Electric cars and the grid..... it has begun.

[GRW]

My wife has got a Tesla model 3 and I have got a Ford Ranger.

I find myself driving the Tesla often just because it is soooo much cheaper (with our current electricity fix until Mar 2023).

With the talk of the CRAZY energy cap of Apr 2023 I wonder if it will not be more expensive to drive the Tesla than the Diesel Ford ............

We are SERIOUSLY considering getting a property with a bit of land (1 or 2 acre) and then I can install my own 'solar farm'.

While solar panels on a roof can help bring energy costs down, it just does not seem like a worthwhile investment to me. I want to generate 80% of my own energy and the only way that can be achieved is with a bit of land with loads of solar panels.

It seems like the 'break even' point of installing solar panels are ever getting shorter.......

Thats something I've (idly, not in any depth) thought of as well. My folks place (which is technically half mine now) has 9-acres.
Not enough land to do much with in any agricultural sense profitably - but its occurred to me that perhaps 70% of the fields are south-facing and also slightly sloping N-S.... which I thought might be ideal (well for here) Solar Farm siting.

I doubt I could afford to populate it with panels and infrastructure.... but the thought occurred that a company might rent/lease such a site for a consideration (including power for the property)??

 

[DAPPH]

I doubt a lot of people will have that

Have you seen the litter in a lay-by, you’d want a stranger doing the same at your house seeing as most of the population can’t take their rubbish home

I think majority of the public won’t want nor allow that

There is a difference , your home will not be in some remote shielded site , at your home you can turn the power on & off , that person will not be invisible to you as you'll likely be in attendance all the time.

For every unforeseen event that arises and causes a problem it will usually easily be overcome to the benefit of the provider & many others ..it's called progress..

 

[DAPPH]

My wife has got a Tesla model 3 and I have got a Ford Ranger.

I find myself driving the Tesla often just because it is soooo much cheaper (with our current electricity fix until Mar 2023).

With the talk of the CRAZY energy cap of Apr 2023 I wonder if it will not be more expensive to drive the Tesla than the Diesel Ford ............

We are SERIOUSLY considering getting a property with a bit of land (1 or 2 acre) and then I can install my own 'solar farm'.

While solar panels on a roof can help bring energy costs down, it just does not seem like a worthwhile investment to me. I want to generate 80% of my own energy and the only way that can be achieved is with a bit of land with loads of solar panels.

It seems like the 'break even' point of installing solar panels are ever getting shorter.......

Add in a power bank or two set up and most of your power will be free after seven or so years so long as you don't borrow money to do it.
It sounds like a worth while thing to invest in . Though I think you'll have to jump through electrical regs and planning etc. quite deeply .
If you do this farming can you open a thread and put all the useful info & details up please ?

Standing on the shoulders of giant sensai who have successfully done and gone there before us is always a very useful thing to do .

 

[DAPPH]

Thats something I've (idly, not in any depth) thought of as well. My folks place (which is technically half mine now) has 9-acres.
Not enough land to do much with in any agricultural sense profitably - but its occurred to me that perhaps 70% of the fields are south-facing and also slightly sloping N-S.... which I thought might be ideal (well for here) Solar Farm siting.

I doubt I could afford to populate it with panels and infrastructure.... but the thought occurred that a company might rent/lease such a site for a consideration (including power for the property)??

Use second hand panels & inverters etc ? Perhaps more affordable than you think if you do all the metal works & cable laying trenches etc yourself .

BIL Phil borrowed an old Fergie with a 6 inch post hole auger on the back end to bore the holes for his solar array up right metal posts , took him just t over two and three quarters hours from starting the first hole ( holes back filed with quick set ).

Then another four hours or so the next day with him , his 12 yr old & 13 yr old sons to set the metal work up . He had the panels put on & connected up by the supplier to get the 20 yr warrantee on them .

 

[stuvy]

There is a difference , your home will not be in some remote shielded site , at your home you can turn the power on & off , that person will not be invisible to you as you'll likely be in attendance all the time.

For every unforeseen event that arises and causes a problem it will usually easily be overcome to the benefit of the provider & many others ..it's called progress..

I’m saying that Joe public on your driveway(if you have one) will be open to abuse

Passengers on planes have their passports yet still act the fool

Also I work full time and haven’t got the luxury of wfh, plus where would you out your car?

 

[atomant48]

Reminds me of a (slightly) amusing story…. Years ago our elderly neighbour had a fall and long story short ended up in a home. Her house next door to us remained empty for almost 2 years. Just before it sold another neighbour across the street left a handbrake off and their car went through the side of the garage and wall next to us. The day the workers came to repair it all i offered them to run a lead from my house for the power…. No probs they said, the power is on here. I joked if only i had known i could have been running an extension lead across to mine the past 2 years.

 

[atomant48]

Regards the parking on driveway though - i understand there is already (or was before everyone started WFH!) a market for renting out your driveway for parking during the day. I guess its a natural progression to also offer charging at the same time. Even without the (potentially unnecessary) expense of a proper charger installation it could add 15-20kW each day to someones battery. Probably enough and then some for the average commute.

