87z16

here is an email that i received. ive said similar for years except for the grid part:

I'm sticking to gasoline -

ELECTRIC CAR...Hmmm... it makes you wonder…

Ever since the advent of electric cars, the REAL cost per mile of those things has never been discussed. All you ever heard was the mpg in terms of gasoline, with nary a mention of the cost of electricity to run it. This is the first article I’ve ever seen and tells the story pretty much as I expected it to.

Electricity has to be one of the least efficient ways to power things yet they’re being shoved down our throats… Glad somebody finally put engineering and math to paper.

At a neighborhood B B Q I was talking to a neighbor, a BC Hydro executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious. If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you had to face certain realities. For example, a home charging system for a Tesla requires 75 amp service. The average house is equipped with 100 amp service. On our small street (approximately 25 homes), the electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than 3 houses with a single Tesla, each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.

This is the elephant in the room with electric vehicles... Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So as our genius elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy these things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive, new windmills and solar cells, but we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This latter "investment" will not be revealed until we're so far down this dead end road that it will be presented with an 'OOPS!' and a shrug.

If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following. Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. It’s enlightening.

Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors … and he writes, "For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.” Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.

It will take you 4-1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.

According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I looked up what I pay for electricity. I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.

The gasoline powered car costs about $20,000 while the Volt costs $46,000+… So the American Government wants loyal Americans not to do the math, but simply pay three times as much for a car, that costs more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to drive acr

Oldblue

Shocker! And how much is it to replace that battery?
Ever see many Prius's in a used car lot? Or is that Priusi?

solman98

Well, I'm no greenie....

But your numbers are way off. If your paying $1.16 per kWh then I hope your getting dinner and a movie with it, cause your getting raped...

In the U.S., the cost of electricity varies far more than the cost of gasoline, from a kilowatt-hour average of 8.6 cents in Washington state to 37 cents in Hawaii. If an EV requires 20 kWh to fully recharge and the rate is 12 cents per kWh (national average), that's $2.40 to fill up the car. With a Leaf, that's about 100 miles.

The bonus with a Volt is, it can run off the ICE for as long as you want. You can even "hold" the electric charge if your on the highway and save it when you get back in town. Granted, your only going to get about mid 30's on the ICE, but that not that bad. The Volt is also not a good traveling car as it's not that big. But running around town, different story. But if you truly want to go electric, best bet is a fully electric that can travel 100 miles or so.

I deal in fleets and we also have Volts and CMax's in the mix. I have one on an installation that hasn't gotten fuel in well over a year, they never travel far enough to turn on the ICE.

Will it ever replace gas, nope, I don't think so. Does the grid need an upgrade, yes in many area's it does. But charging a car is no worse than most appliances people are already running.

87z16

Old Blue, i like to call them the Pius for the holier than thou's. they just dont get the concept. takes more energy to make an electric than a Hummer uses and in less time!!!

then that 21hr trip just became 5 days.

so many negatives.

hybrids are understandable but the technology still isnt there to make it a viable alternative. then when you need to replace a battery pack what $5k on a conservative note? AND what if the engine goes bad at the same time. now you are talking at least $8k!!!!

every recharge takes a little range away. then a quick charge doesnt completely fill the battery and takes even more away.

like was said i havent seen one of these cars on a used car lot. maybe its because people LOVE them sooooo much????

Oldblue

Scroll on down for the battery prices

Toyota hybrid battery replacement cost guide (2016 update)

Casa Del Gatos

Not to mention the eco-damage done just to produce those batteries.
Don't forget that the electric service many people use to charge them burns coal to get that power.
Electrical storage tech and solar/wind efficiency improvements will have to happen soon for EVs to really make a difference.

87z16

from how i understand it the minerals are strip mined in Canada then they are trucked to the pacific coast. where they are shipped to Japan and the batteries are made. then shipped to America to be put in cars/trucks and then put on a train or truck to the dealers to be sold.

sounds like alot of wasted fuel to get the batteries made.

Conax

Gasoline is the volatile components removed from crude oil in the refining process. As long as there is oil refinement for plastics, chemicals, asphalt and other products there will be gasoline produced.
We can burn it now as an excellent motor fuel in clean running automobiles or we can go all electric and burn the gas in open pits. In reality we would be paying high disposal fees for this explosive and toxic waste.
It makes a lot of sense to use it as fuel. It's near perfect for that.