Interesting site, for example I never knew that nighttime usage isn't that much less than daytime usage. So that's why EDF have stopped giving me a nighttime discount.
Anyway, what are you saying about wind? There isn't much in use just now, that's because we don't have many turbines, but there are lots being built. And why does it just have to be wind? There's solar panels all over everybody's houses - and I don't see that on gridwatch. If you stuck the usual 4kW of solar on your house, that would probably cover your own car.
Well, quite, but you still need to find the power from somewhere in the end. Batteries don't charge themselves. Whether it's 2.5 times the existing supply, or less due to greater efficiency of electric motors over ICEs, you still have to generate a hell of a lot more power.
There's plenty been built. What d'ye mean, there's not much in use just now. They are capable of around 8000MW, but at present are providing just 400MW, because there's no wind. So, all in all, pretty useless.
As with all these renewable schemes, you have to have other power stations on standby for when the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow. So you've built two power stations in order to get the output of one.
Except that if we consider a life of about 12 years for the average vehicle, you'd have to have increased the supply by 150% in 12 years. How many nuclear power stations (wind and solar will never supply enough in the UK) do you think we could have up and running in 12 to 15 years' time? We'll be lucky to replace a fraction of existing, life-expired supply in that time!
A gas supplier will have stock to last weeks or even months before collection and delivery of fresh bottles. Car batteries could be recharged and re-issued on-site - as long as adequate electrical supplies can be arranged. So each battery might only be on site for less than an hour.
Neither do gas bottles, the cost of testing, refurbishing and eventually replacing is built into the price you pay for the gas.
Of course. After all no one buys an electric car because they are cheaper to run. So will be happy to pay for someone else's crap battery which only last to the end of the road.
Not forgetting the massive increase in the grid that would also be necessary. Heavier cables/higher voltages/additional power-lines/new transformers and substations. The whole structure would need to re replaced from end to end. It would take several decades. Probably long enough for it to become very obvious that CO2 isn't the problem it's made out to be!
'cause it seems to me that it's the non-green stuff that keeps the national grid going and the green stuff that 'causes the non-green stuff to be further non-green.
The biggest downside of green has been its deficiency when there is no wind or sun and that it is not readily storable when there is plenty of wind and sun. A battery station would seem to be an ideal situation for pure green to prove itself, surely?
With wind, sun, solar, hydro, etc, etc, there will always be one that's available. And since we use more electricity during the day, solar is more at the right time. And hydro can be used whenever, it's got built in storage, and can even be reversed.
one situation in which a truly green solution is/could be viable*.
If not then what is the point of wind & solar power?
So what I'm wondering/envisaging is a 'garage' where you'd go and get your batteries swapped out (no-one's seriously going to hang around for 30 mins whilst charging unless at the supermarket/park & ride or football are they?)
Presumably if the stockpile was sufficient then all the charging could be done by solar and wind. A day or two with low re-charge rates shouldn't matter as there is a stockpile that was topped up when the wind was strong and there was enough light. If desparate of course they could switch on proper power.
What I don't know is what scale this would need to be on.
I understand that one could argue that solar and wind are contributing to the National Grid so just take it from there but we don't see a fair picture of the inefficienct generation in place to cope when the wind and sun are missing. Most of the time we need the power when we need it - but re-charging batteries can be averaged over good days and bad so is a stand-alone 'battery station' viable.
Not long ago there was discussion on Electric Mountain and again if green was viable then the refreshing of the upper reservoir could be all wind and solar but I think the answer was that one needed to cover the whole of Wales with panels and hope that it still wasn't a foggy still day.
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