Electric Vehicles on the horizon? Do your homework

Hi Stu, I remember when a gallon of two stroke cost 3 shillings and 9 pence, the same as a single record and a packet of three durex.
Que for a song - Those were the days my friends we thought they"d never end
 
Shootymacshootface said:
It looks like most of the entire US east coast has it pretty good with the cost of petrol compared to you guys.
If I was faced with $5+ per gallon I would definitely be considering a gas/electric hybrid for my daily.
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It's only a matter of time!
 
Shootymacshootface said:
It looks like most of the entire US east coast has it pretty good with the cost of petrol compared to you guys.
If I was faced with $5+ per gallon I would definitely be considering a gas/electric hybrid for my daily.
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Just remember the real goal has always been to get away from personal transportation altogether other than bicycles. Fossil fuel to EV is just one step. I expect once enough drivers have moved to EV the subsidies will vanish, free courtesy charging will go away, paid charging will be over taxed, and we will pay by the mile for the privilege of driving on roads we have already paid for. Not to mention what will happen to the cost of electricity as we move away from cheap reliable sources.
 
jbolt said:
Just remember the real goal has always been to get away from personal transportation altogether other than bicycles. Fossil fuel to EV is just one step. I expect once enough drivers have moved to EV the subsidies will vanish, free courtesy charging will go away, paid charging will be over taxed, and we will pay by the mile for the privilege of driving on roads we have already paid for. Not to mention what will happen to the cost of electricity as we move away from cheap reliable sources.
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I have no idea where you get your info. The car co's have always had the strangle hold on transportation and decimated public transportation in the 20's and 30's. Buying up the trolley lines in all the major cities and then scrapping them. The only thing that saved them from prosecution was WWll.

I charge my Volt at home off my solar array. And if things keep moving ahead with large storage like the iron air batteries we could see some real change in the way electricity is made and distributed. The problem of storage of excess capacity at night has always been the major problem. Several years ago CA was quietly giving excess capacity to AZ and other close states. I think due to folks like myself who were installing solar.

Our major stumbling block here in CA ain't the gubment like some folks like to repeat, it's this stupid monopoly that has been allowed to exist between PG&E and SoCal Edison. Those who think public traded co's should be in the biz of public utilities are just delusional. Then blame da gubment for high prices when it's just greed and mismanagement of the rent seeking class. PG&E buys my excess during the day when my meter runs backwards at wholesale and sells it back to me at night at the discounted off peak. They also make me pay a min of $600 a year to be tied to the grid even though they are taking and selling my power for full retail on peak time. So this makes everybody not put in excess solar. Other utilities in other states pay you for your generation above your use. NOT PG&E or Edison. CA is not a wonderland, but neither is anyplace else from what I can see.

Oh, and I don't get why nobody is dinging where the real blame should go, to big oil. When Covid hit the price of oil went through the floor. Have those fluctuations EVER shown up at the pump. NO.
 
This is why I've always thought that the government should own the infrastructure. Period. We don't let the trucking companies own the roads. If the government owns the "marketplace" then anyone can bring their goods to the market. The problem you have in California and now Texas is not a problem of regulation or greedy rent seekers. Good regulations have their place, and we're all greedy rent seekers. The problem is bad regulations that leave a few of the greedy rent seekers in charge of the marketplace, who then limit the freedom of everyone else to participate.

Think about it. I can't build out my yard with solar, and then sell it to my next door neighbor. Imagine if our roads were run like the electric grid. I could grow an acre of corn, but I wouldn't be able to sell it to the local grocery store. I'd have to sell it to a trucking company, who'd get to decide how much they'd pay me for it.

Now, imagine if our electric grids were run like the road, instead. The government would maintain the lines, and anyone could start a company to generate electricity, selling to whoever they could find to buy it. The government would just make sure that safety rules are followed. You'd have to connect with specific safety equipment. You could put power on the grid only when you have a buyer arranged. Stuff like that. The same would apply to communication companies, or any other endeavor where the power of imminent domain is used to build infrastructure.

