Poll: Do you have, or plan to get, an electric car?

[OleBrewing]

I am confused where are these power plants extracting fuel and energy. It's mainly coal and biofuel from my region.

Which the biofuel is subsidised where there is more tax dollars spent than producing.

And it will be above zero tomorrow and into next week. Hopefully the 3 inch snow pack on the roads will soften up a little.

 

[Bilsch]

How do you heat your house with 40mph winds and -30 temps. Granted I don't have the income to replace every outdated window in my house. Can your battery system with stand the night...

My house is passive solar, built from 8" CIP panels and quite efficient. It has a grid-tie type of solar array so no worry about running out of power. You can find lots of info on the web but basically with a net meter the power company is my battery for a $4.99 monthly charge. Although I do have 12kw of backup LiFePO4 cells they don't get used unless there is an outage.

Speaking of backup power.. this idea of Ford's electric pickup being able to provide 100kw or more of back power into ones house during a power outage is completely awesome. I'm 100% a Tesla guy but this Ford Lightening is shaping up to be a game changer.

 

[OleBrewing]

My house is passive solar, built from 8" CIP panels and quite efficient. It has a grid-tie type of solar array so no worry about running out of power. You can find lots of info on the web but basically with a net meter the power company is my battery for a $4.99 monthly charge. Although I do have 12kw of backup LiFePO4 cells they don't get used unless there is an outage.

Speaking of backup power.. this idea of Ford's electric pickup being able to provide 100kw or more of back power into ones house during a power outage is completely awesome. I'm 100% a Tesla guy but this Ford Lightening is shaping up to be a game changer.

So what is the initial cost of that.

Where I live there is off peak elec which is dramatically cheaper it's a system with elec coils and the backup is combustible fuel.

 

[Bilsch]

So what is the initial cost of that.

The average payoff time is 7 years and all major manufacturers of solar equipment have 30 year warranties. Plus that sweet sweet 26% Federal tax credit!!
Solar is a no brainer.

(hurry.. tax credit runs out end of 2022)

 

[Kent88]

I really wanted my parents to put in an indirect water heater when they built their new house. I think the ROI on those is 7-10 years in Northern states.

I'd set it up on my house, but I don't have a good section of south facing roof.

 

[RichBenn]

I had a Volt. I live in a rural area, and didn’t want range anxiety. The Volt Was PERFECT for that, except it was not AWD and didn’t have ground clearance for off road. 125 MPG lifetime! 94% of my driving was all electric, but the gas generator kicked in seamlessly when electric is depleted, still giving 40 MPG in hybrid mode.

There are now a couple of AWD PHEVs, like the RAV4 Prime, that are fantastic but are impossible to get without bribing a dealer with lots of money. Seems like affordable and electric are not to be used in the same sentence yet.

Disclaimer - my other vehicle has pathetic MPG, but I use it primarily to tow. It guzzles gas. Electric trucks are not going to be practical for towing without HUGE increases in battery capacity.

 

[Kent88]

I had a Volt. I live in a rural area, and didn’t want range anxiety. The Volt Was PERFECT for that, except it was not AWD and didn’t have ground clearance for off road.

I've primarily lived in rural areas or small towns most of my life and so it just makes me scratch my head why one would buy something like a Volt if off-roading is something you do.

Sheesh, these days you're not even supposed to take a grain truck to far into the field, you're supposed to get a grain cart to get your crop from the combine to your truck or semi.

The only times I ever took my car off road, too much ice on the road was the culprit.

 

[Kent88]

GM announces $7 billion Michigan factory investment, most going to EVs

 

[passedpawn]

GM announces $7 billion Michigan factory investment, most going to EVs

On the other hand, they sold 25 Bolt EV's in the last quarter of 2021 haha. Yes, 25. The Bolt was the Motor Trend Car of the Year five years ago. Obviously, it's likely being discontinued.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/26/cars/gm-bolt-future/index.html

 

[Kent88]

Bolts are going through a thing. A problem developed with 9 hundredths of a percent of Bolt batteries, so they've halted production while they replace all the batteries in a recall.

 

[bracconiere]

damn this thread is still going.....i still am dreaming of the car that runs on beer...i think of all the chaff wasted, when all you'd need is some enzymes to ferment it....

