Electric Vehicles, Tools, & Other Once Fossil Fuel Things

[AnBr]

Aug 9, 2023 21:23:33 GMT jackd said:

Not good enough for extended road trips, though. Many people, like me, mostly use their cars for local driving but like to have it available for road trips from time to time.

High speed passenger trains would usually fit that bill, quite nicely.

[jackd]

They don't always go where I want to and don't afford the ease of being where I'm going when I get there. Could rent at location. of course but overall expense is greater. Ease of bringing stuff (golf clubs and fishing gear) is also an issue.

[goldenvalley]

Aug 9, 2023 21:23:33 GMT jackd said:

Not good enough for extended road trips, though. Many people, like me, mostly use their cars for local driving but like to have it available for road trips from time to time.

That's why my husband has his fossil fuel car.  

[LFC]

I think two car households going to one ICE and one EV is going to be a common changeover.

[AnBr]

Aug 10, 2023 0:50:51 GMT jackd said:

They don't always go where I want to and don't afford the ease of being where I'm going when I get there. Could rent at location. of course but overall expense is greater. Ease of bringing stuff (golf clubs and fishing gear) is also an issue.

ICE cars will not be available for much longer. Several of the manufacturers have commited to 100% EV fleets in just a few years.

[jackd]

So they say; they're are going to be limited to their infrastructure the development of which is being resisted in every way imaginable by the carbon merchants.

[indy]

Range will improve and charging time will decrease as the technology matures. I don't know what the limits are but I'm pretty sure we aren't anywhere near them yet. Using computer technology as an analogy, I think we are around 1985-1990 in the development cycle. What is good enough to get a really good adoption rate? Maybe 400 miles on an overnight wireless charge would do it I think? That sounds like it would potentially take care of 99% of use cases. That seems pretty achievable with even the next generation of batteries like lithium-air ones. That is still several years out though.

Our general imagination completely failed us as to where computer technology would go (except for the odd visionary) so I won't be surprised if that is the case here as well. I'm not sure it will move fast enough to ever meet my own personal requirements but who knows? At least we are finally pursuing it with something that could loosely be called determination.

[LFC]

Interesting stuff.

[Bact PhD]

Over the last week & a half or so, I have been regaled with anecdotes about how electric cars are a failure since the batteries seem to perform poorly in colder temperatures. Am I just hearing the “outlier” stories, or should this be more of a consideration for those in colder climates?

[jackd]

Reports in the Chicago area confirm that it's a real issue.

[goldenvalley]

Shoot any car battery will suffer in cold. One of my roommates was from Minnesota.  Her car had a plug dangling from under the hood.  It was for a plug in battery warmer that was needed in MN.  I didn't live that far north but my dad usually disconnected the car battery in his car and brought it into the house when the temp was to drop below zero at night.  

[jackd]

True about batteries in general. The specific complaints about the EV's is that they don't charge so that one can just get stuck in cold weather. I think the problem is that the charging stations are largely outdoors.

[indy]

Even though lithium batteries perform better in cold weather than lead acid, capacity is still reduced in cold temperatures and so requires you to cycle the batteries more frequently, which in turn reduces the lifespan since they have only so many charging cycles before they die. That makes EVs more expensive to own for those folks that experience lots of cold weather. It obviously also reduces range 30% or so depending on how cold it is. Even if you have a garage that keeps temps above 32, if you have to park in the lot outside at work, it is still going to lose capacity as it sits there all day. It's also difficult to own an EV in cold weather climates (as far as I am concerned anyway) because you cannot possibly keep one charged in the winter unless you have (or install) the home infrastructure for fast charging. Lots of older homes may only have 100 amp service and installing a 60 amp charging station is quite problematic and expensive. Unless I move, I don't see an EV in my future.

I do firmly believe they are the future with the right technological advances and I also think it's a great thing to convince people to accept them and that having incentives is good, etc. because we all know what a chore it is to make people willing to accept any sort of change at this level. So I think we are on the right path but it just isn't going to work for me anytime soon.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 24, 2024 11:35:38 GMT indy said:

****

I do firmly believe they are the future with the right technological advances and I also think it's a great thing to convince people to accept them and that having incentives is good, etc. because we all know what a chore it is to make people willing to accept any sort of change at this level. So I think we are on the right path but it just isn't going to work for me anytime soon.

I read somewhere that hybrid vehicle sales are increasing.  Perhaps we need them as a bridge for a long while.

[goldenvalley]

New once fossil fuel thing question...time to replace the HVAC system installed 23 years ago.  Thinking about a heat pump system so that we can disengage from using natural gas for heating.  Our provider is PG&E which has been increasing rates dramatically due to being caught starting wildfires with their 100 year old high tension lines stretched across forested areas. They are paying big bucks due to law suits coming from that and because they are in the process of burying power lines.

Anybody here have any experience with heat pumps?  I'm looking at a GE version that uses Mitsubishi parts.  The cooling portion of the system will use the refrigerant that will be required in new equipment starting in 2025 or 2026.

[Bact PhD]

Mar 20, 2024 2:13:42 GMT goldenvalley said:

New once fossil fuel thing question...time to replace the HVAC system installed 23 years ago.  Thinking about a heat pump system so that we can disengage from using natural gas for heating.  Our provider is PG&E which has been increasing rates dramatically due to being caught starting wildfires with their 100 year old high tension lines stretched across forested areas. They are paying big bucks due to law suits coming from that and because they are in the process of burying power lines.

Anybody here have any experience with heat pumps?  I'm looking at a GE version that uses Mitsubishi parts.  The cooling portion of the system will use the refrigerant that will be required in new equipment starting in 2025 or 2026.

We’ve had heat pumps since we’ve been in this house. The circa late 1980s unit that was in when we bought the place needed replacement in 2001 and was replaced again in 2015. However, given the difference in latitude involved, YMMV. Our current unit is an Amana that has given us minimal trouble. The big criticism I have — and it may be for units sold in Flori-DUH — is the heat component doesn’t really do the job when the temperatures get below freezing (we do get a handful of nights a year like that).