EV Chargers at facility

[Seeyoufly]

It takes 5mins at gas stations at every corner and highway exit in America to put gas in your car. When it's that fast and convienent to charge an EV it's a different tune.

Again, I'm very much in favor of more electric vehicles and do think it's the future but you can't deny reality in favor of your feefees without paying the cost, that being sitting at a charge station for 30 mins at the charging station in the next town over (if it exists at all).

When I can stop at a charge station and have her "gassed up" on the way to work or home without it drastically affecting my commute thats a moot point.

I leave my house everyday with a full battery and about 300 miles range. I rarely drive 300 miles a day. Therefore my time spent waiting for the car to “fill up” is zero.

When you drive 38,000 miles a year in an ice car you spend lots of time filling up the gas thank every two days. Multiple hours a month, I did the math. (Time driving to and from, plus paying, even with a card at the pump, and time actually filling tank). This is all time saved with an EV.

For the couple of times a year I do drive a long distance, this is what it looks like. I pull into the rest stop, pull right up to a charger, plug in. Walk inside, grab some food, use the bathroom, and walk back to the car. 99% of the time this is long enough to get 150-200 miles and be on your way. Any drive that would require another stop, or multiple stops I’ll likely be flying.

I couldn’t explain enough to people that I save time with my EV opposed to the idea that I sit around waiting for it the charge, or change my life in any way to accommodate it.

 

[AB19]

I leave my house everyday with a full battery and about 300 miles range. I rarely drive 300 miles a day. Therefore my time spent waiting for the car to “fill up” is zero.

When you drive 38,000 miles a year in an ice car you spend lots of time filling up the gas thank every two days. Multiple hours a month, I did the math. (Time driving to and from, plus paying, even with a card at the pump, and time actually filling tank). This is all time saved with an EV.

For the couple of times a year I do drive a long distance, this is what it looks like. I pull into the rest stop, pull right up to a charger, plug in. Walk inside, grab some food, use the bathroom, and walk back to the car. 99% of the time this is long enough to get 150-200 miles and be on your way. Any drive that would require another stop, or multiple stops I’ll likely be flying.

I couldn’t explain enough to people that I save time with my EV opposed to the idea that I sit around waiting for it the charge, or change my life in any way to accommodate it.

Even if I had to sit 30 minutes in a car to get 80% charge I don’t really care that’s not that long of a time. People act like charging is the biggest inconvenience when you don’t take into account the inconvenience of living in a polluted planet. Unless your mentality is I won’t be alive to see it so who cares

 

[Peter Gibbons]

I leave my house everyday with a full battery and about 300 miles range. I rarely drive 300 miles a day. Therefore my time spent waiting for the car to “fill up” is zero.

When you drive 38,000 miles a year in an ice car you spend lots of time filling up the gas thank every two days. Multiple hours a month, I did the math. (Time driving to and from, plus paying, even with a card at the pump, and time actually filling tank). This is all time saved with an EV.

For the couple of times a year I do drive a long distance, this is what it looks like. I pull into the rest stop, pull right up to a charger, plug in. Walk inside, grab some food, use the bathroom, and walk back to the car. 99% of the time this is long enough to get 150-200 miles and be on your way. Any drive that would require another stop, or multiple stops I’ll likely be flying.

I couldn’t explain enough to people that I save time with my EV opposed to the idea that I sit around waiting for it the charge, or change my life in any way to accommodate it.

Again, I agree.... provided you have the ability to charge at home (or work).

If you don't suddenly that hypothetical drive across town and 30min plus charge time to get a full battery isn't so convienent compared to filling up an ICE car literally anywhere in the US, 24 hours a day within minutes. In no way am I anti electric car, but saying it's as convienent, for every single person, as a gas car is is ludicrous.

I'm all on board for evs and hybrids, especially now that they are producing ones that fulfill transportation duties I have with my lifestyle. I probably couldn't make a tesla model 3 work with how I preferably spend my weekends, but a rivian or lightning or cybertruck.... ya I can throw a dead animal in the back of that or tow my boat, or load it up with mulch for the garden etc.

 

[jdatc]

I couldn’t explain enough to people that I save time with my EV opposed to the idea that I sit around waiting for it the charge, or change my life in any way to accommodate it.

This is very true. I spend literally 5 seconds plugging in my car to charge every day. I don’t need to everyday, but I like to keep it at a magic 80%. Plus I like to precondition it in the garage cause I am old now and like comfort.

