Any GTAM'ers own an electric vehicle?

Gas stations are closed when they do not have power. The difference is there are lots of them so another one will have power down the road.

Finding a charging station with power may be harder....
 
backmarkerducati said:
Gas stations are closed when they do not have power. The difference is there are lots of them so another one will have power down the road.
Click to expand...

Needs an asterisk. Finding a gas station in Florida that has power down the road may be easy. Finding one that still has gas while you’re about to join the conga line fleeing a hurricane may be a bit harder.
 
backmarkerducati said:
Gas stations are closed when they do not have power. The difference is there are lots of them so another one will have power down the road.

Finding a charging station with power may be harder....
Click to expand...
I'm also reasonably likely to have at least a few gallons of gas sitting around wherever people live. That's enough for most of 100km (obviously depending on vehicle and how much gas). I only have a ~2 kw generator (*1600 watts continuous). Ev's at about 0.2 kwh/km means that every hour on the generator only gets me ~8 km. Not fun (but I would have the car at least mostly full prior to the storm so that wouldn't be a big issue).
 
Forecast says storm coming ... I go into the car and set charge level to 100% and press "Charge Now" to override the usual overnight schedule.

Storm hits and results in a major power outage ... I'm not doing long trips, or probably any trips other than essential, until some sense of normalcy returns. Long trips for work are getting canceled (and if it were a major power outage, they're probably down anyhow).
 
Ultra-low overnight rate is coming May 1 (2.4c/kwh) to some areas (surprisingly not Hydro One). To get it you need to accept higher peak rates. I don't hate that idea as it makes the economics of local battery storage to take advantage of arbitrage more cost effective. I haven't run the numbers to see whether it is worth me switching. Hopefully the website will make it easy like they do with the current two plan options.

toronto.citynews.ca

Ontario introduces 'ultra low' overnight hydro rate. What you need to know

Energy Minister Todd Smith says the new rate will be 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, which is 67% lower than the current off-peak rate.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca

EDIT:
As news sucks and didn't actually compare the rates:
Summer weekdays
7am to 11am: Same
11am to 4pm: Lower by 4.9c (wtf? that is when they are supposed to be shaving power????)
4 pm to 5pm: Higher by 8.9c
5pm to 7pm: Higher by 13.8c
7 pm to 9 pm: Higher by 16.6c
9pm to 11 pm: Higher by 2.8c
11pm to 7am: Lower by 5c

Weekends and stat holidays
7am to 11pm: Same
11pm to 7am: Lower by 5c.

Looking at those numbers, I doubt it makes sense for me (or most other people) to switch. Pretty punitive rate increases during the day to save a bit at night (unless you have a battery system so your usage at peak is zero).
 
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Scuba Steve said:
That would work with a big azz battery so the only use is at the low rate any thing else probably not
Click to expand...
Battery system needs about 20c/kwh to start to make sense. This satisfies that. Payback wont be really fast though and you cant count on this program existing for years. Probably better to wait for a battery program to be released by govt so you get a long-term contract (or big upfront discount).
 
GreyGhost said:
Ultra-low overnight rate is coming May 1 (2.4c/kwh) to some areas (surprisingly not Hydro One). To get it you need to accept higher peak rates. I don't hate that idea as it makes the economics of local battery storage to take advantage of arbitrage more cost effective. I haven't run the numbers to see whether it is worth me switching. Hopefully the website will make it easy like they do with the current two plan options.

toronto.citynews.ca

Ontario introduces 'ultra low' overnight hydro rate. What you need to know

Energy Minister Todd Smith says the new rate will be 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, which is 67% lower than the current off-peak rate.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca
Click to expand...

yippee!

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Energy Minister Todd Smith said the new plan could save customers up to $90 a year.

www.cp24.com

Toronto, Canada and Global Breaking News – CP24

Most recent News News business news stories and video from CP24
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com
 
SunnY S said:
yippee!

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Energy Minister Todd Smith said the new plan could save customers up to $90 a year.

www.cp24.com

Toronto, Canada and Global Breaking News – CP24

Most recent News News business news stories and video from CP24
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com
Click to expand...
Up to $90 a year is crap. It's not even worth thinking about yet alone investing time and energy into the rollout if that is the stretch goal. They made it a really complicated rate structure so comparison either requires them to have a tool or me to create a program to figure out whether the plan works. I suspect the plan would be a big loser for me based on the much higher rate during some periods (and no EV/large battery to charge during super cheap time).
 
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GreyGhost said:
Up to $90 a year is crap. It's not even worth thinking about yet alone investing time and energy into the rollout if that is the stretch goal. They made it a really complicated rate structure so comparison either requires them to have a tool or me to create a program to figure out whether the plan works. I suspect the plan would be a big loser for me based on the much higher rate during some periods (and no EV/large battery to charge during super cheap time).
Click to expand...
even if you drive an EV it doesn't make sense unless you drive a lot (fill-up EV >4 times a week) or can run home electronics off the EV battery.
 
Interesting idea. Poorly written article.

TL: DR Ev's are heavier. Parking garages may not be happy with the weight as they become more popular. Design weight in Britain for years was 3000 lb. Evs are commonly 4-5000. They brought up the hummer at 9000 but that is a stupid argument as it won't fit in most parking garages anyway and will always be a niche vehicle.

www.thedrive.com

Heavy EVs Could Collapse Old Parking Garages: Report

Cars keep getting heavier, and experts are worried that aging parking garages simply weren't built to cope.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
So ... What is the problem here?

The 1600 kg Chevy Bolt that weighs 100 - 200 kg more than a similarly-sized VW Golf?

(Or that the VW Golf to begin with weighs near double what it did 30 years ago thanks to modern safety standards and consumer expectations ...?)

Or that people find the need to drive one person to work or shopping in a truck based full-frame SUV or in an extended-cab dual-rear-wheels heavy-duty pickup truck?

Or that the auto manufacturers are pandering to the crowds who complain that their EV pickup truck will only do 200 km on a charge at highway speed when it is towing the house trailer that they only use once per year to go to the park 150 km away, and thus putting in enormous battery packs to compensate?

The auto industry has spent millions developing more efficient powertrains over the last couple decades, and all those efficiency gains have been squandered away by people buying ever bigger and heavier trucks and SUVs, and I fear the same thing is going to happen.
 
I saw a Nissan Ariya on the 401 wearing mfr plates. I didn't know they had ev's beyond the stinky leaf. Hopefully this one is better.
 
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