 

[Kent88]

i still am dreaming of the car that runs on beer...i think of all the chaff wasted, when all you'd need is some enzymes to ferment it....

You don't strike me as someone who would want to divert beer that could go in your stomach.

 

[bracconiere]

You don't strike me as someone who would want to divert beer that could go in your stomach.

making my own car fuel would be so awesome!

 

[Kent88]

making my own car fuel would be so awesome!

But you'd be making less beer for yourself.

And grain prices would probably skyrocket, so the price of beer would skyrocket. Most cattle producers I knew back in the early '00s felt the pressure from ethanol, grain prices rose, and fed cattle prices didn't rise immediately. Farmers were worried for a while.

Plus, you know, it's taking a bunch of calories out of the food supply without replacing them.

 

[bracconiere]

calories out of the food supply without replacing them.

last time i was out, i noticed that shouldn't be a problem?

 

[Kent88]

There are still plenty of people in the world dealing with malnutrition.

 

[bracconiere]

There are still plenty of people in the world dealing with malnutrition.

i'd have start getting political.. i just am pretty sure when we run out of dead dinosaurs to pump, a more [practicle alternative, is fermenting cellulose.....

edit: recycled paper? what do they do currently with the corn stalks? sure the gas would be a bit spendier...but with the way it looks? how much?

 

[Kent88]

The US corn crop has been averaging around 13 billion bushels/year. Fifty-six pounds per bushel, 2.15 gallons of ethanol per bushel. Works out to just under 28 billion gallons of ethanol if the entire corn crop was converted. To produce enough ethanol to replace all the gasoline used in this country would require planting over 400 million acres, compared to the current 91 million. In reality, it would take around 500 million acres, or so, because ethanol contains a lot fewer BTUs than gasoline. There aren’t that many acres of arable land in North America, and most of the land suitable for corn production is already planted to corn. So, no, it wouldn’t be easy to grow 10 times as much corn. In fact, it wold be impossible.

If it's that difficult to get energy out of something with fairly simple carbohydrates, how difficult would it be to get energy out of cellulose.

what do they do currently with the corn stalks?

Corn stalks have a variety of uses. In a lot of dairy &/or beef operations they're chopped up with the corn, go through anaerobic fermentation, and are fed to the cattle.

They're also made into round bales. On my family's farm, we'd mostly use these for cattle bedding. When we'd run short of silage in the late summer, and if the previous year's bales were still in good shape, we'd occasionally just put a bale in the feeder every few days and they'd eat those, stretching our supply of silage.

 

[bracconiere]

just saying you can get pretty creative making ethanol....and i'd rather pump up the tank for a trip, then charge a battery....which is more cost prohibitive? replacing batteries, or a few extra bucks for gas? electric is dandy, but liquor is quicker!


edit: and locally they turn all the yard waste into compost at the moment....perfectly good ethanol source? i'm pretty sure? not 100% though....if you see the piles, probably would fuel the entire city, just trimming the yards....

 

[Kent88]

... a few extra bucks for gas?

How are you so sure that it would be as low as "a few extra bucks"?

Also, replacing batteries at the cost of the consumer is rare so far, unless you're looking at early Nissan Leafs. They're doing real world tests of swappable batteries, and those only take about 10 minutes and doesn't involve much effort for the driver. It's more common to recharge. And charging tech (speed) is improving all the time.

 

[bracconiere]

How are you so sure that it would be as low as "a few extra bucks"?

Also, replacing batteries at the cost of the consumer is rare so far, unless you're looking at early Nissan Leafs. They're doing real world tests of swappable batteries, and those only take about 10 minutes and doesn't involve much effort for the driver. It's more common to recharge. And charging tech (speed) is improving all the time.

i'm saying i'd rather pay $10-15 for a gallon of ethanol, then buy an electric car.....and if cellulose can be enzymatically broken down to sugar, like mashing starch....source is unlimited....all the paper that ends up in landfills, yard waste....i'm betting you ethanol is the future, not electric...because we will run out a composted algea underground...it'd be a better solar panel, and more convient.....

 

[Kent88]

i'm betting you ethanol is the future, not electric...

