Rivian R1T Pickup

I believe US BEV's account for less than 1% of the vehicles on the road. It will be a while until they reach 50% saturation. Current legislation in beefing up the electric grid to prep for this is being held up. So that doesn't help prep for the inevitable.

 

Beefing up the grid is nice, but what about power generation? Some countries are pushing hard for getting rid of ICE vehicles, incentivizing EV purchasing. That's all fine until you run out of power generation capacity.

 

Most European countries are already allocating for EV's but the slow pace of adoption in the US will not cause any generation issues. Some think though that every EV will be charging at the same moment and there will be brown outs because of all the EV in the country will be charging at the same time. This is just ridiculous.

 

I don't know about black outs and all that. Even if every loser got an EV, and plugged them in, this would be just like a typical summer day where everyone is running their AC for like 2-4 hrs a day (not non stop). literally the same draw of power. It's about 10kwh of juice you need per day for 30 miles a day driving. that's like a small AC going for 2-4 hours tops (10kwhs). what? you guys are driving up and down the highways for 12 hrs per day everyday of our life?

I'm sure it's gonna put increased demand on the grind.. .like I said it's going to be the grid on a summer day (but always). i guess add a little more capacity and it should be ok. you guys are acting like each home is going to start smelting iron and we need 1,000,000,000,000,000 Gigga Watts to get this done.

 

If there was a way to get 80% charge in 10mins from a charging station i'd be all over the EV trucks. I don't think people are against the tech its just too early still. I personally don't want to plan my adventures around charging stations. hell hide solar panels in the trucks side panels and have a charge mode where it turns into a solar power plant for all i care just let me have the freedom to go where i want when i want and be able to get back when i want.

BTW i've done some basic research and could not find any info on its battery drain if the truck sat not plugged in.

 

I'd have to tint the windows on an EV. I wouldn't want people to see me driving it.

 

So tugging this thread, thats 50% of my daily usage right now just to generate enough energy to run some local errands.

If I were to add my normal commute (though thats gone cuz COVID) I would need to utilize 150% more power daily than I do today. That can't be right? My electric bill would more than double and cost significantly more than gas on a monthly basis.

 

ya something is off there with the calc. Unless your gas is like $1 a gal or you get 99mpg, or maybe your local utility is very expensive for electricity? you absolutely should save on miles driven each day by substitution of electricity in place of gasoline.

In my case it's even easier because I make 20-50kwh a day from solar panels, and gasoline is about 4-5 bucks a gal in So Cal

 

LOL opposite problem here in douchy So Cal... Tesla owners just look at you like "really cave man?"
I would be careful tho, and not cut them off ...tesla cam and all:

 

sorry bro maybe you don't live in CA but we can't even keep our lights on during summer and winter seasons without getting fires or blackouts. Add another 20million EV's to the grid and we have to start paying double triple our rates as is just to keep the lights on, Thats assuming we can even get electricity...

 

So we generate 20kwh a day adding another 10kwh for just 30 miles. If I average 500 miles a week with 30mpgs I use 16.6 gallons @ $3.50 a gallon is $58 a week. Based on the 10kwh:30miles or 1kwh per mile 500/3 = 166kwh x $0.13 (power rate) = $21.58

So if everything is correct it costs $36 a week more to run a 30mpg gas vehicle. OK that makes more sense.

So overall it's definitely cheaper to run pure EV BUT I also double my power draw but if you drive less like 10-15k a year thats not too shabby.

EDIT: Insert a bunch of math about 12000 miles a year and average cost of gas and electricity and its like 63% less energy cost to run an eV over gas.

 

yeah can be spotty I heard.

The off grid solar kits are coming down a lot in price . just toss like 20 of the panels out on your garage roof and have them charge your EV. It is a "kit" so no need to grid tie or have utility inspect or any of that BS (just use it for garage or so). You could also get a natural gas electric generator and have that spin up and make the juice when you need to charge your EV. It's actually the most dooms day scenario option for getting around on wheels if you think about it. it will probably pay itself off in 3-7 years depending on how much you drive, and essentially mean never again visit the gas pump, buying oil filters, 0w20 oil or anything else like that.


https://shopsolarkits.com/products/...r-kit-6-1?currency=USD&variant=39568040689804

 

This is an old but interesting read on the topic. Basically, they're working on it.