 

[Kayos]

My wife has got a Tesla model 3 and I have got a Ford Ranger.

I find myself driving the Tesla often just because it is soooo much cheaper (with our current electricity fix until Mar 2023).

With the talk of the CRAZY energy cap of Apr 2023 I wonder if it will not be more expensive to drive the Tesla than the Diesel Ford ............

We are SERIOUSLY considering getting a property with a bit of land (1 or 2 acre) and then I can install my own 'solar farm'.

While solar panels on a roof can help bring energy costs down, it just does not seem like a worthwhile investment to me. I want to generate 80% of my own energy and the only way that can be achieved is with a bit of land with loads of solar panels.

It seems like the 'break even' point of installing solar panels are ever getting shorter.......

Just been on a site we are finishing the PV and battery install

This is a leisure centre and was able to get enough in the battery to be completely off grid last weekend

Once we have done the measurement and verification it will be a UK first

 

[DAPPH]

I’m saying that Joe public on your driveway(if you have one) will be open to abuse

Passengers on planes have their passports yet still act the fool

Also I work full time and haven’t got the luxury of wfh, plus where would you out your car?

I'd sell you tea and a bun or you could sit in your mobile office and work on your computer using my fibre internet router details if it's suitable . There will obviously be a few odd balls but in the main I'm sure this is how things will pan out in the long term .
Once the luddites & most drivers get used to and implement the idea of thinking ahead and planning their day/ routes. with more care ,all they will need is their credit card to park and recharge .

CCTV & quality AI will pick up those who abuse the system and I'm sure that getting stopped from charging anywhere because of misbehaviour will soon put a stop to it .

 

[DAPPH]

Just been on a site we are finishing the PV and battery install

This is a leisure centre and was able to get enough in the battery to be completely off grid last weekend

Once we have done the measurement and verification it will be a UK first

The local newly built Aldi & Lidls have their roofs covered in Solar panels and now look to be heading into the battery storage concept too .

 

[Kayos]

The local newly built Aldi & Lidls have their roofs covered in Solar panels and now look to be heading into the battery storage concept too .

Behind the meter battery is quietly growing in the UK

 

[mike os]

The local newly built Aldi & Lidls have their roofs covered in Solar panels and now look to be heading into the battery storage concept too .

Shouldn’t even be an option

 

[awemawson]

A battery powered submarine has made it to the bottom of the mariana trench, as long as its designed for it, it will be fine.

Going down to the bottom was the easy bit - did it come up again

 

[atomant48]

Going down to the bottom was the easy bit - did it come up again

That’ll be easy too. Most submarines are battery powered

 

[GRW]

All these battery packs have a finite life, so will need to be replaced. If an inverter goes pop, you might need to dig for £3k or something to replace.
Then, assuming these batteries will all be Lithium items (which I believe they haven't worked out how to recycle yet?).....

 

[addjunkie]

A battery powered submarine has made it to the bottom of the mariana trench, as long as its designed for it, it will be fine.

Titanic was designed to cross the North Atlantic, Piper Bravo was designed to produce oil and gas safely, the Kursk was a submarine none of those worked out so well even though they were designed for it.

Designs and layers of protection get better all the time but most design have flaws weve not reached perfection yet, or each item would last forever or be totally recyclable with no harm to anything or anyone.

 

[knighty]

All these battery packs have a finite life, so will need to be replaced. If an inverter goes pop, you might need to dig for £3k or something to replace.
Then, assuming these batteries will all be Lithium items (which I believe they haven't worked out how to recycle yet?).....

the batteries can be recycled, it's just not cost effective vs making new ones right now

also, in transportation weight and energy density matters.... for stationary backup batteries or grid stabilising batteries it doesn't matter if the batteries are only 80% of original capacity... you just add more of them to make up for that

 

[Morrisman]

Titanic was designed to cross the North Atlantic, Piper Bravo Alpha was designed to produce oil and gas safely, the Kursk was a submarine none of those worked out so well even though they were designed for it.

Designs and layers of protection get better all the time but most design have flaws weve not reached perfection yet, or each item would last forever or be totally recyclable with no harm to anything or anyone.

It was human error that caused the downfall of all 3 of them. The designs were good, but several people made mistakes.

 

[addjunkie]

It was human error that caused the downfall of all 3 of them. The designs were good, but several people made mistakes.

Thats the point, if the designs were truly good, the human factors would not matter.
Titanic did not have full height water tight bulkheads
Piper Alpha did not have DHSVs to stop oil flow, or telemetry and ESDVs to shutdown Tartan when it all went wrong.
Kursk was a torpedo fuel leak.

All these failures have been engineered out in newer designs.

 

[mr migwire]

Anyone had a look at these yet, ive read that the Australians are fitting charge points in most of their stations already and the market has grown quite quickly compaired to EV.

All-New Hyundai NEXO | Hydrogen Fuel Cell SUV

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