It looks like electric vehicles are going to be shoved down our throats

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I recall California had some lofty goals 20 or 30 years ago, with a goal for zero emissions? or much lower ones. Did they have to walk that one back when technology was unable to deliver?
As for 2020 or 2019 essentially all new residential dwellings (ie. detached houses) must be NetZero. The result is that builders are selling these new homes with solar on the roof.
 
“EVs convert over 77% of the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels. Conventional gasoline vehicles only convert about 12%–30% of the energy stored in gasoline to power at the wheels.”

It’s why a Tesla Model Y has a 125 MPGe efficiency rating in the combined cycle and the Chevrolet Equinox is only 27 MPG

Sources: US EPA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, SAE, MIT, University of Michigan

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv-ev.shtml

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml

They list their sources at the bottom of each article

http://papers.sae.org/2014-01-2562/

http://papers.sae.org/2007-01-0398/

http://web.mit.edu/sloan-auto-lab/research/beforeh2/otr2035/

http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-0901/

http://papers.sae.org/2017-01-1155/

https://saemobilus.sae.org/content/2013-01-1462
Interesting.

The SAE paper is likely answering my questions on overall (power plant, grid, vehicle, etc) efficiency but since it’s behind a paywall, I can’t read it.

How much is the line loss from the grid itself? You lose power the farther you get from the generation source.

Any article that starts out with “zero emissions” when describing electric cars is, frankly, suspect. Regardless of source.

The emissions don’t come from the tailpipe, but they do, most certainly, exist where the electricity is generated, in the preponderance of US electricity.

I’m all in favor of the only reliable zero emissions electric generation: nuclear.
 
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As for 2020 or 2019 essentially all new residential dwellings (ie. detached houses) must be NetZero. The result is that builders are selling these new homes with solar on the roof.
I'm recalling there was some push that lead to the GM EV1. I thought there was a push for something like 10% of new vehicle sales to be EV, back in the late 90's or so. Maybe I'm remembering the past wrong.
 
Interesting.

The SAE paper is likely answering my questions on overall (power plant, grid, vehicle, etc) efficiency but since it’s behind a paywall, I can’t read it.

How much is the line loss from the grid itself? You lose power the farther you get from the generation source.

Any article that starts out with “zero emissions” when describing electric cars is, frankly, suspect. Regardless of source.

The emissions don’t come from the tailpipe, but they do, most certainly, exist where the electricity is generated, in the preponderance of US electricity.

I’m all in favor of the only reliable zero emissions electric generation: nuclear.

I’d like to know that too. Can’t find any info.

I really want to compare it to how much energy is used loading around 2,457,000,000 pounds* of gasoline daily onto semi tanker trucks and delivering it to US gas stations. Plus the energy used to drive the empty tanker truck back to the refinery or terminal to do it again. And the further the gas stations are from the terminal/refinery, the more energy the trucks use 😉

*US drivers consume approximately 390 million gallons of gasoline daily.

Source: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/use-of-gasoline.php
 
I’d like to know that too. Can’t find any info.

I really want to compare it to how much energy is used loading around 2,457,000,000 pounds* of gasoline daily onto semi tanker trucks and delivering it to US gas stations. Plus the energy used to drive the empty tanker truck back to the refinery or terminal to do it again. And the further the gas stations are from the terminal/refinery, the more energy the trucks use 😉

*US drivers consume approximately 390 million gallons of gasoline daily.

Source: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/use-of-gasoline.php
Can't find it, but it's lumped into the price of a gallon. Anywhere from 18-22% of the price of a gallon of gas is for distribution and marketing.
 
Yes, but I'd argue building 210 nuke plants is a far easier prospect, even with delays and using Vogtle as a pricing model, than building 32,000 square miles of solar panels and storage, which you'd never complete before you started having to replace both of them. A nuke plant has an extremely small footprint and an extremely long lifespan even with the fact that they seem to take forever to build this side of the pond.
Well they're both pie in the sky. There's just no appetite for nuclear in the US. Too many utilities have been burned in the past and many out of business. Fusion would happen before either of those. While there's more support for it now than in the past, all it takes is a small minority like the anti-vaxers to protest against it to stop it.
 
Interesting.

