Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: El Castor <No_One@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:10:40 -0700
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:53:32 GMT, jim <jim10293@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[Default] On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:11:30 -0700, El Castor
<No_One@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:28:56 GMT, jim <jim10293@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[Default] On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:52:06 -0700 (PDT), Rubaiyat of Omar
Bradley <cowartmisc1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 18, 12:36 pm, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hey, when the pure EV solves the problem of range, ultra-quick battery
charging, and availability of charging stations, and does it at a
reasonable price, people will be lined up around the block to buy
them, and I just might be one of them, but until then they will be
niche vehicles.
What people actually need is 2 cars: a small, affordable EV and a more
or less conventional gas-powered car (or hybrid), if they can afford
both.
I must live in a niche... it is less than 6 miles to any of the stores
I regularly shop at, or restaurants that I usually go to. A day's
weekend/retired driving would almost never exceed 50 miles. I wouldn't
need a charging station as I could charge at night at home.
I was thinking this today as I ran a couple errands. But, if one
drives some electric car once a week or so, won't that mean a lot of
charging and recharging and recharging on the grid wasting power. I
don't have my head wrapped around all the differences and implications
yet. But, electric cars just seem to be useful in very narrow
situations - like on golf course perhaps. But having a second vehicle
for 'real driving' would seem critical.
I'm still commuting 40 miles per day to work, but that will end soon
when I retire. After that, the gas-powered car could sit in the garage
and gather dust until I have to go on a very rare cross-country long-
distance trip. Or I could sell it and just rent a "normal" car for
those rare trips. That would save me a lot of money.
Actually, electricity is a very cheap way to power a car -- much less
expensive than gasoline, and who cares about the grid? Even if you
don't buy an electric car, grid problems are your problem too, but if
you do buy one you can put it on a timer and charge it in the middle
of the night. Let's face it, electric car owners are for the most part
going to be echonazis, and they will likewise charge at night. As for
two versus one, not counting fuel, two cars means an extra annual
registration fee, higher insurance rates, and more maintenance. My
wife and I have always had two cars, but a couple of years ago we
thought about it and realized we needed only one. It has worked out
great and has never been a problem. If we did nothing with a car but
drive a mile to the supermarket, then an EV would be my personal
preference, and I would look into buying one that is currently
available. It should be very cheap to drive and maintain. For us, and
I think for most people, we drive 10,000 - 12,000 miles a year. An EV
just wouldn't do it for us.
My instincts got me this far. I will continue to trust them. That
dual technology approach of gas/electric makes great deal of sense. I
understand you can even run it and run power back into house in case
of emergency. If true, another nice beni. As for more on the grid, I
read the business news and follow things like this. The following are
only two of a great many reports on real problems coming in much of
the US. Southwest is especially in trouble as is Northeast.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0630/014.html
Brownout Stocks
William Baldwin 06.30.08
A commodity suffers either a disruption in supply or a spike in
demand. Sure to happen next: The price goes up.
Pretty simple, right? But it's way beyond the economic understanding
of politicians. Their instinctive reaction to rising commodity prices
is to attempt a repeal of the law of supply and demand. That is, they
like rationing and price controls.
We saw this phenomenon in the gasoline lines of the 1970s, and we are
about to witness it again, as electricity runs short of demand. Get
ready for rolling blackouts and/or equipment-frying brownouts. The
sort of electric utility disaster that descended on California in 2000
and 2001 will afflict other parts of the country in a few years,
predicts energy analyst Mark Mills .
In demonstrably short supply are new power plants, especially of the
coal and nuclear variety. Neighbors don't want them around, so they
don't get built. Hey, why not raise the price? Offer the neighbors a
bribe, just big enough to get a plant built. A billion dollars might
do it. Then charge that sum to ratepayers. Alas, politicians get
elected by denouncing price increases and denouncing power plants, so
any kind of marketplace solution like this is not going to occur.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102694.html?hpid=sec-metro
Power Shortage Could Cause 2011 Brownouts
By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008; Page B07
Even with new power supplies and aggressive strategies to curb demand,
Maryland is still vulnerable to power shortages that could lead to
brownouts in 2011, an official with the operator of the region's
transmission grid said yesterday.
The PJM Interconnection official told state regulators that unless a
planned high-voltage transmission line is built across Loudoun County,
the region will face threats to its power supply.
"The risk [of brownouts] is still there," said Michael J. Kormos,
chief of reliability services for PJM, which runs the grid in
Maryland, Washington, Northern Virginia and the rest of the
mid-Atlantic.
The assessment comes as the Public Service Commission weighs whether
to try to force utility companies in Maryland to enter long-term
contracts with power companies to ensure the system's reliability as
demand for electricity outstrips supply.
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Maryland's deregulation of electricity markets has failed to stimulate
much new investment in power plants, and the region's aging,
bottlenecked transmission grid forces the state to import 30 percent
of its power from other states. Prices have spiked as a result.
Of course there is a problem with electricity production in this
country, but EV's aren't the reason. If EV's made sense (doubtful) the
solution to providing them with electricity would not be to not build
the EVs -- the solution would be to produce more electricity. Out here
in California we are very ecological. We don't want any of those nasty
power plants in our backyard, and we really don't want those damn
nuclear plants -- so we tore one down near Sacramento and replaced it
with the largest solar generation facility in the country -- which
produce less than 1% of the power of the nuclear plant it replaced.
We especially don't want those dirty coal fired power plants, so we
won't allow them to be built in California. We import the power from
other states, and we don't much care where they get it -- which is why
20% of the power consumed in California comes from coal.
.
- References:
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: Jim Higgins
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: El Castor
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: Jim Higgins
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: El Castor
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: Rubaiyat of Omar Bradley
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
- From: El Castor
- Re: 5 electric cars you can buy now
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