Businessweek on Leaf and Volt

[DaveinOlyWA]

at night we have to sell power because we cant throttle the flow down enough to prevent catastrophic flooding, etc.

a nationally unified power distribution system that addresses this issue and uses what power we have in the most efficient way is something we need to get going now. there will will be miles of red tape that will dwarf nearly any other legislative action in history. but it really has to be done!

These guys are trying to make a start at transfering power on a massive scale between the North American power grids:
http://www.tresamigasllc.com/about-overview.php

NICE!!

 

[Smidge204]

These guys are trying to make a start at transfering power on a massive scale between the North American power grids:
http://www.tresamigasllc.com/about-overview.php

"5 GW Superconductor Cable" - That's enough for 4 time machines!

I do love me some infrastructure, though. Bring on the supergrid!
=Smidge=

 

[evnow]

You'd still have your full requested charge by the morning, but it might have started a minute after twelve, or 6 minutes after, etc.

That is simple enough. Volt can already do this.

 

[garygid]

Another solution is to generate and store power in MANY spots, relatively "local" to where it will be used. Then, the transmission losses are less and ... the whole system is not as vulnerable to "damage-causing" events, natural or man-made.

 

[DaveEV]

Possibly many "transformers" are under-sized, and they heat up during the day and depend upon cooling off at night to handle the next day's loads?

Don't worry - you have PV panels so you reduce the load on local transformers by more than what you use during the night to charge your EV.

Maybe a rooftop PV system should be highly encouraged (additional rebate?) when people get their EV?

 

[evnow]

It is really a question of - who will pay for the upgrades. Upgrades happen all the time in suburbs as new homes come up. But they are generally paid for by new connection charges. But in old cities with no new construction - the transformers could be very old and need upgrades if a significant % of population gets EVs. Important thing to note is it will take a long time for "significant % of population to get EVs".

So, I think all the media gossip is mainly targetted at getting money.

In general starting with a certain politician who managed to get elected handsomely to the highest government post by blaming the government - we have stopped investing in infrastructure upgrades. We see the result in a number of places ...

 

[palmermd]

hmm carwings could stagger the start times automatically since it would be monitoring all Leafs. maybe carwings needs to be standardized as well along with the plugs.

provide a variance for off peak charging rates for EVers to allow staggered starts and sufficient charging times.

The problem with this is I don't want the utility to have control of the start time on my car, and I don't want Nissan to have control of the start time on my car. If the utility wants to stagger the start times, they need to do something to incent a staggered start. If the rates drop for every EV at the exact same time, then the incent a massive startup. If the give out 10 groups of 5 minute staggered starts (or even 10-15 minutes) then they will incent people to start spread out. It's not like there is something magic at 12:00 midnight. If they staggered from 11:30-12:30 they'd be just fine.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

hmm carwings could stagger the start times automatically since it would be monitoring all Leafs. maybe carwings needs to be standardized as well along with the plugs.

provide a variance for off peak charging rates for EVers to allow staggered starts and sufficient charging times.

The problem with this is I don't want the utility to have control of the start time on my car, and I don't want Nissan to have control of the start time on my car. If the utility wants to stagger the start times, they need to do something to incent a staggered start. If the rates drop for every EV at the exact same time, then the incent a massive startup. If the give out 10 groups of 5 minute staggered starts (or even 10-15 minutes) then they will incent people to start spread out. It's not like there is something magic at 12:00 midnight. If they staggered from 11:30-12:30 they'd be just fine.

and they would not have control of your charging time, only when it starts and stops if you program it as such. remember, you could simply plug it in at anytime.

the objective is to "get along with others" which might just mean adjusting your personal needs a bit. if the system senses more than a handful starting charging at 12:01 am because that is when the best rates start, whats the harm of adjusting the start time a bit to prevent a surge of demand on the system?