Currently, semi's over a certain age aren't allowed to enter the state of California due to emissions standards. Seems like the same applies to diesel locomotives also.
Actually unless it has changed the rules for locomotives require they meet an "opacity" standard. Basically the locomotive isn't supposed to smoke or it is very faint under load. I've been away from that for a while (20 years) so I might be way off base now. But we had a test stack that was above the exhaust and it measured the clarity. It had to be certified to meet the standard at that time. To my knowledge locomotives aren't yet using DEF fluid or DPF filters. If someone has knowledge otherwise I stand corrected.
I know some folks near DC who had a electric Honda Fit that they really liked, and now a Nissan Leaf.
Wintertime can be a battery challenge when driving with the lights on, heater on, defrost on, wipers on.
California already has rules in place to cover electrification of big trucks -- y'know, the 18-wheeler variety. By 2045, all of the new big trucks sold must be zero-emission -- electric or maybe hydrogen. Between now and then, there are increasing percentages of new trucks which must be zero-emission.
From what I've read though Airbus is thinking Hydrogen not electric/batteries. I think we'll see electric light training aircraft in the near future if they're not in service already, I know there are demonstrators flying. 90 minutes run time may be adequate in that role.
Frito lay in town is using 10-15 Tesla semitrucks to haul potato chips around the area. UPS is electric delivery trucks in town, has been for several years. I bet there will be arguments about what is a light truck vs a heavy one.
Or they could do like New Zealand and charge a license fee based on miles driven. They will have to figure something out for road taxes to replace fuel taxes. By 2050 gas stations may be hard to find and cost more simply because of the rarity value.
Driving an electric car across Death Valley with no charging stations could literally be the death of you. People already die when the get off the road and run out of gas in summer. I read tesla batteries have a low temperature high limit. Like not over 120 F or some such. I know it is less then the air temperature in some parts of California. Of course that may have improved.
Bil lD.
I have actually seen -20f on a map, smart enough not to go there at the time, in california. tesla says not to let the car sit at -22F for more then 24 hours?
Only info I could find for high was LiON about 150 F is maximum. It would be easy for the inside of a car to get that hot in the sun when it is 120 outside. Death valley max temp is 130F.
Last edited by Bill Dufour; 09-26-2020 at 12:03 PM.
Check out the link to Harbour Air I posted, they are North America's largest all float plane airline and I think second largest worldwide. Most of their flights are under 2 hours and their plan (pre covid at least) was to go 100% electric by 2023. So yes, first commercial use of electric planes will be short range.
I participated in a study here in California about taxing based on miles driven instead of a gas tax. The roads still have to be paid for and as gas sales decline something has to take their place.
For the study, I received a small unit that plugged into the OBD connector. It monitored the number of miles I drove and reported it to the study organization. I don't know what they figured out from the study, however.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Last edited by Bruce Wrenn; 09-26-2020 at 12:50 PM.
The idea of electric vehicles is not the only thing California is doing to to combat climate change. California is also moving to a 100% renewable electric grid. I forget what percent of California's electric power is renewable today but it's fairly high. Eventually, it will be 100% assuming there's some reasonable storage devices available.
But in any case, it's much easier to address pollution - even carbon dioxide emissions - at a point source, such as a power generation station, instead of millions of petroleum fueled automobiles.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Yeah, and it's even easier to address it when it's not in your state.
Not at all true.
It doesn't help us and our climate related problems to move pollution, we need to reduce it. Emissions in other states or other countries will still contribute to the heat and drought which are, in too many cases, literally killing us. You need to realize that even if many steps are needed to get a significant improvement, taking the first steps are necessary for that progress to begin, even if those first steps don't immediately show much improvement on their own.
Another example is requiring new home construction to be all electric. Retrofitting old sites is prohibitive* and cleaner power generation is limited by our ability to use it in preference to less clean options. It's a chicken & egg problem, but forcing the balance to shift over time allows a relatively painless improvement, though it might be too little too late at this point.
(*I'm waiting on an electrician to check my service & negotiate upgrades, I'm on hold while they deal with all the newly homeless folk just up the hill from me. But my contractor thinks PG&E will require me pay to trench the street, pay for new neighborhood power conduit, and to pull a new cable to my house to get the upgrade I'd like. Unless it can happen, no electric car, more efficient heat pump heating, or any significant power tools for me here. My slim hope is without that upgrade PG&E can't add and harvest power from solar panels on our roof either.)
I don't have them (edit delete: "but since you already have solar panels"), but you might want to checkout Tesla's Powerwall
13.5kvh solar batteries. They are pricy, but with tax credits and rebates they might make sense
https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/is...ble#incentives
Last edited by Mike Soaper; 09-26-2020 at 9:51 PM.
Before retiring as our school district’s energy manager, we were looking at those powerwalls. Because of the way our poco handles solar it didn’t make a lot of sense to go solar panels. But because of how the poco calculated and billed our “demand charge” it would only take a few years to recoup the cost of several powerwalls at our high school. We could charge them at night when few other things were running and use them from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM when our air conditioning and kitchen was in high gear.
I left before any decision was made and the idea just sort of drifted away, but my numbers showed it was fiscally advantageous.
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