Electric cars and the grid..... it has begun.

[GRW]

Ha, I’d say that makes two of us then.

If you say so. I made an effort though to make a considered contribution to the thread.
What did you manage Mr "Staff Member"? You managed to be rude & condescending.
You'll forgive me if I'm not awestruck by your "contribution" or manners.

 

[pressbrake1]

Isn't that only if you've invested the extra however much first - into a battery store?
That's a relatively recent thing in the PV/Solar installation - one hell of a lot if PV systems won't have that storage - it gets used as its produced, or it goes into the grid, yes?

A lot of systems were fitted under the grid tied scheme but that’s not useful for a home
My workshop is powered by 75kw grid tied three phase array and my bill is pennies even after standing charge and winter months

 

[GRW]

No two forklift batteries charge during day and west facing array for when mrs gets in at 15:00 and gets direct solar charge for few hours
Even with no solar the pleasure of being exempt from the fuel madness and not loosing income and being able to function was priceless

It'd be interesting to know what your array produces at what voltage, and how much you can store in your Fork Truck Batts - and how much power, at what voltage and duration - it takes to charge your EV.
I'd have thought you'd need quite a significant solar array in our geographic location to get enough juice.

Edit: just saw your post - we crossed over.
Wow! That is a serious (& seriously expensive) amount of Solar! The stuff on a regular suburban roof is about 3.5kW, single-phase (16A).
No wonder you can charge your car

 

[pressbrake1]

It'd be interesting to know what your array produces at what voltage, and how much you can store in your Fork Truck Batts - and how much power, at what voltage and duration - it takes to charge your EV.
I'd have thought you'd need quite a significant solar array in our geographic location to get enough juice.

Edit: just saw your post - we crossed over.
Wow! That is a serious (& seriously expensive) amount of Solar! The stuff on a regular suburban roof is about 3.5kW, single-phase (16A).
No wonder you can charge your car

Workshop is 1000v 20amp per string
Home system is 400v 10amp strings 25kw total theoretical which is can exceed

 

[RonMig]

Ours is, it works out at around 2.5p/mile (ok, it’s more like 9p if we have to charge in the day - which we never have…) - can you get that from an ICE

to digress just slightly...
My old Puch 49cc moped used to do about 125mpg which I believe is approx 7p/mile.
Funnily enough the tank only held 3/4 gallon (3.2 litres), so had 90-ish miles range....
My commute was 24 miles a day so by day-four I was looking for a refill.
Minimum petrol sale was half a gallon, so I had to run it perilously low to ensure getting it in the tank.
The manufacturers were clearly having a range-anxiety laugh at our expense then (early 1970's) - and now.
I could only take it for 12 months then upgraded to a more normal 300 miles range motor.

Pensioner here, & unless/until 2nd hand prices come down to around £2k, I doubt I will ever be able to afford an electric/battery/hybrid vehicle.
That's at todays prices - with inflation on 10% and electric prices imminently due to double, it could get even harder/less affordable.
And if the range is only 60 to 100 miles, I would not want one either...

 

[daleyd]

to digress just slightly...
My old Puch 49cc moped used to do about 125mpg which I believe is approx 7p/mile.
Funnily enough the tank only held 3/4 gallon (3.2 litres), so had 90-ish miles range....
My commute was 24 miles a day so by day-four I was looking for a refill.
Minimum petrol sale was half a gallon, so I had to run it perilously low to ensure getting it in the tank.
The manufacturers were clearly having a range-anxiety laugh at our expense then (early 1970's) - and now.
I could only take it for 12 months then upgraded to a more normal 300 miles range motor.

Pensioner here, & unless/until 2nd hand prices come down to around £2k, I doubt I will ever be able to afford an electric/battery/hybrid vehicle.
That's at todays prices - with inflation on 10% and electric prices imminently due to double, it could get even harder/less affordable.
And if the range is only 60 to 100 miles, I would not want one either...

