I want one!

There will always be naysayers around to argue against advancement. The arguments against the possibility of manned flight in 1903 were the same arguments against manned space flight in the 1960's, and that sending moving pictures through the air was a joke by some lunatic with more money than brains. And that supersonic flight would never happen. And computers would never be in every person's pocket.

Those same doubters said that Elon Musk would never succeed in launching a satellite into orbit and then having the launch rocket return and land on a barge in the ocean. And they doubt there will ever be electric powered semi trucks. Keep doubting if that's what makes you happy, but denying the inevitability of progress has been and always will be a fool's errand.

My 2¢, and nothing more.

This got pretty far off the topic of electric semi trucks.
Which, with today’s technology, is bordering on IDIOTIC.
Electric motors are great. What everyone seems to ignore is that our ability to store electricity SUCKS.
The amount of power needed by big trucks cannot be stored in batteries that don’t weigh too much.
The amount of time required to charge them is too long.
Incidentally, depending on what state you’re in, 80,000 pounds is not the limit. Here in WA you can go 105,500.

Ha... steady state level ground cruising... that’s a joke. Reality is hills and stop & go traffic.
That Tesla truck’s specs won’t cut it.

People with as much money as Elon usually lose touch with reality. You’ve also read about his Mars thing, right?

For at least two decades my city has required every home is built with a 40 amp outlet (NEMA 14-50) in the garage for EV charging. Most of us are ready to go.

Hi Mex,

And then there is the distinct possibility of another Carrington event.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Reality Check re: Utilities and Assumptions

I am not posing a Chicken Little scenario.

What I am posing is ludicrous decisions made by an inept government and acceptance by a "Don't Bother Me With This" constituency. A one point eight billion dollar state agency that cannot see a banana peel laying on the sidewalk less than 200 miles from their tall office tower windows.

Hundreds of millions? The wine country fires are going to cost YOU the consumer. Just like the San Francisco outage added to growing number of WE NEED TO RAISE RATES! mishaps. Your perceived economic model is not private enterprise. To wit they can never go bankrupt. The umbrella covers them as a public utility.

Before I tire of arguing something intangible therefore win less...

The only thing that can save the issue is modularization. Storage. Only an answer other than a Bob Marley special (Don't Worry Be Happy) would be valid. Governor Brown's fleet of mandated cars (remember the mandate says NO PETROLEUM CARS ALLOWED) will have to be satisfied for forty million residents. I remember 1983. When the rain did not stop falling for 186 consecutive days (Fort Bragg CA) The power was off for over a month. No? Georgia Pacific, the giant sawmill powered the city with wood chip power generation. The sawmill has disappeared.

Down here when we get a bad summer storm, the power can remain off for a week. With the gloom under thick clouds 204 watts of Kyocera panels puts out seven tenths of an amp at high noon. Food is transferred from the beach restaurant to my freezers and refrigerators (Even Quicksilver's Vest Frost 24 volt refrigerator and freezer is used). So I have an idea of generating, consuming, and managing power. As an EE I get to see faults and weaknesses that others cannot see.

GENUINE GUESSWORK FORECAST

Electric cars will continue their slow crawl upward in popularity. The Chinese and Indians both are hot to trot about lithium batteries. This is a good sign.

Ford GM and Mopar, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, VW, even Rolls Royce will start adding more and more vehicles. California's population will pass forty million. Small nuances will be enacted to greatly increase the number of charging stations. The number of electric vehicles will continue but this time the increase will be explosive as the manDATE approaches.

Then from out of nowhere another drought hits. There have been enough of them in the last forty years I see no need to elaborate. Drought, hot summer, and critically limited hydroelectric. Have you ANY idea at all just how low Lake Shasta, Lake Folsom, Oroville, and lake Mead got during the last drought? It was near catastrophic. Add reservoirs that cannot grow to millions more people, ten million electric vehicles and education comes into play. How many 8-hour a day solar panels does it take to replace a missing 24 hour a day 10 GIGAwatts of hydroelectric power? The learning curve will be spectacularly steep.

