I’d consider a new electric pickup if they offered one about the size of 1965 models.
A new F-150 is about the size of a 68 Olds 98 LS. That’s just nuts if you live in an urban area, and most Americans do.
The question of what is going to generate the power needed still lingers. The 140 turbine wind farm has grown to several thousand and they are all 1.5 to 1.85 MW turbines.
The power company says they are efficient at 18 to 22 RPM. Not once in the 6 years since inception have any of those units even come close to 18 RPM. Fifteen is the max and that is only rarely and only when wind speed is about 45 MPH.
The wind farm operators have stated that when those turbines reach the end of their service life in 20 to 25 years they will all be decommissioned (aka scrapped) and the land returned to the way it was before the turbines were even built. Then what?
Really? That’s weird. Why they doing that where you live. There may be an end of life, but why not just replace with a newer version. That’s what’s being planned here. Our town is considering leasing land to a wind farm on a 100 year lease.
Where did the oil refineries and gas stations come from when cars were starting to take over the horse’s job?
We’ll build what we need. We always do.
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The power company in my region of East Central Indiana is gearing up for an increase in the demand for electric power. More high voltage transmission lines are being added. Also, more incentives are given industry and businesses to adopt energy saving equipment. Big retail stores are given incentives to have the lighting diminished automatically during peak demand. These businesses can also reduce the temperature automatically when demand is high.
I got in on the energy savings incentive by accident. It was raining and my wife and I went to the basketball arena at our local university to walk. A crew was replacing light fixtures. I stopped to talk to the foreman who explained to me that the institution was being given a big incentive to convert to LED lighting. I asked him if a church could get the same incentive. The foreman wasn’t sure, but he went out in the rain and got me the information. I made contact with the power company and got our church in on the incentive deal. I have converted 50 light fixtures with four 4’ fluorescent tubes in each fixture to LED 4’ tubes. For each fluorescent tube we removed, we got $6. I bought LED tubes for $6.95, so our cost to convert to LED was less than $200. I had to remove the ballast transformers and rewire the fixtures. I think the LED bulbs draw less than 15 watts as opposed to 40 watts for the fluorescent. I am not sure how much energy our church actually saves, but it has saved my energy. Before the conversion to LED, I was up on a ladder every month changing a pair of fluorescent tube and often having to replace a ballast transformers. After almost five years from the first phase of our conversion to LED lighting, I have not had to replace that first LED tube.
Each year until the COVID pandemic, I have attended a breakfast sponsored by the power company. I am fascinated by the energy savings measures for which industries and businesses are given incentives to reduce energy usage. Even upgrading air supplies for pneumatic equipment so that there is little leakage so that compressors don’t have to run as much is awarded an incentive.
I think back to the earlier days in the late 1940s when the school I attended converted from incandescent lighting to fluorescent lighting. I think back to the 1960s when vacuum tubes were replaced by solid state circuitry in many applications. I remember the IBM computers that were vacuum tube machines. I think there are two fronts the power companies are tackling to be ready for EVs: 1) upgrading the power grid; 2) giving incentives for energy conservation.
Have you been to the Indianapolis Airport in the past 7 years or so? Thee largest airport solar farm in the world (and growing). I’ve flown in and out of there a few times before Covid. It’s HUGE.
It’s the largest airport solar farm, its output (20 MW) is 1% of the output of the largest PV solar farms in the world.
List of photovoltaic power stations - Wikipedia
Here’s more info about the one at IND:
IND Solar Farm at the Indianapolis International Airport
Something else to remember is that while demand for electricity for charging electric cars may be going up…demand seems to be going down for many other appliances. I’m talking dishwashers, clothes dryers, lighting, TVs, etc. This has been happening over the past several decades.
So while one part of demand may be increasing, another seems to be decreasing. It may be a net wash, overall. I don’t have the numbers offhand.
@MikeInNH I have seen that wind farm. Also, in the adjacent county to where I live are big wind farms. Every time I drive through that county, the wind turbines are always turning and Indiana is not a particularly windy state.
I am optimistic that power companies.can meet the demand as more EVs are put in service and have to have the batteries recharged. The house my parents moved into in 1948 ran on one 20 ampere fuse. We heated with coal. There was a side arm heater that heated the water from the furnace in the winter and had a little coal fired burner where we burned trash in the summer to heat the water. Our cooking stove was gas. The 20 amp fuse powered the house and the well pump, the sump pump and the furnace blower. The only time the power wasn’t sufficient was on wash day and my dad would temporarily replace the 20 amp fuse with a 30 amp fuse.
