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I am sure many EV owners also woke to mostly empty batteries because they didn't charge them that night and other ICE car owners who just happened to fill up th

I am sure many EV owners also woke to mostly empty batteries because they didn't charge them that night and other ICE car owners who just happened to fill up the night before. Not sure what advantage you see for electric here. Both need to be "fueled" somehow. In fact you can fill an ICE car in a few minutes so you can have many cars per single pump. EVs require long periods of time at a dedicated plug that many apartment owners, renters, and others don't have access to. Could you imagine the lines at a charging station when it takes 30 minutes best case per vehicle?

toomuchtodo 4y ago
As long as the sun rises, my house has power and my EVs charge. The sun is more reliable than petroleum supply infrastructure. It’s Mr Fusion 8 light minutes away. I don’t have batteries yet because I have favorable net metering and my utility is natural gas fired (which pairs better with distributed renewable generation vs coal or nuclear), but if/when their power quality declines, my system is future proof to accept battery storage.
- xxpor 4y ago
  Most people have grid tied systems that disconnect when the grid is down :/
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Most US grids are reliable, and more rooftop solar would bolster generation when it’s needed: hot days when the sun is shining and cooling loads are straining generation.
- giantg2 4y ago
  "The sun is more reliable [in my locale]" Fixed it for you.
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Germany has 60GW of solar generation capacity (with plans to expand that to 200GW by 2030) at its relatively high latitude. When it’s hot, the sun is shining. When the sun is shining, you use it for cooling. You even can use it for heating in the winters with heat pumps.
  - danaris 4y ago
    There are very few inhabited places on Earth where the sun is unreliable enough that today's solar is uneconomical. My parents live in upstate NY—hardly a place known for its high rate of sunny days—and since they installed their rooftop solar, they've said it generally provides enough power for the house unless it's actually covered in snow.
- gkop 4y ago
  Would you spell it out for us? What exactly happens when the grid fails at your site? Overnight, obviously you have no power. Then "the sun rises" but surely if there's any load, it must get above a certain point in the sky before it can run your house and charge your EVs, especially in the winter. And same thing in the afternoon, there must be a point where the sun is shining but too low in the sky and the load cannot be sustained- what exactly happens then? (also, no clouds where you are?)
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Assume there is no utility power. The sun must rise high enough on the horizon to energize the system (I haven’t done the math to know what the altitude/sky position is yet, I’ll report back). Once energized, the system will operate as a microgrid and attempt to maintain frequency and voltage if there are clouds until the sun sets and falls below the horizon. Some loads are more tolerant than others. The EVs of course will charge whenever there is power, and the hot water heater and pool pump will operate just fine only when power is present. Only the AC unit is fickle about power quality. [removed strawman comment for being unnecessarily combative] When my utility is operational, I’m not just offsetting my consumption but also pushing back clean power into the grid for others locally to consume (which reduces the natural gas generation required of my utility) and while the failure mode isn’t perfect when the grid is down, it’s better than having no power at all (until battery storage costs decline). Edit: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/25/enphase-launches-microgrid-forming-microinverter-line/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/25/enphase-launches-micr...
    - gkop 4y ago
      Not a strawman (I don't think? not sure what you meant by this..), just very curious. You have a setup that is in between useless when grid is down, and fully self-sufficient. Seems possibly very practical to me, but I haven't heard of it before.
      - bryanlarsen 4y ago
        It is a very uncommon setup, I've met installers that don't know about it. The new generation of microinverters enable this setup more easily, so it should become more common.
bryanlarsen 4y ago
My EV is plugged in whenever it is in the garage. I'm sure most other EV owners have the same habit.
mohaine 4y ago
Pretty much every EV owner that can plugs in every night. People just do not get how much different an EV is vs gas. Never having to go to a gas station is just SO nice once you never have to do it.
Dork1234 4y ago
If you arrive home by 6, it normally takes 4 hours to top off. It should be done by 10pm. What time did the grid go down again?
- bryanlarsen 4y ago
  The car charges at a rate of 48 km/hr on a 32 amp garage circuit. So on an average day it recharges in less than an hour. However, it's programmed to charge at the cheap overnight rates, so it doesn't start charging until midnight. Therefore we were out ~30km of range when the power went out. 370km rather than 400km is still "full" in my opinion, though.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

