Things are about to get strange

[BB14404SPD]

This past month here in California many solar powered homes and EV owners had a huge wake up call. The fires along with the power company shutting off the power to millions. As a result electric cars had no ac to charge them. Homes had power until the batteries ran out of power. There was a run on portable generators and gasoline.

 

[66383]

I wouldn't get too concerned based on anything GM is doing. We had to bail them out with tax payer $$$$ in the recent past. At best, the number of electric cars would match a percentage of the power produced by solar, wind and hydro. Otherwise fossil fuel must be used.

BTW, it's sunny and 40º today, I'm going to take the RR for a ride and increase my carbon footprint.

Me too!

 

[R413]

“THEY” want to do it, but if they don’t sell any
Electric cars then what!

The electric cars are dangerous. Tesla fires can’t open the door to save occupants.

These electric cars cause more pollution to make and operate than combustion engines.

View attachment 862721

 

[Photon440]

This past month here in California many solar powered homes and EV owners had a huge wake up call. The fires along with the power company shutting off the power to millions. As a result electric cars had no ac to charge them. Homes had power until the batteries ran out of power. There was a run on portable generators and gasoline.

Power company shutting off the power shouldn't have affected solar powered homes...was it too smokey for sunlight to reach the panels?

 

[beanhead]

Power company shutting off the power shouldn't have affected solar powered homes...was it too smokey for sunlight to reach the panels?

No, it's that the majority of solar doesn't work the way people think. It's not panels powering your home, unless you have a stand-alone grid independent system (which most don't). Solar panels feed back into the utility system and offset your bill, the home still runs off grid-supplied power. (There's also the issue of line worker safety, in the event of an outage they supposedly can't have power feeding back into the grid).
It can be done, it just takes more special equipment and most people don't do it..they're happy enough not having a monthly power bill.

 

[themechanic]

It is all bullshit. It won't happen.
Remember when we were supposed to convert to the metric system???

All we learned was the liter.

 

[themechanic]

I don't think I've ever seen a coal fired power plant. There aren't any at all in my province.

Lots of them here in the states.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Power company shutting off the power shouldn't have affected solar powered homes...was it too smokey for sunlight to reach the panels?

Solar here shuts down when the grid goes down. Not sure why it would be any different elsewhere. Unless willing to invest in an expensive battery bank system and be off grid solar is kind of a joke. That and have yet to find a system that would out live its payments without the government bail out.

 

[yella71]

Where does everyone think electric comes from? It has to be generated some where and those plants run on some kind of fuel........

 

[YY1]

I an still waiting on an average electric bill comparison since our boy got a Tesla.

It's been about a month.

 

[YY1]

shifting gears...

about 3 months ago, I happened to see a local news story where the female anchor read something like "...and with the current advances in self driving automobile technology, many are actively lobbying the Trump administration to call for an end to human driven cars..."

...and she said it like she was 100% in agreement and so was everyone else.

Really?

Who in their right mind thinks that would happen within the next 1-5 years?

How did a story as unrealistic as that even make it past level 1 of management?

 

[Kern Dog]

When you are surrounded by idiots and jerkoffs, even the stupidest ideas seem reasonable.

 

[mopar 3 B]

shifting gears...

about 3 months ago, I happened to see a local news story where the female anchor read something like "...and with the current advances in self driving automobile technology, many are actively lobbying the Trump administration to call for an end to human driven cars..."

...and she said it like she was 100% in agreement and so was everyone else.

Really?

Who in their right mind thinks that would happen within the next 1-5 years?

How did a story as unrealistic as that even make it past level 1 of management?

With the end results of our first snow this year just maybe the self drive will have enough brains to just stay parked till the roads have been cleaned. That way those of us that choose to and can drive can get around without delays.

 

[snakeyes]

not ready for the electric vehicles yet but its coming quicker than we thought there just not the same as listening to our combustion engines , just do anything for me you just don't feel it

 

[YY1]

IDK- you definitely feel 0-60 in 3.2 seconds!

 

[Photon440]

Where does everyone think electric comes from? It has to be generated some where and those plants run on some kind of fuel........

It's fairly clean here. Nearly all hydropower in many provinces. And we have enough; in 2017 the U.S. bought $2.3 billion worth of surplus power from Canada. (I don't have more recent figures).

Visiting Hawaii this summer, I saw a lot of wind power. There's also plenty of solar power being put in - it takes four years to pay for itself in that state. Part of the reason for high adoption is the cost of importing oil for the power plants.

By the way, what does energy cost where everyone lives? Where I am, my utility bills are fixed each month, the cost of power is averaged from the previous years and I get billed about $72 (Canadian) each month for all the electricity that I use. My natural gas bill is about the same.

 

[dadsbee]

Wow.. did you live in a cardboard box with a trouble light.. LOL.. I pay about $400 a month for our power here in Ontario..

 

[GetX'd]

Many people where I live in SoCal are paying $3-400 for electricity. I usually only pay about $100 for some reason. We don’t use our ac very often because we live near the coast - but are not right on the water. My natural gas bill is less than $50 a month in the summer actually quite a bit less than that. In the winter it’s a bit more because we do use our heat - because you know how cold SoCal gets in the winter ..... lol. Sometimes down to the mid-50s at night.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Many people where I live in SoCal are paying $3-400 for electricity. I usually only pay about $100 for some reason. We don’t use our ac very often because we live near the coast - but are not right on the water. My natural gas bill is less than $50 a month in the summer actually quite a bit less than that. In the winter it’s a bit more because we do use our heat - because you know how cold SoCal gets in the winter ..... lol. Sometimes down to the mid-50s at night.

You actually turn the heat on for that?

 

[GetX'd]

You actually turn the heat on for that?

Seriously - I know. Pretty wimpy. And I lived in MN for the first 30 years of my life. You turn into a pussy when you live here. And besides the wife is from Saigon where it’s hot all the time.