The SAE paper is likely answering my questions on overall (power plant, grid, vehicle, etc) efficiency but since it’s behind a paywall, I can’t read it.

How much is the line loss from the grid itself? You lose power the farther you get from the generation source.

Any article that starts out with “zero emissions” when describing electric cars is, frankly, suspect. Regardless of source.

The emissions don’t come from the tailpipe, but they do, most certainly, exist where the electricity is generated, in the preponderance of US electricity.

I’m all in favor of the only reliable zero emissions electric generation: nuclear.
It appears I was wrong: I thought transmission line loss was on the order of 10%; it appears to be 5%. That is nationwide; if you live a mile from the plant it's very low, and if you live in the sticks it could be high.

Per Overkill, a coal power plant runs around 35% while natural gas up to 50%.

Looks like we are around 11% renewable energy?

CO2 per BTU

I get 0.053 grams CO2 per BTU for natural gas, and 0.095 for coal.

1Whr = 3.4BTU. You need 3.4 BTU's to get 1Whr.

So every Whr made using natural gas at 50% efficiency is 0.36 grams of CO2. Every Whr made by coal at 35% efficiency is 0.92 grams of CO2.

A gallon of gasoline is 8,887 grams of CO2.

So if a car needs 300Whr/mile it needs 316Whr back at the plant. If that was made with 100% renewable then life would be peachy. 100% natural gas would be 114 grams of CO2 per mile. 100% coal would be 291 grams per mile. If 11% of our needs are met with renewables, half of the remaining with natural gas and the other half with coal, then I come up with 181 grams of CO2 per mile.

A 40mpg gasoline powered car is 222 grams per mile. 50mpg is 178 grams per mile.

Ramp up renewables and/or add nukes and it could be cleaner. Otherwise just buying a small high mpg car might be good enough? Not sure if anyone is doing calculations on the energy expended to build a new power plant, maybe that washes out of the calculation... maybe?

Edit: Astro, most of this post isn't aimed at you, only the first bit, where I point out what transmission line loss is currently. The rest is me doing envelope calculations about whether or not it's actually cleaner.
 
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Well they're both pie in the sky. There's just no appetite for nuclear in the US. Too many utilities have been burned in the past and many out of business. Fusion would happen before either of those. While there's more support for it now than in the past, all it takes is a small minority like the anti-vaxers to protest against it to stop it.

Yeah, it's a struggle in the US for sure, particularly in today's regulatory environment. SMR's are supposed to be cheaper, but they don't offer the same capacity either though... 🤷‍♂️ State-funded enterprises like what's taking place in Russia, China and how we built our nuke fleet here in Ontario is really the most effective way to get them built-out.

Russia is doing a VERY good job exporting the VVER, I assume because they've managed to keep the costs and build times down. There's a really goofy build happening in the Philippines where a US company (Holtec I think?) will be working with SNC to complete the construction of several CANDU's that were never completed.

This is the list of current nukes under construction:
https://www.world-nuclear.org/infor...eration/plans-for-new-reactors-worldwide.aspx

Of course the only one in the USA is Vogtle.

Now, look how many VVER's are on that list!
Slovakia
Belarus
Russia
Bangladesh
India (x2)
Turkey
Iran

Many of these have several phases with more units.
 
As for 2020 or 2019 essentially all new residential dwellings (ie. detached houses) must be NetZero. The result is that builders are selling these new homes with solar on the roof.
Unless you live in certain areas, like under redwoods where there isn't much sunlight.
Owners of these new houses love their solar. Done in a new housing tract, the incremental cost is much lower than my my cost.
A friends parents retired, sold their older smaller house in Napa, moved outside of Sac, paid cash for twice the house.
Pocketed the net gain and love their new home.
Areas like the Central Valley and Sacremento are growing as people retire. Their electricity bill is like $15 per month to be on the grid.
Some have storage as an option...
Pretty sweet deal. Blast that AC!
 
Well, there is that when/where it works … let’s talk Jeff again, the perfect Tesla buyer(s):
High income
Techie
Mild climate
Has “reversible” electric meter supporting solar
Likes performance
Has multiple vehicles
Emotionally attached by location

So, I wonder sometimes if Tesla needs to go into a holding pattern and focus more on affordable vehicles
Dang !!!
 
