EV owners of today and tomorrow

[Grumpycat]

Found this kind of interesting. How is your state doing?

Local – NBC Boston

In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston and New England area.

www.necn.com

They don’t say anything about why they think they need all those “public” chargers. Written by non-EV drivers who assume EVs need “gas stations”, that ICE needs gas stations therefore EV too.

What is needed is simple home charging.

Don’t tell me “impossible for appartment dwellers!” because Once Upon A Time they didn’t have kitchens, refrigerators, cable tv, broadband internet, etc. If there is a need it will be fulfilled. Craigslist has a hard coded search button for EV charging in their housing section.

 

[sd455dan]

So, “maybe”? You are guessing and don’t really know.

I documented my Subaru dropping from 32 to 26 MPG on long 70 MPH trips. 20% loss from 70° to 40°. Not figuring short trip warmups. Measured at pump, not the fool meter. Even if this is “winter gas” it is truth. I have reason to believe it is not due to winter gas.

My Model Y reports first mile or two at 11°F at 700 Wh/mile. About 5 miles later the average is under 300 Wh/mile.

Neighbor warms his diesel RAM at least 15 minutes on cold mornings. No 10% hit for him.

Heck, I have seen my wife leave her diesel Ram idling for over 45 minutes on cold mornings, she starts it and then waits in the house. That IS one thing she does like about the Tesla - a fully warmed up interior and heated seats in 5-10 minutes at the most.


I have started to use the Tesla to drain off extra power from the Solar array.

Don't have enough (home) storage batteries to use it all on a fully sunny day. The 28.6 KWH batteries are recharged by around one PM so I look at the house draw and then set the cars charge current at whatever amps seems to just pull a little from the grid. Tesla battery is just over 81KWH so it can take up the slack for now.

Inverter turns that off and around 4 pm then slowly discharges the batteries through the night.

Was surprised to see the solar producing over 16 KW for a while couple days back. Pretty slick because like the Tesla ap, I was able to change the inverters settings from my phone while in town using the truck and also set the Tesla's draw.

 

[Grumpycat]

Heck, I have seen my wife leave her diesel Ram idling for over 45 minutes on cold mornings, she starts it and then waits in the house. That IS one thing she does like about the Tesla - a fully warmed up interior and heated seats in 5-10 minutes at the most.


I have started to use the Tesla to drain off extra power from the Solar array.

Don't have enough (home) storage batteries to use it all on a fully sunny day. The 28.6 KWH batteries are recharged by around one PM so I look at the house draw and then set the cars charge current at whatever amps seems to just pull a little from the grid. Tesla battery is just over 81KWH so it can take up the slack for now.

Inverter turns that off and around 4 pm then slowly discharges the batteries through the night.

Was surprised to see the solar producing over 16 KW for a while couple days back. Pretty slick because like the Tesla ap, I was able to change the inverters settings from my phone while in town using the truck and also set the Tesla's draw.

My solar installation starts February 5! Two Powerwall 3, 14.4 kW of panels.

Cybertruck works bidirectionally through Tesla Wall Connectors. Guessing Model Y lacks the ability to output AC on the NACS connector explaining why this feature is not available. But maybe the hardware is capable? Would be nice to be able to use the 70-80 kWh battery in my car to power house in an emergency.

My sister is known to start running portable space heaters when Powerwall batteries are full and solar overproducing when the grid is down. Better to store excess as heat in the house than throw it away.

 

[sd455dan]

My solar installation starts February 5! Two Powerwall 3, 14.4 kW of panels.

Cybertruck works bidirectionally through Tesla Wall Connectors. Guessing Model Y lacks the ability to output AC on the NACS connector explaining why this feature is not available. But maybe the hardware is capable? Would be nice to be able to use the 70-80 kWh battery in my car to power house in an emergency.

My sister is known to start running portable space heaters when Powerwall batteries are full and solar overproducing when the grid is down. Better to store excess as heat in the house than throw it away.

Congrats, You are going to enjoy it, almost become like another hobby for me.

Yes,..... for sure, my system has only been up since Christmas and I find myself looking to make sure All of the solar is utilized because I am not in an agreement to be able to sell pack power, and even if I did they only pay 4 cents a KWH so had to find ways not to waste it since the Inverter will only pull what it has a use for and basically will waste excess solar. I guess in a way the Model Y has been driving on "sun" part of the time, because I have only charged it on the actual grid power a couple times since Christmas so as to be sure to soak up excess array power and store it in the car.

Intend to order a couple more batteries and that should give me 57.2 KWH of home battery storage. Also would have to add another 18kPV to equal two Powerwall 3's in Parallel 24KW output.