As long as the sun rises, my house has power and my EVs charge. The sun is more reliable than petroleum supply infrastructure. It’s Mr Fusion 8 light minutes away. I don’t have batteries yet because I have favorable net metering and my utility is natural gas fired (which pairs better with distributed renewable generation vs coal or nuclear), but if/when their power quality declines, my system is future proof to accept battery storage.

xxpor 4y ago
Most people have grid tied systems that disconnect when the grid is down :/
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Most US grids are reliable, and more rooftop solar would bolster generation when it’s needed: hot days when the sun is shining and cooling loads are straining generation.
giantg2 4y ago
"The sun is more reliable [in my locale]" Fixed it for you.
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Germany has 60GW of solar generation capacity (with plans to expand that to 200GW by 2030) at its relatively high latitude. When it’s hot, the sun is shining. When the sun is shining, you use it for cooling. You even can use it for heating in the winters with heat pumps.
- danaris 4y ago
  There are very few inhabited places on Earth where the sun is unreliable enough that today's solar is uneconomical. My parents live in upstate NY—hardly a place known for its high rate of sunny days—and since they installed their rooftop solar, they've said it generally provides enough power for the house unless it's actually covered in snow.
gkop 4y ago
Would you spell it out for us? What exactly happens when the grid fails at your site? Overnight, obviously you have no power. Then "the sun rises" but surely if there's any load, it must get above a certain point in the sky before it can run your house and charge your EVs, especially in the winter. And same thing in the afternoon, there must be a point where the sun is shining but too low in the sky and the load cannot be sustained- what exactly happens then? (also, no clouds where you are?)
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Assume there is no utility power. The sun must rise high enough on the horizon to energize the system (I haven’t done the math to know what the altitude/sky position is yet, I’ll report back). Once energized, the system will operate as a microgrid and attempt to maintain frequency and voltage if there are clouds until the sun sets and falls below the horizon. Some loads are more tolerant than others. The EVs of course will charge whenever there is power, and the hot water heater and pool pump will operate just fine only when power is present. Only the AC unit is fickle about power quality. [removed strawman comment for being unnecessarily combative] When my utility is operational, I’m not just offsetting my consumption but also pushing back clean power into the grid for others locally to consume (which reduces the natural gas generation required of my utility) and while the failure mode isn’t perfect when the grid is down, it’s better than having no power at all (until battery storage costs decline). Edit: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/25/enphase-launches-microgrid-forming-microinverter-line/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/10/25/enphase-launches-micr...
  - gkop 4y ago
    Not a strawman (I don't think? not sure what you meant by this..), just very curious. You have a setup that is in between useless when grid is down, and fully self-sufficient. Seems possibly very practical to me, but I haven't heard of it before.
    - bryanlarsen 4y ago
      It is a very uncommon setup, I've met installers that don't know about it. The new generation of microinverters enable this setup more easily, so it should become more common.

bryanlarsen 4y ago

My EV is plugged in whenever it is in the garage. I'm sure most other EV owners have the same habit.

mohaine 4y ago

Pretty much every EV owner that can plugs in every night. People just do not get how much different an EV is vs gas. Never having to go to a gas station is just SO nice once you never have to do it.

Dork1234 4y ago

If you arrive home by 6, it normally takes 4 hours to top off. It should be done by 10pm. What time did the grid go down again?

bryanlarsen 4y ago
The car charges at a rate of 48 km/hr on a 32 amp garage circuit. So on an average day it recharges in less than an hour. However, it's programmed to charge at the cheap overnight rates, so it doesn't start charging until midnight. Therefore we were out ~30km of range when the power went out. 370km rather than 400km is still "full" in my opinion, though.