When I was filling up my gas car, it was probably one 5 minute stop once a week. So maybe 20 minutes a month versus the maybe 2 minutes I spend now. Additionally I always know what it costs me to charge at home, it’s either off my Solar or at the current electric rate. No waiting to go to a ‘cheaper’ gas station. Though I still love you Costco!

It also l helps balance out the extra time with my 20-30 minute stops on a long road trip to get my car charged.

However, as the high speed charging places get better, I can more justify the stop by getting my coffee, and maybe a quick bite. Having high speed charging at interstate rest stops in awesome.

No doubt still longer, but progress no doubt. At the end of the year, I’m still ahead versus time spent at a gas station.

The real winner in my house is my wife. We don’t drive her gas car much, as the electric one is cheaper, and usually if we do it’s me taking it to work once a week when she goes into the office (longest drive takes the electric one). So every 2-3 weeks I fill it up. She might go months before she actually puts gas in a car.

Lastly honestly, on road trips we do take the electric car because the lane hold / advanced driving stuff is better. The Tesla lane hold was always excellent (not that expensive stuff they push) and the BMW’s is even better. On the highway all I do is rest my hand on the steering wheel and as long as traffic isn’t a bitch, and the lanes are good I just chill.

The capacitive touch means I only have to hold the wheel. Low speeds in traffic it’s hands free. Some of the Ford cruise stuff is hands free too I guess. That part of driving gets me to my destination much less tired. My wife’s Lexus has it, but it’s nowhere near as good (1st world problems!).

If nothing else, I like that electric cars are also pushing forward car technology. Yeah, it’s expensive, but pretty cool. I can’t wait to see what Volvo does with their LiDAR stuff in the near future.

 

[WavesAndClouds]

The biggest problem with EV’s is that in places like California, New York, Florida and others is the strain more EV’s would put on the grid. We need a lot more generating and transmission capacity, if we want to support the EV’s. Any of these states that have laws about requiring renewable power is going to have the impossible task with keeping up with demand. Hopefully this “new” generation of small modular nuclear reactors comes along here soon.

 

[GulfCharlie]

The biggest problem with EV’s is that in places like California, New York, Florida and others is the strain more EV’s would put on the grid. We need a lot more generating and transmission capacity, if we want to support the EV’s. Any of these states that have laws about requiring renewable power is going to have the impossible task with keeping up with demand. Hopefully this “new” generation of small modular nuclear reactors comes along here soon.

A bigger push towards solar panels/tiles needs to happen. My plan (don’t judge), is to outfit solar tiles with 3 battery packs to my house (to replace my 22kw generator). I just want the house to be electrically self sufficient to charge the car and power my utilities.

 

[32andBelow]

The biggest problem with EV’s is that in places like California, New York, Florida and others is the strain more EV’s would put on the grid. We need a lot more generating and transmission capacity, if we want to support the EV’s. Any of these states that have laws about requiring renewable power is going to have the impossible task with keeping up with demand. Hopefully this “new” generation of small modular nuclear reactors comes along here soon.

They have most of these cars charge in the middle of the night by using pricing incentives. But yes they will need some new power plants.

 

[GulfCharlie]

They have most of these cars charge in the middle of the night by using pricing incentives. But yes they will need some new power plants.

Those incentives are nuts, I promise they are not long for this world.

 

[32andBelow]

Those incentives are nuts, I promise they are not long for this world.

Why is it nuts? It just uses baseline power that isn’t doing anything at 2am.

 

[GulfCharlie]

Why is it nuts? It just uses baseline power that isn’t doing anything at 2am.

The incentives are nuts, not the charging 😂

 

[AB19]

The incentives are nuts, not the charging 😂

It’s not that crazy to think about, it’s better for the plants to be operating at near max capacity as often as possible and the overnight incentives help them do that

 

[WavesAndClouds]

They have most of these cars charge in the middle of the night by using pricing incentives. But yes they will need some new power plants.

But the whole argument was over charging cars at work during the day at work minus the few that would be there during a mid.

It’s not that crazy to think about, it’s better for the plants to be operating at near max capacity as often as possible and the overnight incentives help them do that

Thats not true. Lots of maintenance is done overnight when they are low load. You can take generators and transformers offline to work on them and replace them.

 

[AB19]

But the whole argument was over charging cars at work during the day at work minus the few that would be there during a mid.