It appears I was wrong: I thought transmission line loss was on the order of 10%; it appears to be 5%. That is nationwide; if you live a mile from the plant it's very low, and if you live in the sticks it could be high.

Per Overkill, a coal power plant runs around 35% while natural gas up to 50%.
Simple cycle natural gas peakers are about 31% efficient. Combined cycle are somewhere between 42% and 62% depending on the age of the technology used.

Here's and interesting article on power losses. It appears that where you live does effect the loss. The driving factor is the ratio of high voltage transmission to distribution. Loss in California is shown at 9.2% vs 2.2% for Wyoming. The graph shows 6.8% for New York. A presentation from Con Edison in NY showed they were loosing 7%, so the figures given here are credible.
http://insideenergy.org/2015/11/06/...sappears-between-a-power-plant-and-your-plug/

Worst case for an EV in California would be .31 x .908 x .77 = 21.7%
Best case for an EV in California would be .62 x .908 x .77 = 43.3 %

The average efficiency of the US natural gas fleet is about 38% nationwide, line loss 5%.
.38 x .95 x .77 = 28%

Compare that to burning the same natural gas directly in VW's latest natural gas ICE technoloy.
.45 x .85(driveline efficiency) = 38%

Ed
 
It appears I was wrong: I thought transmission line loss was on the order of 10%; it appears to be 5%. That is nationwide; if you live a mile from the plant it's very low, and if you live in the sticks it could be high.

Per Overkill, a coal power plant runs around 35% while natural gas up to 50%.

Looks like we are around 11% renewable energy?

CO2 per BTU

I get 0.053 grams CO2 per BTU for natural gas, and 0.095 for coal.

1Whr = 3.4BTU. You need 3.4 BTU's to get 1Whr.

So every Whr made using natural gas at 50% efficiency is 0.36 grams of CO2. Every Whr made by coal at 35% efficiency is 0.92 grams of CO2.

A gallon of gasoline is 8,887 grams of CO2.

So if a car needs 300Whr/mile it needs 316Whr back at the plant. If that was made with 100% renewable then life would be peachy. 100% natural gas would be 114 grams of CO2 per mile. 100% coal would be 291 grams per mile. If 11% of our needs are met with renewables, half of the remaining with natural gas and the other half with coal, then I come up with 181 grams of CO2 per mile.

A 40mpg gasoline powered car is 222 grams per mile. 50mpg is 178 grams per mile.

Ramp up renewables and/or add nukes and it could be cleaner. Otherwise just buying a small high mpg car might be good enough? Not sure if anyone is doing calculations on the energy expended to build a new power plant, maybe that washes out of the calculation... maybe?

Edit: Astro, most of this post isn't aimed at you, only the first bit, where I point out what transmission line loss is currently. The rest is me doing envelope calculations about whether or not it's actually cleaner.

The IPCC has all the figures on CO2 intensity per generation source, which includes mining, construction...etc. These are the averages:
(in gCO2/kWh)
- Wind: 11
- Nuclear: 12
- Hydro: 24
- Solar: 45
- Biomass: 230
- Gas: 490
- Coal 820
 
I am trying to remember the last sunny day we had. It has been months.

It should make its appearance here in April or May.
My sister Patty and her family are in Gig Harbor. I guess it is overcast and in the 40's today?
Low 60's here today, bright and sunny, people walking in shorts. Gorgeous day!
 
The problem with the road taxes, is that most states lump it into a general fund. If they actually set aside the money and used it only for road construction and repairs I think most would see an improvement in road repairs.
 
The problem with the road taxes, is that most states lump it into a general fund. If they actually set aside the money and used it only for road construction and repairs I think most would see an improvement in road repairs.

We have these stickers on the pumps here in MN (stating that the funds are only to be used for road and bridge projects). I think many states' fuel taxes are earmarked for road repairs and don't go to the general fund. Kinda neat to see where it goes, at any rate.

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Haha. I see the word Nullarbor at the top of the charger, so I am thinking it’s in the Nullarbor desert of Australia where things are extremely remote. I congratulate the Aussie sense of practicality. How else are you going to drive your electric car to Perth? Back in 86, people would load their car on the train to take it across the desert.
 
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