Recharge My Electric Car? (1 Viewer)

[Steve R.]

A pundit on Fox News, in discussing recharging electric cars, made one of those very obvious observations that I even overlooked. Basically, it you don't live in a suburban single family home you won't have easy access to a charging "station". Should you live in a highly urban area where people park in garages or are limited to on-the-street parking, charging stations will be difficult to install. Given time and new construction, this issue can eventually be overcome; but it also highlights that transitioning to electric vehicles will not be easy nor fast.

A side observation. A green economy footnote that does not receive much critical attention in the mad-dash towards a green economy is the proposed "elimination" of suburban single family homes in favor of high density developments.

Bonus graphic. You will still need that "dirty disgusting" energy source to run your "clean green" vehicle.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I find it interesting that California, with its electric car mandates, has set themselves up for power brown-outs because of the added burden placed on their power grid by adding car charging stations in various places. Not making this up... I saw an article in one of the online news sources, can't recall which one at the moment.

So add another smoke stack to your cartoon, @Steve R. That's not enough power.

 

[Steve R.]

I find it interesting that California, with its electric car mandates, has set themselves up for power brown-outs because of the added burden placed on their power grid by adding car charging stations in various places. Not making this up... I saw an article in one of the online news sources, can't recall which one at the moment.

So add another smoke stack to your cartoon, @Steve R. That's not enough power.

Excellent follow-up. California, for years, has obstructed power plant construction in California. In the days when we lived in Nevada, California attempted to "force" their power plant construction to occur in Nevada. I also believe, that California has been at "war" with with Pacific Gas and Electric, making it difficult for PG&E to meet the energy needs of their customers.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I find it interesting that California, with its electric car mandates, has set themselves up for power brown-outs because of the added burden placed on their power grid by adding car charging stations in various places. Not making this up... I saw an article in one of the online news sources, can't recall which one at the moment.

So add another smoke stack to your cartoon, @Steve R. That's not enough power.

Speaking of California, below is a picture of a Tesla recharging station near a mall where my daughter works. No matter what time of day or night there seems to be a long line for recharging. It takes me ten minutes tops to wait and fill up my car with gas. These poor souls sit there endlessly waiting for their turn, sometimes the owner who is charging is not present, they might be in the mall shopping while charging. An added bonus I guess.

As @The_Doc_Man said because California has restrictions (mostly L.A. county) on the peek hours and frequency while running low on electrical power, how could this ever make sense even on the "left coast"?

 

[Pat Hartman]

How long does it take to charge a Tesla? How about other makes?
How much does a full charge cost at one of these stations?
How much does a full charge cost at home?

I guess CT is way behind the times. Most malls have charging stations but out of 10 stations at each location, I've never seen more than one being used at a time.

My sister-in-law had no idea that her "green" electric car was being powered by coal which is as black as it gets. She's a very typical liberal. Never looks behind the surface of a "good" idea.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The other chicken that will eventually come home to roost is when the battery charge-cycles enough times to degraded and it will be very costly to dispose of it in an ecologically safe way. Most of those are lithium batteries, not lead-acid batteries, so they require a totally different disposal method. They count as "hazardous e-waste" and, in the worst case, can lead to smoldering dump fires that release toxic gasses.

 

[AccessBlaster]

It's okay we're employing thousands of Africans to dig cobalt and other nasty stuff to fulfill our desire to drive the new trendy car. Imagine if the hipsters who drive these cars actually had to dig the lithium themselves. On second thought it might be a good way to get a buzz digging for lithium

 

[jdraw]

An interesting business opportunity found and followed by some former Tesla engineer.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Thanks @jdraw That was really interesting and very encouraging. Maybe there is a future for EV's after all

But,

This summer, for example, a fire broke out at a warehouse storing an estimated 100 tons of lithium-ion batteries, burning for nearly a week and forcing thousands of people to evacuate the area.

I can't believe I never saw this story. It should have been front page, top of the hour news on all channels. Maybe it was fake news and so suppressed. Are you sure this really happened?

 

[Pat Hartman]

Also,
I really want to know the answers to the questions in #6. Surely someone has an EV or a friend with one.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

NOW we have yet another bit of craziness from LA LA Land... the Los Angeles council has banned gas stoves, requiring all-electric cooking stoves for all new housing and banning the sale of gas stoves. Just another drain on a power grid. And yet I'll bet that the same city council wonders why there is an exodus from that area.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I'll bet there will be an exemption for restaurants

All those crazy people are leaving California and moving to other states so they can have some place new to wreck.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I'll bet there will be an exemption for restaurants

All those crazy people are leaving California and moving to other states so they can have some place new to wreck.

All those crazy people moving out of California were not native Californians, so they need to go back to their native state.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Yeah, but they're going to wreck that just like they wrecked California, Oregon, Washington, and they're working on Texas as we speak.

Seattle used to be my favorite US city. Not any more.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The more non-native people moving out of California the better it is for us natives.

I couldn't be happier

 

[Pat Hartman]

I think we actually need a border wall to keep the people who broke California there rather than allowing them to move to other states to get away from their mess.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The chickens are coming back home to roost.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

And, given the most recent California ideas to destroy their power grid, the chickens have brought along their chicken-poop.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The non-Californians can take all the poop they can carry back to their home states.