EV's getting cheaper than gas vehicles.

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James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
Clearly this shows that EVs add to the load on the grid and that this needs to be addressed as EV usage increases, but it also shows that EV charging is quite dispatchable and that the timing of EV charging will be a significant part of addressing their impact.

Jon
People probably plugging their car in as soon as they get home from work. I'm not a big mandate guy, but maybe limiting EV charging to 1/2 hour or less except overnight might be good
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
I'm more of a 'design markets to address the issue ' sort of guy.

I like the idea of EV chargers having dynamic pricing based on current supply and demand. You can charge your EV any time you wish, but some times will be much more expensive then other times.

Selling electricity at the wholesale rate (ala Griddy) combined with a chargers that let the customer program time and price thresholds would probably save customers money and help stabilize the grid.

(Personally I think Griddy was a great idea but needed better customer education. )

Jon
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Wants to know why it cost so much add claiming there are 4 empty slots in panel. Opening panel there are no buss spaces associated with the multi size panel cover and someone added electric heat onto a 100A panel on a home originally oil heat, without sizing load. BX and rag wire. Asked why they went to electric heat, "I didn't feel safe with oil heat." They "Got friends cousin Joe Handiman and he did it real cheap so we did it." Ground attached to water line that got replaced at some time with Plastic. Visual evidence of conductor heating. And why is it going to cost so much just to add the charger?
Seen it, just different reason for adding circuit.
Will likely see more of this. We've got a lot of old houses, renovated to look pretty but don't fix or upgrade to code the wiring while walls are open, no value in that.
Put in an interlock kit then tell them you can either charge your car or run your heat, but not both. ;)
 

ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
More like:
"Right next to the full FPE panel on a 100 amp service with no main service disconnect. And $300 is too expensive, ill pay you $150 and ill provide the materials I already have them the guy at home depot was way more helpful than you."
In my parents house, it was a 50A FPE with 4-breakers and feed-thru lugs, later used to feed 40A sub-panel machine shop in our garage, after electrician disconnected 20A resistive heaters is 2 bathrooms.

House was flipped in 2016 with same setup, on utility's existing #8 triplex. No doubt someone will put level-2 charger on feed-thru lugs.
 

Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
House was flipped in 2016 with same setup, on utility's existing #8 triplex. No doubt someone will put level-2 charger on feed-thru lugs.
I have never saw #8 triplex. I thought 6 was the smallest size made.
must be pretty old to be that small.
 

ramsy

Roger Ruhle dba NoFixNoPay
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
Maybe a pair of lines with steal messenger had different names. We also have turn-of-the-century bungalows with fused neutrals on 30A 120vac disconnects.

The unfused hot runs directly thru the keyless lights, with 2-prong socket adapters running extension cords thru out.
 

Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
Maybe a pair of lines with steal messenger had different names. We also have turn-of-the-century bungalows with fused neutrals on 30A 120vac disconnects.

The unfused hot runs directly thru the keyless lights, with 2-prong socket adapters running extension cords thru out.
I’m not saying your wrong or that’s not what is there. I’m sorry if it came across that way.
I was simply stating I didn’t know it was made that small at one time.

We disconnected the last house on our system with a 120V service about five or six years ago. It was occupied right up until we disconnected it. I went with the service tech out of curiosity. The electric box was actually a wood box with the wires coming into it and BOTH circuits were fused. I couldn’t believe they only had two circuits in the whole house.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I have never saw #8 triplex. I thought 6 was the smallest size made.
must be pretty old to be that small.
I have run into old #8 SE cable many times on light load outbuildings on farm places, never #8 overhead multiplex though. Maybe #8 hard drawn copper for overhead lines though, 6 seemed to be most common but sometimes you found smaller conductors for light load applications.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
I watched a video today with a Ford engineer discussing the new electric F-150; he stated the total cost of ownership over the typical fleet life of the vehicle would be half of a traditional pickup.

Shot fireworks with my EC neighbor yesterday, he told me about another EV pickup I hadn’t heard of yet.


I don’t remember the details of what we actually talked about but he’s pretty keen on getting this one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I watched a video today with a Ford engineer discussing the new electric F-150; he stated the total cost of ownership over the typical fleet life of the vehicle would be half of a traditional pickup.

Shot fireworks with my EC neighbor yesterday, he told me about another EV pickup I hadn’t heard of yet.


I don’t remember the details of what we actually talked about but he’s pretty keen on getting this one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Watched it.
Other clips on YouTube indicate it being fraud and it’s executives resigning. Didn’t watch them so IDK.
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Watched it.
Other clips on YouTube indicate it being fraud and it’s executives resigning. Didn’t watch them so IDK.

I don’t know if fraud is involved (could be, I just don’t know), but I think it’s a fact that will have to shutdown by the end of the year unless they can come up with some new capital.
 

Besoeker3

Senior Member
Location
UK
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
From the other side of the pond...........
I think the prices are very pricey. My Mercedes was about £25,000. Top speed was 140 mph and range was about 600 miles. The Jaguar Pace is about £70,000, top speed 124 mph, range about 200..............ish.
 

Coppersmith

Senior Member
Location
Tampa, FL, USA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Years ago when the Toyota Prius first came out I saw it at an auto show. The salesperson there was touting the savings from using much less gas. I asked the cost of replacing the battery pack (since I know it will die eventually) and couldn't get a straight answer.
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Years ago when the Toyota Prius first came out I saw it at an auto show. The salesperson there was touting the savings from using much less gas. I asked the cost of replacing the battery pack (since I know it will die eventually) and couldn't get a straight answer.

When the Prius first came out, you could buy an equivalent gasoline-powered car and the price difference would buy enough gas for 10 years worth of driving it with money to spare.

120,000 miles at 30 MPG is 4000 gallons. About $1.80 per gallon, so $7200.
These numbers are conservative. In 2004, Priuii were selling above MSRP - $20K+. The Echo was less than $12K MSRP and was rated over 35 MPG. You could buy a Chevy Aveo for about $8K after incentives.
 

Coppersmith

Senior Member
Location
Tampa, FL, USA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
A few years after that auto show (in 2007) I was in the market for an economy car. I looked at the Prius, but ultimately purchased a 2008 Honda Fit because the sticker price was much less expensive. I still have that Fit and it runs like a champ. I've never had a major issue with it. Highway MPG is near 40 if you drive cautiously.

ETA: When I first bought it I drove it to a union meeting. I got a lot of grousing from a couple of the members. I told them I looked at every American made product in the category, and none could even come close to the quality and MPG for the price. I said I preferred to buy American, and would pay a reasonable amount more for it, but I'm not going to be a martyr.
 
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Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
My daughter bought a Prius a year or so after they came out. A water pump, normal maintenance expenses, and a $1300 rebuilt battery got her 255K miles. She was very pleased with it overall and the one that followed it.

She now drives a Honda Sport Touring with every option she wanted but the stick shift. Better on the road mpg and some kick butt acceleration.
 

cpickett

Senior Member
Location
Western Maryland
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Years ago when the Toyota Prius first came out I saw it at an auto show. The salesperson there was touting the savings from using much less gas. I asked the cost of replacing the battery pack (since I know it will die eventually) and couldn't get a straight answer.
This was probably 8 or so years ago but a guy at work was bragging about his Prius until he had to replace the battery, $5k if I remember.
 
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