I don't think that's a good bet to make

 

[Bilsch]

i'm saying i'd rather pay $10-15 for a gallon of ethanol, then buy an electric car.....and if cellulose can be enzymatically broken down to sugar, like mashing starch....source is unlimited....all the paper that ends up in landfills, yard waste....i'm betting you ethanol is the future, not electric...because we will run out a composted algea underground...it'd be a better solar panel, and more convient.....

Would it not seem simpler (and cheaper) to put some silicon wafers, with no moving parts, out in the free unlimited sunlight and collect all the energy you need to drive and also run your house?

Also I hear there are a lot of people around these parts that believe alcohol is for drinking and not burning!

 

[bracconiere]

Would it not seem simpler (and cheaper) to put some silicon wafers, with no moving parts, out in the free unlimited sunlight and collect all the energy you need to drive and also run your house?

Also I hear there are a lot of people around these parts that believe alcohol is for drinking and not burning!

this is general chit chat, i'm getting an urge to punch faces and take names!
\

mr. henry ford original deisgned the car to run on ethanol......if i remember my tv watching documentaries......the only way electric cars will be viable, is if they start fueling them with nuclear rods...like big boats....

in fact how big of a nuclear rod would a compact car need? only way i see electric better then liquid fuel..like old steam engine trains....burning coal...

 

[bracconiere]

drinking and not burning!

and yet some some like making fuel too....


and @doug293cz i wait to see an elecrtic plane that can carry more then a mouse..... but esteese's did have me shooting all kinds of stuff into the air with solid fuel? lol

 

[Bilsch]

this is general chit chat, i'm getting an urge to punch faces and take names!

mr. henry ford original deisgned the car to run on ethanol......if i remember my tv watching documentaries......the only way electric cars will be viable, is if they start fueling them with nuclear rods...like big boats....

in fact how big of a nuclear rod would a compact car need? only way i see electric better then liquid fuel..like old steam engine trains....burning coal...

We are all just having a polite chat, no need to smash any faces.

In their day Ford, Edison, Bell, Telsa etc were certainly on the cutting edge but how many of their ideas or inventions are we still using in their original form? Could either Edison or Bell have imagined almost all humans on the planet have in their pocket a portable high quality movie and sound studio we can also use to communicate with the world? Similarly transportation technology has advanced and will continue to get better. Liquid fuels have their strong points but efficiency and renewability aren't among them. The age of drilling cheap hydrocarbons from the ground is coming to an end and the in the future it will all be about the economics of the energy storage medium. And right now storing and using electrons directly is the least costly solution. Sure there will be some edge cases like aviation but those limitations are shrinking every day.

Nuclear rods aren't necessary when we have perfectly functional batteries that propel cars around without hassle or big expense. I do it every day.

Speaking of Ford.. near the turn of the last century horse and buggy drivers didn't much care for the newfangled automobiles that were being churned out in Detroit. They were certain it was a fad that would never catch on. But 120 some years later we can see clearly how that turned out. Technology will march on even though humans are resistant to change.

 

[bracconiere]

i like the fact you reserved yourself......i'm dosing off now!

 

[Kent88]

i wait to see an elecrtic plane that can carry more then a mouse

Great Electric Airplane Race

 

[Broothru]

damn this thread is still going.....i still am dreaming of the car that runs on beer...i think of all the chaff wasted, when all you'd need is some enzymes to ferment it....

Not me. I'm fantasizing over one that runs on spent grains. Imagine all the beer I'd just have to brew. SWMBO'd would be all, like, "Hey, Honey. Why don't you order another twenty or so 55# sacks of grain from More Beer? I need to fuel up so I can get to the hairdresser."

 

[bracconiere]

Not me. I'm fantasizing over one that runs on spent grains. Imagine all the beer I'd just have to brew. SWMBO'd would be all, like, "Hey, Honey. Why don't you order another twenty or so 55# sacks of grain from More Beer? I need to fuel up so I can get to the hairdresser."

here you go! lol

https://www.labdepotinc.com/p-15110...KvywqnhzJTthwtLi6CWa8Z2IbZdnHhaQaArUREALw_wcB
glad to help a brother out!