RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

smkettner


I'll buy the 10 to 20% market providing it's not above those percentages in any given area before some significant upgrades to the grid and generation come into play.

I believe that Natural Gas for heavy trucks will dominate a decade ion the future with considerable increases in that over the next decade. From that the RV Industry will offer NG powered vehicles to tag along.

it sort of seems to me that if you can tolerate the short range of an electric vehicle, that any decent rice burner driven the same distance would use negligible fuel.
bumpy

Electric vehicles will never be right for everyone. Even 10% or 20% market penetration will make a huge difference reducing imported oil without an undue strain on the grid. Those that need to burn gas-diesel should be supporting those that are not competing for this expensive resource.

23,000 gas free miles so far and 1600+ gallons of gasoline not burned in my truck. Think what a million EVs could do for reducing gasoline prices.

BTW it does kinda drive like a slot car and makes me feel like a kid :)

Is the efficiency of your power plant 35%? To quote an efficiency figure of 35% for all power plants is disingenuous as higher efficiency plants are coming on-line every day.

vikrv


I'm a plank owner of a 60 MW GTG / HRSH and conventional boiler / STG co-gen. The CC plants are growing but still too few in number. They broke the "magic" 50% Thermal Efficiency about 15 years ago.

doublenot7 wrote:
Electric cars will not just be charged at night. People will commute to work in them and expect to return home at the end of the day, likely requiring charging during the daytime. Not everyone works 10 minutes from the house.

Electric cars are meant to run on a slotted track for kids.

No maybe not in Texas or the center of the US but in the west and east and part of the mid west where most people live in urban ares yes they do work 10 or 15 miles from home. That means they can come and go totally on electric no problem. As the electric cars and hybrids grow we will see more charging zones and better grid usage and more power houses like the one posted earlier. This isn't bad it is called progress. The bottom line is to free our selves from oil as much as possible, another good thing.

Electric cars will not just be charged at night. People will commute to work in them and expect to return home at the end of the day, likely requiring charging during the daytime. Not everyone works 10 minutes from the house.

Electric cars are meant to run on a slotted track for kids.

Combined cycle power plants reach efficiencies of 60%. Take a look at this GE model:

Link

Where to start?

"With lower night rates when do you think most charging will take place?"

The accumulated demand is huge. You assume that we get the energy to propel all of these vehicles and no increase in generation or transmission is required. Fantasy. Low rates at night are for low usage at night. Night demand even using your rates / demand become day demand real quick for 1300 additional KW per month. Wait until everyone plugs in at night needing a recharge. Six miles per KWH at what speed; 20 MPH? Your not moving a 3000 anything at 60 MPH for .55 of a horse power (2.5 KW / 6 x 1.34). A horse power is a horse power regardless of prime mover.

"If transmission losses are so bad why not have small gasoline generators individually at each home?"

A utility makes electricity at 35% thermal efficiency (BTUs in fuel to mechanical energy). The is accomplished by using all of the BTUs possible. A small gasoline engine is about 10% efficient due to the losses in heat. Gasoline is also a very expensive fuel at 300 BTUs per penny while Natural Gas is about 1500 BTUs per penny.

The 35% mandate in CA came from this thread. Look back for it. They claimed that their district was already above 20%. Nationwide, alternatives (excluding hydro) are at 1.8%. When you get electricity at night from a cheaper meter, that doesn't mean the electricity cost less, that means the much more expensive electricity is being paid for by other ratepayers. You will still only have one wire running from the power pole to your house. Those power houses changing to natural gas is because it is cheaper. The 75% price drop is due to fracking which is under severe EPA attack and will be banned depending on the election. Prices will go right back up and since so many coal plants eliminated, electricity prices will be skyrocketing again. I love the new diesels. The natural gas city buses seem to have plenty of power. Range is determined by the amount of fuel on board. An RV could have more capacity. I rarely use the bottom 35% of my fuel tank anyway. I know that it is important to over the road truckers and their tankage could be made to correspond with their needs.
I think you should look at how Germany is stopping their dependance on alternatives and what they are doing now. Thank You.