Can You Believe This-The Government Wants Us To Go EV but In So Doing They Will impose a gas surcharge

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
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I drove trucks (4x4) for over 40 years, I needed them for work and where I lived.
Zero macho thing here, they were essential to my line of work and living.
____

Now, forget macho and and all that crap; in California yesterday they cut power to half million people.
The ones who drive electric cars where are they going to plug their cars in order to recharge them?

A few will plug them into their power walls, which are charged from solar. Lots of roofs in CA have solar.
 

Al M.

VIP/Donor
Sep 10, 2013
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To me this Tesla electric pickup truck "renderer" doesn't look "stupid"; the exact opposite ...

Wow, that looks incredibly stupid. Why the voluntary reduction of interior space by making it more narrow than the wheelbase for stylistic reasons? And kinda ugly too.
 
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NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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A few will plug them into their power walls, which are charged from solar. Lots of roofs in CA have solar.

Ok for people on solar power, and when the weather (sun) is cooperating.
Not all electric drivers live in California, some live in Florida, New York, New Orleans, Texas, ...

* It is very unusual to cut power to prevent electrical caused fires.

Wow, that looks incredibly stupid. Why the voluntary reduction of interior space by making it more narrow than the wheelbase for stylistic reasons? And kinda ugly too.

Al, we all like different things and designs,, ...speakers, cars, colors, movies, music, ... trucks.
No problemo amigo, it looks "stupid" to you and Folsom...it's all good.
 
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NorthStar

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I just looked some more @ it; it's like an El Camino car. :)

It looks solid, safer for collisions, bulletproof, perfect for off roads, it's a hybrid truck/car for all roads. The design is sharp, modern, svelte, classy, strong, ...all that to me.
I'm a Bugatti man (in dreams).
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
From Tesla..........

"We currently have over 14,000 Superchargers worldwide, with six new locations opening every week"

That is an amazing infrastructure across the country. IIRC all Tesla Superchargers are solar powered
 

mallen123

Well-Known Member
Feb 27, 2018
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"A few will plug them into their power walls, which are charged from solar. Lots of roofs in CA have solar."
- Empirical

Mostly not true - Almost all homeowners with Solar panels are tied to the grid. They can't use their panels, even if they have a battery, during a grid shutdown. It's a mandatory safety law as long as you are tied to the grid.

On the other hand, I know Tesla owners who have back up Diesel and or propane powered generators so when the grid is shut down, it switches over to the diesel or propane fueled generator to charge their EVs:)

Steve
If Tesla's Solar powered super chargers are attached to the grid then they are shut down during a grid shutdown. If not, then they can only be used at night as long as their battery lasts.

I would be surprised if they are not tied to the grid and a battery, so as to generate power back to offset the cost of being able to charge EVs at lower night rates.


I don't know either way - would be interested to find out.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Other than threats in the past few days due to winds and possible wild fires how many mandatory shut downs have you seen? I don’t recall any

I’m sure Tesla has walls of batteries at their supercharger stations
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
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"A few will plug them into their power walls, which are charged from solar. Lots of roofs in CA have solar."
- Empirical

Mostly not true - Almost all homeowners with Solar panels are tied to the grid. They can't use their panels, even if they have a battery, during a grid shutdown. It's a mandatory safety law as long as you are tied to the grid.

On the other hand, I know Tesla owners who have back up Diesel and or propane powered generators so when the grid is shut down, it switches over to the diesel or propane fueled generator to charge their EVs:)

Steve
If Tesla's Solar powered super chargers are attached to the grid then they are shut down during a grid shutdown. If not, then they can only be used at night as long as their battery lasts.

I would be surprised if they are not tied to the grid and a battery, so as to generate power back to offset the cost of being able to charge EVs at lower night rates.


I don't know either way - would be interested to find out.

I believe the power wall is designed to be separate from the grid.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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From Tesla..........

"We currently have over 14,000 Superchargers worldwide, with six new locations opening every week"

That is an amazing infrastructure across the country. IIRC all Tesla Superchargers are solar powered


Not quite yet...

 

DonH50

Member Sponsor & WBF Technical Expert
Jun 22, 2010
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According to the news, CA has had power shutdowns for fire danger for over twenty years, and both PGE and SoCalEd have had numerous mandatory shutdowns since 2003, including some fairly large ones, but none approaching the scale of the current blackouts.

Just saw a fire in San Bernadino in the news, have friends there, hope everyone got out OK! We have a few bad fires out here but hopefully the snow we got today will help. Bitter cold will not help the firefighters, though; supposed to be 6 degF at my house tonight. I have worked a fire line, pretty sure it's the hardest thing I have ever done.
 

assessor43

Well-Known Member
Nov 1, 2018
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the leaves have not changed colors 4 years in a row now where I live. something is changing...
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
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Great Pacific Northwest
www.empiricalaudio.com
I decided to do the diligence and wrote a paper on the actual price of gas and debunking some myths about electric cars. Enjoy.
 

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  • The Real Cost of Gasoline.pdf
    104.8 KB · Views: 14

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
vs how many gas stations- that accept any car
I guess one could argue that based on that Tesla is the big gorilla on the block. Keith honestly i admire your perserverence and respect what your plan is. I have mine and the world goes on
 

mallen123

Well-Known Member
Feb 27, 2018
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Dont' get me wrong - I admire Musk and his stance of growing our population in to space, vs the Malthusian alternative.

Bezo's Blue Origin is on the same track, and he is supporting Rivien with $500M investment and placed their largest order for EV Trucks to lower Amazons carbon footprint. He is also spending his own money ($1B a year to fund Blue Origin) on his Star Trek inspired push for space colonization.

I also love Tesla's cars and havnt met any owner who wasn't happy, although i do know some model X and S customers who don't get near the range claimed. They do lots of mountain driving and have seen fairly big capacity drop off in their 4th years of ownership.

I'm just worried there are still lot of issues with Tesla surviving long term, given the bad Solar City deal and the ability of Tesla to scale and compete long term with the auto giants. Tesla had a near death experience not too long ago and almost ran out of cash. Musk is an erratic leader with lots of Executive turnover and has not come close to proving himself the kind of execution genius that Bezos has.

Tesla has never been profitable without the free margin from selling carbon credits under California's cap and trade program. These profits are essentially a highly regressive tax that basically drive up the cost of energy for lower income Californians who can't afford solar, as well as drive up the cost of doing business for every company in California.

I think Tesla has a chance of succeeding and the loss's could be much like Amazons first 20 yrs.

They currently have the best EVs, but I'm still cautious about being an early adopter.

Disclaimer on the following, as who knows in todays fake news world, but if it's true, this should not be on the backs of their customers:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/res...ou-a-lot-to-repair/ar-AAIGlYX?ocid=spartanntp
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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