solar pv and electric car

snowlad

So I have my 3.76kw pv system working very well indeed. Now I am considering an electric car like nissan leaf. I think this will work out very well. Is anyone else thinking of going down this route?

penrhyn

So will you be charging it during the day and using the car at night?
Can't see any earthly use for a car with an 80 mile range.
Better to wait for hydrogen cars to come on stream.

Cardew

snowlad wrote: »

So I have my 3.76kw pv system working very well indeed. Now I am considering an electric car like nissan leaf. I think this will work out very well. Is anyone else thinking of going down this route?

You will need a very long lead - unless you want to drive round and round your house.;)

Seriously do you realise how much power it takes to charge their batteries?

8 hours at 3.3kW.

Now you might get 3.3kW for a couple of hours around noon on a sunny June day.

Stick to Economy 7!

penrhyn

Possible solution.

Cardew

penrhyn wrote: »

Possible solution.

Presumably PV generation when you are stationary, and as you drive along it spins round and round and drives a turbine as well?

snowlad

penrhyn wrote: »

So will you be charging it during the day and using the car at night?
Can't see any earthly use for a car with an 80 mile range.
Better to wait for hydrogen cars to come on stream.

Wifes car is used for school runs shoping etc spends along time on drive in sunney weather and never does more than 50 miles in a day. Also i have a nice backward spinning meter at the moment.

zeupater

snowlad wrote: »

Wifes car is used for school runs shoping etc spends along time on drive in sunney weather and never does more than 50 miles in a day. Also i have a nice backward spinning meter at the moment.

Hi snowlad

The main question which should be considered is the reasoning behind going down this route. Is it to be 'green', or is it to save money or is it somewhere between the two where the perceived ratio between 'green' & 'moneysaving' needs to be considered.

From what I've seen on the initial 'mass market' electric vehicles, you'll probably be paying somewhere around two to three times price of a current generation fuel efficient vehicle, therefore, if your motivation is skewed more towards moneysaving and the required mileage is low, you will probably never recover the cost differential.

HTH
Z

penrhyn

All this talk about electric vehicles reminds me of the Stonecutters song:-

Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do! We do!
Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do! We do!
Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
We do! We do!
Who robs cave fish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do! We do!

nomoneytoday

penrhyn wrote: »

Can't see any earthly use for a car with an 80 mile range.

I'm sure the R&D dept at Nissan worked out that enough people do under 80 miles a day or less in order to make the car worthwhile.

My wife, for example, does an average of 5-10 miles a day (shopping, school drops, luncheons etc) so it would be fine for that.
I do 100+ miles a day, and can't afford a Tesla

zeupater

nomoneytoday wrote: »

I'm sure the R&D dept at Nissan worked out that enough people do under 80 miles a day or less in order to make the car worthwhile.

My wife, for example, does an average of 5-10 miles a day (shopping, school drops, luncheons etc) so it would be fine for that.
I do 100+ miles a day, and can't afford a Tesla

Hi

If range is an issue, the Vauxhall Ampera would be a reasonable technical solution, my guess is that the mainstream manufacturers will go more towards this route rather than full electric or fuel cell technology ......

http://www.vauxhall-ampera.co.uk/index.php/eng/ampera/how_use/range_anxiety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt

HTH
Z

Cardew

nomoneytoday wrote: »

I'm sure the R&D dept at Nissan worked out that enough people do under 80 miles a day or less in order to make the car worthwhile.

My wife, for example, does an average of 5-10 miles a day (shopping, school drops, luncheons etc) so it would be fine for that.
I do 100+ miles a day, and can't afford a Tesla

It is the capital cost of a Nissan Leaf that makes them a non-starter in the money saving stakes.

They cost £23,350 after the Government's £5000 grant so, say, £13,000 more than a similar sized car.

If your wife only does 5-10 miles a day - say 2,000 miles a year. That will only cost you about £50 in electricity.

A small car getting say 40mpg might cost £300 in petrol. So you save £250 a year.

Someone doing 10,000 miles a year will save £1,250 a year.

Don't forget that the £13000 you saved on buying a car could be sitting in a Building Society earning over £500 a year.

You might save a little on Road Fund Licence - although modern small cars have very low emissions; and I suspect insurance on a £28,000 Nissan Leaf will be way higher than a comparable size car.