RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

Diversified energy sources will help us RVers by keeping the lid on the price of our favorite fuel choice. It will also help us each personally by giving us the ability, as some have already done, to have extremely cheap fuel alternatives for driving about town, while freeing up more cash to fuel our RVs for the much longer trips.

30 states are already doing the energy thing with solar and wind, many many more to come. We in Michigan have spent about 2 cents a KW since 2008 to provide much more renewable. We are looking to do more in this years election by increasing our renewable further. There are more electric coming out by more auto makers. Most folks like me recharge at night from a special meter at lower rates. Power houses that I've worked in reduce the number of turbines to half at night do to the reduced load. BTW power houses are changing to NG not coal. Coal isn't the head of the class anymore.
Lastly CNG doesn't have the range of gas neither does it have the HP. We will see small diesels emerge as the staple soon and of course more hybrids and total electrics.

If gasoline is so efficient why is electric cost so much less?
If transmission losses are so bad why not have small gasoline generators individually at each home?

35% mandate? That is not right as CA is currently about 2.5% renewables.
Have a link?

BTW wind is primarily at night.

http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx

BTW I am OK burning domestic fossil fuels.

With lower night rates when do you think most charging will take place?
Possibly at night while you sleep and the load on the grid has 50% excess capacity?

In your state (CA) the government is mandating 35% solar and wind in the next few years. Wind is less at night and solar is none at night. Night charging will be coming from fossil fuels or nuclear in some areas. Why not just put the energy dense fuel in the vehicle directly and cut out the inefficiencies of converting it to electricity and then losing large amounts to transmission losses?

DelCamper wrote:
And if they do look out for an overloaded grid and power generating shortage.

If you drive 15k miles /year and get 20 MPG you use 750 gallons of fuel. Converted to BTUs and figuring 20% thermal efficiency of a gasoline engine you use 5273 KW of power. That power is coming from somewhere. It's about 4 months of a $200 electric bill per month at 15 cents a KW. That is a heap of power basically requiring a one third increase in US power generation.

Everything has a cost. Nothing comes free. Batteries don't make power.

Closer to 6 miles per kWh on my LEAF. That is 2500 kWh to go 15,000 miles or $250 annual fuel cost at 10 cents kWh vs $3,000 in gasoline.

With lower night rates when do you think most charging will take place?
Possibly at night while you sleep and the load on the grid has 50% excess capacity?

DelCamper wrote:
And if they do look out for an overloaded grid and power generating shortage.

Nonsense! I get all the electricity I need from the little plugs in my home's walls.

Seriously, IMO many, maybe most, of those pushing for EVs are Greenies that also object to new generating facilities that actually work.

The new EPA Mercury standard is closing down over 200 coal fired power generation plants which is 8% of our electrical generation capacity. If there is a battery breakthrough and EV's take off, we will be in trouble for electrical generation for sure. The idea of using natural gas for transportation fuels is the best answer. RV would fit right into this category.

And if they do look out for an overloaded grid and power generating shortage.

If you drive 15k miles /year and get 20 MPG you use 750 gallons of fuel. Converted to BTUs and figuring 20% thermal efficiency of a gasoline engine you use 5273 KW of power. That power is coming from somewhere. It's about 4 months of a $200 electric bill per month at 15 cents a KW. That is a heap of power basically requiring a one third increase in US power generation.

Everything has a cost. Nothing comes free. Batteries don't make power.

A123 recieved a grant and part of an approved loan.
I believe Johnson Controls will be purchasing the automotive related assets of A123. So the technology is not lost.

Too bad for all the help GM recieved they had to decide to use a foreign supplier for batteries. So much for all the GM talk about saving jobs in America. That is all fine until is costs a nickle.

$157 is a steal. If you put $200 in gas in your tank you could have a Volt $157 and fuel it primarily with $40/mo in electric and basically have a new car for free. No range limitation but burning gas is more expensive only when needed. Eventually people are going to figure this out.

That would be a lot of gas saved, but alternatives now make up only 1.8% of our nations electrical energy usage. We would be just going from the tail pipe to the smoke stack. Makes more sense to skip the middle man and use natural gas directly for the transportation fuel. A123 got a grant (not loan) from US taxpayers of $248 MILLION. I guess if you are bankrupt, makes little difference which it was. The reason they went under is very simple. US citizens are not buying EV's and hybrids to support the concept. Volts are now down to $157/month with $157 down on a 2 year walk away lease and not selling. If they get much lower, I might get one myself as a pet.