EV Cars/Trucks

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by jjjayb

We have enough oil to supply the world right here in the United States. Now, tell me, where do we get the batteries that power the electric cars? We don't have the minerals here to produce them. The argument of going electric to become "energy independent" is nonsense.

And most of the lithium is refined in CHINA.

I remember when air was free at the gas station, too.

You think the rate for electricity will remain static?

[notorious]

Originally Posted by stevieray

And most of the lithium is refined in CHINA.

I remember when air was free at the gas station, too.

You think the rate for electricity will remain static?

We get screwed one way or the other.

I don't know why they are forcing the issue. As soon as electric becomes a better option than diesel with pickups I'll be all over it.

[rtmike]

Like a broken record. Where we getting all this extra electricity?
Just about all single blocks of neighborhood homes in north America can only support three homes of full rip 90 amp Tesla superchargers homes.

O, yeah, coal & natural gas power plants pick up the slack, lol.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by rtmike

Like a broken record. Where we getting all this extra electricity?
Just about all single blocks of neighborhood homes in north America can only support three homes of full rip 90 amp Tesla superchargers homes.

O, yeah, coal & natural gas power plants pick up the slack, lol.

Hardly need super chargers at home when most homes can spend most of the night (when the grid isn't that heavily taxed) re charging.

But the US electrical supply and grid does need major, sustained investment.

[synthesis2]

Originally Posted by rtmike

Like a broken record. Where we getting all this extra electricity?
Just about all single blocks of neighborhood homes in north America can only support three homes of full rip 90 amp Tesla superchargers homes.

O, yeah, coal & natural gas power plants pick up the slack, lol.

The Sun

[rtmike]

Originally Posted by synthesis2

The Sun

Not in the Pacific NW.
Rain starts daily around November and doesn't stop until July, lol.

The batteries still need work if they lose up to 25% in below freezing temps.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by rtmike

Not in the Pacific NW.
Rain starts daily around November and doesn't stop until July, lol.

The batteries still need work if they lose up to 25% in below freezing temps.

A system in Seattle would produce about 20% less than one in Missouri.

https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by stevieray

And most of the lithium is refined in CHINA.

I remember when air was free at the gas station, too.

You think the rate for electricity will remain static?

Yea, and almost nobody can build a damn car without computer chips that are manufactured (or not manufactured as the case may be) in southeast Asia. So what difference does it make?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

Yea, and almost nobody can build a damn car without computer chips that are manufactured (or not manufactured as the case may be) in southeast Asia. So what difference does it make?

ya, cue the pics of thousands of new vehicles sitting in parking lots useless.

Chip shortages do not equal shipping lithium to China to be refined.

if you think the cost of electricity isn't going to rise, more power to you.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by stevieray

ya, cue the pics of thousands of new vehicles sitting in parking lots useless.

Chip shortages do not equal shipping lithium to China to be refined.

if you think the cost of electricity isn't going to rise, more power to you.

I would be happy to see the US economy decouple from China, but that is obviously a discussion for DC.

Switching from ICE to electric vehicles at any sort of scale is going to require investment in infrastructure.

Retiring coal plants and replacing them with something else requires investment.

High capacity, long distance transmission lines would help, but I don't think the country has the political will to overcome the opposition and NIMBYism (and again topic for DC).

Industrial scale battery storage, whether it is traditional batteries or something like pumped hydro, is viable politically. It is a question of getting the costs down.

No, I don't think things are going to be rainbows and unicorns.

I'm not actually very optimistic about this situation.

There are some types of investment the country generally does a poor job of. Again I don't want to get myself or this thread booted but I think Texas and California represent two extremes and I think both have left consumers in bad shape.

[synthesis2]

Originally Posted by stevieray

And most of the lithium is refined in CHINA.

I remember when air was free at the gas station, too.

You think the rate for electricity will remain static?

I have solar so in the end don't end up paying anything for electricity, maybe in the middle of summer it might go up to $30-50 a month but most months are zero so not worried about electricity.