diy solar

diy solar

Texas grid close to edge tonight ?

EastTexCowboy said:
if you live in the city or suburbs and only drive short distances I can see the advantages.
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This is where I actually see it as a disadvantage. IMO the only way to get your money out of a vehicle (any vehicle) is to put a lot of miles on it bringing your actual cost per mile down. An EV that costs $60K and only gets driven 2K miles a year is a very bad investment. Then on the flip side, if you do drive a lot, an EV is also a bad investment if it can not get the range and have the charging speed of filling up with gas. That is why it should be left to the market to decide who wants/needs one.
 
Texas-Mark said:
This is where I actually see it as a disadvantage. IMO the only way to get your money out of a vehicle (any vehicle) is to put a lot of miles on it bringing your actual cost per mile down. An EV that costs $60K and only gets driven 2K miles a year is a very bad investment. Then on the flip side, if you do drive a lot, an EV is also a bad investment if it can not get the range and have the charging speed of filling up with gas. That is why it should be left to the market to decide who wants/needs one.
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Something with wheels that costs $60K is rarely a good "investment". :unsure:
 
I'm torn on the whole issue of mandating EVs. In general, I don't like the idea of government telling me what I can or can't buy, so long as I don't hurt others by my choices. But in the grand scheme of things, I've concluded that our dependence on fossil fuels is hurting all of us through climate change. I drive an eleven year old V8 Tundra and have a diesel tractor, because I need their capacity to get work done. And, we need 4WD to live where we live. Also, I don't want to spend 1/3 the cost of a small home to buy a vehicle! I'd argue that if the government wants people to adopt EVs, then incentivize the heck out of them, invest big time in improved battery technology (including charge rates), and EV infrastructure. I realize that's going to take a lot of tax dollars, but I'd be willing to see those dollars invested there vs. a lot of other things we spend government funds on. If I could buy a plain Jane 4WD EV pickup for the same cost as a gas pickup, I'd likely do it when I need one. But they load EV pickups up with so much crap I don't need, they just become luxury cars with a big outdoor trunk. Not helpful for most people who actually use their pickups to get stuff done.
 
I've been driving a 2013 plug in Prius for the last several years, bought used for 18 K with 38 K miles, now has 110 K miles, between my pure EV range (10 miles or so) and its all gas MPG, I average in the high 60's MPG at fill ups. I also have a beater Toyota RAV4 for winter use (AWD) that is getting bit long in the tooth. I am debating putting money in it (new power steering unit, front shocks, etc., but it'll still be a beater! The newer plug in RAV4 hybrids can now be bought used and I am contemplating them...., it's 30+ mile ev range would handle my commute 100%, and since I have "free" surplus power at home it kinda makes sense. AWD, so only one rig not two in the garage. The only place it'd suffer in comporasion to the Prius is long high speed road trips, which I don't do often anyway.
 
Texas-Mark said:
I'm still not convinced that we are causing any great change. It's been an abnormally hot summer here, but some of the records still stand - from the 1930s.
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Agreed. The data doesn't support the hypothesis. Never has. And as was mentioned on the debate last night and many times over the past few decades, until China and India get onboard with it, the paltry percentage of reduction by the USA, even if we cut it to zero, has almost no impact.
 
Texas-Mark said:
I'm still not convinced that we are causing any great change. It's been an abnormally hot summer here, but some of the records still stand - from the 1930s.
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Yep - I get the debate. I've just reached a different conclusion, and often find myself wondering how I can improve my energy usage without going broke. The nice thing about the forum is that we can all help each other improve our solar energy systems, and have nice conversations doing that. I enjoy your posts, and those from @EastTexCowboy and others whose view on climate are different from mine. Thanks for them.
 
Texas-Mark said:
An EV is not solar power.
But to answer the first part of the question, while I have no issue with EVs in general, I do have an issue with them being rammed down our throats without thinking things through long term (i.e. infrastructure needed, costs, battery material availability, battery disposal, etc. etc.). Why not just let the market go where it takes it without mandating things that many if not most people really don't want at this point?
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webbbn said:
I really don't understand some of the resistance to EVs on a forum dedicated to solar power. It's a (in most cases) 70-100kWh battery, plus a very advanced (luxury in most cases) car in one packages that doesn't cost much more than an equivalent car. You can charge it whenever electricity is the cheapest, and in some locations you can sell back when it's most expensive. Not only does that not adversely affect the electrical grid, it helps reduce peak demand. Add solar charging on top of that, and it's even better.

