= $17.33 a gallon? Whoa, Nellie!

[RichardCranium]

CA has so much solar power fossil fuel generating stations have to shut down or significantly ramp down during the day, and you guessed it; ramp back up at night.

Ramping a few dozen GigaWatts isn't exactly easy.

Charging at night USED to be the way to do it, and may still be the way in some geographical areas. Not in sunny California.

I’m in central California and my power company recommends charging between midnight and 3pm.
BUT
you are absolutely right about too much power during peak solar hours. So much that new household solar owners in California will be earning 1/8 (depending on time of day) the amount that they were last year for the energy they export to the grid.
Don’t know why the power company recommends those times still.

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[TrailMaster]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/collections/the-ev-transition-explained/

I recommend that everyone on this thread read and digest this IEEE Spectrum series on the electric car conversion journey we're all undertaking together. Then make up your own mind - at least you'll have higher quality data to work with.

Caution: you must be able to read beyond the comic book level.

Appears to be an interesting website with many science-based articles to delve into. Bookmarked.

EDIT: I just read the first two articles and they are excellent, backed by research and well written. I like how the entire spectrum of complexities are taken under consideration, including the geopolitical aspects. Definitely recommended reading!

I'll get to the rest but I'm a geezer and it's past my bedtime!

 

[TheGoodEgg]

EV will likely become much more mainstream in the coming years. And one of the reasons for that is because the cost of ownership will be lower. You can find dozens of articles arguing against it, heck, I can find articles arguing that smoking is good for you too, but at the end of the day, you either accept it, embrace it, or refuse it, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, if your wallet is a logical person, he will only pick one option - the option that saves the most money.

The world will evolve regardless of what your wishful thinking is.

 

[Roadrunner11]

Well there’s a lot of bias on both sides here. And of course there’s that old saying about 3 types of lies. I have an EV which after about 2/3rds of the tax credit cost me about 28k. My electric bill has not increased at all; though Level 1 charging takes forever. I do have a car which takes premium gas, very expensive, so I can drive it while my Mini is charging. But the whole argument about EVs is made incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial by the Aug 2022 tax and spend bill. To all intents and purposes tax credits for EVS are gone, and with them the incentive to buy an EV. No tax credit if you make over a certain amount of money, none for EVs over a certain price tag. None for cars not made in North America, and only half that for those if the minerals aren’t sourced in a specific place. That’s the reason I’m on this list, and I would not be surprised if that partially accounts for the popularity of the Maverick when it debuted, a no frills hybrid that everyone could afford. And yes, gas prices are coming down; I paid just under $4 for premium gas today. And nothing would convince me to move back to California, it’s worse than Taxachusetts.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I totally dumped know how stupid Texans were there that everybody should have a generator and a way to keep their house warm but overall I would definitely not go to California if I could ever avoid it everybody in their house should have a way to heat it that does not rely on the grid

I'm in Texas and by choice don't have backup generator or solar. It's hard to justify backup when my coop rate for elec is close to $0.12/kwh. Heck I don't even bother to mess with time of use rates. I just increase or decrease usage with thermostat settings and turn hot water circulating pumps on and off when grid is stressed and the app on my phone notifications. I do have combustion heater with outside exhaust for emergencies but did not use it even in Feb 2021. Usually summer heat is a bigger threat. A very large portion of Texans do not live where they can even consider alternative heat/cooling. Although some learned the downside of $19.95/month + current market rates with auto bank drafts occuring when x $ usage occurs with hourly readings of smart meters.

 

[Maverickman74]

I just want to state that 5 years ago I was driving a 4x4 E250 van that got 8.5 to 9 mph on the highway. I loved that van and would still be driving it if it didn't burn in a fire. Also I guarantee that adjusted for locality cost of living I am poorer than nearly every single member on this forum. I don't sweat the these little details in life nearly as much as a lot folks. They governments and corporations will always eventually get every dollar I earn. One day I will be dead and anyone left who knows my name will pay taxes in the hole they chuck me into and pay for some form of energy to dig it.

 

[JASmith]

EVs are very economical if you charge them off your regular power at home, but if you think its bad here, wait till you see what some mobile charging stations are charging in Europe.

Worst yet, in many parts of the world the EV charging stations are literally diesel powered generators... talk about inefficient!

I've said before, electrification IS the future, but the organic way to transition is from more efficient ICE to hybrids to finally full EV way down the line. Ford and others are realizing now finally that EVs are not ready for prime-time, there isn't enough demand, and are pulling back. Toyota was right all along that turbo engines and hybrids were the way to go.

 

[zorki1c]

I live here. ^^^ This is incorrect.

I actually drove an EV for 6 years and 60,000 gas free miles. In California. It cost me 3 cents per miles. In California, Bay Area, where there are more public charging stations than gas stations.

Sorry. I don’t buy those numbers

 

[zorki1c]

So if the country does go full bore EV there won’t be gas tax to pay for highways. So the powers to be will figure a way to make EVs pay for roads. And I would be willing to bet my Maverick eco boost that the tax that will be levied on EVs will be as high per mile as the gas tax. Electric vehicles will cause as much wear on the road (maybe more since they are heavier) as internal combustion vehicles. There ain’t no free lunch.

 

[Carlitos_92]

Sorry. I don’t buy those numbers

 

[DryFlyGuy]

So if the country does go full bore EV there won’t be gas tax to pay for highways. So the powers to be will figure a way to make EVs pay for roads. And I would be willing to bet my Maverick eco boost that the tax that will be levied on EVs will be as high per mile as the gas tax. Electric vehicles will cause as much wear on the road (maybe more since they are heavier) as internal combustion vehicles. There ain’t no free lunch.

In ND, they have proposed and perhaps passed a law to put a much larger annual vehicle registration charge to license an EV, to make up for the lack of gas tax collected.

 

[nospam56]

Interesting give an take. The answer to the original question is that its a biased article, and not the first by any margin. Whether its mpg equivalent or carbon footprint, quite literally, your mileage may vary. The grid you're on to the apartment you live in.
Recently I was in Phoenix. All the rental car agencies push EV's.
I passed even if I needed to pay more for the uncertainty of my trip. Tooling around town could have been fun. It turns out my future daughter in law's mom has a garage charger. Should have asked sooner.
That's the key really. Can you charge at home. If you can, EV's eventually will be cheaper. But that's EV as transportation , maybe our small pickup.
The FORD CEO recently made it clear that its economically crazy to think the F150s used as work trucks can realistically be 100% EV's. He's right. You can't tow anything without killing the battery. Would you want to be on the job site and find you need a charge. Etc etc. Plus the weight of the actual vehicle is outrageous with the big batter.
Just like the article that started the conversation, it all depends......
I got my Hybrid simply because there isn't a suitable vehicle otherwise. Its replacing a combo of my minivan and tiny Subaru Baja that aged out. There will still be trips to home Depot.

Eventually, like any thing tech, batteries will indeed charge as fast as gas. You need that for the apartments and condo owners. Not everyone can be a homeowner with a garage and the EV is the commuter car.

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