real world EVs review

[turbodieseldyke]

If a transgender moslem wants to build a million dollar home in my town

I don't always virtue signal. But when I do, I virtue signal for things that don't exist.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Not virtue signaling... We run our town like a business, and racism, sexism, etc. chase away customers. Much of the state and federal aid our town gets is determined by our population, so every person we can attract to our town is literally worth thousands of dollars to us. In rural America the businesses, towns, and literally people are dying, except for the towns that have immigrants and native Americans.

 

[turbobrick240]

Not virtue signaling... We run our town like a business, and racism, sexism, etc. chase away customers. Much of the state and federal aid our town gets is determined by our population, so every person we can attract to our town is literally worth thousands of dollars to us. In rural America the businesses, towns, and literally people are dying, except for the towns that have immigrants and native Americans.

Depends on the area. The 3.5 mile stretch of rural road I live on had 9 houses when I was a kid in the 80's. They paved it four years ago, and it has 25 houses now. 10 of which have been built in the last 5 years.

 

[oilhammer]

This is why I moved to the country. No neighbors, fields behind me, fields in front of me, chunk of woods on both sides. Glorious. I can take a piss off my deck in the middle of the day and only squirrels to watch, LOL. And nobody to complain about the number of cars I have (well, sometimes my wife does).

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Same here- When I saw the collection of mechanical misdemeanors my neighbor made lawn mowing impossible with, I knew the city council would be happy with my smaller "collection". Then I became a council member...

 

[kjclow]

Yeah, my peon brain cannot count that high, LOL... but I'm sure my measly 1300 sq/ft home on 1.5 acres built in 1987 would have cost a lot more in Massachusetts than it did in rural Missouri. The amounts you guys toss around just drop my jaw, honestly.

I just looked it up, average income in Missouri is $30k/yr, in Massachusetts it is about $40k. Yet the cost of living numbers there seem obscenely off kilter to those numbers.

That house on a quarter acre city lot in charlotte would be about $350k.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Yeah, my peon brain cannot count that high, LOL... but I'm sure my measly 1300 sq/ft home on 1.5 acres built in 1987 would have cost a lot more in Massachusetts than it did in rural Missouri. The amounts you guys toss around just drop my jaw, honestly.

I just looked it up, average income in Missouri is $30k/yr, in Massachusetts it is about $40k. Yet the cost of living numbers there seem obscenely off kilter to those numbers.

That income number is for the whole state. Metro Boston has higher averages. There are more than a few towns that have average incomes over 100K.

This was in my local paper this week:

 

[J_dude]

Ahem, back on topic...

 

[BamaB4S]

It typically doesn't affect insurance premiums unless you choose to increase your coverage.

Will Adding Solar Affect My Homeowners Insurance?

Solar panels can lead to excellent savings on energy bills, but they could raise homeowners insurance premiums. Here's why.

www.fool.com

.

"Some homeowners insurance providers also don't cover solar panels damaged by wind or hail. Or they may require the homeowner to pay a separate -- and higher -- deductible before they'll pay anything for wind or hail damage. This is especially common in areas prone to large hail events and severe storms."

 

[turbobrick240]

"Some homeowners insurance providers also don't cover solar panels damaged by wind or hail. Or they may require the homeowner to pay a separate -- and higher -- deductible before they'll pay anything for wind or hail damage. This is especially common in areas prone to large hail events and severe storms."

Probably best to avoid those insurance providers if you have a solar installation. Always read the policy terms.

 

[kjclow]

in the last couple of years, my deductible for hail has increased from $250 to $1000. nothing else changed.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Was a delegate to the Minnesota Farmer's Union convention last weekend, and big renewable energy projects got a cool reception. For background, Farmers Union is mostly the smaller family farmers and they lean left, while Farm Bureau lobbies for the big corporate farmers and leans decidedly right. Farmers Union recognizes climate change and takes it seriously, as my policy resolution calling for declaring a climate change emergency sailed through without opposition or even debate. But farm sized solar projects and giant wind turbines are being treated with suspicion. And while most ethanol plants are farmer owned, the two companies planning massive "carbon capture" projects have so angered farmers on both sides of the political spectrum with their heavy handed easement grabs that they're one of the few groups that have been able to unite both sides of the American political spectrum, against them. The takeaway is that the huge infrastructure projects needed to feed mass EV adoption will take decades rather than years to even start construction.

 

[turbobrick240]

If Minnesota doesn't want to build the energy infrastructure that it will need (not sure that's true), that will just hurt the MN economy. States all over the country are kicking energy infrastructure projects into high gear at this very moment.

 

[kjclow]

That's due to the overall realization that the push towards all electric vehicles will cripple the current grid and power production. The local energy coops down here are already warning of rolling blackouts through the Christmas holidays, just like last year. It will be exasperated by colder temps, if they happen.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

Maybe... In some cases we've actually got surplus power and adding capacity is just a waste of money. Heck, some of these are billion dollar projects that will force consumers to pay for them, whether they're needed or not. In general, folks don't trust big electric energy companies any more than they trust big petroleum energy companies.

