When Will My Leaf Batteries "die"

[gmcjetpilot]

I don't know about all years, but my 2015 SL has real leather seats.

Stand corrected. My VW has real leather I thought. Nope real good fake. I had real leather in cars. 10, 15, 20 years you will see wear and cracks in leather. If yours still looks new like my VW with faux leather, it's it real. If it smells like leather and wearing like an old bomber jacket it is real.

 

[gmcjetpilot]

If you're bothered by the subsidies in the market to encourage renewable energy development and EV purchases, definitely don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain who's been paying massive subsidies to the fossil fuel industry for decades and decades.

In many parts of the US (and other parts of the world), renewable energy generation is already cheaper than producing energy from fossil fuels.

Also, just a minor point, but I in no way claimed that when you opt in to renewable energy programs from a company like National Grid you get a direct line of energy from a renewable source. Instead, as I clearly stated, the (small) additional fee you pay per kWh goes to funding additional renewable energy development which benefits everyone.

Down the road a ways there's a small creek full of clean, natural, non-poisonous water. Seems like the perfect place to submerge my head for a few hours to really clear my mind and ponder your logic. If eight glasses of water per day is good for me, a few thousands gallons must be awesome, right?

Give me references. I call bull feathers on "cheaper in other parts of World". Cheaper where from what and by how much. Germany went all in solar and it failed. You know no solar at night, overcast, rain, snow, right? Right. Winter solar at some llatitudes is a fraction of solar radiance of summer. Winter cold. No electricity freezing? Lets get real. Oh get batteries to store solar. We have more oil than lithium. It's expensive and its made woth rare earth materials. We have domestic oil, lots of it. Countries that hate USA have most of the lithium and cobalt.

Look I'm not a hater of solar. For camping I rock 440W of panel and 1000watt battery pack/pwr station to run my 12v compressor Frig when camping. All that is better part of $1100. An ice chest with $5 ice works but melts and 12v DC electric frig/freezer is better. Also ice not always available. Could I run my 2.2kW gas Gen? Yes, but solar is quiet. There were times where no sun shined for 2 days and battery pack was almost drained. Gas Gen to rescue rain or shine. OIL IS LIFE and ECONOMY. Solar? Well China loves it. They sell most of the solar panels. Oil? USA has a lot.

 

[Drew21]

Give me references. I call bull feathers on "cheaper in other parts of World". Cheaper where from what and by how much. Germany went all in solar and it failed. You know no solar at night, overcast, rain, snow, right? Right. Winter solar at some llatitudes is a fraction of solar radiance of summer. Winter cold. No electricity freezing? Lets get real. Oh get batteries to store solar. We have more oil than lithium. It's expensive and its made woth rare earth materials. We have domestic oil, lots of it. Countries that hate USA have most of the lithium and cobalt.

Look I'm not a hater of solar. For camping I rock 440W of panel and 1000watt battery pack/pwr station to run my 12v compressor Frig when camping. All that is better part of $1100. An ice chest with $5 ice works but melts and 12v DC electric frig/freezer is better. Also ice not always available. Could I run my 2.2kW gas Gen? Yes, but solar is quiet. There were times where no sun shined for 2 days and battery pack was almost drained. Gas Gen to rescue rain or shine. OIL IS LIFE and ECONOMY. Solar? Well China loves it. They sell most of the solar panels. Oil? USA has a lot.

Wait a minute. I thought it only got dark at night because I close my eyes when I go to sleep. Are you telling me that someone turns off the sun?

You seem like a "do your own research" type of person, but I'll help you out with a couple quick Google searches.

Fossil fuel subsidies:
https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-proposals-to-reduce-fossil-fuel-subsidies-2021

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/08/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-surged-to-record-7-trillion

Renewable energy costs:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmc...les-produce-cheaper-energy-than-fossil-fuels/

https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth

https://theconversation.com/renewab...il-fuel-use-is-still-growing-heres-why-213428

A few other comments. I've been all over the world and never met anyone who hated the USA or had any issues with me as a US citizen. I've certainly met people who opposed our foreign policy decisions, or the coups we planned or supported in their country, or our historic and/or ongoing exploitation of their resources (often = fossil fuels), up to and including invading said countries to take those resources. That's not really the same thing.

When you burn some unit of your favorite fossil fuel it's gone, leaving only various pollutants (e.g., carbon dioxide, particulates, etc) behind. You can wave your hands and say that carbon dioxide is natural and not a pollutant, but as I facetiously pointed out in my previous post, any chemical or molecule, including water, can cause serious issues in the wrong quantities. Throughout human history there was one level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, then we started burning fossil fuels and now there's roughly 2x as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We've also known for centuries about the greenhouse effect/global warming and the role that carbon dioxide plays. This isn't new, it's not some global conspiracy or hoax, it's just science.

Conversely, using resources to build a wind turbine or solar panel or battery facilitates energy production and storage for decades. So, both fossil fuels and renewable energy have input costs, but one has a short return on investment and the other has a long return on investment, with the bonus of not producing downstream pollutants.

You are correct that the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. Some types of renewable energy won't work in some places. Luckily, smart people all over the world are improving battery technology, including development of kinetic batteries, pumped hydro, and thermal batteries so that surplus energy can be stored and released as needed.

We could all help the process along by reducing energy usage and conserving in whatever ways we can. For some that's transitioning to a more efficient ICE vehicle or from an ICE vehicle to an EV, or adding home solar and/or battery storage, or improving the insulation in our homes, etc. For me, right now, that means turning off the computer and going to sleep.

 

[MikeinPA]

Keep in mind the electricity you charge with was mostly made with coal, natural gas, and some nuclear and hydro. Depending on part of country a portion also may be solar or wind, but a fraction of total power. I say this if doing tge EV thing for altruistic reasons. I do love my LEAF for what it is, not virtue signaling or any Gov incentive. I bought mine used.

Here in the northeast, mostly nuclear and natural gas. Coal is obsolete.

Is it virtue signaling to want to make less CO2 pollution in one's daily life, or just plain virtue? It can be both, I think. But which one made me want to buy an EV? Definitely the need to be less of a participant in compromising our shared climate.