Nissan LEAF

[bcmaui]

Starting to do some research on this - it looks like it will take about 26kWh to recharge the batteries on this all electric car for 100 miles of driving, or about the same amount of electricity of my average household daily usage. I would need to add another $40,000 worth of PV panels to my roof to offset the power requirement to recharge fully this $32,000+ car each day and the batteries in it will last 5-10 years. I think I am going to wait a bit on this.

You folks with $0.06 per kWh coal electricity would only need to spend $1.50 for 100 miles of charging, but you are just relocating the pollution source from your tailpipe to a power plant somewhere. You would save money though. It would cost me almost $9.00 to recharge at my rate of $0.33 per kWh. My Toyota Corolla burns about $14.00 per 100 miles (30 mpg, $4.00 gasoline), so it is still interesting. The Corolla only cost $15,000. Batteries have to get better, lighter and cheaper for this to go mainstream - if the vehicle cost was not more than double I'd be tempted to try it now.

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric- ... ctric-car/

[Brandon]

I'm happy that it is being built in Nashville and putting my neighbors to work.

[crazytwoknobs]

Starting to do some research on this - it looks like it will take about 26kWh to recharge the batteries on this all electric car for 100 miles of driving, or about the same amount of electricity of my average household daily usage. I would need to add another $40,000 worth of PV panels to my roof to offset the power requirement to recharge fully this $32,000+ car each day and the batteries in it will last 5-10 years. I think I am going to wait a bit on this.

You folks with $0.06 per kWh coal electricity would only need to spend $1.50 for 100 miles of charging, but you are just relocating the pollution source from your tailpipe to a power plant somewhere. You would save money though. It would cost me almost $9.00 to recharge at my rate of $0.33 per kWh. My Toyota Corolla burns about $14.00 per 100 miles (30 mpg, $4.00 gasoline), so it is still interesting. The Corolla only cost $15,000. Batteries have to get better, lighter and cheaper for this to go mainstream - if the vehicle cost was not more than double I'd be tempted to try it now.

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric- ... ctric-car/

The cheap electricity is also cleaner than gasoline. Even though it's coal. Just like how CFL light bulbs that contain a decent amount of mercury (when lit with coal electricity) actually reduce the amount of mercury in the atmosphere just by being more efficient.

Burning fossil fuels at peak efficiency all the time is awesome compared with what we do in fossil fuel powered cars.

[Stinkfist]

Starting to do some research on this - it looks like it will take about 26kWh to recharge the batteries on this all electric car for 100 miles of driving, or about the same amount of electricity of my average household daily usage. I would need to add another $40,000 worth of PV panels to my roof to offset the power requirement to recharge fully this $32,000+ car each day and the batteries in it will last 5-10 years. I think I am going to wait a bit on this.

You folks with $0.06 per kWh coal electricity would only need to spend $1.50 for 100 miles of charging, but you are just relocating the pollution source from your tailpipe to a power plant somewhere. You would save money though. It would cost me almost $9.00 to recharge at my rate of $0.33 per kWh. My Toyota Corolla burns about $14.00 per 100 miles (30 mpg, $4.00 gasoline), so it is still interesting. The Corolla only cost $15,000. Batteries have to get better, lighter and cheaper for this to go mainstream - if the vehicle cost was not more than double I'd be tempted to try it now.

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric- ... ctric-car/

The cheap electricity is also cleaner than gasoline. Even though it's coal. Just like how CFL light bulbs that contain a decent amount of mercury (when lit with coal electricity) actually reduce the amount of mercury in the atmosphere just by being more efficient.

Burning fossil fuels at peak efficiency all the time is awesome compared with what we do in fossil fuel powered cars.

+1 the gasoline engine is the least efficient engine..somewhere around 20-30%...that is horrible anything is better than that....

[bcmaui]

The cheap electricity is also cleaner than gasoline. Even though it's coal. Just like how CFL light bulbs that contain a decent amount of mercury (when lit with coal electricity) actually reduce the amount of mercury in the atmosphere just by being more efficient.

Burning fossil fuels at peak efficiency all the time is awesome compared with what we do in fossil fuel powered cars.

True that. We do capture and re-convert much of of the toxic tailpipe emissions, but the downer about gasoline or diesel powered vehicles is that 80% of the energy produced is wasted heat. Electricity is great except it is bulky, expensive and you use a bunch of toxic, heavy elements to make the batteries if you want to have it "cordless". But batteries are getting better - new technologies are working on using air as the negative element in a battery which could cut the weight in half. It is the reason internal combustion engines are so powerful for their weight - the oxygen required for combustion is everywhere - you do not need to carry it around with you in the vehicle.

I am glad this is keeping folks working in Nashville and we are on the cusp of this becoming practical for some and going mainstream.

I am keeping an eye on it - still deciding if I will take the leap yet or not (depends on job situtation) - but I will run a couple dedicated 40 amp circuits to my garage areas just in case.

I did build the home for the local Nissan dealer (Architectural Digest August 2007), so I should ask him about this.

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/arch ... cle_082007

[bcmaui]

+1 the gasoline engine is the least efficient engine..somewhere around 20-30%...that is horrible anything is better than that....

Electricity is efficient at the source - but if you loose 50% of your power in transmission line losses, it still can be almost as bad as a gas engine. And you must use it as soon as it is made - there are increased inefficiencies as you switch it from AC to DC and store it in batteries. But it has made the average person have enough power at his/her disposal that only a king or lord could command 500 years ago. It is very interesting living in the modern world.

[Stinkfist]

+1 the gasoline engine is the least efficient engine..somewhere around 20-30%...that is horrible anything is better than that....

Electricity is efficient at the source - but if you loose 50% of your power in transmission line losses, it still can be almost as bad as a gas engine. And you must use it as soon as it is made - there are increased inefficiencies as you switch it from AC to DC and store it in batteries. But it has made the average person have enough power at his/her disposal that only a king or lord could command 500 years ago. It is very interesting living in the modern world.

transmission and distribution losses of electricity are around the 6-10% range...no where near the horrible efficiencies of the combustion engine...with high voltage lines the loss is minimal. Granted the power generation source has losses nothing compares to the losses to the combustion engine...especially at the scale that we use it...using power from the grid will always be more efficient than that of the combustion engine...

[bcmaui]

transmission and distribution losses of electricity are around the 6-10% range...no where near the horrible efficiencies of the combustion engine...with high voltage lines the loss is minimal. Granted the power generation source has losses nothing compares to the losses to the combustion engine...especially at the scale that we use it...using power from the grid will always be more efficient than that of the combustion engine...

This graph from Lawernce Livermore labs shows a much higher loss of energy in electrical transmission than you state.

http://edro.files.wordpress.com/2007/11 ... trends.gif