Interesting post by Brett Davis

[Old-RV'er]

Everyone, says EV's will take over. I can prove they will not, actually, in CA, they are currently about 6000 MW's short of suppling all the electrical load they currently have, when I scheduled energy back in the mid 80's, then they were 3-4,000 short. They will not build power lines, will not build new power plants, and think that solar and wind will provide enough, guess, what, the wind don't always blow, and clouds and night time, stop solar.

I urge all to check out Germany's situation, since they turned off all the nukes and coal powered plants, and are now dependent on Russia. Putin has said, fine, you will pay our price for all that Natural Gas. EV"s are nothing but a flash in the pan, and will only penetrate into less than 10% of the market, until a Technology comes along which can supply enough electricity for all. You want completely clean energy, then Nuclear power is it, aside from the waste by products which have half life of 50,000 years

CA is not alone, TX tried to redesign grid with wind, this past winter that did not work so well did it? A solar system for the average home, with inverter and battery's in the 8000KW range is 50,000 dollars or more. Probably more with all the supply chain disruptions. You can purchase a lot of electricity with 50,000 dollars, even at .20 cents KWH. Solar currently is not cost effective, and the cells lose about 15-20% of their rated output over a 15 year period. The efficiency factor is only at best 23%, that will have to double or triple to be effective in any kind of commercial venue. Gas Powered plants may use 10 acres of land, and produce 1000 MW of energy. A solar power venue in GA for 480MW took close to 500 acres of land. Now exactly who houses/apartments/ and residences are you going to confiscate and tear down for solar, there is not enough open land, which is accessible, to completely replace the current installed generation in the USA. EV's are a pipe dream, and they well may, have lower maintenance. I urge you to drive through St Paul, MN, during rush hour, and the outside temp at 10 degrees. Now think what happens if everyone is stuck in that mess with an EV? Thousands would be frozen and die. Have you seen the emergency electrical charger they use in China, a mule hauls around a diesel generator to charge the electric cars who have run dry. I rest my case.

 

[Voyageurs]

Everyone, says EV's will take over. I can prove they will not, actually, in CA, they are currently about 6000 MW's short of suppling all the electrical load they currently have, when I scheduled energy back in the mid 80's, then they were 3-4,000 short. They will not build power lines, will not build new power plants, and think that solar and wind will provide enough, guess, what, the wind don't always blow, and clouds and night time, stop solar.

I urge all to check out Germany's situation, since they turned off all the nukes and coal powered plants, and are now dependent on Russia. Putin has said, fine, you will pay our price for all that Natural Gas. EV"s are nothing but a flash in the pan, and will only penetrate into less than 10% of the market, until a Technology comes along which can supply enough electricity for all. You want completely clean energy, then Nuclear power is it, aside from the waste by products which have half life of 50,000 years

CA is not alone, TX tried to redesign grid with wind, this past winter that did not work so well did it? A solar system for the average home, with inverter and battery's in the 8000KW range is 50,000 dollars or more. Probably more with all the supply chain disruptions. You can purchase a lot of electricity with 50,000 dollars, even at .20 cents KWH. Solar currently is not cost effective, and the cells lose about 15-20% of their rated output over a 15 year period. The efficiency factor is only at best 23%, that will have to double or triple to be effective in any kind of commercial venue. Gas Powered plants may use 10 acres of land, and produce 1000 MW of energy. A solar power venue in GA for 480MW took close to 500 acres of land. Now exactly who houses/apartments/ and residences are you going to confiscate and tear down for solar, there is not enough open land, which is accessible, to completely replace the current installed generation in the USA. EV's are a pipe dream, and they well may, have lower maintenance. I urge you to drive through St Paul, MN, during rush hour, and the outside temp at 10 degrees. Now think what happens if everyone is stuck in that mess with an EV? Thousands would be frozen and die. Have you seen the emergency electrical charger they use in China, a mule hauls around a diesel generator to charge the electric cars who have run dry. I rest my case.

Well, I won’t touch most of that post mostly because I have no idea of the condition of US grid infrastructure. From what I gather from most of the posters on this board and others is that the US has some kind of 1955 grid that can’t now or ever be improved. Hard to believe but that seems to be the general concensus.

But re EV’s getting stuck in traffic. It’s generally the opposite of what people think. A EV uses very little energy sitting in traffic wether it be summer or winter. EV’s use most of their energy for motive forces. An EV like a Tesla model 3 or Y with a 82 kWh battery or whatever can sit in a traffic jam with the heat pump or AC on for days. Pretty good place to be in a traffic Jam.

JMHO.

 

[Old Bubblehead]

Brett would be the guys to answer the question best, as I am reasonably confident he will have accurate hard data available. That said, I would venture a guess that the majority of their service work has more to do with House defects rather than chassis failures. Beit manufacturing defects, effects of poor road conditions, or just wear and tear, I notice many more requests for aid in the forums around the house part of the coach.

Whatever motive force drives these beasts, there will be Preventive and Corrective maintenance that will be needed to keep them on the road. I don't foresee the collapse of the repair industry for automotive or RV service providers coming.

I believe that the enterprising group that can put out a reliable and capable EV RV will have no trouble selling them. Plenty of demand and early adopters out there.

 

[Old-RV'er]

Yes, the electrical grid is in marginal shape, and really is our fault. XYZ Utility, needs to upgrade a 250KV line to 500KV because, of the increase of houses/apartments/industry/ etc. (now you won't believe this, but, cell phones, and internet devices have also caused this issue-10 years ago, the refer did not make the grocery lists and forward to the store so customer can drive by and pick up). So they announce the open hearings, hundreds show up, and about 80% of the comments are NEGATIVE, we don't want the new higher power line, the noise, the disruption in construction, the EMF/EMP, whatever. But the biggest reason, well simple really NOT IN MY BACK YARD, no one wants that "sight in their yard, or ruining the view". This country needs, a total revamp of the grid, new Right of ways, wider, so higher capacity lines can be built, oh, but why cannot we build them underground, well you can, except the costs go up about 500-1000% and those costs will be passed on to you and me, either in higher rates, or in higher taxes if a state or federal fund us used. I am sure FEFC's website can outline the issue for you. I worked for the second largest federal provider of electricity and transmission in the nation, I worked there for 28 years, and I did the "digging the ditches and in the office working on the computers" so I have a fairly exposed knowledge of things. You see it everywhere, "HELP WANTED", well this winter is going to tell the tale, as the electrical utility also has labor issues, and if aint got no one to fix the existing stuff, well, expect to be cold, and the lights go out lots, ageing equipment, and not enough people to keep it working.