Energy Costs of Electric Vehicles

[dcbingaman]

Here is a very interesting graphic from Bloomberg today on the energy costs, in terms of CO2 emissions from your green friends Tesla. If he lives in a area where his electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant, then he is contributing 88% as much carbon to the atmosphere as your LT1-fired Corvette.

The secret to CO2 reductions that are meaningful is getting to an electric grid that is nuclear, wind and solar-powered. THAT will then justified widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Until then its all just noise.

[John]

Very, very interesting.

[Mobius]

I've got a grid-tied 5kW rooftop solar array, which I love.

It already produces more power than we use, but if we were to get an electric car I'd just add another 10 panels (w/microinverters) which should provide enough juice to drive 10,000 miles per year.

There's also a Tesla Supercharger less that 2 miles from my house...

[Racer86]

5 KW seems very low, to power a complete home. That’s only 22-24 amps at 220 vac.

[Mobius]

5 KW seems very low, to power a complete home. That’s only 22-24 amps at 220 vac.

The system is closer to 5.7 kW peak output, which is rarely achieved (cool, bright sunny days can get close).

In the Spring and Summer months, we'll produce around 500-600 kWh per month, which diminishes during Fall and Winter. Credits provided by excess generation are used during the Fall and Winter.

The current year to date production* (Jan 1 - Nov 4) is 4.05 MWh, which covers the house, AC, and pool for the wife and I. Northern Indiana is relatively cool in the Summer, so AC (the power hog) use is generally light.

Of course, all appliances are high efficiency and most lighting is LED.


*I've got an Enphase microinverter system, and I can monitor production real-time, over the web.

[Boomer]

Use mainline electricity here. Feel I need that power when I push some of it off as Radio Frequency from the antenna above my house. Trees cover the area anyway. No good solar spot.