California may have the highest costs for charging electric vehicles

Los Angeles Times ^ | January 14, 2011 | Tiffany Hsu

[ApplegateRanch]

...but who will pay for the (already heavily gov’t subsidized) EV’s for those low income Californians to plug in?

That discount is, though, a typical socialistic ‘answer’ to the ‘problem’.

[Puckster]

“Even a small homeowners type arc welder you can buy at Home Depot will not plug into a dryer outlet. They require a heavy amperage outlet and special wiring.”

Your such a fun sucker with your astuteness. (sarc)

[Lockbox]

and these are VERY conservative figures that don’t take charging efficiencies (or lack thereof) into account.

1st start with the conversion of coal or natural gas into electricity, with natural gas being the most efficient at 50% of the possible energy converted into electricity. Then add in the following losses, 6.5% for transmission, 3% for transformer and 10% for the charger.

[Lockbox]

At California’s 2010 average residential electricity rate of 15 cents per kW-hr. this is then about $2.25 per hour of operation. Not a bad deal, actually.

Wait until they start to charge everyone for the higher transformer failure rate!

"The other half of the equation, today’s local electric distribution system, probably wouldn’t be able to cope with a nation of newly purchased EVs all driving home from work and plugging in during peak demand hours. Why? Take the transformer or power pole near your home, for example. That transformer may serve 4 to 6 homes and have very little reserve capacity for reliable operation when additional demand (like charging electric vehicles) is added. Each electric vehicle roughly doubles each homes’ peak power demand, so if everyone buys an electric car we’re either going to need bigger local transformers, or more of them. Additionally, round-the-clock demand prevents the transformers from cooling down at night, something which could result in premature transformer failures and local blackouts".

http://www.beyondthelightswitch.com/blog/electric-vehicles

[freekitty]

You have to wonder why after all these years of screaming how to lower your electric bills; they want to increase them 3 fold. Of course, there is a high chance of fire and you can only go so far.

Ah, what a deal. /sarc

[freekitty]

They don’t think about the details.

[Caipirabob]

Yet this is all compensated by a greater sense of "self esteem", yes?

Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

[Principled]

When posters were pushing these here on FR, I kept asking “how much will it cost to charge it?”... I never, NEVER got an answer. All crap answers... “it likely will be comparable to what you pay for gas and maintenance” or some hogwash like that.

LOL. I’ll stick with gas and NOT increase my electric bill by $150 thank you.

oh yeah... then there’s battery replacement... I couldn’t get an answer on that either. Every 3 yrs “or so”, you’ll need another battery for $10,000. crappy electric pos ars

[Hot Tabasco]

I have always wondered about the batteries.

I have too......would you want to buy a 4 or 5 year old used Volt that has the original batteries?

[Talf]

to post 33

so what?

coal costs about one-tenth
as much as crude oil

[DaveTesla]

Lets see Gasoline costs 2.75 a gallon.
A gallon will get you 30-32 MPG highway.

At 60 mph cruising speed your car will require > 40 Hp.
40 Hp = 29.84kw.
With house wiring loss (5%) that's 31.32kw.
With Charger power factor and efficiency (65%) that's 47.10 kw.
With battery electrochemical efficiency that's 52.93 kw.
With traction inverter efficiency that's 58.22 kw.

At $0.13 per kilowatt hour that's $7.56 in electricity
vs $5.50 for my gasoline.

If you live in cold weather add another 1.5 KWH for heating
the batteries as L-ion cannot be charged below 50F.

After two years the batteries in the electric car will be
shot and then you will be spending 10 - 15K for new ones.

But then....
When did the truth or science mean anything to a lib/liar?