EV Cars/Trucks

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Valiant

I still wish we were trying to push hydrogen cells more.

Evs are great until states and federal tax regulations eventually hit you for new taxes that will need to be created. I assume you will eventually be charged a mile tax per year. What is the cost to replace the batteries? Do they have memory problems after so many charges? The fact they may be more hazardous to the environment than gas, From mining, recycling, disposable.

Good step forward. But a hybrid is the way to go for most of the country that has winters.

The local electric coop said that the infrasturcture wouldn't support a charging station and they'd have to run wire a long way to get it there.

I'm no electrical engineer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but that does not bode well for the local infrastructure if the entire town gets EVs and plus them in at night.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

The local electric coop said that the infrasturcture wouldn't support a charging station and they'd have to run wire a long way to get it there.

I'm no electrical engineer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but that does not bode well for the local infrastructure if the entire town gets EVs and plus them in at night.

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

[ScareCrowe]

Originally Posted by DaFace

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

I'm not sure which number you're referencing (30 vs 50 amps), but even 30 would be massively inefficient for a modern AC. For instance I just went & looked, the 4 ton unit at my work's minimum circuit ampacity is 16.7. The unit probably actually draws less than 15. That's a 20 year old 4 ton unit (the biggest residential unit is 5 tons) hardly the most efficient thing you'll find now days.

So you could basically run two 4 ton AC's for what you use to charge your car, now if you're wife wants one to that's 4 AC's & god forbid you get the 50 amp version, no the two of you are using the equivalent of like 6 AC units just to charge your cars.

Also adding 2 cars at 50 amps a piece is a massive electrical upgrade. Most people with gas appliances have 100 Amp service running their entire house.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ScareCrowe

I'm not sure which number you're referencing (30 vs 50 amps), but even 30 would be massively inefficient for a modern AC. For instance I just went & looked, the 4 ton unit at my work's minimum circuit ampacity is 16.7. The unit probably actually draws less than 15. That's a 20 year old 4 ton unit (the biggest residential unit is 5 tons) hardly the most efficient thing you'll find now days.

So you could basically run two 4 ton AC's for what you use to charge your car, now if you're wife wants one to that's 4 AC's & god forbid you get the 50 amp version, no the two of you are using the equivalent of like 6 AC units just to charge your cars.

Also adding 2 cars at 50 amps a piece is a massive electrical upgrade. Most people with gas appliances have 100 Amp service running their entire house.

Eh I don't know. Like I said, I know nothing and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but my stove requires a 50 amp breaker, and both this house and the last one I had both had 50 amp service to the stove. So IDK what my total service is, but it's probably higher than 100.

But yeah, if you have to get new circuit runs through a finished house (if some dumbtard doesn't put the breaker in the garage), or God forbid have to run new copper to the pole, that's tougher.

[ScareCrowe]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Eh I don't know. Like I said, I know nothing and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but my stove requires a 50 amp breaker, and both this house and the last one I had both had 50 amp service to the stove. So IDK what my total service is, but it's probably higher than 100.

But yeah, if you have to get new circuit runs through a finished house (if some dumbtard doesn't put the breaker in the garage), or God forbid have to run new copper to the pole, that's tougher.

If you have a 50 amp running to your stove you have an electric stove & probably electric furnace water heater etc. & will have a 200 amp panel minimally. Electric houses need at least 200 amps because your electric furnace can easily draw close to 100 amps alone, plus 40 for your stove, 30 for the water heater & probably another 30 for the drier. Then you still have all your lights & outlets. Most houses aren't in a position to add 60-100 amps that 2 cars would require.

And that doesn't get into the power feeding the houses, which in most cases wouldn't accommodate more than a couple houses in a given neighborhood adding 60-100 amps of service. I've had a couple customers look at replacing a gas furnace with electric, knowing they would have to replace their 100 amp panel with a 200.

However when they contacted the power company to confirm the service providing them will handle it they were told that the transformer feeding their area would have to be enlarged & it would cost them about $25,000 to upgrade. That's one house adding 100 amps of service, what's going to happen when multiple people start trying to add 60+ amps to their current setup? We have a ways to go infrastructure wise before wide scale use of electric vehicles is possible IMO.

[Macroach]

Originally Posted by DaFace

DC fast chargers might require some infrastructure development, but typically that's centralized and is more for people passing through. Home charging typically tops out at 50 amps (mine is 30), which is about what an air conditioner uses. If people all charge at the same time during the day in the middle of the summer while everyone's AC is running, it could cause some issues, but it shouldn't be a huge issue at night.

DC fast chargers such as the Tesla superchargers would take some development but as you say, they are mainly for people passing through.

I know it’s different depending on the region of the country, but where i live, the biggest load is peak AC usage in the summer. Most of the heating is from natural gas and it doesn’t get that cold here. So a typical load curve in the summer is a steady climb until around 5-6 pm. The local utility (where I also work) is very aggressive with load peak management, using time of use pricing to encourage people to charge their EV’s when load is the lowest.

In my house I have a Tesla charger but I could have easily installed a NEMA 14-50 RV style plug and used that as well. Because of the pricing breaks for EV owners, I set the charge to occur between midnight and 6 am, at a price of around 8 cents / kWH.

I love the Model Y Performance. If anyone is interested in geeking out over any aspects of it, I would be happy to build an even bigger wall of text.