Where is the Electricity going to come to charge EVs ?

[Snagglefoot]

Just trying to keep it real, lol.

Overkill is right. A company just installed 40 MW of solar nameplate capacity outside Calgary which is much higher in latitude than Toronto. It cost close to $40 million US dollars or a “ buck-a-watt” .

Toronto 43.6 deg N
Calgary 51 deg N

 

[Snagglefoot]

Incidently, a solar array was installed at Inuvik, NWT. It powers a stores’s refrigerators. One reason it is effective is that although the sun is low, it shines almost 24 hours per day all summer. In the winter, the heat exchangers are chilled with -20 to -40 C ambient air.

Inuvik 68 deg N

 

[JohnnyG]

Incidently, a solar array was installed at Inuvik, NWT. It powers a stores’s refrigerators. One reason it is effective is that although the sun is low, it shines almost 24 hours per day all summer. In the winter, the heat exchangers are chilled with -20 to -40 C ambient air.

Inuvik 68 deg N

That's pretty amazing. It also reveals a serious problem with "home solar" in Florida. I was approached by a solar company to install panel. Naturally, they wanted to do the Net Metering thing. to which I said , "No, I'm not putting my financial decisions in the hands of the utility companies."
I then told them that they could install it, but I only want to run ONE THING from it.....my whaole house A/C.
They said, "No, we can't do that". They don't make an inverter that will handle the start up load of the compressor.
Of course, I knew this was nonsense. They only want the free real estate that is your roof. So now, a year later, the utilities are cutting back on the credits that you get from net metering.
Sounds like I made the right choice.

FL 20˚ N lat.

 

[alarmguy]

Here's my home's actual energy usage last July. There is plenty of power to charge at night. A drop in the bucket.

View attachment 95149

Its not a drop in the bucket, its worse than daytime once your entire community plugs EVs in at night.

 

[dlundblad]

Its not a drop in the bucket, its worse than daytime once your entire community plugs EVs in at night.

We humans as an electricity consumer are very egocentric. “My power usage is low at night so I’ll be good to charge my car then.”

Until the majority of America has witnessed the rolling blackouts first hand with no running water, AC, spoiled food, a family member who needs oxygen has to either go without or use up their emergency tanks etc etc, the EV push (and acceptance by the general public) will not go away.

 

[skyflyrr]

I see that many are excited about EVs, I can understand part of it but I myself stand by my thoughts that it will not be possible for EVs to come close to replacing gasoline vehicles for at least 20 years, more or less I can see EVs maybe getting to a saturation point of 20% of new vehicle sales, if that much, I think maybe closer to 10%. I think once people see the cost of charging them AND the fact that we do not have the power plants and infrastructure to carry the electricity to everyones home to charge the cars.
So where is the power going to come from to charge these cars? We barely have enough power in the USA to run our home air conditioners at any time of the day.
Until people wake up to the fact that we need nuclear plants, its just not going to happen.

View attachment 95148

Source = https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/map-of-nuclear-power-in-the-us-see-where-reactors-are-located.html

...

Completely agree. And until people can recharge their EV as quickly as filling your gas tank, how will you go cross country? Then you need plants to supply that electricity. Not in my lifetime that's for sure. Maybe in my kids lifetime. And than EV's must be as affordable as my gasoline vehicle.

 

[4WD]

We humans as an electricity consumer are very egocentric. “My power usage is low at night so I’ll be good to charge my car then.”

Until the majority of America has witnessed the rolling blackouts first hand with no running water, AC, spoiled food, a family member who needs oxygen has to either go without or use up their emergency tanks etc etc, the EV push (and acceptance by the general public) will not go away.

I can’t imagine when the 3rd largest county (Harris - Houston) is hit by a major hurricane and flooding - only NOW everyone has EV’s and hydrocarbons went away … 👀

 

[Accent Abuser]

I see that many are excited about EVs, I can understand part of it but I myself stand by my thoughts that it will not be possible for EVs to come close to replacing gasoline vehicles for at least 20 years, more or less I can see EVs maybe getting to a saturation point of 20% of new vehicle sales, if that much, I think maybe closer to 10%. I think once people see the cost of charging them AND the fact that we do not have the power plants and infrastructure to carry the electricity to everyones home to charge the cars.
So where is the power going to come from to charge these cars? We barely have enough power in the USA to run our home air conditioners at any time of the day.
Until people wake up to the fact that we need nuclear plants, its just not going to happen.

View attachment 95148

Source = https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/map-of-nuclear-power-in-the-us-see-where-reactors-are-located.html

...

I completely agree, the only way we are going to get serious about climate change as well is to go nuclear. People don't like it because the deaths and dangers are immediate, nobody thinks about how many people have died of cancer directly caused by fossil fuel burning, or the elderly person who died during the last heatwave. Nuclear has killed far less people.

 

[alarmguy]

I completely agree, the only way we are going to get serious about climate change as well is to go nuclear. People don't like it because the deaths and dangers are immediate, nobody thinks about how many people have died of cancer directly caused by fossil fuel burning, or the elderly person who died during the last heatwave. Nuclear has killed far less people.

