This isn't good for EV's

There was a solar panels on roofs fad back in the 80s or late 70s around here. Didn't last long. I bet the same is true with this one, especially when maintenance, mowing, and ugliness start getting old. I bet abandoned, overgrown solar farms will be a common site.

 

Was told yesterday a BUNCH of solar panels haven't made it to their destinations as they are being held up at the ports. Some shenanigans of company A not really being the builder and company B the real builder was using children to assemble. So child labor laws and problems have occurred. Can't divulge my source as they are employees of a major power company (that thousands of acres are waiting on panels).

 

Probably happens much more often than we care to know with lots of different products.

 

As an engineer I don't like EV because it doesn't solve any problems it just creates new ones. Based on CO2 generated, EV vehicles are worse than ICE cars for the first 150,000ish miles. CO2 generated correlates with energy used so it's likely EVs use more energy in that same amount of time.

ICE vehicles last 250,000 miles or more. EVs will need a battery pack replaced around 100,000...usually before. So the video above is slightly incorrect because the EV line needs another big vertical jump at battery replacement. EVs with a total system cost almost never save CO2....only at the tailpipe do they look better.

The final assumption that green renewable energy could fix that was laughable. The presenter fell for the phalicey that he tried to correct. One would have to include the CO2 and energy to make PV and wind turbines in the cost compared to oil extraction and fuel creation. I'm fairly certain oil is cheaper because it's cheaper per energy unit than renewable energy.

 

OH BOY !!! This will stir up a hornets nest…

 

For the most part………….

 

I often run on natural gas but my wife don't like it one bit...

 

One of the guys I hunt with owns the propane dealership up town and his personal pickup truck (New GMC) runs on propane. Problem is, with the fuel injection, it's an expensive refit. You'd never know it unless you got a whiff of the tailpipe exhaust. He starts it on gas and when it warms up, switches to propane automatically.

On the subject of EV's I bet climate control (heat and cooling) really shortens the effective range.

..and on the subject of the grid and power generation, the current supposed 'good deal', 'green deal' of shuttering power plants is gonna adversely impact base load capacity so the dreaded brown outs will occur no matter what. You cannot have it both ways. Pretty hard to plug in your EV into the wall charger when there is no juice flowing to it.

Here at the farm, we have a diesel standby gen set bit it too isn't a cheap date with diesel costing what it does today. You cannot win today it seems like.

I was going to buy one of those new EV zero turn mowers until I found out how much they were. For 6 grand I can buy a lot of unleaded regular, even if it's over 5 a gallon. Ego and Ryobi both have them on special order and of course both are made in China. I tease my brother who is a baby doctor, I tell him the only thing made here anymore are babies and they are delivered using Chinese made medical tools.

 

There are no solutions to problems that don't cause issues somewhere else. It is just if you can live with those issues. Doesn't mean you should stop looking, nor does it mean that one solution doesn't solve a particular problem for a particular person/entity.

Fossil fuels are not ideal, solar and wind created electricity have their limitations and other issues, and of course nuclear energy has its own concerns. OTOH, I'd rather be using any of those as to heating my place solely with non-assisted fire (which, without any of the aforementioned energy sources is also a whole lot of physical energy to obtain those resources), or getting to work by walking/bicycle/4-legged critter.

 

You goin amish on us?
It's funny, we live near a bike trail and you see a lot of amish riding E bikes these days...many while carrying cell phones.

 

I keep correcting people. It's NOT a solar farm. it's an INDUSTRIAL INSTALLATION.......

 

Sounds like the Middlefield, Ohio presto-chango to me. Amish gals go up town, dash into a lady's room and emerge with a short skirt and revealing blouse on. Wanting to be Gentiles for a day...

 

Pfft...that's nothing! I was on the beach in Sarasota FL and seen some amish girls go into the public bathrooms n come out in teeny weeny bikinis...and looking very "NOT amish!" I might add! Could hardly believe my own eyes!
Pretty bad when you get the ole elbow in the ribs for checking out amish women, eh?!

 

I know some really good Amish jokes but I cannot post them here.

 

I saw that movie………..

 

Says who?

 

It is true that producing an EV takes more energy and thereby creates more emissions than producing an ICE vehicle. However, the EV more than makes up this difference over the life of the vehicle. In addition, the batteries which are the main component of the EV that creates this discrepancy can either be redeployed or recycled at the end of their useful life in the EV. Mining and burning FF for power is “one and done”. The environmental impact of mining the minerals used to make batteries can be offset by redeploying and recycling.

It is true that the majority of the electricity used to power EVs is produced by burning FF. However, there is a net gain in efficiency and a net loss in emissions over burning the FF directly in an ICE vehicle. The stress on the power grid from charging EVs is overstated. Most EV charging happens at home and can be timed to happen overnight when demand on the grid is low. Investment in public infrastructure is a good thing especially when it comes to transportation.

Solar is the way to go for renewable energy.
-harvest the energy directly from the source
-it can be used basically anywhere
-the materials used to make the panels can be recycled.
Massive solar adoption by the public could decentralize electricity production which would go a long way to reducing the stress on the grid and increasing grid security. Imagine a solar farm in every community and every house with a bunch of panels to produce their own electricity and a bank of redeployed EV batteries to store the energy during time of low or no production.

The presenter in the video linked above is actually an EV proponent. However, he is against mass adoption of EVs at this time in favor of hybrids or PHEVs because current battery technology is lacking.
-current EV adoption is relatively low
-the video is two years old and many of the assertions he makes are no longer true or accurate
-the best way to develop new battery technology is to deploy EVs using current technology and learn from real world data.

 

Agree...to a point...but don't fake up how great it is (not aimed at you DG) and shove it down peoples throats...as I mentioned earlier, if EV's are so great, then the free market will bear that out.

Here is a current one.

 

My MIL had a Mustang II when Mrs DG was a little girl. It was the first new car she ever bought and she was very proud of it, she named the car SuzyQ. Mrs DG remembers back seat burns as well, she also remembers her mother being upset when people would tell her mother that it “wasn’t a real mustang”. I knew all of this from stories over the years. When my MIL died last summer we inherited two of her vehicles. When one of our old clunkers died Mrs DG started driving one of the cars we inherited. One day I asked her if she minded driving around in her dead mothers car, she said no but I could tell that it was hard for her, so we ended up trading both inherited cars which went a long way for us being able to afford the Mach-e for my wife. I picked the Mach-e out for her, she had no idea what she was getting. If she didn’t like it then it would become my car and my wife would get my car which I already knew she liked. When we picked up the Mach-e from the dealer they asked who the main driver would be because they get to name the car the same way you name a new phone, computer, tablet etc, we did not know this before we picked it up. Mrs DG was at a loss when they asked her to name it. So I asked her what her mother named her Mustang…it was a moment of a lifetime. Mrs DG just chuckles to herself now when people tell her that her car is “not a real Mustang”