If predictions are correct they’ll be giving them away shortly, there’s always a bright side to the darkest cloud

 

[GRW]

to digress just slightly...
My old Puch 49cc moped used to do about 125mpg which I believe is approx 7p/mile.
Funnily enough the tank only held 3/4 gallon (3.2 litres), so had 90-ish miles range....
My commute was 24 miles a day so by day-four I was looking for a refill.
Minimum petrol sale was half a gallon, so I had to run it perilously low to ensure getting it in the tank.
The manufacturers were clearly having a range-anxiety laugh at our expense then (early 1970's) - and now.
I could only take it for 12 months then upgraded to a more normal 300 miles range motor.

Pensioner here, & unless/until 2nd hand prices come down to around £2k, I doubt I will ever be able to afford an electric/battery/hybrid vehicle.
That's at todays prices - with inflation on 10% and electric prices imminently due to double, it could get even harder/less affordable.
And if the range is only 60 to 100 miles, I would not want one either...

Mate due to a hip injury making most motorcycles way too uncomfortable to ride on, let alone tour on - ended up buying the weird and short-lived Honda DN-01 (650cc NTV-engined cruiser thing with an automatic or semi-automatic button-shift transmission).
That had a lousy range for touring on the European rural mainland on - so he resorted to carrying a spare can of petrol everywhere so he wouldn't run out, or have to find a station every 60-miles to prevent worries shout making it to the next one.

 

[willie.macleod]

Willie. My LDV Convoy Camper (2000) cost 2k nearly 10-years-ago, and I've spent another maybe 2k keeping it roadworthy in that time. Currently these are fetching rather more than I paid.

My car is an 02 Yaris. Bought maybe 5-years-ago for £1200. Its had some znti-roll bar bushes which I fitted myself (I think £40). That's it. It's probably worth what I paid for it.

Sorry - but there's not much cheaper motoring than that.

The fuel costs of both of the above vehicles need to be brought into question plus the car tax of both.

You are talking with a guy who has spent the last three weeks driving just under a thousand miles a week in his 18 year old land rover which was purchased for £600 with an electrical fault and still owes him less than £1500 two years later. I practice bangereconomics as well and it makes sense for me to put as many miles as I can onto my little electric car as I still put over £5k diesel into that land rover in the last 12 months due to the need for 6 seats and 3.5t towing capacity. The Leaf pays for itself in the mileage savings on all the trips that don't need the full LR capacity.

As some of the others who have EVs in this thread have pointed out we generally all needed a newer vehicle (I've nothing apart from a motorbike and the Leaf under 100,000 miles/10 years) and just buying another cheap older vehicle can be problematic when our own transport is essential for both my wife and my own jobs, you have done well with your Yaris but any twenty year old vehicle is likely to give you more grief than a younger model. I've done plenty of miles with a 1997 Toyota Starlet and a 2002 Yaris Verso and both of those needed a lot more than anti-roll bar bushes and expired before 100k miles according to the MOT history checker. If you are buying a newer vehicle you might as well buy one that has cheaper fueling costs and one that is pleasant to drive and the Leaf ticked the box for both of those, it isn't fancy, it doesn't have much range, it looks ugly, it can't tow and I can't do 600 miles a day in it but it is cheaper than its electric competitors and works for us.

 

[Bobtail4x4]

And of course I would buy an electric car. If it is powered by nice CHEAP electricity.

my company car will do 6 miles per kw, if I pay for electric (normally charge off solar panels) I pay 4.5p per kw I make that £0.0075p per mile

 

[8ob]

my company car will do 6 miles per kw, if I pay for electric (normally charge off solar panels) I pay 4.5p per kw I make that £0.0075p per mile

Genuine question and I touched on this before without getting an answer. If the car does 6 miles per KW and you pay 4.5p per kw hour surely there has to be more leccy going in than a battery gives back out or are they now 100% efficient.

Bob

 

[pressbrake1]

Genuine question and I touched on this before without getting an answer. If the car does 6 miles per KW and you pay 4.5p per kw hour surely there has to be more leccy going in than a battery gives back out or are they now 100% efficient.