Well said, let’s also keep in mind that working in a nuclear plant in the USA is infinitely more safer than most other occupations and many many times safer then other energy producing jobs in the USA.
We are sitting on our laurels doing nothing while China and others have programs in place to get nuclear plants up online as fast as possible

 

[aquariuscsm]

EVs seem to be a fad that’s come and gone around here. I’m not seeing them hardly at all anymore. And I’m seeing a ton of them sitting in the dealerships’ trade-in lots. People seem to be getting rid of them left and right around here.

 

[Nick1994]

Its not a drop in the bucket, its worse than daytime once your entire community plugs EVs in at night.

1. Not everyone is gonna have an electric car
2. Not everyone’s A/C (50amp) is going to be running at the same time at night, load will be low
3. Why would everyone be charging at the same time? 250+ mile range, unless everyone is driving road trips everyday?

 

[sk_pete]

1. Not everyone is gonna have an electric car

it´s happening already, same dino small hatchback costs several thousand € more than 4y ago.
teslas 60k€.... very steep for many people.

 

[ripcord]

1. Not everyone is gonna have an electric car

Not if the green politicians in power have anything to say about it.

2. Not everyone’s A/C (50amp) is going to be running at the same time at night, load will be low

There's only so much water behind those dams, and the fuel to run those power plants costs and pollutes just as much no matter what time of day it's burned. Plus, when are those power plants going to have times of reduced power demands in order to do maintenance and repairs?

3. Why would everyone be charging at the same time? 250+ mile range, unless everyone is driving road trips everyday?

I talked with a guy on vacation from England, once. He worked at a power plant and he told me that there were times when they knew to the minute when electricity demand would spike bigly. The Manchester United game would end and within 5 minutes millions of people would turn on the electric kettle at the same time. It will be the same thing with EV's. Millions get home from work at around the same time and plug in their cars. Wham!

 

[Wolf359]

There's only so much water behind those dams, and the fuel to run those power plants costs and pollutes just as much no matter what time of day it's burned. Plus, when are those power plants going to have times of reduced power demands in order to do maintenance and repairs?

I talked with a guy on vacation from England, once. He worked at a power plant and he told me that there were times when they knew to the minute when electricity demand would spike bigly. The Manchester United game would end and within 5 minutes millions of people would turn on the electric kettle at the same time. It will be the same thing with EV's. Millions get home from work at around the same time and plug in their cars. Wham!

You can easily see the power usage chart by checking with the local power grid operator. For instance mine has a peak demand at about 21 gigawatts and low is about 12.5 gigawatts at 4am. You can set up the meters to turn on at certain hours. When I worked at a power plant, it was a base load plant, it would tend to shut down in the fall for their annual PM which was anywhere from 3-6 weeks. Otherwise it was 24/7 the rest of the year.

ISO New England

www.iso-ne.com

 

[Dave Hess]

If I could afford a Tesla Model S Plaid or Porsche EV I’d definitely buy one.

 

[Skippy722]

You can easily see the power usage chart by checking with the local power grid operator. For instance mine has a peak demand at about 21 gigawatts and low is about 12.5 gigawatts at 4am. You can set up the meters to turn on at certain hours. When I worked at a power plant, it was a base load plant, it would tend to shut down in the fall for their annual PM which was anywhere from 3-6 weeks. Otherwise it was 24/7 the rest of the year.

ISO New England

www.iso-ne.com

Yep, MISO peaked at almost 99 gigawatts today and will drop off to about 65GW. It’s been over 110GW though at peak.

Operations Displays

www.misoenergy.org

 

[Nick1994]

Not if the green politicians in power have anything to say about it.

There's only so much water behind those dams, and the fuel to run those power plants costs and pollutes just as much no matter what time of day it's burned. Plus, when are those power plants going to have times of reduced power demands in order to do maintenance and repairs?

I talked with a guy on vacation from England, once. He worked at a power plant and he told me that there were times when they knew to the minute when electricity demand would spike bigly. The Manchester United game would end and within 5 minutes millions of people would turn on the electric kettle at the same time. It will be the same thing with EV's. Millions get home from work at around the same time and plug in their cars. Wham!

When I had my Tesla, the default setting was to start charging it as late in the night as possible so it would be at 100% of my charge point right before I left. But I was an odd bird and usually chose my own amperage so it would charge all evening and night slowly until I left in the morning. Tesla makes this very simple.

 

[Accent Abuser]

EVs seem to be a fad that’s come and gone around here. I’m not seeing them hardly at all anymore. And I’m seeing a ton of them sitting in the dealerships’ trade-in lots. People seem to be getting rid of them left and right around here.

Idk where you're at but up here in MA I see more and more of them every day. I can probably spot 3-5 every time I drive anywhere.

 

[OVERKILL]

I completely agree, the only way we are going to get serious about climate change as well is to go nuclear. People don't like it because the deaths and dangers are immediate, nobody thinks about how many people have died of cancer directly caused by fossil fuel burning, or the elderly person who died during the last heatwave. Nuclear has killed far less people.

Nuclear has the 2nd lowest deaths per TWh, even if you use the over-generous figures for Chernobyl:

 

[ripcord]

I kind of doubt the low deaths from solar figure. Those get installed up high on residential roofs and at least a quarter of construction deaths involve falls from roofs.