A Place for EV "Stupid"....

By 2025, California will be criss crossed by millions of extension leads, connected to their electric cars !




To ere is human, to really tubesteak things up needs a computer.

www.zerohedge.com/weather/avoid-charging-evs-california-grid-operator-warns-blackouts-urges-energy-conservation
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This surprises me a little, but not a shock to see that California seems to be able to wreck most anything they touch, one way or another..

Charging has always been a mystery to me, but admittedly I am electric illiterate..

For instance... I read a review of a compact electric tractor.. About the size of my 32hp John Deere diesel.. Saying it performed well for its size and equivelent horse power, with a duty cycle of about 6 hours... Then it required 8 hours of recharge..

It required 8 hours of charge from a 240 volt 30 amp power source.. The little I know about electricity says ....240 volts times 30 amps times 8 hours equals 57,600 watts of power... What does that cost to charge ?? Besides in one 24 hour day you only get 2 works cycles and one charging cycle.. The next day you get 2 charging cycles and one 6 hour work cycle by these numbers..

I don't remember numbers, but back in the day it was not hard to end up with a monthly power bill of $5,000 or more with the tool and die machine shop.. Plus it would cost $2-3,000 to hook up a new, or relocated machine tool... Again, this was then, and I have no idea the cost in todays world..

Facts, details, experience, thoughts ?? ??

Fair question. The cost to charge an EV is generally around half of what it costs to fill with petrol of an equivalent travelling range. It's a rough number as taxes and subsidies vary from place to place.

In Australia, if you use your own solar, the cost drops further. The domestic price for electricity is around 20c/kwh, which you'd normally pay to charge your EV. As a solar panel owner, the rate that you are paid when you export can be anywhere from zero to 10c/kWh (there may be some exceptions to this). Since when you charge your EV you won't be getting this payment, if you charge from your own solar, the effective price is around 10-20% of what it would have cost to fill up with petrol. 

I thought commiefornia already had power rationing going on for EV's that worked similar to most council watering days here in Aus where there are only certain days you can water your yard depending on your house number.

Nobody can stop you if you have your own source of electricity generation.

Sorry Tim, my reply didn't get published, I quoted you but that was all.
Yes, your understanding of the figures are correct, and 50 odd KWH is not much energy.
That would allow a small, say 20 hp (15 kw) garden tractor to operate for about 3-4 hours max. Then allow for say 8 hours recharge, and go again. Hope you don't have much to do ! 58 kwh at 20 c/kwh is about $11.60, as you say, but to get 58 kwh in petrol, you would need 6.5 liters of petrol. (1 liter of petrol is about 8.9kwh of electricity). At say $2/liter, its about $13 worth, not a lot of difference. The big factor is of course, the amount of energy you can carry in petrol for the same weight as battery's is a lot more, not considering the ease and speed of refueling.

Lithium battery's are a big improvement over conventional lead acid or alkaline types, but still heavy and expensive for their power ratio. I suppose, in a collapse situation, being able to charge your tractor from your own solar system would be an advantage, but, there are alternatives in a grid down situation. Gaseous technology, such as producer gas from wood is a viable alternative, and is almost an inexhaustible supply, at least for a person with a bush block. The energy content of wood gas is only about 60% - 80 % of petrol, but its still better than electric, especially as the fuel is free, and its not hard to carry enough on a front rack for a few hours use. You have to stop and fill up the hopper every so often, but by then a stretch of the legs would be welcome. Note that unless modified, diesel engines are unsuitable for gaseous fuels, so all those old Fergi TEA 20 petrol/kero tractors rusting away are going to be valuable after the collapse.

Making your own oil based fuel from used cooking oil is also viable, as is distilling an alcohol mix to run machinery.

Depending on your beliefs, Jesus is coming 3 1/2 years after the downfall, so you only need to prep for that time. It could be shorter, but scripture tells us that's the maximum. Its not hard to store enough diesel for 3 1/2 years though.

Preparing now for the removal of commercial liquid fuels in the future is good prepping. Victory Gasworks have some plans for gasifiers, and it does work. I ran my Ute on wood gas for a test some years ago, way down on power, but it worked.




For Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

If you've got a home battery, then that's exactly what you can do.

Thinking transport after the collapse, both to local markets and other preppers, sharing our skills.

Most preppers seems to be in a community mode, and are probably less than 20 km away from each other. Well within range of an electric pushbike and trailer combination.

This is mainstream technology, easily able to be charged from a home stand alone solar system.

We are investigating this technology as kits are available to retro fit a standard bike.

From China of course, but get it now.



War fixes a lot of social problems.

Don't worry they'll think of something!