Bob

Heat is a significant loss when fast charging
So efficiency is down

Slow charging is pretty good tickling it in there overnight on 3kw

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

The fuel costs of both of the above vehicles need to be brought into question plus the car tax of both.

You are talking with a guy who has spent the last three weeks driving just under a thousand miles a week in his 18 year old land rover which was purchased for £600 with an electrical fault and still owes him less than £1500 two years later. I practice bangereconomics as well and it makes sense for me to put as many miles as I can onto my little electric car as I still put over £5k diesel into that land rover in the last 12 months due to the need for 6 seats and 3.5t towing capacity. The Leaf pays for itself in the mileage savings on all the trips that don't need the full LR capacity.

As some of the others who have EVs in this thread have pointed out we generally all needed a newer vehicle (I've nothing apart from a motorbike and the Leaf under 100,000 miles/10 years) and just buying another cheap older vehicle can be problematic when our own transport is essential for both my wife and my own jobs, you have done well with your Yaris but any twenty year old vehicle is likely to give you more grief than a younger model. I've done plenty of miles with a 1997 Toyota Starlet and a 2002 Yaris Verso and both of those needed a lot more than anti-roll bar bushes and expired before 100k miles according to the MOT history checker. If you are buying a newer vehicle you might as well buy one that has cheaper fueling costs and one that is pleasant to drive and the Leaf ticked the box for both of those, it isn't fancy, it doesn't have much range, it looks ugly, it can't tow and I can't do 600 miles a day in it but it is cheaper than its electric competitors and works for us.

On my travels I see far more new vehicles stranded by the side of the road than old ones. New vehicles give people a feeling of immunity to maintenance.





You don't have to buy a banger to buy a cheap vehicle.

3k can find you a well maintained bargain that isn't likely to leave you stranded by the side of the road. Especially when looked after.

Equally you could be I'm a brand new land rover discovery that suffers a catastrophic failure.

 

[Bullet2012]

Another pointless moaning thread imho. If you don’t like EVs, don’t buy one. Simple as that.

No @Wozzaaah , let them all buy EVs and then due to lack of demand and a huge storage issue petrol especially high octane petrol will be exceptionally cheap. Then I can buy my mates truck in my avatar and be happy with 9mpg (maximum) . Really miss my GMC Denali

 

[Bullet2012]

Having read the words produced by Google I have now filled the van with sand as Google Says sand is a great storage system. So here is my question, how much diesel do I put in the sand to increase my mpg?

also where do I put everything that I normal transport with the van ? should I get a trailer or a roof box.

 

[Bullet2012]

And should everything be wrapped in tinfoil for extra mileage?

 

[fizzy]

my company car will do 6 miles per kw, if I pay for electric (normally charge off solar panels) I pay 4.5p per kw I make that £0.0075p per mile

Yes no fuel duty - just wait until they start taxing you per mile

 

[Onoff]

Sea freight is the most efficient form of transport known to man. 1 container ship replaces about 8000 lorries.
Air freight definitely isn't.

What about airships?

 

[fizzy]

What about airships?

The problem is helium is very rare and expensive - it also leaks through almost everything. Hydrogen is a much better lifting gas BUT
Also they are rather susceptible to the wind.
One of these may be the answer

 

[willie.macleod]

Heat is a significant loss when fast charging
So efficiency is down

Slow charging is pretty good tickling it in there overnight on 3kw

There was a thread on this forum before with some guy keen to rubbish EV efficiency quoting an ancient paper he found saying fast DC charging was more efficient which I suggested was wrong and tested the efficiency of my onboard Leaf 3.6kW AC charger. It was pretty much bang on 90% efficient.

Exceptions are early Renault Zoes charging on single phase and anything charging at level 1 (120v) which we don't do in the UK.

 

[R Kraft]

Yes no fuel duty - just wait until they start taxing you per mile

Anytime someone finds a way to be thrifty, they find a way to make it expensive