2 ms·

One can run the numbers. Average car drives 12500 miles a year. Is ~35 miles a day. EV's get 3-4 miles a kwh. So what? consume ~12 kwh/day. That's not much. $2

One can run the numbers. Average car drives 12500 miles a year. Is ~35 miles a day. EV's get 3-4 miles a kwh. So what? consume ~12 kwh/day. That's not much. $2 worth of electricity. And $3-4,000 worth of solar panels will produce that much a day. Compare that to the car that costs ten times as much.

ogre_codes 6y ago
I don't want to talk about what my electric bill was like when I lived in California, and the number of 100+ degree days has gotten worse since we moved out.
runako 6y ago
> $3-4,000 worth of solar panels Is this a useful metric in California? In the states where I have lived, the total installed system cost has always been the driver, and the panels typically are only one component of many there. $3-$4k sounds reasonable until you realize that you need to spend $25k on top of that to be able to use your $4k of panels.
- danans 6y ago
  > $3-$4k sounds reasonable until you realize that you need to spend $25k on top of that to be able to use your $4k of panels. I doubt it. I installed a ~2.5kW system in CA 4 years ago, and all in it was like $6500 after the tax credits. Panel prices have dropped 16% since then, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if now the same system were around $4k including installation after tax credits.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  I failed in that I didn't state my point. The point is the cost of an electric car is say $40,000 and the marginal costs to provide the power for it is $4,000. So the ratio is 10 to 1. One could argue and say it's 5 to 1 and I won't die on that hill. Good argument that supplying electricity doesn't change the economics much. It's definitely true that for solar the total system cost is higher, often a lot higher now than the cost of panels. On the other hand the marginal cost of electricity for a power company is lower than residential panels. So I would use that as the cost basis. Also remember gasoline has a huge infrastructure behind it.
DoofusOfDeath 6y ago
I'm certainly not an expert on this, but wouldn't one need to consider the peak power draw rather than average power draw? I'm reminded of various articles about toilet flushing during breaks in sports broadcasts, e.g. [0] [0] http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/90_million_people_flush_toilet_during_superbowl_half_time http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/90_million_people_flush_to...
- mark-r 6y ago
  The same phenomenon happens in England with power consumption, because everyone turns on their electric teapots at the same time. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-world-england-electricity/england-brews-up-sufficient-power-for-world-cup-tea-time-surge-idUKKBN0E92G220140529 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-world-england-elec...
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  Most EVs allow you to schedule charging so your car charges during off-peak hours, usually after midnight. While apparently California has shifted so the ideal time to charge is 10am until 2pm or something like that, during the early morning isn't bad either. Shifting to more solar power and more EVs will likely complicate things.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ogre_codes 6y ago

I don't want to talk about what my electric bill was like when I lived in California, and the number of 100+ degree days has gotten worse since we moved out.

runako 6y ago

> $3-4,000 worth of solar panels Is this a useful metric in California? In the states where I have lived, the total installed system cost has always been the driver, and the panels typically are only one component of many there. $3-$4k sounds reasonable until you realize that you need to spend $25k on top of that to be able to use your $4k of panels.

danans 6y ago
> $3-$4k sounds reasonable until you realize that you need to spend $25k on top of that to be able to use your $4k of panels. I doubt it. I installed a ~2.5kW system in CA 4 years ago, and all in it was like $6500 after the tax credits. Panel prices have dropped 16% since then, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if now the same system were around $4k including installation after tax credits.
Gibbon1 6y ago
I failed in that I didn't state my point. The point is the cost of an electric car is say $40,000 and the marginal costs to provide the power for it is $4,000. So the ratio is 10 to 1. One could argue and say it's 5 to 1 and I won't die on that hill. Good argument that supplying electricity doesn't change the economics much. It's definitely true that for solar the total system cost is higher, often a lot higher now than the cost of panels. On the other hand the marginal cost of electricity for a power company is lower than residential panels. So I would use that as the cost basis. Also remember gasoline has a huge infrastructure behind it.

DoofusOfDeath 6y ago

I'm certainly not an expert on this, but wouldn't one need to consider the peak power draw rather than average power draw? I'm reminded of various articles about toilet flushing during breaks in sports broadcasts, e.g. [0] [0] http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/90_million_people_flush_toilet_during_superbowl_half_time http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/90_million_people_flush_to...

mark-r 6y ago
The same phenomenon happens in England with power consumption, because everyone turns on their electric teapots at the same time. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-world-england-electricity/england-brews-up-sufficient-power-for-world-cup-tea-time-surge-idUKKBN0E92G220140529 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-world-england-elec...
ogre_codes 6y ago
Most EVs allow you to schedule charging so your car charges during off-peak hours, usually after midnight. While apparently California has shifted so the ideal time to charge is 10am until 2pm or something like that, during the early morning isn't bad either. Shifting to more solar power and more EVs will likely complicate things.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]