How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete?

   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #191  
And why are we digging holes inside??? That would ruin the manufacturing floor that is already there.

Remodeling. Pipes under slabs. Drainage. Ramps to lower levels. Additions. Demolition....
 
   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #195  
Most of the metal is recoverable. No, batteries aren't a free lunch; nothing is. I don't think we'll replace the ICE as soon as some claim either. Yet it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.
Improved battery technology can help in many ways. One of my last goals before I retire in a couple of years is to have a remote camp; I'm seriously considering a Prius to get me there, which will then run some of the conveniences I've grown accustomed to. And that's just one minor thing which can come out of improved technology..

The F-150 I ordered has a 7.2kw generator built in. Might be more useful to you than a Prius.
 
   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #196  
To pour a base for much heavier machine.

Inside factories I saw track hoes dig holes for monster punch presses digging down 25' or so and 20' across while putting the dirt into dump trucks. The trusses were 30' high I think. The exhaust was always a chore to get rid of and every thing had to be done very cautiously, not like the guy in the hotel.
 
   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #197  
Inside factories I saw track hoes dig holes for monster punch presses digging down 25' or so and 20' across while putting the dirt into dump trucks. The trusses were 30' high I think. The exhaust was always a chore to get rid of and every thing had to be done very cautiously, not like the guy in the hotel.

Wow, this posting has HOES and HOTEL mentioned. Wonder what kinda of activity was really going one here. :laughing:
 
   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #199  
Worked as a electric lineman for 39 years.Everyone has grand plans for electric cars, trucks,tractors and so on.I am here to tell you the electric power grid will not handle it.The grid can barely keep up now.Most of the power grids were built back in the 30,s 40,50,s and 1960,s with minimal upgrades.Just some food for thought.
Rural Michigan? Grew up there. A smaller or reducing local economy make for difficult budgets. No one wants to invest in a risky or potential shrinking market. In much of the US we use a "Service Life" model. Most components have a 25 to 50 year Service Life. So that means we will replace up to 4% per year (for 25 year life equipment) or down to 2% (for 50 year life equipment) any given year. Add on some growth (again, for growing local economies) of 1 to 2% per year -- and we are replacing or expanding around 5% every year.

So for now, in Texas -- folks just ask about chargers, and we are happy to put in new transformers, lines, etc., as needed. Happy to sell the extra electricity to a new customer. Locally that means the grid is continually renewing all around US. But again, that is an expanding market and economy.

Sort of ironic on the reducing or shrinking Michigan model -- if Michigan had embraced EVs, upfront, the whole region would be leading US. Instead they half-assed the Volt, and then the dealers backstabbed the whole thing.
 
   / How long before Compact Diesels are obsolete? #200  
most charging stations run between 40-50 amps (ones that i have installed). the cars charge for something like 8 continuous hours. correct me if im wrong, but most home solar arrays barely put out 50 amps of power during the daytine, and certainly not at night. you cant store enough batteries to supply 50 amp draw for 8 hours to charge your car at night. at least not in the systems that i have worked on.
You may want to put an Amprobe on while charging -- typically we see them only running about 30 amps on the rated 50 Amp circuit.

But as to your math -- you are sort of correct, but have your "story problem" of it set up wrong. That 8 hour night of charging -- at 30 to 40 amps -- is going to produce about a weeks worth (around 300 miles) of driving. So consider, you are (sort of) figuring this is what happens EVERY night -- when for most EV drivers, this would only be a once a week (or maybe less) occurrence to fully charge a Tesla scale battery from "empty" to "full." That would mean your observed guessimating is off by a factor of 7X.

But to avoid all that mistake modeling, it is generally better to step out of "Power" modeling (Volts x Amps = Watts, right?) and instead view this as an "Energy" model (Watts x Hours = Watthours).

So doing this as an Energy or Watthour Problem: Typical EVs take about 250 Watthours per mile. (Typical for Tesla, or my Volt). And say we were going to drive 40 miles per day? That would mean we would use about 250 Watthours X 40 Miles = 10,000 Watthours, or more commonly expressed -- 10 kWh. (We good on that part?)

Now let's look at the Solar Array? Typical house sized array might be 10,000 Watts, or 10kW. And average run-time in the US, it may have a 6 hour production day. (anyone can change those numbers for your size system and locale). 10,000 Watts X 6 hours = 60,000 Watthours, or about 60 kWh. So that leaves us with 50kWh for the house, and 10kWh for the EV -- and that about covers most real-world drivers and scenarios. We could probably Net-Zero a typical house and driver in that scenario.

Now on the day we may drive the Tesla 300 miles -- it will take about 250 Watthours X 300 miles = 75,000 Watthours or about 75 kWh -- so to go 300 miles would use more than the 10kW Solar Array produced for the day, however, the Solar PV would offset most of the EV long-distance use.
 
 
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