electrcity connection charge

[Fred]

4 x 230 = 960 agreed but where did the 1.5l come from. I've seen densities of diesel quoted as being between 0.82 to 0.95.

Taking 0.85, this means less than 1.1 ltrs/h. giving 2.66Kwh/l

It wasn't long ago when red diesel was 20p/ltr. Giving a price of 7.5p/Kwh.

As you say your generator may not be as efficient as others so in many cases the price may be cheaper.

If the waste heat can be recovered then I certainly agree it all becomes an win-win situation.

My original post was inspired by a village which was reluctant to have mains electricity because at the time it was cheaper to generate their own.

[Ian Stirling]

A guess at density of petrol as being around .66. Using the right number, that's 1.24l/h, or 442ml/Kwh, or 44p, thanks for the catch. So, maybe twice the price - if using untaxed petrol.

It may be - if it's very expensive to install, as it may be. A moderately large generator is going to be maybe 20%-30% more efficient.

[Ian Stirling]

Generator + largeish battery bank can be a nice sweet spot. Generator sized to charge the batteries in 5 hours or so, running near its rating. You can then attach other energy generation methods - solar, water, wind, or whatever.

The generator would normally be run an hour or two a day.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Cars only need a design life of ~3000 hours (and that's with a service every 300-400 hours).

3000 hours is the figure that is used for designing the parts which expected not to fail in the lifetime of a car.

[Guy King]

The message from [e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) contains these words:

Given an average of 30mph, mine's managed over 8000 already. Even averaging 50mph, which is unlikely it's lasted 5000 hours.