I will be keeping and driving my Tacoma for as long as it runs, but as demand for petrol tapers off I doubt fuel will decrease in price like we would expect. I fear that instead they'll just limit supply and drive up the price to maintain similar profits on less demand. We're already seeing the limiting supply today. And with government subsidies moving towards making renewable energy even cheaper and away from fossil fuels, it might just become too expensive to drive my truck.

 

that was a good read but it just raises more questions.

1) How can energy companies provide enough electricity during off peak times when solar is non existent? would they then have to resort to burning fossil fuel/coal to provide that lost energy from renewables?

2) If they start charging for peak time rates would that not erase the savings you would get from going electric?

"So we generate 20kwh a day adding another 10kwh for just 30 miles. If I average 500 miles a week with 30mpgs I use 16.6 gallons @ $3.50 a gallon is $58 a week. Based on the 10kwh:30miles or 1kwh per mile 500/3 = 166kwh x $0.13 (power rate) = $21.58"

so if you start paying $0.37 x 166kwh = $61.42 you would essentially be paying more for electricity for your car then you would gas.

This is assuming they don't start adding taxes to electricity or like here in CA our great leaders are considering a "per mile road usage tax". If I read correctly San Diego already approved a $163 billion dollar plan that would charge each person $0.04 per mile and $0.025 regional tax. If its $0.07/mile its essentially $7/100 miles.

I drive about 7k miles a year assuming there is no road trips etc. With road trips and other side trips like fishing or going to the range i usually get to about 11k miles. At my lowest I'd pay $490 at the highest I'd pay $770. That's an additional $10/week or $16/week.

Looks like having an EV is already turning out to be more expensive than a regular car?

 

At least here in NJ my neighbors Tesla costs about $50 month in charging compared to $85-90 month in gas charges. Unless you're in Texas it should be cheaper to charge an EV compared to petrol costs per month.

 

Depends on how your electric company charges it's well known and documented for over 10 years that EV's cost less to charge than it is to fuel with gas. 7k a year travel is a no brainer to me to go EV.

 

Its very difficult to predict what it will actually cost but from other peeps I've talked to said their electricity bill went up significantly if they charged it solely at home. Where it gets complicated is at least here (So Cal Edison who is the electric supplier) is how they bill you in tiers. Like taxes if your usage suddenly puts you in the next tier of higher usage then your cost per KW/hr goes up quite a bit. Now for those like myself who have solar panels on their roof are in position to make it an easier decision, but I built the solar array based on my usage not including a EV. Still I should be able to keep it in the lowest tier because I think I would charge it about 3x per month. Same as filling up with gas. If you didn't notice electricity prices have gone up over the years but not as much as gasoline. I think there's like 4 teslas on my street now.

 

One of the problems I have seen with Solar is a lot of regulation and input about power generation. As an example, utilitiy companies can dictate how much solar you can generate for grid tied systems. I am restricted on how much solar I can add to my house based on my current energy usage. AZ also has a few restrictions.

Honestly, the way the world works, EV and solar will become more expensive. NOTHING ever gets cheaper.

 

I'm unaware of any restrictions at least here in Cali. Obviously you wouldn't want or need a solar farm for your house. You only want enough to cover your usage anyway. Although I've gotten a small check from Edison every June. Thats when my net metering is settled on an annual basis. I never expected that. The system overachieved my calculations. As far as price, when you consider how the solar panels are getting more efficient the cost was going down as of 2020. All bets are off since covid so dont know the current situation on solar cost. The last sentence could be repeated as far as EV prices.

 

Isn't California going towards some form of "grid access fee" something like $50 per month? and they are trying to switch over to reduce the fee they pay solar homes for contributing to the electricity grid?

If those things are in the future what is the point of going EV with Solar etc. etc. if you are just going to get taxed to the point where it doesn't make sense to swap over to EV?

I paid $36k for my 2017 Tacoma. If I bought a R1T it would cost me near $70k

Yeah this forum helped a lot with my research on EV. It just doesn't make any sense to go EV until the tech matures more. Maybe 5-10 more years we may see

-5-10min charge time to 80%
-larger infrastructure of charging stations in america
-cost of electricity goes down due to improved renewable energy
-cost of EV goes down due to saturation in the markets