Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energies

[Nowherewoman]

Wait free chargers? As in, no costs to charge?

Didn't Tesla charge 2k for that 'free charging' a couple years back?

I'll take your word for it if it is, I'm just always a bit skeptical when I hear the word 'free'

I don't know all the details about Tesla's system, since I don't own one. It was my impression the free charging was baked into the cost of the car, so yes, it's frontloaded, but if you drive a lot you will quickly amortize that cost.

But there is  a slowly growing pool of actually *free* municipal chargers.  Just a few locations I know of: behind the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine; at the police station in Lenox, Mass; in the parking lot of the Brickyard Mall in Fairfield CT; likewise, in the parking lot of the Connecticut Post Mall.

[Nowherewoman]

Also:

https://www.nrcm.org/news/llbean-home-maines-largest-electric-vehicle-charging-station/

[Oniya]

https://www.yahoo.com/video/video-florida-teen-invents-world-160100905.html

This just crossed my feed - a teenager in Florida has invented an electric vehicle motor that doesn't use rare-earth minerals.  It's taken 15 iterations, but he's gotten it to a point where it delivers enough power to run a vehicle, and is working on the 16th.

[GloomCookie]

https://www.yahoo.com/video/video-florida-teen-invents-world-160100905.html

This just crossed my feed - a teenager in Florida has invented an electric vehicle motor that doesn't use rare-earth minerals.  It's taken 15 iterations, but he's gotten it to a point where it delivers enough power to run a vehicle, and is working on the 16th.

Probably talking about Rare-Earth magnetics (which are, btw, not rare). They're usually magnets that are lighter weight than ferrous magnets and have a stronger Gauss strength. Good on him, since if we can use more common materials, that makes them easier to produce and should have other benefits in normal motors. Most motors though just use steel since it's incredibly cheap and don't need to have a high power/weight ratio, so they can get big without being overly expensive.

https://youtu.be/HT7wWLsSTlo

[greenknight]

Just got first power bill after turning on the solar. Even with charging the car, $0. (I expect the next bill will compensate a bit, as this was a short bill for some reason and no gas usage was included.)

[Dashenka]

Feels good doesn't it? :)

[GloomCookie]

So I heard about this but it's interesting. Toyota will not be investing heavily into EV because their new CEO, picked by the former CEO and new chairman, has opted instead to focus on vehicles other than lithium-ion batteries, believing that there are numerous powertrain options out there and that internal combustion engines, while being phased out in Canada, the European Union, and California, will still be used heavily in developing nations like those in Africa, South America, and there will still be large markets in the United States and China.

https://youtu.be/DK7MjajHMAY

[GloomCookie]

An update for peeps following this topic.

TL;DR: The EPA has plans to sell mostly electric vehicles by 2032.

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-proposes-56-vehicle-emissions-cut-by-2032-requiring-big-ev-jump-2023-04-12/#:~:text=Under%20the%20proposal%2C%20the%20EPA,emissions%20by%2044%25%20over%202026.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move it says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade.

Under the proposal, the EPA estimates 50% of new vocational vehicles like buses and garbage trucks could be EVs by 2032, along with 35% of new short-haul freight tractors and 25% of new long-haul freight tractors. Medium-duty vehicle rules are projected to cut emissions by 44% over 2026.

This along with the outright ban on internal combustion engines in California, Canada, and the European Union by 2035 means electric vehicles may be the defacto choice of new vehicles within a decade.

[CriminalMindsFan]

I've had the same car since 2001 so car drivers like myself would probably buy another one soon and expect it own it for 20+ years after buying it.

To me big items like a car, aren't something you replace every year or even every couple years. But I also know people who change cars every three years because they get them by leasing for 36 months at a time.

[GloomCookie]

The 9th Federal Circuit Court has overturned the Berkeley ban on gas stoves.

https://apnews.com/article/berkeley-california-natural-gas-ban-overturned-appeals-court-7dafca58d19963f322100d73caf9c31a

But Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote in the 3-0 Ninth Circuit ruling that a local ordinance that bans appliances such as gas stoves “impacts the quantity of energy” they consume, which is regulated by the federal government.

Jot Condie, president of the restaurant association, hailed the decision. Berkeley’s ban was “an overreaching measure beyond the scope of any city,” he said in a statement.

“Cities and states are not equipped to regulate the energy use or energy efficiency of appliances that businesses and homeowners have chosen; energy policy and conservation is an issue with national scope and national security implications,” Condie said.

Supporters of the ordinance said the decision would not affect a small number of other California cities that have promoted electrification in their building codes.

So I know this sounds bad for the environment but something that needs to be taken into consideration is that gas heat uses almost no electricity (~100W at most when striking the pilot), while an electric range uses around 5,760W the entire time that it's on. Water heaters can range from 2500W to much much higher depending on the model in question. The Department of Energy has super strict requirements on how energy efficient ranges and water heaters, both gas and electric, need to be in order to comply.

Given that California is already facing an electricity crisis, burdening the already overburdened electrical companies with even more demand isn't going to help anyone. Currently, the California Department of Energy requires that all new construction have demand metering and the ability to receive instructions from the power company to forcibly reduce load, including shutting off HVAC and other high-energy devices in rolling brownouts. The demand from ranges in homes coupled with more and more EV usage is going to increase the burden even more.

So I kinda understand the ruling from the perspective that energy emissions are a matter of national security and should be regulated at the national level.

[GloomCookie]

Given the recent surge in interest regarding solar and EV and other things of that nature, I thought I'd bump this thread and let anyone who has questions ask away.

[GloomCookie]

Hey guys, so apparently this news slipped past me at first, but I'm excited that Ford and GMC have both agreed to adopt Tesla as a charging standard going forward.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/10/1181505133/general-motors-and-ford-electric-cars-will-now-be-able-to-use-teslas-supercharge

While this isn't a set standard yet, it may mean that we here in the US might be moving towards a single unified standard for EV charging going forward. Tesla was one of two systems currently in use, and from what I understand, Tesla currently has a huge head start on setting up the infrastructure to allow both super chargers and reduced capacity super chargers. This does mean that current EV cars that don't use Tesla charging ports will need an adapter, and that will require a lot of coordination as Tesla has only recently received an SAE standard part number, but that's stuff that comes with any new technology.

Spicy take from Technology Connections:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJOfyMCEzjQ