An EV can be 100% Solar/wind when charged from Solar home or Grid Wind! ==>
Bob Bruninga, PE
IEEE National Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy
Electric Vehicle Association of DC
lastname at usna dot edu
See the links:
Plot of All Models through 2020 by size and range
2018 was peak for gas cars and declining. EV's doubled.
By 2018, 50% of all EV's have ranges greater than 350 miles 2018
By 2018, 53% of all EV's cost less with incentives than the average Gas car 2018
Other EV owner statistics 2018
Wind, Solar and EVs are crushing Fossil Fuels! 2016.
USA Rooftops can provide 40% of the National Load 2016.
See the hilarious experience of an EV driver being sold a gas car 2015.
See the Powerpoint on EV misconceptions (summarizes this page).
See Charged Magazine's take
on the perfect marriage of EV's, solar and Wind (2015)
See my Book report on my daughter's teen girl's book Patty's Motor Car (1911)
GAS-TANK/GAS-STATION Legacy:
Three generations and over a century of gas-tank/gas-station legacy clouds our thinking
with respect to transportation refueling. Everything we think about driving is related to the inconvenient
weekly stop at the
gas pump for commuters or the every 5 hour stop for gas on trips. We naturally
translate this inconvient refueling experience to EV's while not realizing that none
of it applies when the EV is used for the
practical driving application for which it is best suited... commuting and local trips!
GAS STATIONS:
Gas cars must be refueled while we are using them
and usually while we are in a rush on our way somewhere.
This is a huge inconvenience that we have all grown
so accustomed to that we ignore the inconvenience (except when we are late)
while still letting it cloud our thinking about driving.
As shown here in a plot of where the cars are during the week,
we are constrained to go somewhere to fill-up during the 1 hour or
4% of the day when we are actually using the car to get somewhere else!
PLUGGING IN:
EV's, on the other hand, are always charged while we are
not using them, while parked. And the
average car spends more than 21 hours a day parked and most of that time is either at home or at
work.
As a result, the EV is usually always fully fueled every time we use it
(even if it was your teenager that drove it last) and the impact of fueling is only
about 10 seconds a day, 5 seconds to unplug when we leave, and 5 seconds to plugin when we park.
The ANTI-EV lobby:The fossil fuel industry combined with the lethargic Detroit legacy auto makers
is a 4 Billion Dollar per day business. With the inevitable evolution to EV's at hand, they
will stop at nothing to hold back this progress and the demise of their lucritive business model. So,
do not believe anything negative about EV's that ayou mght read withouut sonsidering how much money
this industry spreads around to politicians, think tanks, shill writers and reporters to spread their
anti-EV bias.
EV Misinformation! There is a huge amount of EV Misinformation out there... Some of it
intentional, but most of it simply due to gas-tank/gas-station legacy thinking.
Here is a list of all the negative comments that roll off the tongue by the
nay-sayers determined to resist change at all costs. Each of these fabrications are simply wrong and
will be addressed on this page:
EV's are not popular, no one will buy'em . . . No! . . (So? Only 4% buy the #1 selling vehicle in the USA! and already >2% are buying EVs)
EV's cost too much! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No! . . (Average cost is less than average gas car since 2013! See table ==>)
Breakeven or Payback takes 8 years . . . . . . . No! . . (Is from day 1 if compared to gas car pollution cost)
EV Battery capacity is too small . . . . . . . . . . . No! . . (Smart EV buyers buy smallest to meet their daily need, not biggest!)
EV Range is too short. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No! . . (More than half of plugins have ranges > 350 miles!)
Not enough public Charging Stations . . . . . . . No! . . (over 300 million outlets at home/work everywhere!)
Charging Stations are too expensive. . . . . . . . No! . . ($15 from Home Depot for 120v charging outlet)
I Can't plugin at work - no way to pay . . . . . . No! . . (Charging at work on any 120v outlet. Buy $15 monthly pass)
EV's have a big impact on the grid . . . . . . . . . No! . . (No more than a toaster!)
EV's pollute at the coal power plant . . . . . . . . No! . . (Most EV buyers also buy clean electricity, either solar or wind from grid)
EV's are a Liberal Conspiracy Agenda . . . . . .No! . . (Think. It's Better, Faster, Cleaner, Quieter, Safer, Cheaper to buy, to operate, and to maintain)
Each of these misinformations will be addressed in the paragraphs below.
EV's are not popular, only 4% will buy them: Wrong conclusion.
If 4% bought electric cars, then that would make them
the number one selling cars in America! As shown here, the #1 selling vehicle is the Ford F150 pickup truck(19 MPG).
But still that is less than 4% of all vehicles sold. The next two most popular models sell to less than 2%
of Americans. There are over 400 makes and models of gas cars on the market to satisfy the variety of driver
needs and wants.
And now, we have gone from 3 models of EV available in 2010 to over 62 models available in 2020 and
over 200 planned by 2025. This is
the largest growth segment in the auto industry today. And when people realize the freedom from oil,
gas stations, pumping gas in the cold, and our $2
billion per day overseas addiction, this percent will only rise!
Fall of 2018 appers to be the beginning of the decline of gas cars while EV sales are still growing exponentially.
EV's cost too much: Baseless!
More than half now cost less than the average Gas car
(see chart upper right)! Sure,the introductory price of EV's in 2012 was more than the
average gas car, but by 2013, the average cost of EV's ($31k) dropped below the averge American gas car ($33,000).
In 2018, more than half cost less than the $35k average cost of a gas car
and they are better, faster, cleaner, quieter, safer, and cheaper to buy, cheaper to operate and
cheaper to maintain than gas. (See chart at right)
Pickup Trucks: Heck, the EV is even more than $10k Cheaper
than the average $40k to $70k price of the #1 selling vehicle in America, the F150 Pickup.
Plus there are at least 6 models of EV Pickups coming out in 2021.
Buy Used EVs: Now in 2021 there are at least 9 years of used EV's now on the market with the 2017's
now coming off their initial leases. The Volt goes for under $13k and the Leaf down around $9k.
Really great deals as first adopters move on to the latest and greatest. See the USED price column
on the tables at right.
EV Payback or Breakeven is 8 years: No, see the true comparison.
Payback is from day one if you make a real apples/apples
comparison. What everyone leaves out of these kinds of simple-minded comparisons is the cost of
the mitigation needed to clean up the emissions of the gas car that the EV does not have. It typically
takes 100 fully mature trees to absorb the annual emissions from a gas car. If the gas car had
to pay for this cleanup to be cost-equal to the EV, then the true cost of the EV
would be more than a third less than the cost of the gas car from day one. We buy cars for now and the
future, and the future is NOW!
EV Fuel is CLEAN! EV's and Solar are the perfect marriage.
A typical plugin hybrid can be fully charged everyday forever from just 12 solar panels.
This yields the average American 40 miles a day, double that if one can also plugin at work.
EV Fuels is CHEAP! Not only can an EV be charged everyday forever from solar, but
at normal electric rates, an EV drives for a cost equivalent of about a dollar per gallon
gas. But when recharged at night off-peak where electricity is only
3.5 cents per kWh, the EV drives at
an equivalent energy cost of about 35 cents a gallon!
That is cutting the cost of commuting by a factor of TEN-to-ONE compared to gas.
And by 2014 some 25 utilities now
offer very low cost off-peak special rates for EVs.
EV Battery capacity is too small: Prior to 2013, maybe, but now, over 250 miles is nominal
and more than half including plugin-hybrids are over 350 miles
Range is a big misunderstanding in the mind of the consumer. People think they want the largest
battery possible when in fact, the smart EV purchaser buys no more battery capacity than he uses on a daily basis.
Why spend an extra $45,000 for a 250 mile battery (Tesla) when you only drive 40 miles a day and
leave the house every morning with a full charge and more than enough for your daily use. If you need to drive
more than 250 miles in a typical day, or do long trips, then you should buy a plugin hybrid or Tesla
or use your other car whichever you can afford.
Warranties: Battery Warranties
are typically 8 to 10 years and 100K to 150,000 miles. Generally, most EV manufacturers claim
that they have not replaced any
batteries due to age or wear-out. Of course there have been warranty replacements in the first months
or year or so as
manufactureing defects occur in batteries just like in mechaniclal gas cars.
But if it lasts 3 years without any initial manufacturing bugs (A good time to get
an EV off-lease) then it will likely last the life of the car.
With over 6 billion driver miles on the Volt, analysis shows
that batteries are expected to last 20 years. And the longest running battery in a Volt is now at 470,000 miles and still\
has 80% life remaining.
EV Range is too small: Not for the smart EV purchaser.
By 2018, 50% of all EV's have ranges greater than 350 miles.
And the ideal application of an EV is for daily commuting and
local travel. The chart here shows that 68% of all commuters drive less than 15 miles to work and fully
78% could commute almost 20 miles each way on a 40 mile battery.
If one only has one car and commuting is not their application, then a plugin hybrid is
a better investment. EV's were originally not for everyone or every application, but by 2018
there is a model for almost any application!
People should buy the car that does their need best.
And an EV does commuting better than a gas car at 1/4th to 1/10th
the cost and the
added convenience of being independent of the gas pump and expensive maintenance.
Just plug in while parked and the car is always ready
for every trip.
Range anxiety vanishes then, as an issue to the smart shopper that needs a commuter car.
There aren't enough public Charging Stations: So???
One should not buy an EV with the intention of routinely refueling
at public charging stations. The ideal use case for an EV is when charging is done
everyday (while parked, usually at home and/or at work). See the top chart and previous topics!
It is nice to have some public charging as a backup for
emergent situations out of the routine as shown here in the Charging Pyramid. But in all cases except for
the extremely tiny tip of the iceberg, EV's are charged while parked.
EV's spend most of their time parked at Home and at Work where there is plenty of time to charge. For people
in these two locations they can maintain over 100
miles a day of charge by simply plugging into a standard 120v outlet, the bulk of the charging pyramid.
[Though with the declining cost of 240 V charge cords,
most will now spend the $150 for a faster 240v charge cord.]
Interstate Charging is an insiginficant niche.
People remain so focused on fast public charging
along the interstates (gas tank legacy)
when the State of Maryland studies have shown that this is only 0.3% of the overall charging need,
because EV's are not optimized for long distance interstate travel.
Their best application is commuting and local travel and you would no more buy an EV for how it travels on the
interstate as you would buy a boat based on its trailer.
Charging at Work: The Maryland EV Infrastructure Council has determined that over 97% of all EV
charging at work can be met with simple 120v outlets. This is because at-work is where most EV's
spend most of their time away from home parked.
As shown here 70% of EV commuters can
be fully charged by noon if simply plugged into a standard outlet at work. The 70 mile daily commuter
can be fully charged after a full day at work (35 miles in, and 35 miles home). It is unsustainalbe to
think that Employers are going to provide expensive $10,000 special L2 EV chargers for employees when
a simple $15 outlet (120 V) will do.
Charging Stations are too expensive: No, Most of them you don't need!
Over 97% of all EV charging for the daily commuter can be met
with the simple 120v outlet. Any outlet will do. And every EV comes with its own 120 V charge cord.
Remember, our American Economy is 60% based on selling us more goods and services, most
of which we can do just fine without. Expensive EV charging stations are a perfect example when a simple
120v existing outlet can do the same job. Chargers are often sold through the range anxiety fear factor
to prospective EV owners who have still not relinquished the gas-tank/gas-station legacy. Most people
have to sleep 8 hours or so, and so why would you need to fast charge your car while sleeping?
240 V Level2 Charging: Of course, if your commute is more than 35 miles each way,
and you cannot plug-in while at work, sure,
you need a 100 mile range EV and you need a 240V charge cord (now only about $190) to be able to fully replenish
100 miles in a single overnight charge, but these long ranging commuters are the small 8% exception and
they only need the fast charger if they cannot plugin to 120v at work.
And even if you have a 240 mile EV, just plugging into
the $190 L2 240v charge cord overnight can still provide over 1600 miles a week
which is 5 times the national average.
It takes too long to charge: So, who cares? The car is parked 21 hours a day and there is plenty of time
to charge while parked. An 8 hour overnight, or charge-at-work can replenish a 32 mile trip to or from work
in under 8 hours. The expensive L2 Quick charger can do it in 2 hours but is not needed
by most commuters during the 8 hours of sleep and the 8 hours of work! And no EV driver will routinely use a
fast L2 charger at work where she has to play musical-cars in the parking lot all day
to share it with with other EV drivers.
Focus on the Benefits: Instead of focusing on how long it takes to fully fill an EV
battery from L1 home charging, we should instead simply focus on how many miles-per-charge we get
while parked for 8 hours at Home and at work as shown here. Every EV comes with its own 120v
charging cord and is well capable of charging anywhere while pariked.
