Posted on 01/30/2022 10:32:05 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT
A gas station-style forecourt isn't necessarily the best option
I’ve always been of the opinion that you should bring EV chargers to the people, rather than asking people to come to the chargers. But admittedly charging hubs aren’t very common, and until very recently they were all too far away to experience first hand.
But at the tail end of last year, Shell opened up its first EV charging hub in Fulham, in West London. It’s still pretty out of the way for me, and the trip involves driving into the heart of the U.K.’s busiest city from nearby Reading. But it’s not so far that I couldn’t check this out for myself, just in case I’ve been totally wrong about EV charging this whole time.
And yes, for those that didn’t know, Shell the oil company is also in the EV charging business. So is BP, which is all really weird to think about.
According to Shell the Fulham hub uses 100% renewable energy, with on-site solar panels contributing around a quarter of its needs.
It was a very painless experience, only really hampered by the fact the price was so high. £0.49 ($0.66). I’m used to rapid chargers being more expensive, but Shell Recharge is the most expensive I’ve ever seen. Back home a rapid charger will cost me £0.30 to £0.35 ($0.40 to $0.47) per kWh, depending on which company’s chargers I’m using. It’s not just London-centric inflation, either, since that is an all-too real problem in the English capital.
According to ZapMap, which lists the vast majority of available chargers, nearby rapid chargers were charging no more than £0.39 ($0.52) per kWh.
(Excerpt) Read more at tomsguide.com ...
I guess you know better than me.
I only design the distribution system.
For fifteen or twenty minutes where the fueling up car is gone on down the road.
Please explain. I know nothing about EV life.
—”Meaning if this is our future we’ll need four to five times as many ‘gas stations’ as we have now.”
Perhaps if everyone totally relied on public charging stations.
“2018, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. That’s about 1,123 miles per month, or 260 miles per week.”
https://t.ly/fduc
260 miles per week and you can easily charge at home from a cheap thin extension cord.
Exactly.
Thinking of all those New Englanders. After the blizzard, hundreds of thousands are without electricity.
The one with EV’s are going nowhere.
“Tesla and Lincoln were at the bottom of the list.”
But at the top of the satisfaction list.
If you are gonna use the “actual technology”, I would ask that you use the “Actual Numbers”, not the fairy-tell dust that the EV companies use.
I have a 2020 F-150, 2.7L Ecoboost. Ford says I should get 20-26 MPG.
My gauges indicate on average about 24. I record mileage and fuel on every fill up I get about 22.8 to 23 MPG on average. Those are REAL numbers. I never get below 21 nor get above 25 on a tank. If I could drive 450 miles on perfectly flat road with no stop lights, I could get 27-28. But that isn’t real world.
EV numbers are not real world. I have yet to read a review where an EV gets what it is advertised. That includes batteries.
“Lexus was rated the most reliable automaker in Consumer Reports’ 2021 Auto Reliability Report, followed by Mazda and Toyota, while Jeep, Tesla and Lincoln were at the bottom of the list.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/consumer-reports-2021-auto-reliability-survey-how-tesla-evs-fared.html“
Lexus is going 100% EV globally by 2035. They must see some value in it.
“I don’t recall any massive power failures?
What time frame do you project for this event?”
Were they outlawing fossil fuel power plants when you were growing up?
“Tesla and Lincoln were at the bottom of the list.”
“But at the top of the satisfaction list.”
Very true, with the Tesla owners that I know, it takes a while for me to get through their bragging before they tell me about the problems they’ve had. So I’m surprised that the survey showed the same.
“Lexus is going 100% EV globally by 2035. They must see some value in it.”
With election theft now endemic in the US, they are correctly figuring that we’ll be forced to go all electric, and so will the rest of the world.
...but it doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it, or support it.
Plug EVERYONE in at night, and start charging.
Electricity is magic, till it isn't.
I had to explain to one of my next door neighbors why plugging an 11 amp draw porch heater into a 15 amp residential circuit shared with a bank of grow lights drawing 6 amps wasn't a real good idea - especially since part of the circuit was buried in an old log sill plate, and you couldn't inspect that part - which was also old wiring from the 1960s.
Electrical is one of the most simple parts of your home mechanical plant - yet people don't understand most of it beyond plugging in an appliance.
Not for 15/20 amp circuits where 14/12 gauge copper is normally used, but for 30 amp and larger circuits 8 gauge and larger aluminum is commonly used. And these are technically branch circuits, and could feed a range, air conditioning unit, etc.
” So I’m surprised that the survey showed the same.”
Model 3 in middle for problems, S at bottom. Article says drivetrain not the problem. All the bells and whistles which Tesla is forever tweaking.
To dumbgrunt: “I guess you know better than me. I only design the distribution system”
I have old car friends who work there. They can generate way more electricity than they produce on daily level even in the coldest of winter and the hottest of summers.Both were given federal approval to stay open to at minimum 2050.
As dumbgrunt said the average household today uses less energy than 30 years ago to improved appliances and furnaces, better insulation, led lights etc.
We took out the old 1970’s oil filled ballast resistors lights at my wifes office and put in led’s and her electric bill went down more than half. Should have done it earlier.
Yes there are grid challenges but they will be overcome.
For circuits 30 amps and larger, aluminum is commonly used.
Even in commercial. There is a product called aluminum MC cable, I know of one 40kVA UPS installation that used 1/0 gauge aluminum MC cable.
So what, you post some stupid picture of an apartment complex only God knows where. That’s not in my neighborhood so it doesn’t mean crap to me. Just checked GasBuddy and there are 27 gas stations within 3 miles of my house that I can access. Just checked PlugShare and there are only 4 locations to charge near me and the closest one is 4.5 miles from my house. Definitely NOT convenient.
This is a pretty misleading statement. Most homes have at most 30 amps for the dryer and households need that circuit for the dryer. Also, having only 30 amps (24 actually) is going to be a huge pain to keep a household's cars all charged. That charger you linked to will take the average driver 5 hours a day of charging to keep up with energy demands. If you want to charge a dead EV, it would take more like 20 hours. How often are you willing to get up in the middle of the night to switch chargers to keep two or more EV's charged?
In reality, to be really practical, you need a dedicated 50 or 60 amp circuit for each EV, but a big percentage of houses don't have the spare electrical capacity to support that additional load. It would probably take somewhere in the range of 2 to 10 thousand bucks to hire an electrician to upgrade and install those circuits, depending on the situation.
The Watermelons [Green on the outside, Red on the inside] are just starting on banning the natural gas electrical power generation plants.
They're well-satisfied with the destruction of the nuclear, coal and hydroelectric power plants.
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