Most EVs don't currently support bidirectional charging, but that's going to change very rapidly over the next year or two. When that starts becoming mainstream it will only help the adoption of large-scale solar installations by using the EV network to draw on at night and during peak hours.

Edit: I should add that my EV adds about $5 a month to my electricity bill, which averages around $350. It's pretty much the same usage as my office, which has a computer and some networking equipment.
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Think about it this way.

To SOLAR charge an EV, you need a massive array running to charge an even larger storage battery. This forum is mostly DIY bargain hunters.
Likely 95% of the forum members on here couldn't afford the solar needed to charge an ev daily. Not to mention most would need nighttime charging, so, they need a battery bank larger than the one in their vehicle... $$$
 
GuyG said:
Please tell me you’re just kidding around.
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This is not the forum to get into this debate, but no, I was not joking. I'm old enough to remember the 70s "global cooling" arguments. Are we responsible for causing some environmental issues? Yes. But I am more worried about our ability to "poison" water sources than effecting significant climate changes.
 
Madcodger said:
Yep - I get the debate. I've just reached a different conclusion, and often find myself wondering how I can improve my energy usage without going broke. The nice thing about the forum is that we can all help each other improve our solar energy systems, and have nice conversations doing that. I enjoy your posts, and those from @EastTexCowboy and others whose view on climate are different from mine. Thanks for them.
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Thank you. I firmly believe that calm and honest discussion can usually produce good results. When it degrades to shouting and name calling then nobody wins and more likely we get pushed farther apart. I blame MSM and social media for fanning the flames with click bait and inflammatory headlines, articles and posts. A lot of us so called climate deniers aren't that at all. We simply don't buy into the narrative regarding cause and severity. Some people believe the world is going to end in the next ten years and some people believe there is almost no negative effect from humans. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. When I look at the data, rather than taking anyone's word for it, there's not much to support any massive impact that is human caused, but that's me drawing my conclusions from available data. If you have a different opinion, I respect that. But I do tire of being called names when I present that evidence or offer an opinion. So once again, thanks.
 
Texas-Mark said:
Waiting for all of the RV owners to see this. ;)
And while I hate that a lot of pickup trucks can fall into this range, they are a good investment for those who's livelihoods depend on it.
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Yeah, that's why I added "rarely". I have a fleet of vans/trucks for business use, I hate them, hate them with a passion.
 
"ERCOT set a new all-time weekend peak demand record of 85,116 MW on Sunday, August 20. The current all-time peak demand record of 85,435 MW was set on August 10. In 2022, the August peak demand was 78,465 MW. This summer, ERCOT set 10 new all-time peak demand records. Last year, ERCOT set 11 new peak demand records, surpassing 80 GWs for the first time ever. "
 
EastTexCowboy said:
Thank you. I firmly believe that calm and honest discussion can usually produce good results. When it degrades to shouting and name calling then nobody wins and more likely we get pushed farther apart. I blame MSM and social media for fanning the flames with click bait and inflammatory headlines, articles and posts. A lot of us so called climate deniers aren't that at all. We simply don't buy into the narrative regarding cause and severity. Some people believe the world is going to end in the next ten years and some people believe there is almost no negative effect from humans. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. When I look at the data, rather than taking anyone's word for it, there's not much to support any massive impact that is human caused, but that's me drawing my conclusions from available data. If you have a different opinion, I respect that. But I do tire of being called names when I present that evidence or offer an opinion. So once again, thanks.
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I would love to see your data.
 
Downside that I see is charging off hours (post peak PV) is going to be a struggle bus, sure people can schedule off “peak charging” but I just don’t see the average owner caring, they plug in when getting home and forget about it.

The average owner doesn’t care. Everyone here isn’t the average owner.
 
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