Any EV will gain about 36 miles of charge during 8 hours on a standard outlet, and that is enough to
give commuter EV's a total daily range of over 70 miles (plugging in at home and work),
typical of many EV batteries for example.
Even in 2011, Convenience stores were
installing 120v charging outlets.
I Can't plugin at work - no way to pay: Sure there is.
Practical long distance Commuter EV's are going
to want to park at an outlet everyday. For employee parking, the authorized EV owner employee simply
plugs into any convenient 120 VAC outlet. No special chargers or installation is required.
She drives the same distance to work every day, so it is simple to pay for a monthly
Charging Pass as shown here to compensate for the daily electricity used.
For example, the Congressional FAST act
of 2015 authorized federal employees to plug into any available 120v outlet at work and only pay a flat
monthly rate of $15/month to get a charging placard to display while charging. This is as easy to enforce
as handicapped parking and is nearly impossible to abuse. A car has to be plugged in for
at least 5 hours even to consume $1 of daily charge. It is impossible to charge-and
run from a 120v outlet.
EV Charging Outlets Everywhere! See page!
Employers, Churches, Schools, Hotels all over Maryland are
beginning to recognize the value that each of their existing outdoor outlets have to their
employees, members and visitors. And it makes no sense to spend $10,000 on a special
charging station when their existing outlets can do. And it makes no sense to spend
money on charge-card devicces to collect 20 cents an hour when the value of
servicing their visitors is worth so much more. See some of the
numerous examples.
EV's have a big impact on the grid: Not if you understand the EV charging pardigm and
all of the above we have mentioned so far. An EV charging-while-parked on 120v draws no more power
than a toaster or coffepot as shown below. It is limited to the same 12 amp draw as any other appliance plugged into
a standard outlet. Fast charging, on the other hand, does have a significant impact but for a shorter period.
A Tesla charging in 20 minutes can draw as much power as 24 standard homes as shown below.
But high speed charging is only about 0.3% of the charging need. It was estimated that overnight charging
of EV's when the USA reached 75% of all cars are EV's woiuld only require about a 7% growth in power
generation and that is easily being met by the growth of renewables such as solar and wind.
<== 120v | SuperCharger ==>
Teslas are too expensive: So are a Maseratti, a Bently and a RollsRoyce.
The original Teslas are a luxury car. By 2018, many makes and models
were being sold with over 200 mile ranges at prices approaching the average cost of a gas car.
Further, now these cars come close to the gas-tank expectations,
with rapid L3 chargers appearing on all the interstates. These are fantastic cars
and excellent examples of where the EV car will eventually arrive.
EV's are not clean but only move emissions to the power plant: A huge exaggeration!
Yes, but only 7% of the emissions compared to a gas car! A study in 2016 showed that,
about 50% of all EV buyers
also buy solar or subscribe to Wind energy from their utility. This should not be surprising because
these buyers are both early adopters of clean transportation and also invest in CLEAN energy.
Another study by Ford in 2015, indicated that
83% of EV purchasers either had solar or were planning on getting it.
EV's depend on Coal: No. Most don't. In addition to the fact that more than 50% of EV owners
use only 100% clean energy (solar and wind), it is also true that
the EV only consumes about
one third of the energy as the gas car, and finally, coal is now less than half of our electric supply...
and only getting smaller every day. The net result then is that an EV on average only about 7%
of the emissions of a gas car
and this number is only going down. Just dont forget, HALF of those EV drivers are actually running on
100% solar or wind by choice. They want to be part of the solution for our future instead of continuing
to be part of the problem.
What about EV Maintenance? Just look at the parts count between a gas engine and an
EV above. In the Gas engine, not only are there ten times as many parts, they are ALL moving! In the
EV motor, there is only one moving part, the rotor. And remember, you can ONLY buy a gas car from
a car REPAIR and MAINTENACE dealer instead of an EV you can buy direct from the MFR becauase
there is so little to maintain.
See the hilarious experience
of an EV driver being sold a gas car.
MORE ABOUT CHARGING AT WORK:
Another frustrating topic is the focus on METERING the electricity used by EV's charging at work.
As noted in the image shown here, the daily costs to charge at work for the typical 20 mile commuter is
about $1 a day ($2/day for a full 40 mile charge for say a VOLT). Therefore,
it makes NO SENSE AT ALL to add thousands of $$$ dollars to the cost of the charging
equipment to have internet access, credit card readers
and very expensive charges for accounting and billing only to collect
a single $1 per day. There is too much focus on the legacy gas-station model for electronic payment systems
when there are much cheaper and more practical alternatives for the totally different every-day experience
of EV charging..
