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southpawboston said:

Electric costs about $0.21/kWh where I am.

I forgot to mention above that every time I reach 2MW of overproduction (2MW sent back to the utility after subtracting all that has flowed into my home) I get a check from the utility for $210, the retail price of electricity. These are called SRECS. I manage about 2 of these per year.

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Damn!

Lot of folks have solar panels up here. Not bad looking, when installed nicely, and most are. We might consider it, as our house has a very good southern exposure for the long rear roof on our ranch-style house.

TheWombat said:

Lot of folks have solar panels up here. Not bad looking, when installed nicely, and most are. We might consider it, as our house has a very good southern exposure for the long rear roof on our ranch-style house.

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Vermont = green

In more than one way.

southpawboston said:

Yeah, tactics like this are happening all over in cities and states, but especially in ones where the oil and gas lobbies are particularly strong. The industry groups petition legislators to come up with all sorts of fees and penalties to make solar less enticing. Also, the electric utilities don't like solar because it cuts into their profits. But solar is only going to get cheaper, more efficient and more cost effective as time goes by, so it's not going away.

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In this case, I don't think it's lobby groups or the electric company, so much as it is the fact that the largest landowner in town (the local university) pays no property taxes whatsoever, which forces the city to get more creative in squeezing the local residents for more. The really galling thing is that said university operates one of the most profitable sports franchises in the country, also tax-free.

southpawboston said:

Vermont = green

In more than one way.

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You would think, but our power system is pretty awful. Much of it now comes from HydroQuebec, and while a lot of it is, in fact, hydro, the distribution grid is pretty fragile and the capacity isn't very high. When we lost Vermont Yankee, an aging nuke plant that did need to be put out of its misery I gotta say, we had to scramble to find enough juice. Solar is interesting but, well, most years there isn't that much sun half the year. The plant for the city of Burlington itself runs mainly on trainload after trainload of woodchips.

TheWombat said:

You would think, but our power system is pretty awful. Much of it now comes from HydroQuebec, and while a lot of it is, in fact, hydro, the distribution grid is pretty fragile and the capacity isn't very high. When we lost Vermont Yankee, an aging nuke plant that did need to be put out of its misery I gotta say, we had to scramble to find enough juice. Solar is interesting but, well, most years there isn't that much sun half the year. The plant for the city of Burlington itself runs mainly on trainload after trainload of woodchips.

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But hey, wood chips are renewable! That's green!

Electric is a fraud, long live diesels

adam1991 said:

I have just one question: manual or automatic?

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We have loads of electric cars over here and they have one gear or some have two and they are all automatic. Off the line they are nippy but after 60mph they just run out of steam unless it is a Tesla. They also are a ticking time bomb as well as batteries do not last for ever and cost a fortune to replace so most are rented even though you own the car.



To charge them you need a special system installed to fast charge or expect a few hours wait every hundred miles or so. There are charging points on our motorway service stations and they are not free.



I would not like to get into an accident with one either as there are allot of Amps in a small area and then one is shorted out expect a big bang.


IMO it is just a fad to keep the eco-hippies happy until they work out where the electricity comes from and where the metals come from to make the batteries.

Finglonga said:

We have loads of electric cars over here and they have one gear or some have two and they are all automatic. Off the line they are nippy but after 60mph they just run out of steam unless it is a Tesla. They also are a ticking time bomb as well as batteries do not last for ever and cost a fortune to replace so most are rented even though you own the car.



To charge them you need a special system installed to fast charge or expect a few hours wait every hundred miles or so. There are charging points on our motorway service stations and they are not free.



I would not like to get into an accident with one either as there are allot of Amps in a small area and then one is shorted out expect a big bang.


IMO it is just a fad to keep the eco-hippies happy until they work out where the electricity comes from and where the metals come from to make the batteries.

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southpawboston said:

Electric costs about $0.21/kWh where I am.

I forgot to mention above that every time I reach 2MW of overproduction (2MW sent back to the utility after subtracting all that has flowed into my home) I get a check from the utility for $210, the retail price of electricity. These are called SRECS. I manage about 2 of these per year.

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MWh*

Sandman GTI said:

So.....
Where does all the power come from?
Coal, Nuke, Hydro-Ha, Wind-HA HA Better yet solar - Ha.

Also where will all the raw material come from?
Recycling. Disposal.

A joke.

Give my Hydrogen.

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Gasoline processing and it’s distribution system is where the real damage is.

Oil pipeline brakes, 100,000+ Class 8 trucks delivering fuel and consuming consumables daily, vapor release at the pump, etc.

I’ll be honest, once the Bolt drops to the same value as my GTI I may leap.

I’m the perfect electric car consumer, 6-7k miles a year, 99.9% of my trips are well under 100 miles and I work from home.

My objection to electrics is mostly based on their current inability to meet my desires. Needs, in terms of driving, yeah, they can probably do that, the only fly in the ointment would be the brutal winters, but I drive short distances so even really crappy battery range would be fine. But desires, ah, there's where electrics currently fall short.

While some electrics are wicked fast, that's not necessarily my main metric for car satisfaction. Most electrics today don't move me at all in terms of styling. I know a lot of folks who find Teslas very sexy, but they rather bore me from the outside. The inside...no. Just, no. I still want the inside to remind me of being in a machine I'm more or less operating, not remind be of being in a sci-fi movie pod. I think when we start to get more performance/sport oriented electrics, where the powertrain is 21st century but the aesthetic is more industrial ICE type sports car, then maybe I'll be more interested. And yes, eventually, a 21st century car aesthetic will emerge that I can get down with. For now, though, there's simply no electric that floats my boat that is anywhere close to affordable.

^ In Europe one car make would give you 4 or 5 rental weekends with a gasser for free.

I thought that was pretty awesome, takes away a large objection.

XM_Rocks said:

^ In Europe one car make would give you 4 or 5 rental weekends with a gasser for free.

I thought that was pretty awesome, takes away a large objection.

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Except, I want my daily drive to be fun, as I don't drive on the weekends if I don't have to go to work....