Forums

Joel said :
Electric vehicles when charged at home overnight do not draw huge amounts of power especially if charging off just your normal wall socket. I concur. It costs me like a nickel to charge my bike up. A car would be significantly more of course, probably in the range of maybe 20 cents.

However, if you're talking about millions of cars, that's a little different. Plus, most people would be charging them at night, after they get home from work, and do errands, etc., and are done with the car for the day, especially if charging off a normal wall socket, as that's gonna take a few hours.

The sun doesn't work at night, so, if you're trying to move away from fossil fuels... well, you better hope it's windy at night, or you have some hydro electric dams somewhere...

Electricity isn't like fossil fuels. You can't really store up large amounts of electrical energy on the scale that the power grid requires, so, electricity basically needs to be used when it's produced. So if you plan on forcing millions of people to charge their electric vehicles at night, you better have a backup plan if your goal is to phase out fossil fuels.

That's what happened in California, with the rolling blackouts this year. They were counting on solar, wind, and natural gas for their energy production, as they have completely phased out fossil fuels. So, when the gas plant started having issues, the "renewable energy" simply couldn't keep up with the load now that the gas plant wasn't producing.

If you want to force everyone to drive electric vehicles, you can't really rely on "renewable energy" like solar and wind. They're not efficient enough. They're not constant. One of them doesn't work at night.


I like the idea of electric vehicles, but, I really don't think it's possible to both phase out fossil fuels power plants, and phase out fossil fuel vehicles. Unless you're going nuclear. But, that's a whole other discussion. I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 03:39:47

Joel said :
EVs are still new

Original message details are unavailable.

Timeline: History of the Electric Car
Not an invention of modern times, the electric car has a long and storied history. Travel back in time as we explore the history of the electric car.

1828 — 1835
First Small-Scale Electric Cars
Horse and buggies are the primary mode of transportation, but innovators in Hungary, the Netherlands and the U.S. think to the future, creating some of the first small-scale electric cars.

1832
First Crude Electric Vehicle Is Developed
Around 1832, Robert Anderson develops the first crude electric vehicle, but it isn't until the 1870s or later that electric cars become practical. Pictured here is an electric vehicle built by an English inventor in 1884.

1889 — 1891
First Electric Vehicle Debuts in U.S.
William Morrison, from Des Moines, Iowa, creates the first successful electric vehicle in the U.S. His car is little more than an electrified wagon, but it sparks an interest in electric vehicles. This 1896 advertisement shows how many early electric vehicles were not much different than carriages.

1899
Electric Cars Gain Popularity
Compared to the gas- and steam-powered automobiles at the time, electric cars are quiet, easy to drive and didn't emit smelly pollutants -- quickly becoming popular with urban residents, especially women.

1900 — 1912
Electric Cars Reach Their Heyday
By the turn of the century, electric vehicles are all the rage in the U.S., accounting for around a third of all vehicles on the road. Pictured here is Fifth Avenue in New York City around this time, showing the range in vehicle options available.

https://www.energy.gov/timeline/timeline-history-electric-car

There's more on the website if you're interested.

But yeah, gas, steam and electric cars had pretty much the same start, around the same time, almost 200 years ago. I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 03:51:35

I'm not really sure where you'd plug your electric car in, back in the 1830's. I mean, there was no electrical grid until 1882 in the US, and no centralized electrical grid in Britain until 1935, so, I'm guessing you had to charge up your car either manually, or live really close to a power station.

You really wouldn't wanna run out of charge on the road back then. You'd probably have to call for a tow horse to tow you to a charging station. Of course, AAA wasn't formed until 1902... and cell phones weren't invented yet... man, you really wouldn't wanna run out charge back then. I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 04:02:37 - Last edited on 02-Dec-2020 04:03:10 by NexOrigin

Joel said :
I charged 4 times in total, no more than 20 mins each time and it conveniently coincided with a washroom or food break. I would expect as EVs become more frequent, more restaurants and whatnot will offer fast charging stations for patrons.

At some point, I'm actually expecting the "charging pad" technology to be incorporated into EV battery systems, so you can just park in a "charging spot" and charge your car.

What would be really innovative is if they incorporated that technology into the roads, so you could charge your car while driving on main roadways. That would be epic. Probably completely improbable in the real world, but it would be pretty neat.

Joel said :
I live in a condo too so don't have home charging. Do they not provide block heater outlets for your parking? Or do they not turn them on until the winter? I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 04:34:10

Joel said :
Hasn't the Leaf been around for like 10 years or something? Hasn't gained much traction, or attention but this year seems to be an explosion of attention and movement in the industry Yep, almost exactly 10 years now.

The Smart Car was released in 1994.

There was an explosion of electric vehicles in the 70's when the gas prices started to skyrocket.

EVs have been around quite a while, and they keep popping up here and there, but yeah, there seems to be more of a focus on it right now.

China, for example, is pumping out massive amounts of electric cars, which is no real surprise at this point, since they control most of the world's lithium supply. Not only are they one of the top lithium producers, but they also buy most of the lithium mined by Australia (the #1 lithium producer).

What better way to sell your product, than to encourage to people to buy products such as electric cars, which use massive amounts of it?

You can literally go on Alibaba and buy a brand new EV for around $900. You're getting what you pay for in an electric vehicle like that, but, I was actually surprised at what you actually got for a $900 electric car. I mean, it's got a backup camera and everything you expect in a modern car.

https://youtu.be/1GG1RC7GV0Y

But again, that's a 110v charger it comes with, which means no fast charging, and you pretty much have to charge it at home overnight.

But, for a $900 electric car? You know, if your government is forcing you to buy an electric car, and you have a place to charge it at home, and you don't have far to drive everyday... I would probably end up buying one.

And yes, people would probably laugh at me. I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 04:52:26

Yeah, a block heater heats the engine block so the oil doesn't thicken up when it's like -40 degrees out.

This is common to see where I live:


You could use them for charging your EV on 110v, if they don't turn them off during the summer. Some places do, some don't and allow people to use them for vacuuming their cars, etc. I'm better than you, but that doesn't mean you're not great!

02-Dec-2020 10:49:53

02-Dec-2020 12:32:45 - Last edited on 02-Dec-2020 12:36:33 by Ownage Omg