Will Let You Know and another consideration
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
I am also curious about this in the context of longer road trips.
Planning a drive from LA to Jackson Hole to Denver and back in my M3. Probably in August. After I got my M3 in Dec 2019 I tried out a supercharger just to try it. Car next to me in LA had Ohio license plates.
In LA there seems to be a wave of catalytic converter thefts. Not a problem for me.
SoCal
Lots to say about this topic
I am not a frequent OT peruse-er and even less so a poster but I found this topic recently and I have some experience. First of all to all who've contributed - a serious bra-vo for attempting to lead, bend the curve, etc away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions. A brief history of my bona fides:
- 2006 got solar hot water and my first Prius after watching "An Inconventient Truth"
- 2012 first prius hybrid battery blew a cell after being parked uncovered for 2 weeks in intense heat (just past 100k miles warranty, ~120k), replaced it with a new one
- 2014 got at 6 kwh solar array installed on my roof (7 years next month, supposedly have hit break-even)
- 2018 bought a Bolt EV
There was a lot to the decision making in 2012 that's long and boring. Traded the '12 prius while it had some value and before it was out of warranty for a 2017 CR-V. Looked into PHEVs but they weren't attractive to me at the time.
I've been super happy with my Bolt EV but haven't tried to go farther than 100 miles from home with it because of charging. Being on the (non-Tesla) cutting edge, you have to understand that while the options are growing they are a) very regional, and b) not the same as driving to a gas station. Many of the chargers I've tried to use have been broken or inaccessible (locked garage, blocked by an ICE vehicle). Until that situation is resolved, having an in-dash option to help with navigation and stops is useless. If you're counting on a charger and it's just not available then you're kinda screwed.
As for the Bolt itself - it's not a luxury car like the Tesla but it's zippy and fun to drive. I suffer from "first model year" syndrome; there are many half-finished features or other things that have been improved since 2017. However I expect to take delivery of a 2022 Bolt EV (not EUV) in a month or so, thanks to a GM repurchase option I discovered when there was a battery recall and they took forever to fix. I'm taking advantage of their "MSRP Swap" program which takes the MSRP of my original purchase (which I did NOT pay, plus I got tax credit on top of that) and lets me pick my GM car of choice. Then someone pays the difference. In my case my OG Bolt MSRP is quite a bit more than a brand spanking new one so I am in line for a new car, warranty reset (important for the battery) and a pretty substantial check.
Here is a possible solution
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TruBlu
Just curious . . . For those out there who have only 1 car, which is all electric, what is the plan for when there is a wide scale/long lasting power outage due to storms or power grid failure. Diesel/gas generator as a backup? Hoping the car has enough juice to get to another location? Are there mobile charging options that can come to the rescue, and would there be enough of them to meet the demand in this situation?
Recently installed 15.2 kW of solar panels on my roof and considered the option of a battery backup (i.e. something like the Tesla powerwall). The advantage is that in case of a power outage, you can continue to run off the battery. How long depends on the size of the battery, but during the day you still have the solar panels generating electricity. This is different from just having solar panels, which go offline if the grid is down, leaving you in the dark.
The disadvantage is the current cost, which for me would have been an additional $6k. I am told that the cost will drop dramatically in the future, so it might be worth retrofitting in a few years. In addition, my power company offers "net metering," which gives me credit for excess power generated during the day and gives it back to me during the night, but only to the extent that I use it. (Last month I gave Duke Power over 1,100 kWhs more than I used, and they were perfectly happy to take it and give me nothing back - but that's another story.)
The final consideration about battery vs no battery is that power outages for me last in the order of minutes and happen maybe once a year. This is unlike when I lived in the "leafy suburbs" of eastern Massachusetts, where the power outages were usually days long and happened multiple times a year, mostly in the winter when it would take down your heat - even gas furnaces need electricity to run.
So, you could solve the problem you ask about by installing batteries with your solar panels. You would be independent of the grid in the case of outages, and you can charge your EV either during the day with the panels, or potentially from the battery at night.
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