Jury is still out on the EG 4 long term reliability and software,( does have a 10 year warranty) from a few posts on the solar forum, but so far working well on the 18KPV they shipped me.

I really thought about buying Tesla equipment but I wanted to DIY the whole thing and save some money, and AFAIK Tesla will not allow it.
Even then this was not inexpensive. I have No doubts the Tesla Powerwall is a better thought out and more reliable Hybrid Inverter system. We ended up with exactly the same solar panel KW. I could be wrong but think near summer solstice there is a chance to break a 100KWH day Maybe?

 

[Grumpycat]

Congrats, You are going to enjoy it, almost become like another hobby for me.

Thanks!

I really thought about buying Tesla equipment but I wanted to DIY the whole thing and save some money, and AFAIK Tesla will not allow it.

Yes, 5 years ago that was my plan too but health issues ruled out DIY. The vendor using EG4 and similar Chinese unified hybrid inverters was originally my preference then he called one morning saying he had an electrician to bid my job and I had to commit to his verbal estimate right then or nothing. “I can’t do that. You don’t know what the cost will be and I can’t agree to pay whatever you ultimate decide.” His “estimate” was already half again higher than his first estimate putting him within a few percent of the Tesla contractor. The independent Tesla contractor git the job no matter the battery storage and PV rating is a bit lower.

We ended up with exactly the same solar panel KW. I could be wrong but think near summer solstice there is a chance to break a 100KWH day Maybe?

Solar contractor said they wanted to use Maxeon 410W bifacial panels saying they (the solar contractor) would double the warranty.

Edit: Solaria 400w panels are being used. Not the latest 550w stuff, I don’t really know why.

 

[NoTrespassing]

That is similar to my experience with ICE.


My Model Y 10,000 mile average is 234 Wh/mile, first mile cold consumption 3x that. But once rolling the battery warms from use releasing the stored energy that isn’t available from a cold battery.

I have a 200+ mile day coming up. Forecast 34°-48°. We’ll see. I’m not anxious.

Curious, on your 200+ miles trips, will you charge to 80% and not go below 20% or will you stretch it a little further?

At 0 F, I would think the 80/20 would be cutting it close.

I'm still considering an EV for my wife to replace her gas guzzling Edge ST but since our son needs to travel fairly long distances for track, cross country, and basketball I'm holding off. I think it would be difficult to find fast charging in the tiny towns we go to near the events we attend.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Traveling from East Central Illinois to Southern Illinois looks problematic to me. I entered some destinations into the Tesla trip planner to see what they recommend. What happens if you plan a trip with their website and you get less mileage than they anticipate? Chargers seem to be few and far between in the areas we travel.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

This Nissan harkens back to most of my 50 plus years of Nissan driving experience.

 

[shooterdon]

I expect fuel to drop to $2.50/gal or less. That will trigger the start of the EV death spiral in the US. What happens wrt to EVs in Asia or Europe does not matter.

The interstate charging station program passed by the Biden administration has been a failure. I wonder what happened to the billions of dollars in that program, but they did not go to charging stations. It will not go anywhere now.

I just ran the numbers for my needs and EVs do not make any sense. When the Democrats lose again in 2028, EVs will suffer another blow until 2032. I will be 82 in 2032, and I will never own an EV. A new ICE at that age will last until I am dead or too addle brained to drive.

We are seeing the EV death spiral. Again, I don't care what happens in the rest of the world. In fact, the less oil they use the cheaper gas gets here at home. I will not complain about $2/gal gas.

The experts here say Tesla is the only viable EV company. I hear Tesla is looking at EVs as only 10% of their business. Musk is not stupid.

 

[Grumpycat]

I expect fuel to drop to $2.50/gal or less. That will trigger the start of the EV death spiral in the US. What happens wrt to EVs in Asia or Europe does not matter.

That would be terrible! I’ll have to liquidate my Tesla at fire sale prices because at 0.300 kWh/mile and $0.12/kWh with $2.50 gasoline I’ll only be getting the $ equivalent of 70 MPG! Doom and gloom!

Later will learn how much power my PV solar system produces. Not expecting to make more than I use, but to make at least half. Unlike ICE I will be able to make my own fuel.

The interstate charging station program passed by the Biden administration has been a failure. I wonder what happened to the billions of dollars in that program, but they did not go to charging stations. It will not go anywhere now.

Transportation Secretary Butthead loaded the bid requirements with every woke and DEI requirement known. Impossible requirements. Thank goodness because the deployment strategy is seriously flawed in pretending what works for ICE works for EV.

EVs do not need government subsidized “gas stations” at every street corner those in government who do not drive EVs imagine. What is needed is simple at-home L2 charging, and some fast charging support on major traffic corridors..