Tesla Asking Owners to Limit Charging During Texas Heatwave Isn’t a Good Sign

[Crossy]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tesla-asks-texan-owners-to-limit-charging-due-to-heat-wave?fbclid=IwAR1CVRUvGGgrbBBtgLoPOwH2vLGt8n6aRMG9TrSSwBoyFlDDzKNRPWAro5k

 

[sezze]

Will be more and more around the world , more and more things are running electric and cars do need a lot of electric . The grids , allthough in many countries are charged , are not upgraded to that job . It is just a extra reason that cheap energy will be a thing of the past , since the new technologies need large investments fast and are clearly payed by 1 person ( aka the consumer) . It is also a reason to go off grid as fast as possible , if you are able to do so . It will come with a cost , no doubt about it , but it will pay itself back quite fast .

[stratocaster]

As of 30 June 22 all new EV home chargers installed in the UK must be smart internet connected. They must be preset to limit charging output during the morning (8 to 11) and (1600 to 2200) evening peak times. If the National grid detects a dropping of power available, the EV chargers will be set to reduce output further. There must also be a build in 30 minute delay on connecting to prevent spikes in demand. Regulations will come into effect to maximize power available to private multiple charge points, as in an apartment block parking lot for example. A ten point center will have maximum power available for five points. If more are in use a percentage drop will occur to each point. It appears that in an emergency you can contact the supplier and get the presets overridden. Interestingly by 2030 the UK forecasts it will need an additional 30% generating capacity just for EV's

[KhunLA]

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, stratocaster said:

As of 30 June 22 all new EV home chargers installed in the UK must be smart internet connected. They must be preset to limit charging output during the morning (8 to 11) and (1600 to 2200) evening peak times. If the National grid detects a dropping of power available, the EV chargers will be set to reduce output further. There must also be a build in 30 minute delay on connecting to prevent spikes in demand. Regulations will come into effect to maximize power available to private multiple charge points, as in an apartment block parking lot for example. A ten point center will have maximum power available for five points. If more are in use a percentage drop will occur to each point. It appears that in an emergency you can contact the supplier and get the presets overridden. Interestingly by 2030 the UK forecasts it will need an additional 30% generating capacity just for EV's

 

UK regs. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points

 

How does this affect the "granny lead" that comes with the car? (less then 3kW)

[sezze]

10 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

UK regs. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points

 

How does this affect the "granny lead" that comes with the car? (less then 3kW)

It won't . You can charge any electric car by standard wire from plug ( non charge station , i think max is around 2000 watt ) . This will still effect the grid if many people around a same block do at the same time , but the 7kW and more charging stations , they are effected . IMHO most people do not need these things , as they require many times higher incoming lines to your house . If you are doing less then 100km per day , no problem charging from your normal outlet .

[Crossy]

I started this thread because I thought it somewhat ironic that Texas couldn't keep the lights on because it was cold in 2021 and now they can't keep the lights on in 2022 because it is hot.

 

But of course it went in a different direction with some very interesting and useful information.

 

Keep it up.

[bluejets]

Simply use control relays to cut off power under heavy load conditions and let these "greenies" really see if they mean what they say and start walking to work. ????

[jvs]

This is just another thing to over come,for the first time in history last month

in the Netherlands people were actually paid for every KWH they used.

There is hope!

 

[Muhendis]

Electricity production has always been challenging for many reasons. Weather too hot. Weather too cold. Natural disasters. Unnatural disasters. Equipment failure. Management failure. The list can go on for a few pages I expect.

 

The one thing we can say for sure is that requirements for more of the stuff will increase especially as we are now in the era of the battery electric car. If you want to get from A to B in your battery car the batteries need to have enough charge in them to last the entire journey. Yes I know that's a bit obvious but it means that battery car owners are heavily reliant on power being available when they want to charge their car batteries otherwise they have to sit at home 'til power is available. No way is there ever going to be enough grid power when there are millions of cars that all need to be charged. Smart chargers are not a good idea for the simple reason that they can and will be switched off or have their output limited at the most inconvenient time for the frustrated driver.

 

I think it has always been recognised that the battery car is only an interim solution to fossil fuel free transport. I think the future will be the hydrogen fuel cell car. Hydrogen production is not really good enough at the moment but capillary assisted electrolysis is a promising improvement. Efficiency of this technique is said to be a factor better than existing methods.

 

As for the Texas problems, I have to say there needs to be a huge shift away from big company generators. I firmly believe governments should make it more attractive for individual households to produce their own electricity. Maybe allow mini solar/wind grids to exist for small communities. To me, that makes far more sense than trailing wires all over the country.

[tjo o tjim]

@Crossy while I get the irony of the Texas situation, not sure why you think this is a bad sign.  For most people, EV charging is easy to shift in time, especially for a single day.  What is missing is better ways of doing it-- being able to control the charging rate via an API so you maximize self-consumption of PV, or optimize for grid issues like this.  But, even the manual approach is a great reminder that we can work together when we control large home loads for the common benefit.

[Crossy]

4 hours ago, tjo o tjim said:

@Crossy while I get the irony of the Texas situation, not sure why you think this is a bad sign.  For most people, EV charging is easy to shift in time, especially for a single day.  What is missing is better ways of doing it-- being able to control the charging rate via an API so you maximize self-consumption of PV, or optimize for grid issues like this.  But, even the manual approach is a great reminder that we can work together when we control large home loads for the common benefit.

 

Post title is the headline taken from the linked article. Not my opinion.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

[Muhendis]

Battery EV's are definitely not a good idea.

 

[Crossy]

23 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Battery EV's are definitely not a good idea.

 

 

Except that:- https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-bus-fire-idUSL2N2WN1L4

 

Quote

... the engine of the vehicle in this highly-shared clip, was powered with natural gas and diesel, a spokesperson for the Perugia fire command told Reuters.

 

 

EVs do catch fire and make the news, diesel / NGV buses go pretty well too.

 

Many EV manufacturers are moving from Li-ion to LiFePO4 batteries which, whilst less power dense, have less tendency to go whoosh!

[Muhendis]

10 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Except that:- https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-bus-fire-idUSL2N2WN1L4

Yes I should have looked more carefully. That lump on the top of the bus is where the gas is stored. batteries go underneath like in this video.

 

[Crossy]

Of course this is an EV-centric website quoting the vehicle manufacturer, but :-

 

Quote

 

Statistically, Tesla Car Fires Are Less And Less Frequent.

The company reports that fire incidents are 11x lower for Tesla vehicles than the average vehicle in the US.

 

 

https://insideevs.com/news/584722/tesla-car-fires-statistic-2021/

 

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Statistically, Tesla Car Fires Are Less And Less Frequent

That's fine..........until it happens to me ????

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

That's fine..........until it happens to me ????

 

Definitely.

[sezze]

Li batteries can and will go up in fire once a while . That is a fact , but everybody got several Li batteries in their home and pockets . All smartphones , computers , and similar equipment are all powered by Li ion batteries , and nobody gives a sh/t . There are also plenty of examples of cars which do/did run on gasoline , gas , diesel , which went up in fire . Some cars even got withdrawn after production because of high risk of fire in a accident .The batteries will get safer but there will always be fires because of high energy/high currents running , same like there are many fires every year in homes thx to short circuits .

Can it be better , yes , but remember this . Fuel driven cars are basically end of development , same like CRT TVs were 25y ago .And like the CRT 's being replaced by plasma , lcd , led , oled , the technology is growing fast and is getting better each single year . 

[Crossy]

An off-topic post (and sensible reply) deleted.