 

[gulfcoastguy]

Most charging is done at night when the power companies have surplus power. The ID4 take 48 amps at maximum charging rate but my home charger is rated at 40 amps. Around here most homes have 200 amp service. That doesn't mean that you charge everyday, for the most part either ,unless you are a super user. I ran into one lady charging a Mercedes EV sedan at the Electrify America. It turns out that she commutes from my home town East of Biloxi MS to Covington LA everyday. Discussing costs with her she brought up the typical Mercedes service cost for the gas burner that she traded in. The cheapest of the two service packages was $250. She was able to avoid the vast majority of that cost, no oil changes, life time coolant, brakes last easily twice as long as a non EV's. She was getting free charging for 2 years at EA in the purchase price. Our home charging cost of just under 12 cents a kWhr including taxes and fees is the same as mine and averages just under 4 cents a mile. The local power company mostly uses natural gas but they have been installing solar power fields like crazy(wrong climate for wind power). Since we have natural gas wells in the state and the sun shines on it, all of our power is local and relatively low polluting. We also have a petroleum refinery and wells but you might be surprised about how much electricity is required to refine and transport gasoline.

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

If everyone were able to charge late at night that'd work great. Unfortunately a lot of us get home right around sundown and getting the EV recharged would be the first thing we'd do, followed by rounding up some supper! The real world problem is that a lot of us have to drive during those early am hours when the EV advocates wish we'd be charging.

 

[turbobrick240]

EV advocates don't really care when you charge. I certainly wouldn't plan your schedule around some imagined preference of a stranger. But if you can take advantage of lower TOU electricity rates, that might be nice.

 

[kjclow]

Our home charging cost of just under 12 cents a mile including taxes and fees is the same as mine and averages just under 4 cents a mile.

Is it 12 cents a mile or 4 cents a mile?

 

[kjclow]

If everyone were able to charge late at night that'd work great. Unfortunately a lot of us get home right around sundown and getting the EV recharged would be the first thing we'd do, followed by rounding up some supper! The real world problem is that a lot of us have to drive during those early am hours when the EV advocates wish we'd be charging.

Being retired, I would have the option of charging at non-prime hours but would probably still get in the habit of plugging the thing in whenever I get home. I assume you can set up to start the charging at specific times but if it's my only vehicle, I still want to know that I can get to wherever I need when I need to. For instance, the emergency room last week where my wife needed to pick me up after my bike accident.

 

[turbobrick240]

Is it 12 cents a mile or 4 cents a mile?

Pretty sure he meant $.12/kWh

 

[turbobrick240]

Being retired, I would have the option of charging at non-prime hours but would probably still get in the habit of plugging the thing in whenever I get home. I assume you can set up to start the charging at specific times but if it's my only vehicle, I still want to know that I can get to wherever I need when I need to. For instance, the emergency room last week where my wife needed to pick me up after my bike accident.

Ouch, hope there wasn't much damage. I think a lot of the cars allow you to control charging via smartphone. So you could set it to charge to 40-50% as soon as you get home, then use your phone to top it off to 80% or whatever you want before going to bed. That way you don't have to go back out to the car.

 

[El Dobro]

Ouch, hope there wasn't much damage. I think a lot of the cars allow you to control charging via smartphone. So you could set it to charge to 40-50% as soon as you get home, then use your phone to top it off to 80% or whatever you want before going to bed. That way you don't have to go back out to the car.

When I charge at home, I set the program in the cars to be done at 6AM. This way, the car charges during the night and the battery is warmed up when I leave.

 

[El Dobro]

You might be surprised about how much electricity is required to refine and transport gasoline.

 

[turbobrick240]

Good news for clunker owners getting ready to upgrade to something more efficient:

How to Boost EV Sales? Pay Drivers to Turn in Old Polluting Cars

US policymakers are rolling out big incentives for electric vehicle buyers who surrender a gas-powered model, advancing efforts to cut carbon emissions.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

And bad news for us rural folks that would be stranded by EVs- If anything cash for clunkers will force us to horde IC vehicles. As the article notes, the federal cash for clunkers program did not reduce pollution by even one percent, while driving up the price of used cars for low income folks who could barely afford them.

 

[oilhammer]

Yeah, the program they already did was a huge waste.

 

[turbobrick240]

Well cash for clunkers took less than 680,000 old cars off the roads(most of which would have been coming off the road soon anyhow). So it's not surprising that it didn't have a big effect on emissions or used car prices. It was intended to stimulate the economy more than anything.

 

[oilhammer]

Lots and LOTS of perfectly good, roadworthy cars were taken off the road. I watched them come in. Many were perfectly fine, even if they were not a good choice for a daily driver. We had to destroy the engines (but a lot of them magically missed that part ). Also, there were LOTS of old cars that didn't fall into the category because they were too fuel efficient... yet were cars that were in such poor condition they were certainly a good candidate to be removed from service.

 

[turbodieseldyke]

I prefer the 19th century economic stimulation programs, where the govt would just go town by town, breaking everyone's windows.