies pockets. Pushing Hydrogen is a win win for them. Crash had a good argument as to why Toyota put their hat in the hydrogen camp

 

Exactly, plus once he gets there his car is parked all day regardless so why not.

 

I could be wrong but was it the Nissan Leaf that did something like that? Cheaper vehicle with less range but great for the around town only driving person.

The handful of people I know with EVs all seem to have solar and home charging anyway. My nephew i think got the solar at the same time as the Tesla.

 

Tesla Model 3 Survives Terrifying Tree Crash, Emerges Unscathed
The Tesla Model 3 was among IIHS’ top safety picks for four years consecutively.

https://insideevs.com/news/676102/tesla-model-3-survives-tree-crash/

 

I have no doubt that Tesla vehicles hold up well in a crash, and pass the crash ratings tests with flying colors. Crazy part there have been multiple fatalities in just the 1st half of this year involving both drivers and occupants of Tesla vehicles. Probably plenty of survivors as well. Depending upon who you ask, people might disagree with Tesla being a top safety pick. IHS ranks Tesla as a top saftey pick, that is a fact.

 

“Excess” Speed is not a factor in testing.

 

Fixed it for him

 

I just picked up a used Leaf with 60k miles. The battery capacity is 72% of new and I’m getting about 70 miles out of a charge (not to empty). I can charge at work for $1. The only maintenance on the car is washer/blinker fluid, and eventually change the <2 quarts of ATF in the gear reduction box. Maybe a new 12V battery this winter since it’s from 2018.

the current stay is something like most Americans drive less than 42 miles per day. So this would cover them.

Also, I don’t have any special charging, solar, power wall or anything at home. Standard Level 1, 120V charging on an existing 15A circuit in the garage, but only when the RAV4 prime isn’t in there.

 

It's one of the anti EV crowds talking points that home charging requires some high voltage/amperage connection. Then they will trot out a bunch of edge cases as if everyone is the same. "BuT wHAt aBoUt the guy that drives 300 miles a day and lives in a 100 year old house with a 50 Amp service and knob and tube wiring. iT's gOInG tO CoSt TH0USANDDSS oF dOLlArS fOR ThEM tO InStAll An oUtLEt AnD NoT evERyOne cAn AFfOrd tHAt!" The case for high voltage/amps certainly exists and some need 750 miles of range, others need 10 minute charging, but not everyone.

I'll admit I fell prey to the high volt/amp "thought" process. But, since my house isn't a 100 years old and it only cost a few hundred dollars to install, it was no big deal. Fast forward 18 months into EV ownership and I'm limiting the charging Amps to my Tesla to the equivalent of a wall outlet. lol There are a couple of reasons why I don't "need" a 240V 50 Amp outlet. First, for the amount I drive, my car charges just fine over night. If it takes 1 or 12 hours makes no difference because for most of them I'm asleep. Second, it feels like a slower charge is easier on the battery, but I have no evidence of that it is.

If anyone is on the EV fence I highly recommend looking at your personal situation. How many miles do you drive on an average day. How many miles on that once in a while long driving day? How often do you road trip? Are your road trips a get there ASAP affair or a more let's see the sights kind of thing?

 

It's a factor in the fatal crashes. The vehicles also accelerate much faster than traditional vehicles. I believe the vehicles are well constructed, and handle a crash very well. The headline indicate Teslas are safe, when you look up crashes involving Tesla vehicles there is almost a new fatal crash a week if not more. Speed is one factor, DUI seems to be prevalent in many of the fatal crashes, and a lot of it is people doing stupid things behind the wheel. Some of it can be attributed to FSD, and the driver's ignorance of the system.

 

I think if anyone lives in that kind of a house (with knob and tube) they ought to be upgrading it anyway, if nothing else for safety's sake. Forget an EV.

Shoot, my garage is on its own panel. My brother in law got it all done when he lived here.

My example is old and such but I remember the old RC cars it was recommended to do a slow charge every now and then. I forget the interval off my skull..and I'm sure batteries of all kinds have come a long way from the 1980s as well.

I would consider an EV if I was in need of a vehicle. It wouldn't make sense to do it today for me. Cost in general of buying a vehicle might push me to hold off and buy a bucket I could pay cash for, for one thing.

 

The anti EV crowd isn't about safety. No, they'll trot out EV fires and Tesla crashes even when the statistics show that ICE cars are far more dangerous. But, statistics is a big word and understanding them takes thought, so they keep with the same old lame talking points.

Yeah money can be a little bitch sometimes. My daughter in law drives a Honda CRV with 265K miles on it. The next time my son brings it over to fix what ever breaks next I'm going to suggest he look at buying a Nissan Leaf with a degraded battery. Her round trip commute is 10 miles. A Leaf with 50 miles of range would be perfect and wouldn't have all the crap (transmission, emissions, engine) that the old Honda does.

 

high current, fast charging increases battery degradation. If you really want, I can pull up data from work. I will only quick charge my leaf for about 10 min to add about 15 miles of range just to make it home if I’m in a bind.

if you get close to that point hit me up and I’ll give you the tools to assess battery health before they commit to buying one.