[Steverino]

There are pros and cons to every "paradise". Like a car, there are always tradeoffs.

 

[JuneBug]

Uh, everyone.

Like saying, "they have catastrophic hurricanes in sunny Florida paradise. Who knew?"

And erupting volcanoes in the Hawaiian paradise!

 

[underest]

"It's one of (the many) reasons I got rid of a Tesla. It was actually more expensive to drive electric many days of the year."

No one ever said it would be cheaper to drive an electric car. A lot of people assume it, though. The same people that assume global carbon emissions will go down in our Green Future (which is not in China or India's future).

Actually, "they" did. The EPA often touted over a 60% reduction in "fuel costs". Nationwide, you should have a significant reduction in costs - look at the MPGe ratings. I'd argue that people aren't switching to EV for stunning good looks, quality, and/or brand. But when you specifically took the line from my context, I over generate electricity each year. I should have zero "fuel costs" for driving a Tesla, but that wasn't the case at all.

And you're right, carbon emissions won't be decreasing...and we have much larger problem at hand with the entire battery lifecycle - much greater than using petroleum.

 

[Electrified34]

Sometimes it do be like that tho......

 

[underest]

@Bob K I'd be curious to know your take on the latest SDG&E rate hikes this month. I truly feel bad for people who live in condos, townhomes, apartments, etc. that don't have the ability to move to solar and have to charge their vehicles. I wonder when enough will be enough.

 

[Bob K]

People in San Diego are FINALY getting outraged. I do not have a solar option where I live.
People are only now beginning to really appreciate my "evangelizing" on the mismanagement of SDG&E because of the winter's OUTRAGEOUS power bill. People, in general, do not appreciate how much electricity their HVAC fan actually draws. And I am not even talking about the criminally stupid handling of gas purchasing by SDG&E. I paid an
AVERAGE of 41 cents per kWh this month! Yes, with NOTHING but 12AM-6AM Volt charging time slot. Oh, and have you heard? NO new natural gas heaters will be allowed in new house construction in California ! If anyone has electric heat and a current power bill, try multiplying THAT by 53 cents AND 69 cents per kWh and please report back.

 

[phattyduck]

If anyone has electric heat and a current power bill, try multiplying THAT by 53 cents AND 69 cents per kWh and please report back.

Resistance heat sucks $$$ - but modern heat pumps are pretty good and should work well for non-mountain California. That said, I'm going to keep using the gas heater and gas stove as long as I can!

When I got the Volt, I did all the math based off of $0.22/kWh, which is luckily still the rate here for Pasadena W&P. Most of the 'Edisons' in California have ridiculously high rates. If that price doubles to your rates, it is better/cheaper to just get a good full hybrid instead of a a plug-in of any type (unless gas costs really go up).

-Charlie

 

[hellsop]

There was a story on the news last night about air-based heat pumps and geo-thermal heat pumps. That seems to be where we are headed.The air-based get less efficient when the temps approach -30°F or on very hot days, but the ge-thermal do great year round.

Once you get outside exchanger loop below the frostline, you're good to go. Which is fairly easy in places where it seldom gets below freezing or very cold when it does so that frost line is like 2' down, or are starting from scratch and digging an 10' foundation and basement anyway. Retrofitting in the snowbelt is rather more of a job.

 

[Bob K]

I really like the concept of heat pumps for heating a car. I mean, you already have the pump, piping and controls for the A/C . In home use there is an issue with cost of maintenance of those systems pushing the amortization curve out further than anticipated ( advertised?) in some cases.

 

[Steverino]

I really like the concept of heat pumps for heating a car.

All the GM Ultium-based EV's have a patented heat pump system for use with the cabin and the battery.

GM heat pump system boosts EV range reduces charge times

Every vehicle powered by Ultium batteries incorporates efficiency-enhancing energy recovery system based on heat-pump technology covered by 11 patents.

www.sae.org

 

[jampers]

After my last post I started to use delayed charging ALL of the time. So off peak, 16kWh of electricity ( $.33/kWh) gets me roughly a full charge. That is $5.28 for about 40 miles worth of my driving. Now, if I charge on peak ($.69 kWh), that's $11.04 for roughly the same distance as a gallon of gasoline! (no, solar is not an option for me,bummer) .
However, I did not post just for a bitch-session. I would like to ask if anyone knows if I set my off-peak charge time to 12AM - 6AM AND set it to latest charge time at 6AM departure time, will the car adjust to 12 amps automatically to try to achieve that charge-time goal? ( I'm charging at 120 VAC )

We live in San Diego County and our natural gas utility bill jumped from about $60 bucks on average to a total of $334 in the January bill. Yes, the billing month was a chilly one and we did have visiting family members for ten days but this is infuriating. We have a solar water heater which is less effective in Dec—Jan but still produces a decent amount of hot water daily. Rates were increased effective January 1st and boy is it angering a lot of people. California governance is hostile to utility users and 40% of bills are supposedly to combat "climate change" — 🤣😱 Give me a break. That "wolf" cry is shopworn and invalid at this point. And what the H3ll do the state legislators think increasing taxes (while falsely calling them "fees") will do to change the weather of planet earth?

The electric utility bills are due for enormous increases also; we have solar panels which helps but SDG&E still have the MOST EXPENSIVE utility rates in the country. It defies logic.

 

[kreutzerbob]

My SDG&E electric rate is $.43/kWh in January.
My gas is NOW $4.50 PER THERM !!!!
Can anyone else chime in on what their therms are costing this January?
( "inquiring mind want to know!" )

 

[MikeBCo]

my all in cost for gas on a CCF basis - (CCF=hundred cubic feet which is essentially the same as a therm assuming ~980 Btu/CF on the local pressure basis our gas is metered at) is about $1.00 More exactly, it is $185/206CCF so actually closer to $0.90. Hate to rub it in... That is the all in cost for the energy, delivery, fixed customer charges, etc...

Electricity is just under $0.14/kW-h (again all-in cost)

Hey, at least your taxes are low and real estate is cheap and the air is clean and it's not crowded, and there's no crime...

 

[hellsop]

gas: $0.75/therm for the gas itself and $0.28 for distro: I used 64 for the "a little December, mostly January" billing.
Elec: $0.17/kwh, and I'm prodigal with it so a typical month is 1000kwh.

It's a small thing that makes up for living where I can keep ice cream frozen on the garage workbench three months of the year and it's literally life-threatening to be outside on some evenings. If I lived in ND instead it would be four months.

 

[phattyduck]

Hey, at least your taxes are low and real estate is cheap and the air is clean and it's not crowded, and there's no crime...

All good, but the air is quite clean in basically all of California and the weather in SD is probably the best in the world. (no, I don't live there)

-Charlie

 

[Bob K]

I paid $2.20 per therm in December and $4.50 in January.
$0.43 per kWh average.
Share with your friends how special SDG&E is !

 

[Steverino]

""Other investor-owned utilities apparently employed strategies such as stockpiling, rate stabilization reserves, hedging purchases, and reducing their profits to protect ratepayers," LaCava said. "The committee's investigations revealed that with no proactive measures in place, SDG&E faced the choice of protecting San Diego families or protecting shareholders. They chose shareholders and passed along the high rates to the public."

Some San Diego council members demand answers on high natural gas prices

While natural gas prices in California have returned to a fairly normal rate, some San Diego city leaders believe there are unanswered questions as to how and why prices doubled this winter.

www.10news.com