Such as paying $15 per month.
This shows the lack of understanding about EV's. The daily cost to charge is well known for any given employee.
An EV is ideal for the routine of local commuting.
It will therefore likely be driven EVERY day to work and will be CHARGED EVERYDAY, and the kWh to charge and the
cost of that charge WILL BE THE SAME every day since the miles-to-work are the same everyday. Since
both the employee and the employer both know where your home-of-record is located, then the cost for
daily charging IS WELL KNOWN and the SAME every month. Just buy a charging-pass costing the price
of 21 days a month and be done with it!
It makes as much business sense to install expensive credit card L2 charging stations at-work
as it does to install $5000 candy machines to sell 1 candy bar a day.
Charging on Clean Energy: Another significant down-side to L2 charging at work or at transportation hubs
is the peak loading on the grid between 6 and 9 AM before the daily increase of solar energy.
L2 chargers typically fully replenish the average
commuter's range to work in about an hour, well before the availability of peak solar power as shown
in the plot below. If instead of 1 hour at L2, these 8-hour-parked cars were instead charged on
8 Amp L1 chargers, the load would be 1/6th on the distribution circuits, and 98% of the energy
would be offset by grid solar.
...
ADDITIONAL LINKS AND RESOURCES:
Projected Charger Need in Maryland: The graph shown here was published in the Maryland Governor's
EV Infrastructure Council (EVIC) in their
final report of 2012
(and
updated in 2020)
showing the anticipated need for charging capability
away-from-home throughout the state. Notice that the need for Fast Interstate charging is very
small (only about 0.3%) even though it seems to get most of the public's attention (who are still stuck
in the gas-tank/gas-station legacy). Yes, there is a need for convenient public charging at retail
locations where cars may stop for an hour or so, but the vast majority of charging away-from-home can be
easily done at work, and 97% of that
need can be satisfied by L1 charging outlets (120v). It is unsustainable to think these 50,000 charging options
by 2021 are going to be anything other than a convenient $29 outlet (120v) to plug into while parked.
These next three links on the DOE's charging at work initiatives disappeard under the Trump Administration:
See the DOE's
Workplace Charging Challenge
Notice the DOE
Does Allow EV Charging
in their facilities. See
details.
See why the GAO prohibition on EV charging in the Capitol Area does not apply
See author's
NPR interview in 2012 by Jessica Gould or
hear it (2 mins).
See EV speech at Driving Maryland Green 11 Oct 2012
Download 2012 IEEE Paper on L1 Charging. Provides supporting justification for this concept.
Other Related Pages:
EV Driver FRS Radio Channel for EV driver communication
See EV-Charging-Everywhere page describing 120v charging options
See successes with 120v Charging in the Central Maryland area
Download a Charging OUTLET sign or a Charging STATION sign.
Charging at Park-N-Rides the common sense approach!
Building a DIY Charge cord for 120v for under $100
EV Charging, Payin-to-Plugin at US Naval Academy
Federal, State, City and Corporate authorzation for EV charging at work
Parity between EV Road Tax and Gas Car Environmental Tax
Get the Charging-at-work Presentation from the DC EV Forum 12/12/11.
Download the EV Position Paper
on Charging Infrastructure
Payin-to-Plugin SUMMARY:
The Level-1 120v outlets exist, or can be installed at minimal cost. Lets go for the low hanging fruit
with respect to EV charging and enable the existing 120v outlets scattered around first. Writing a letter
to every Garage, hotel, apartment, condo, church or Bar owner that has existing 120v outdoor outlets can jump-start EV acceptance overnight at no cost.
Here is a plot of the explosive growth of EV's worldwide with the USA leading the pack.
You can also download
a powerpoint summary of this web page (see top of page).
Bob Bruninga
IEEE National Committee on Transportation and Aerospace
EV Association of DC
wb4apr at amsat dot org
See also the page on Payin-to-Plugin for easy use of 120v outlets at work.
See also the page on EV and Gas Road and Environmental Use Taxes maintaining Parity download 1 page paper .
See also my Solar PHEV, a work in progress...
Return to WB4APR's overall Site Map
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