efficiency of charging electric car with gas generator?

I answered that.

Solar panels reduce your electric bill by allowing you to get credit for putting electricity back out on the grid.

If you have solar, you won't actually know the exact source of your electricity when you plug something in. If you turn on your clothes dryer, you won't know if that electricity is coming from your roof, the grid or a combination of both. If you have a home battery, some might be coming from there, too, but you would have to check your panel to determine that.

Your car is just one more appliance to plug in.

So clearly, solar is not required for ev charging any more than it is required for your clothes dryer.

EVs cost less to fuel even if you don't have any solar.

You can plug your ev into the outlet used for your clothes dryer.

 

You are deflecting from the actual issue.

Basically all you are claiming is that we can offset some of the increase in power use from electric cars if we also decide to use solar panels.

But if we already have solar panels in the first place, it doesn't seem to make sense to add an electric car into that scenario, does it?

The fact of the matter is there is still the issue of how you are going to use solar power to power an electric car. You have just avoided that issue.

It's probably because you don't have an actual plan and did not think this through.

First you claimed home batteries. Then you seem too have later withdrawn that idea.

 

Do you know of a car that is not susceptible to accidents or crime?

I agree that this is a problem.

The bottom line, of course, is that not all cars are made to match the needs of all citizens.

But, we're seeing more and more work places that provide charging to employees. We're seeing the demand for EV charging affecting apartment parking. And, charge times are going down - not as fast as one might want, but...

In fact it goes the other way, too. The ev F-150 has about a dozen 120v outlets around the interior and exterior, so it is a way of bringing real electric power to work sites that don't have power or where long extension cords would be required.

 

Seems to me that a car that has a higher initial cost is more susceptible to loss of that financial investment.

You are avoiding the issue.

 

What are you going to do when you are finished with a long day of work, head towards the parking lot, and discover someone has disconnected the charging cord to your car in the parking lot, and now it doesn't have enough charge to get home?
Or you can get home, but you won't have enough charge to drive back, because your home does not have a charger.
Then you are stuck at your workplace after the building has already closed for four more hours waiting for your car to charge.

Where people have to pay for charging stations, the phenomena has even started of people disconnecting the cords while they are in use to steal the electric charge someone else has paid for.

How about brown-outs during the summer (common in many parts of the country), where people will be told not to charge their cars during the day for a few days in a row? Probably by government order.

That's going to leave people who are reliant on their workplace to charge their car sorely out of luck.

 

Germany doesn't have anything to be happy about with this Russian war, that's for sure.

My understanding is that the pipeline that Germany won't get is just one more method of importing the gas they depend on. It might reduce price (??) but it doesn't change the fact that it is an import.

In the US, natural gas fired electricity is growing about as fast as coal fired electricity is decreasing. My understanding is that gas is cleaner and cheaper than coal.

I don't see any automakers convinced that lng cars are a good idea.

 

Do you know of an LNG home generator that will produce electricity at rates below normal grid prices? Are they quiet enough that I could have one in my city neighborhood?

I agree with the "charge away from home" comment.

Some places will be less - like employers that offer charging as an employee benefit.

Some will be free, as Tesla and others offer a bunch of electricity as part of your car deal - not enough to offset the cost difference in cars, though!

The rest? I have no idea what is being charged at the charge points currently available at grocery stores, shopping centers, restaurants, etc., etc. or whether those rates are competitive.

 

Do you know of a car that is not susceptible to accidents or crime?

I agree that this is a problem.

The bottom line, of course, is that not all cars are made to match the needs of all citizens.

But, we're seeing more and more work places that provide charging to employees. We're seeing the demand for EV charging affecting apartment parking. And, charge times are going down - not as fast as one might want, but...

In fact it goes the other way, too., the ev F-150 has about a dozen 120v outlets around the interior and exterior, so it is a way of bringing real electric power to work sites that don't have power or where long extension cords would be required.

 

You would probably go to a station to fill up on LNG.

 

There aren't any disasters that we plan for that far in advance.

We have massive evidence of climate change and we're paying for those impacts today, and that's not even good enough to alter our plans!

We already know that our electric grid is weak even as it exists for today's uses. We've seen the disasters. We know the specifics of how easily our grid can be attacked by hackers, let alone foreign powers.

