ENERGY: How to prep your home for an electric car

nctimes.com ^

[Jet Jaguar]

Getting your home ready to charge an electric car will either require little time or money ---- or a couple of months and thousands of dollars. It depends on what kind of electric car you buy, the wiring in your home and how quickly you want to juice your ride.

[Jet Jaguar]

It depends on where you live and what you are used to.

I, for one, could not buy an EV and support it.

I own a home that has no garage. My house could support the installation of a charging station. But, I would cost me.

For someone living in an apartment, they would have to drive to city hall or walgreens to charge.

It also depends on your vocation. Farm workers, ranchers, and rural types could not charge at less convenience than getting some gas.

Also, most of the initial charging stations are paid for by you and me to give free juice to those who need it.

Free means nobody has a financial interest in the charging stations to keep them working.

I could in-vision a time where charging cords, stolen from stations, are turned in to junkyards for cash.

The same way air conditioning units are parted or taken whole by thieves today for the copper.

[Jet Jaguar]

I would cost me.

It would cost me.

[Jet Jaguar]

The F-16 has hydraulic accumulators.

I am familiar with accumulators.

I like this idea.

Thanks.

[BenKenobi]

Yeah, and I’m sure the 15k subsidy on each of these puppies qualifies as a free market ‘incentive’.

Why should I pay more for power so that it makes driving with an electric car viable? If people want to use them, they should pay up front for charging stations.

If people want to be smug, do it on your dime, not mine.

[montag813]

One time, there was a pretty green flash as the transformer gave up the ghost. Another time one of the high wires failed at the fuse, and there was a shower of burning aluminum...Looked like July 4.

Aren't PCBs released when that occurs?

[Kellis91789]

I have 90,000 miles on my original brakes on my 2002 Lexus so I think 400,000 if I had regenerative braking is plausible. There have been prototype electric cars that had no friction brakes at all and relied entirely on regen except for parking brake.

[montag813]

You know the sad thing is that our kids aren’t going to know what real freedom is like.

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car:
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time.
We fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel,
I commit my weekly crime.

-Red Barchetta (Neil Peart)

[montag813]

So here is the thing. They want us to eventually have a car that would allow us to only commute intercity, back and forth to work.

Is that the dreaded "Agenda 21"?

[Kellis91789]

The Leaf has a battery sized to allow 100 miles between recharges. If you actually drive 100 miles every day, then a 5000 watt charger would run 6+ hours.

The math is not complicated. A well designed electric small sedan or sports car will need between 160wh (the GM EV1) and 250wh (the Tesla) per mile. Figuring 4 miles per kwh is conservative unless the vehicle is a van or truck. The Volt will cover 40 miles under regular driving (25 leadfooting it and 50 babying it) on the 10KWH of battery power it uses before it turns on the engine to prevent the battery from further discharge. So the Volt is figuring 250wh per mile as an average. Charging at 5000 watts, 240V and 21A, that would require 2 hours to replenish the 10KWH.

[Kellis91789]

“you can’t always run a line to the car if it’s on the other side of the street and such “

That is the most restrictive aspect. Electric vehicles are best for use inside cities, yet street parking in cities is going to make charging an issue.

[Kellis91789]

Where did I ever say anything in support of subsidies ?

I said the electric companies would be happy to spend money (their own) to replace transformers so they could provide service to get all the additional business.

Somehow, you twist that in your tiny mind into support for subsidies ? You’re a loon.

[ApplegateRanch]

The cost depends upon how much charging time you have between trips. You can get by pretty cheaply, if it doesn't get driven much.

[Gorzaloon]

Aren't PCBs released when that occurs?

I think they stopped using them in the 80's. It didn't matter to us, since we kept getting new transformers! Surely we ended up with the latest model one year or another... LOL

[raybbr]

Its not BS my freaking neighbor hood transformers are near their limits without electric cars plugged in, use your head.

I am. I have over thirty years experience working with electricity.

[meyer]

There have been prototype electric cars that had no friction brakes at all and relied entirely on regen except for parking brake.

No need for anti-lock brakes on those prototypes. LOL. What's the braking distance from 70 to 0, 500 feet? Or would these prototypes even go 70?

[meyer]

Aren't PCBs released when that occurs?

PCBs? Weren't PCB's the "toxin de jour" back in the late 1970s? I think that they fit along the time line somewhere between nuclear meltdown fears and EMFs.

And to answer the question, nearly all electric utilities have removed PCB oil from their transformers and switchgear as a result of the bad press (and greedy trial lawyers) of that era.

[Pecos]

Murphy’s Law says that if you bet on battery technology to come along in time, especially if your life depends on it, then you will be out of luck.

[the invisib1e hand]

nice info.

However, I don't see where you account for the source of the power for the electric motor. Is it magic that fills the battery, or fossil or nuclear fuel?

[crz]

I can see why California is the way it is..

It will be a good long while before the rest of the country listens to Californians.