My prediction for 10 years time

Chrysalis

I just seen someone's monthly bill who is on a Octopus GO tariff, the one that requires you to own an EV and which of course requires you be able to afford to buy a EV or at least get one leased from work or something.

He used nearly 600 units off peak, cost was under £30, and 0.9 units peak.

So he likely has battery storage, an idea I posted about on here a couple of weeks back.

My prediction is basically the wealthier people who can afford EV's or who get one from work will be investing in battery storage, charging over night, then running their house from those batteries during peak hours and will have substantially cheaper bills, everyone else meanwhile will be paying considerably more.

This I would like to see get Martin's attention, he would be very liked if he advised people to invest in batteries and then got the companies to drop the EV condition.

Instead though it will be basic trickle down economics and we will be told the reduced peak on the grid from these EV owners will make it cheaper for the rest of us (slightly).

pochase

What will happen if everybody is only going to use off peak energy and no peak during day any longer? Off peak would become peak and would be the more expensive source of energy. Also nobody would use the renewable solar energy any longer as the sun shines usually during the day, so with it falling away prices would increase even more.

The EV tariffs are at the moment a way for the energy companies to test the impact of the electric vehicles and to my knowledge are generating losses for the suppliers.

Why would an energy supplier allow people on a scheme that generates losses without them even giving them the research data for which they subsidise the tariff? I doubt that there will still be the heavily subsidised tariffs once the data is collected.

Who is going to pay for the batteries? Unlike solar panels they don't reduce the amount of energy imported from the grid, so the main purpose would be to save money not energy.

Chrysalis

Correct, but we would never be at that point, most of the population either wouldnt bother (too much effort) or simply not be aware, but maybe enough to cause a shift of high single digit % on peak/off peak energy use.

Same as how special offers work on services, they work because so few take advantage of them, retention deals etc. if everyone was on a retention deal they wouldnt exist anymore.

What makes you think the tariff is loss making?  Sure profits would drop, but peak energy is not the same cost as off peak energy.  You are welcome to post an official statement to confirm its an experiment and it loses money, if its losing money who pays for the losses non EV customers?.  The reason I question this is that Octopus are actually inviting users of the tariff to use whatever they want in the home during the off peak hours, they have not resorted to putting a seperate meter on the charging terminal for the EV, which is what I would expect in the circumstance you described.

Customers would buy their own batteries, the money it saves, its a no brainer investment.  You just need to be prepared to spend before you gain.  You seem to looking for excuses to say its a bad idea, Have a positive mindset.

savers_united

Batteries ain't cheap, I think 10kw of storage is around £10-15k, that would be enough to run a typical house for a day. 

Battery capacity deteriorates over time and within 10 years you could be at 80% or less depending on usage, so it's an expensive initial outlay that will not last forever. All this needs to be built into your calculations.

A solar / battery storage set up with EV and heat pump is a good package but then again inital upfront costs are very high. By the time we get to the point where this technology comes down to an affordable price for the masses its anyone's guess where Elec prices will be, this makes long term investment in this set up difficult.

If they can get it right then using the vehicles batteries for storage seems to be a good balance as we phase out petrol / diesel we will all at some point be getting into an EV, with longer range and battery capacity. I would think alot of owners will be able to allocate 10-15kw of the vehicles capacity to home use, for most home EV chargers that's around 1.5 hours of off peak power to replenish. 

Benny2020

Given shortages and prices of Copper, Nickel and other battery metals i think that diesel is the future.

Section62

Benny2020 said:

Given shortages and prices of Copper, Nickel and other battery metals i think the diesel is the future.

Or coal.  We'd be less reliant on imports in a dangerously unstable World.

Benny2020

All those German and Polish EVs are being charged by coal power.

QrizB

Benny2020 said:

All those German and Polish EVs are being charged by coal power.

... and yet they're still producing less pollution than an equivalent petrol- or diesel-engined car would.

Mstty

I have tinkered with the idea of buying a 1st series Nissan leaf with 24 kWh battery and working out how to charge then use that to power the home. Cheapest I can get one for is £4K

I haven't done much more than think about it at this stage or researched if it's possible but surely it is. It's just a battery on wheels.

victor2

My prediction is that the majority of car owners will have EVs with battery and charging technology so improved that we will smile about the early vehicles and range worries. Charging will be by "smart" chargers that draw spare power from the grid and even give a little back when required. Electricity will be at a single rate to domestic consumers, regardless of the time of day or night they use it, such is the success of smart chargers and household energy systems.
Just my thoughts for 10 years time. Of course, hydrogen powered vehicles could be the new trend by then!

markin

Batteries other than Tesla's average around £500 a KWH of storage, So a 8KWH installed system could be installed in every home, until the demand is so much it drives prices up.