Now I live in a house with 200 amp service–10 times the electric power of the house my parents bought in 1948. Nobody heats with coal in my community. Many houses have electric heat, and most have air conditioning. My HVAC system heats the house with a heat pump until the temperature drops below 40 degrees when the gas furnace comes on.
The point is that the power company has been able to meet the increased demand for electric power over the past 75 years and I believe that the companies are preparing for the increased demand charging EVs will bring.
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The cool thing about airports is they have a acres and acres of unused land that is ideal for solar farms. Many airports around the world are either building solar farms now or in the planning stages.
I’ve been looking into going solar at my house and currently there’s a 26% write off on one’s taxes if you install solar panels.
In my situation, it’s perfect. As I work 6am-4:30pm M-Th every week, my solar batteries would charge up and then send electric into the grid until I got home from work, then I would be using some of that electric/battery until dark when it would switch to all battery/grid.
The initial cost would be pricey at about $25k-give or take- but between the write off and probably a check from the electric company for giving power to the grid it would pay for itself in about 10 years if the estimate is correct.
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and then whats the cost of the new batteries you will be needing in 10 years?
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Still cheaper then what electric rates will be. With the right situation the cost savings is still on side of Solar. Another alternative that’s still being worked out is using the solar panels to create Hydrogen which will then be used to run a hydrogen generator at night.
The three story building in my community that became an arts center generates electricity by solar power and has earned money selling the power to the utility company. With the pandemic, many musical groups have not been able to hold their rehearsals and performances which occur in the evening hours. As groups become active this fall, the center may have to buy some power from the utility company as the various organizations resume their evening rehearsals and performances. However, there still will be some savings on power consumption.
My concern on EVs, and I hope it is unfounded, is the possibility of an electrical fire while the vehicle batteries are being recharged.
I purchased a used Black and Decker battery powered lawnmower from a friend. I did find out that some of the earlier models of these mowers were recalled because of a fire hazard issue while the batteries were being recharged. My experience with this mower was not very good even though it wasn’t one of the recalled models. I could only get two seasons out of the batteries which were lead acid batteries and cost $65 a pair. I junked the mower when the control unit burned out and the part was no longer available.
Even with non EV vehicles, there seem to have been a problem with electrical fires recently. I am not sure I would want to recharge the battery in an attached garage to my house.
I’ve read some have caught fire while charging, but whether that’s from design flaws or user error I’m not sure.
My car offers 2 different options for current draw while charging and will even warn me that doing it on 12 amps can cause an increase in risk of a fire, so I just keep it at the 8 amps it recommends(the charger installation guide called for a 220V 40amp circuit). I have yet to encounter a “Fast charge” station so I’m not sure how many amps those will let me use. I can’t tell any difference in using 8 or 12 amps when charging, either, so another reason I just stick with 8 amps.
I’ve seen a car burst into flames while filling up. Ever wonder why most gas stations (at least around here) have automatic fire suppression systems in the pumps? It’s not for the EV vehicles.
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But I’m not putting gas in my car in my garage, while I’m asleep…
Before EVs hit the market, there were car fires caused by electrical problems. My son’s in-laws had a fire start in the wiring of a Lincoln Towncar that was in pristine condition. The car was parked outside the attached garage of the house, but the fire spread from the car into.the eaves of the house and did considerable damage. I once owned a 1990 Ford Aerostar and it was recalled due to an electrical problem that could cause a fire when the van was parked and everything was turned off and the vehicle was unoccupied. Until I could get the Aerostar in for the recall, I parked it at the far end of the driveway away from everything. As I remember, the recall involved the wiring to the cruise control.
The cars my parents owned in the 1940s through the 1960s had nothing on when the car was parked except for the clock. Since the car clocks back then weren’t accurate anyway, we just pulled the fuse for the clock. Cars had pushbutton presets for the radios, but the presets were mechanical and didn’t have to be maintained by battery power.
In defense of EVs and hybrids, I haven’t heard of any problems with the Prius, even those that plug in.
Perhaps the real fire hazard may be in the wiring going into the battery chargers. I have done electrical wiring and have tried to keep up with the code. I have uncovered some code violations in the church I attend. My brother owns a plumbing company and he calls me with horror stories with the wiring to water heaters and pumps, even in commercial buildings.
Overnight charging is exactly want you are supposed to do so that the power grid is not overworked.