While some preferred to drink brewskies and wear out the numbers on their TV remote, I sat and listened to an 103 year old (best guess) Paiute woman tell stories of the Sierra mountains not getting ANY snow for "many years in a row", That was in 1982 and the stories were from her grandmother. No snow meant that. ZERO for many years. Mono Lake dried to the point where the two islands allowed coyotes access to seagull nests and just about wiped out the black tipped gull.

"Somebody came and took my bed, don't worry".

I planned for outages where I live. While people suffer steam bath nights and no refrigeration, I continue to live a modest life. My neighbors are not immune to Bob Marleyism...when I suggested they save and get a marine battery for a fan, they lit up a Marlboro and spent another eight dollars on a six pack. Tough. I refuse to feel pity. In 1985, when an incredible 3 feet of slush brought down power lines in the Eastern Pacific Sierras, Pool hydroelectric Plant and Round Valley geothermal powered the entire region. I was fortunate. I also had a pair of 500 gallon LPG tanks and a 6.5NH Onan generator just in case. The tanks nor contents were not mine but I had permission to use (and later pay for LPG) however much I used.

The rest if of my days will be spent in a country with no mandates but I wonder what next the Kalfornia Komrads are going to forbid me from purchasing. Oh well, time to see how many more watts I can kill in this house hold. I really try not to be a hypocrite. I believe I have spoken my piece. Thank you.

time2roll wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
We just got a notice that our electric rate is going to INCREASE by 25%

Is that 8 cents to 10 cents?
What is driving it?

Was about 6.5 just for generation charges. Delivery are about the same. In our bills we got notice that First Energy (formerly Penelec) got their rate increase request approved by the PUC for 25%.

We do have a bunch of windmills that have been sold several times (with tax breaks every time) and now owned by a foreign country company.

Pennsylvania power and politics hate the PA Citizens. Corruption (self-serving vs representing the taxpayers) is rampant :(

PS- You asked what is driving it? Greed.

Yes, there will be occasional issues. Growing pains, just like you said.

Like I said - when Sn Fransisco goes dark for 7 hours, the power company just lost hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue from electricity they were not able to sell. There is a huge financial incentive for electrical companies to stay ahead of this, and I think they will.

The sky is not falling, and it's not going to fall.

Steve

Reality Check re: Utilities and Assumptions


Your High Integrity Future Electrical Provider. Proof speaks volumes.

I refuse to be flippant and quip "Growing Pains".

Whole legions of people are facing nightmares because they "assumed"

CAN'T HAPPEN!!! (until it did)

Can't Happen So Why Even Discuss It?

maillemaker wrote:

Deal with GENERATING, TRANSMISSION, AND DISTRIBUTION, FIRST.

This is suggesting that we should have supply before demand. This almost never happens.

The future is electric and self-driving. The grid is not going to fail; it will be expanded as demand increases. People will not tolerate blackouts, and electric utilities won't tolerate the lost revenue they cause.

This web site gives some estimates of the cost of blackouts:

http://radiflow.com/cost-of-a-power-outage/

They estimate that a 9-hour outage around London would cost over $500 million. There is tremendous financial incentive for electric utilities to keep robust delivery systems in place.

Electric cars are going to be cheaper and better for nearly everyone, especially commuters. For a lot of people, they already are.

Steve

Thumbs up Steve. :)

Deal with GENERATING, TRANSMISSION, AND DISTRIBUTION, FIRST.

This is suggesting that we should have supply before demand. This almost never happens.

The future is electric and self-driving. The grid is not going to fail; it will be expanded as demand increases. People will not tolerate blackouts, and electric utilities won't tolerate the lost revenue they cause.

This web site gives some estimates of the cost of blackouts:

http://radiflow.com/cost-of-a-power-outage/

They estimate that a 9-hour outage around London would cost over $500 million. There is tremendous financial incentive for electric utilities to keep robust delivery systems in place.

Electric cars are going to be cheaper and better for nearly everyone, especially commuters. For a lot of people, they already are.

Steve