Thats not true. Lots of maintenance is done overnight when they are low load. You can take generators and transformers offline to work on them and replace them.

Yes you can but it’s still not as efficient for the plant. I don’t think private companies should be in charge of electricity but clearly they offer lower rates during the night time because they benefit from it too

 

[Logical_Mongoose]

While there is a kernel of truth to the argument of power plants being outdated and their capacity level, it is a sentiment that has been used for decades about any/all household items that are hungry for electricity. Most notable was in popularization/propagation of air conditioning starting in the 60's (when central air became "standard" in new home builds). In 1960 the US generated 0.76 trillion kWh of electricity per year and there was no way every home could possibly have their own a/c unit without it devastating the electrical grid.

In 2000, the US generated over 3.8 trillion kWh, an increase of 500% in energy production over 40 years. In 2021, US production was 4.11 trillion kWh; another 10% increase in production even though most consumer appliances/electronics became wildly more energy efficient. For someone (Thanos, perhaps?) to snap their fingers and make all vehicles EV, the US would need roughly 1 trillion kWh additional generated each year for all of them to regularly charge, meaning production would need to increase roughly 25%.

We don't have an EV vs ICE problem, we have a problem with people saying things can't ever change because of how they are right now. Regardless of EVs, our electrical grid is outdated and prone to failure due to lack of proper investment and upkeep. But the "good news" is that the problem isn't a problem if people in power ever actually wanted to solve it. Yes it is a problem that requires funding, but it requires significantly less funding than what the US government has spent on defense since 9/11 ($14 trillion: half of which going to private contractors and over 60% of which the Pentagon admits they can't account for).

Here is a video that decently explains the grid issue in relation to EVs. For the previous paragraph I can't offer a succinct video, only a bottle of whiskey to try and numb the idiocy.

Technology has improved dang near every facet of everyday life, and technology is exponentially more efficient than it was at any point 20-60 years ago. Even if we only matched the 1960-2000 pace of energy production expansion (approximately a 4% increase every year), we would be able to accomplish an "all EV" switchover in roughly 6 years. And that's if every vehicle switched in that timeframe.

There are still plenty of houses out there without air conditioning/central air. No one made everyone give up their horses 10 years after the Model T came along. No one made you sell your Sony Walkman from 1985 in a garage sale once the Sony Discman caught on. No one made us order something on Amazon instead of going to the mall to get it. Most people switched over because the thing they switched over to was better.

EV batteries are going to go through a lot of technological breakthroughs over the coming decades. To think we will still be using the same batteries we are currently using ignores the fact that we haven't been using the same kind of batteries for quite some time.

Lithium-ion batteries as we know them in EVs are only a decade old. While the current supply chain for battery materials is EXTREMELY problematic, it is an addressable issue and the materials we will need 7 years from now might not be the same materials we need right now. Battery technology seems to be making breakthroughs and improvements at a remarkable pace, and companies from Sony to Ford have been pouring billions into R&D on making the best battery. Solid state batteries are almost to market now and will be a game-changer. Iron-air battery technology just had a significant breakthrough that might make us completely rethink home energy storage. The future is too full of promise to write batteries off for issues they have now.

Oh, and to not anger MJ too much about going too far off topic which we all seem to be in agreement here: I think every FAA facility should have their parking lots retrofitted to provide, free to the employee, basic household 20 amp 120v outlets on elevated posts; this way employees can bring their own level 1 chargers if they wish to get a small charge while at work, whilst also being able to accommodate engine block heaters for those of us in cold weather facilities. That would be both a beneficial implementation of Article 70 AND a remedy to Article 121 in the CBA while being something the agency/administration could hang their hat on as a "look at what we did!" type thing. A 20a/120v house outlet running at full draw (roughly 2kw) for 20+ hours a day would cost the government roughly $3 in electricity; someone working a 10 hour shift would get about 35 miles of range while charging at work (depending upon vehicle, charger, driver, etc.).

*In pharmaceutical ad voice* Talk to your local FacRep if Article 121 is right for your facility.

 

[Phillytroll69]

While there is a kernel of truth to the argument of power plants being outdated and their capacity level, it is a sentiment that has been used for decades about any/all household items that are hungry for electricity. Most notable was in popularization/propagation of air conditioning starting in the 60's (when central air became "standard" in new home builds). In 1960 the US generated 0.76 trillion kWh of electricity per year and there was no way every home could possibly have their own a/c unit without it devastating the electrical grid.