I do agree with you that we need to do a whole lot better than we are doing at ensuring that our electricity infrastructure is resilient to know threats and usage patterns. The same goes for bridges, roads, public transit, internet, etc., etc.

 

Well you better hurry up and get that electric car, and install all those solar panels on your roof, and buy that $80,000 home battery bank so you can charge your car at night with your solar power from the daytime.

It starts with YOU. Maybe time to put your money where your mouth is.

Did you think the government was going to buy everyone a free electric car?

 

I'm saying that US citizens can reduce their power bills by adding solar. It makes no difference whether you own an ev. You still use electricity.

I'm also saying that as public policy, encouraging that direction has a number of advantages, such as resiliency and probably some capacity.

Once again, ev's and solar aren't connected like that. You can lower your electric bill with solar. Regardless of that decision, you can buy an ev and pay less for fuel.

I should have added earlier that the cost of maintenance is also lower, because ev's are far less mechanically complex - no oil pump, no water pump, no transmission, no differential, no air cleaner, no fuel injection or fuel pump, etc.

I didn't add any of that savings into my fuel cost comparison, obviously.

AGAIN, you can plug in your ev EXACTLY like you plug in your electric dryer. You can use the exact same plug. There is no difference. It's a 220v standard outlet that does not care what you plug into it.

(For some EVs, you CAN buy a special charging station that will charge even faster than your dryer outlet, but that STILL just taps into your home electricity. AND, you can charge through a standard 110v wall socket, but that is pretty darn slow.)

You don't have to have solar for your dryer, right??

Home battery issues come with the discussion on how to save on electricity costs.

 

So this really has nothing to do with electric cars then, does it?

 

If you know of some issue, then state it.

 

I will concede that is true.

 

It seems you are incapable of following the conversation we are having.

For that reason, I am not going to waste further effort in this conversation.

 

EVs on the market today all go for more than 200 miles and up to about 500 miles.

Like with gas, one needs to keep an eye on the tank and not let it run so close to empty that you can't get to a fuel station.

Today's electric cars know where the fuel stations are, give warnings and alternatives and route you there.

We've had times when there were super long lines at gas stations, too, bringing similar issues.

 

That is a pressurized operation that would need to be standardized. Would you switch tanks? Fill like one does with a tank used for camping? What is the standard for crash protection? Etc.

I'm not suggesting that these are all hard questions. I'm saying it is somewhat like hydrogen, where distributing a new fuel type to all citizens wherever they are is a serious issue ...

... even when it is so trivially easy as is electricity!

 

It does seem extraordinarily redundant

 

I'd say the real connection is that EV is a rather significant increase in home electricity bills, because that is how you are buying fuel.

Think of adding your electric bill to your automobile gas bill.

With a larger bill like that, figuring out cost reductions (such as solar) has that larger leverage.

A larger investment that reduces cost per watt hour can change the decision point, because there are a lot more watt hours involved.

But, fuel is still cheaper for an ev - solar is certainly not required, as it can do no more than reduce the cost of electricity.

 

I've answered every issue you have identified.

 

Totally agreed here. But, I'd point out that:
- the electricity grid can fail in some way that doesn't affect your personal generator.

- maybe there are lng generators that are efficient enough to beat the cost of grid electricity, due to the loss in transmission lines, overhead of the public utility, etc.

- maybe someone lives remotely enough that grid electricity isn't available.

 

I will say that electric cars do probably make the most sense in big cities where air and noise pollution are issues. (New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta)

Maybe progressives should be focusing their efforts there and not trying to push a one-size-fits-all solution onto everyone else.

 

All valid points.

As for me I'll keep driving my old dinosaur powered vehicles.

I just went and changed my transmission fluid and filter today, fortunately at my job there are several lifts and plenty of mechanics tools that I have at my availability.

I basically get a shower in transmission fluid but I got it changed. Damn transmission pan must have 20 bolts in it.

 

I mostly agree on this. Electric transit is probably much more important in some places than in others. So, pressure to go ev seems like a blunt instrument to be used sparingly in mot places.

Creating incentives for people to adopt new technology when it is beneficial to all is something that government has done in the past. Even today, we have tax benefits specifically designed for oil companies.