Posted on 09/28/2013 10:11:23 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Hoping to play a bigger role in the electric vehicle revolution, the Palo Alto City Council embraced a proposal Monday night that would require new homes to come pre-wired for chargers.
Council members were unanimous in their support for the building code change, which was floated in a colleagues' memo by Mayor Greg Scharff, Vice Mayor Nancy Shepherd and Council Member Gail Price.
The city council also backed related proposals to streamline the process for obtaining a permit for a charger as well as develop strategies to further encourage electric vehicle use in Palo Alto.
"Let's figure out as a council what we can do to remove the obstacles to owning electric vehicles in Palo Alto," Scharff said before the 9-0 vote. "I think what we really need to do is make it convenient, easy and economical."
"The thing that caught me is how simple and easy and fairly inexpensive it is to rough-in the wiring," Shepherd said. The cost is often under $200 for a new home, or four times less than what it runs to install a charger at an existing home, Scharff said.
Several council members noted that Palo Alto was on the leading edge two years ago when it first started pushing chargers, but it hasn't managed to keep pace with a recent surge in demand for electric vehicles.
"They really are starting to catch on and get some market penetration," said Marc Berman, "It is important that we create the infrastructure necessary to allow that to happen. In Palo Alto, of all places, we should absolutely do that."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Yes because people have no choice but to buy such a house, not like there is any pressure to build a better product without government.
What a stupid thing to say.
Maybe, but only if the average home buyer knows to look for such things as electric outlets...
I bet most don't...
Also, do you think builders would space the 2x4s correctly inside the walls without the code of inspectors... I'm betting a lot would scrimp. Heck, the FL hurricanes exposed builders short cuts and missing hardware to save money.
The pressure to build a better product isn't as clearly defined as you say when it comes to new homes.
Bad typing, sorry - should be
code or inspectors
As long as people know what they are getting.
I am sitting in a very old shack at the moment with an aluminum roof, there is no running water or power except for an extension cord from next door.
Hopefully though, we can have water and power soon since they have been working on it.
What do you have against builders? (:#/>
In other news, advocates of “affordable housing” cannot understand why housing costs so much.
>> Do you need 220 to run machine tools to make your own arsenal?
Some of ‘em are 440V, 3-phase. Although you can synthesise whatever you need from 220 if need be. And if you synthesize your machine tool power, there isn’t that telltale 3-phase feed into your garage when the drones come looking for ordnance machine shops. :-)
I take it they’ve forgotten about the State of California’s critical shortages in electrical generation and distribution capacity.
Is that still going on? I thought they fixed it when they got rid of “Gray-out” Davis.
Haven’t seen anything about brownouts in Cali lately.
They did improve distribution marginally, but not generating capacity and those improvements were already in process. Frankly, it was price that caused the efficiencies we've seen. So the answer is no.
“...If I were advising someone building a new house, I’d recommend at least 100 amp, 240V service run to the garage or shop as an “of *course* you’re going to need that” sort of thing....”
A number of years ago, I had a 30 x 30 foot 2-car garage built. Put three rooms over (unfinished) just because. The electric service was a 100A sub panel, and I did most of the wiring. Thought we might need another heat pump some day. Put in one 30A 240V outlet, just in case we might need it.
Fast forward:
Now the “garage” contains a 2,400 lb. vertical mill, 1,900 lb. lathe (and two smaller ones), 5 H.P. 3-phase RPC, several welders (water-cooled Syncrowave 250 TIG/stick, Dialarc 250, Thermal Arc 161STL, Lincoln SP175+ MIG and 1952 vintage AC180C, Miller spot welder, Victor & Smith O/A torches), table, radial arm and chop saws, wood lathe, two jointers, three drill presses, a 20-ton hydraulic press and a sandblasting booth, 3.5 H.P. 60 gallon air compressor, two band saws and a 400 pound granite surface plate, plus three work benches. And a lot of hand tools. Moma’s spare oven is in there, too. Good thing we are skinny.
Now the panel supports separate 30, 50 and 70 Amp, 240V circuits for the big stuff. Five separate 20A, 120V circuits and I forget how many 15A lighting and whatnot circuits. Fortunately, I had two 150A main panels to start with. I can live with 300A service (320), but 400 would have been better. I did most of the routine wiring and let an electrician do the main panel and sub panel connects. I spent days and days going up and down a ladder and yanking wire.
Since I did that, my younger one has become a quite competent machinist/welder. Good with all welding processes (though not a pipeline welder), knows his G-code and MasterCAM for CNC machining.
Around here in Dupage County IL;it is often required to bring the house up to today’s code, prior to sale.
For my 100 year old home a minimum of $1,000+ to run from the new 200A service in the back to the unattached garage in the front. Lots in the way.
If my house comes pre-wire for the charger then I don’t need a stinking permit!
That’s incredible.
All those rich people enduring 3rd world electricity availability.
wait until it hits the fan and these people figure out they moved to the wrong state
Nothing, but I am a retired engineer and can follow what they do when working on anything that is mine...:^)
For my 100 year old home a minimum of $1,000+ to run from the new 200A service in the back to the unattached garage in the front. Lots in the way.
I agree, existing stuff should be grandfathered in.
But the OP talked about new construction only.
You and I should get together sometimes. Sounds like we have a lot in common in our shops.
FWIW, Look into the Miller Dynasty welders. The Syncrowaves are great machines, don’t get me wrong, but the Dynasty machines take sooo much less power - and you get a lot more pulse/waveform options on them. I like my Dynasty 200 for welding on guns. For the big stick stuff, I have a Trailblazer outside the doors.
In the future, I want to get a CNC bed mill. I’ve been eyeing some of the smaller Haas mill/lathe setups, like their “toolroom” machines. Trouble is, they’ve been forced to add “features” I don’t want or need for the Euro-weenie market that increase weight and footprint, so I might also look at some of the Taiwanese machines. I reckon I have to keep the weight under 7K in order to not crack the pad as I’m moving it around. The people who built the shop I’m in now didn’t think that concrete was very important - they poured only 4”. I’d like 6, better 8”. Everyone around here is stingy with the concrete in both residential and commercial pad pours.
For motors 5HP and under, look at VFD’s. They’re a much cheaper alternative to putting in a rotary, and far, far better than a static phase converter.
For big conversion issues, there’s a new outfit that sells solid-state phase conversion that is very nice. Quiet, efficient, good regulation. Google/Bing “Phase Perfect.”
Ever notice how contractors just LOOOOOVE engineers looking over their shoulders? ;-)
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