Display MoreTransitioning the country away from internal combustion vehicles over to electric vehicles will greatly increase the electric production requirements of the country and unless they find an economical way to store the electricity produced by solar and wind power this will mandate an increase in the power generated by coal and natural gas to supply the power to charge all of the electric vehicles
Seriously think about this - - a Tesla powerwall II battery that you might install on your home has a power rating of 13.5 kWh. one of these and 22 solar panels worth of roof top solar should be good to power and backup the average home.
So lets compare this to the electrical needs of an electric car - if 13.5 kWh is enough to back up your home in an outage and to also run it all night when the solar is not running what's it take to run a car? - - the standard battery currently in a Tesla model S is 100kWh - almost 7.5 times larger than a Tesla power wall II - - and 100kWh batteries and larger seem to be what the future holds for any kind of decent range - - - - so how does this country charge all of these batteries if the majority of cars become electric? - - clearly if you need 22 panels simply to run your home and keep the 13.5 kWh backup charged how many panels would need to be added if you also need to charge a 100kWh electric car every night?? - - could you even fit this many panels on the average roof and have them getting good / efficient sun exposure?
Roof top solar on most homes would never be able to provide 100% of the homes needs plus 100% of the charging needs for a 100k battery car driven all the time - - now consider the fact than many homes need 2 cars that would need charging, and what of other vehicles? how many kWh would the battery have to be for an 18 wheeler and where you going to get clean electricity to charge that?
Some people seem to think that just because you get an electric vehicle it somehow magically green, but unless all of the power charging these vehicles comes from clean green energy sources its just not true.
Here in Southern California we are being warned that there might need to be rolling blackouts this summer because the grid might not be able to provide the power needed during this summers heat - - - they say that currently sales of electric cars in the state (light vehicles) is 12%
So, the grid is incapable of producing a guaranteed sufficient supply right now today when only 12% of new cars are electric so what's going to happen when that becomes 50% or 100%? and when it starts also including large heavy vehicles - - - - and what are we doing - - we are shutting down the last nuclear plant in the State - - - - - and the environmental freaks are fighting every single new wind and solar project - - - and even if all production were green we have no way to store any of it so that we can run things when the sun goes down or the wind doesn't blow
forgive my rambling, but this idea that we need to make every vehicle electric just baffles me when it seems so very clear that we are doing nothing and in fact are actually going backwards when it comes to providing the infrastructure to be able to charge the electric vehicles we already have with power from clean sources let alone a future of 100% electric vehicles
its all BS
This calculation only kinda works where you live. Now re-figure in in the PNW where the solar efficiency drops over 50% due to average rain and cloud cover, then in areas where snow covers the panels 1/4 of the year. Right when you need power the most.
I have only mentioned it a couple times but my immediate family has a direct stake in the largest renewable power company in the nation (gas, wind, solar, nuclear, and hydro plants). I have energy production investments in the US, Canada, Spain, and the Caribbean. Without government support only gas, hydro, and nuclear are viable, the rest are decades away from breaking even IF technology advances well beyond what we have now and costs come down. When everything is taken in to account current wind and solar are more harmful to the environment and MUCH less efficient than gas generation, a hundred times less than hydro, and a thousand times less than nuclear. IMO wind will never be viable as a primary power source and you know those turbines lining the hills NW of your beautiful city, I own part of a few of them. And most there are already failing to the point they should just be bulldozed.
Can't really say much more than that on the subject ......
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