Regardless, once EVs get a solid share of the market, taxes will follow them. Last I heard, EV owners in NC already have to pay a $1,000/yr tax to cover their share of road building and maintenance. Asphalt doesn't lay itself, and it has to be there whatever pushes the car along. IC owners are paying their share every time they stop for gas. I think it is about $1/gal for taxes here in NC. Putting the tax in gas kind of assured that the people who drive the most pay the most for roads. I predict at some point that the mileage will be taken at the yearly inspection and you'll get a bill then.
 
Shotgun said:
Now, imagine if our electric grids were run like the road, instead. The government would maintain the lines, and anyone could start a company to generate electricity, selling to whoever they could find to buy it. The government would just make sure that safety rules are followed. You'd have to connect with specific safety equipment. You could put power on the grid only when you have a buyer arranged. Stuff like that. The same would apply to communication companies, or any other endeavor where the power of imminent domain is used to build infrastructure.
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Many places are real close to that, where one can choose their electric supplier, and pay a fee for using the grid. Look back to one of the issues with Texas, many choose to go with a place that charged them a small percentage of the wholesale cost. When Texas had the issues, the wholesale price went through the roof, all of those that thought they had a good deal, suddenly got sticker shock. The other suppliers who had set prices, lost money when the wholesale price went above their contract price.

Here is a decent write up.

theconversation.com

What’s behind $15,000 electricity bills in Texas?

Some Texans are receiving eye-popping electric bills after power providers passed on volatile costs to some of their customers – legally.
theconversation.com theconversation.com

Pa had it before I left there, but I did not study it enough to say if I like it or not.

Also done with phone service in many areas. I wish they would do it with internet providers, the company here sucks.
 
Superburban said:
Many places are real close to that, where one can choose their electric supplier,
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Close, but not quite. What you have in Texas is a bunch of resellers, all selling from just a few producers. Those few producers can decide that the spot price isn't high enough for them, and just shut down. Then the resellers have to buy from out of state at exorbitant prices to satisfy their customers. It isn't so much a market as it is a futures market.

Even given that, what Texas has would work fine, if people were made aware and prepared. I know that if I buy a Chinesium tool, I will probably get something not quite square or with other hidden flaws. I pays my money, and I makes my bet. But, if I pay for a Starrett or Kurt, . . . well, that thing better work right out of the box. That's a fair market. What you had in Texas was Chinesium MARKETED as a utility. . . bad mojo.

If I were in Texas, I'd be buying the cheap electricity, but also looking to buy one of the new Ford electric trucks that includes a 6,000W inverter. I'd also build out my solar installation like I have it here in NC. I don't feed back to the grid. The grid feed backs up my system. My system won't run my whole house, but I'll still be online talking to you guys if the power goes out :)
 
Superburban said:
Many places are real close to that, where one can choose their electric supplier,
Click to expand...

Close, but not quite. What you have in Texas is a bunch of resellers, all selling from just a few producers. Those few producers can decide that the spot price isn't high enough for them, and just shut down. Then the resellers have to buy from out of state at exorbitant prices to satisfy their customers. It isn't so much a market as it is a futures market.

Even given that, what Texas has would work fine, if people were made aware and prepared. I know that if I buy a Chinesium tool, I will probably get something not quite square or with other hidden flaws. I pays my money, and I makes my bet. But, if I pay for a Starrett or Kurt, . . . well, that thing better work right out of the box. That's a fair market. What you had in Texas was Chinesium MARKETED as a utility. . . bad mojo.

If I were in Texas, I'd be buying the cheap electricity, but also looking to buy one of the new Ford electric trucks that includes a 6,000W inverter. I'd also build out my solar installation like I have it here in NC. I don't feed back to the grid. The grid feed backs up my system. My system won't run my whole house, but I'll still be online talking to you guys if the power goes out :)
 
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