In 2000, the US generated over 3.8 trillion kWh, an increase of 500% in energy production over 40 years. In 2021, US production was 4.11 trillion kWh; another 10% increase in production even though most consumer appliances/electronics became wildly more energy efficient. For someone (Thanos, perhaps?) to snap their fingers and make all vehicles EV, the US would need roughly 1 trillion kWh additional generated each year for all of them to regularly charge, meaning production would need to increase roughly 25%.

We don't have an EV vs ICE problem, we have a problem with people saying things can't ever change because of how they are right now. Regardless of EVs, our electrical grid is outdated and prone to failure due to lack of proper investment and upkeep. But the "good news" is that the problem isn't a problem if people in power ever actually wanted to solve it. Yes it is a problem that requires funding, but it requires significantly less funding than what the US government has spent on defense since 9/11 ($14 trillion: half of which going to private contractors and over 60% of which the Pentagon admits they can't account for).

Here is a video that decently explains the grid issue in relation to EVs. For the previous paragraph I can't offer a succinct video, only a bottle of whiskey to try and numb the idiocy.

Technology has improved dang near every facet of everyday life, and technology is exponentially more efficient than it was at any point 20-60 years ago. Even if we only matched the 1960-2000 pace of energy production expansion (approximately a 4% increase every year), we would be able to accomplish an "all EV" switchover in roughly 6 years. And that's if every vehicle switched in that timeframe.

There are still plenty of houses out there without air conditioning/central air. No one made everyone give up their horses 10 years after the Model T came along. No one made you sell your Sony Walkman from 1985 in a garage sale once the Sony Discman caught on. No one made us order something on Amazon instead of going to the mall to get it. Most people switched over because the thing they switched over to was better.

EV batteries are going to go through a lot of technological breakthroughs over the coming decades. To think we will still be using the same batteries we are currently using ignores the fact that we haven't been using the same kind of batteries for quite some time.

Lithium-ion batteries as we know them in EVs are only a decade old. While the current supply chain for battery materials is EXTREMELY problematic, it is an addressable issue and the materials we will need 7 years from now might not be the same materials we need right now. Battery technology seems to be making breakthroughs and improvements at a remarkable pace, and companies from Sony to Ford have been pouring billions into R&D on making the best battery. Solid state batteries are almost to market now and will be a game-changer. Iron-air battery technology just had a significant breakthrough that might make us completely rethink home energy storage. The future is too full of promise to write batteries off for issues they have now.

Oh, and to not anger MJ too much about going too far off topic which we all seem to be in agreement here: I think every FAA facility should have their parking lots retrofitted to provide, free to the employee, basic household 20 amp 120v outlets on elevated posts; this way employees can bring their own level 1 chargers if they wish to get a small charge while at work, whilst also being able to accommodate engine block heaters for those of us in cold weather facilities. That would be both a beneficial implementation of Article 70 AND a remedy to Article 121 in the CBA while being something the agency/administration could hang their hat on as a "look at what we did!" type thing. A 20a/120v house outlet running at full draw (roughly 2kw) for 20+ hours a day would cost the government roughly $3 in electricity; someone working a 10 hour shift would get about 35 miles of range while charging at work (depending upon vehicle, charger, driver, etc.).

*In pharmaceutical ad voice* Talk to your local FacRep if Article 121 is right for your facility.

Wtf are you doing in this career

 

[AB19]

Wtf are you doing in this career

This is common knowledge for autistics people who are passionate about climate change and renewables

 

[Logical_Mongoose]

Wtf are you doing in this career

Best job I ever had.

Wtf are you doing in this career

Also: what career do you think I should be in?

 

[GulfCharlie]

Also: what career do you think I should be in?

 

[FightingIrish2012]

Even if I had to sit 30 minutes in a car to get 80% charge I don’t really care that’s not that long of a time. People act like charging is the biggest inconvenience when you don’t take into account the inconvenience of living in a polluted planet. Unless your mentality is I won’t be alive to see it so who cares

According to people like you we will all be dead in ten years anyway. Why did you bother having kids?

 

[Somenewguy]

According to people like you we will all be dead in ten years anyway. Why did you bother having kids?

Imagine.. drinking shit polluted water, being radiated by a non-ozone protected atmosphere, and breathing in led exhaust just to own the libs. All while simping for oil companies profiteering off of unmitigated destruction of the planet.

When the world is uninhabitable without futuristic life support systems, I think you can truly say you owned the libs.