there are also large national security implications at play, getting away from the grid would be huge
I'm a manager at auto insurance company I manage the Property Damage side of things in the SF Bay Area, and one of our Direct Repair Shops is Tesla's authority on repair guidelines for their cars. I love the Teslas so much fun to drive in, just not so much fun to handle repairs on these cars, but it's pretty cool that we inspect more Teslas than anywhere in the country.
I actually don't think utilities will fight it as much as you think. Power plants generally have to build to the maximum expected load. They rarely ever need to run at full capacity except for days where everyone runs their AC or the similar. This could in the future allow plants to run on a consistent basis and store up energy for when there is high demand. Additionally, the batteries would allow people to sell back energy to companies. I also have a utilities bias so take this all with a grain of salt. Interesting read. https://btuanalytics.com/tesla-grid...y&utm_campaign=Tesla+Battery&utm_medium=email
Our electrical infrastructure is the worst in the first world, give or take. Improving it would be a huge boost to the job market in the short term and a boost to our overall economy in the long term, but who knows when/if that will happen.
Nuclear is a the grid stabilizer and fossil/natural gas are the peaking plants on the grid and there is a good reason for this. Xenon oscillations occur in nuclear plants which prevent them from cycling like the rest of the industry. We need to have a base load and everyone else do the rest of the work. I work in a nuclear plant and we can move faster than a fossil plant. Granted It's not good for us but we can down power and up power faster than any other in the Industry. Thanks to TMI the OTSG is "an Inferior Design" however it is superior in so many ways that out way its costs!
Coal mining is directly related to power company production and both welcome more battery operated/electricity dependent technology. My company even offers special rebates on EV vehicles and brought 2 Teslas over last year for us to test drive.
He has the worst stage presence of any big-time CEO but i adore him and his companies so i watch them gleefully anyways
Electric companies already fight solar companies. The govt let the tax rebates for solar power expire. Some states want to tax the shit out of the excess electricity you'll accumulate that can be sold back to the electric companies. Similar concept as to why our public transport systems suck compared to the rest of the world. Big companies dont want it.
Look, there are a lot of intelligent folks on this board. But you're probably the only engineer working in energy. Take it down a level or two and explain again, please.
Ok so there is a base load that provides the grid. Most of that power is provided by nuclear because they are good at getting at 100% power and staying there more so than any other sub sector in the industry. Fossil and natural gas don't have the reliability rates of nuclear due to their non regulated stature.
Not only Nuclear plants for cycle to cycle efficencies are ~90% on making their scheduled outage to outage. Fossils fall far below this with the multitude of failure they experience on a regular bases. If something fails for them then oh well. At a nuclear plant if something fails it could possible put them into a shutdown timeclock just due to postulated uncertainties alone which may or may not be possible due to their location and they have to account for other plant's failure even though a tidal wave will never happen at commanche peak, watts bar, cooper, wolf creek, etc...
The biggest problem with it for me is the lack of engine noise and exhaust note. When it's time for my next car and I'm comparing the P85D to the M5, RS7, CLS AMG, etc the lack of those things are a big deal to me. The sound of a performance car's engine redlining just before the up shift is part of the experience I love. That car is gorgeous inside and outside though.
During the so-called “polar vortex” in January 2014, most of the eastern half of the nation experienced record-low temperatures repeatedly and for extended periods. Natural gas prices in the Midwest and Northeast skyrocketed and there were record withdrawals from gas reserves. Natural gas supplies were prioritized to provide for home and business heating first, restricting deliveries to gas-fired power plants (PJM estimated 6,000-9,000 MW of outages from gas curtailments). In the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) region, wind generation dropped from 10,000 megawatts on Jan. 6 as the cold front moved in, to 1,050 megawatts on Jan. 7, when temperatures were coldest. During this time, U.S. nuclear plants collectively maintained a capacity factor between 95 and 98 percent. In the Northeast, nuclear energy supplied more electricity than natural gas, a rare occurrence. Oil-fired generation roughly equaled natural gas generation in New England as regional power-generating capacity was stretched to the limit. So props to Musk If he can equalize the grid during the day so we don't have to pick up the VAR adjustments that are needed, AKA batteries soak up the estra power and distribute it throughout the day when the day comes.
Like electric cars? Most of the people I've come across in the coal industry don't have problems with them. The car has recharge on electricity and coal plants are a big part of our power supply. They will throw a shit ton of money around in DC to stop a subsidiary of Musk's companies called Venkman Enterprises. Venkman enterprises has been testing out putting proprietary personal power grids in homes of owners. They do have to be newer homes to support it though. The power utility lobby has already started to head this off now. There is a bill in committee at the moment called the Stantz-Spengler Act which will make it virtually illegal to have this. One of my good friends is a staffer for the energy committee and passed along that Congressman Zuul (Vuldrini, MT) was a huge smart ass to Musk during a closed hearing. He said something like "Why worry? Each of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."
Okay...There are two Ghostbusters' names in here. If you tell me that Venkman Enterprises is named after Peter Venkman or that the Stantz-Spengler Act is named after Dr. Egon Spengler, I'll immediately get on board.
Doesn't that have a lot to do with the excess power generated by these homes and the dumping of the power on to the grid causes stability issues? I may be making that up or maybe it's just propaganda. But as shitty and unstable as the grid seems to be, I could see it.
Fwiw, I was speaking to the shittiness of our existing grid due to its age, not the pie-in-the-sky ideas of harvesting magical sun rays via photovoltaics and unicorn farts via wind farms. I'm mostly kidding, but while solar and wind may be the future of clean energy, it just isn't efficient enough yet to be viable on a widespread basis. In the short term, natural gas is the best way to bridge the gap between coal and solar/wind. Full disclosure: I am an oil and gas guy, but I think Elon Musk is a genius businessman and it's exciting to watch how he innovates.
Yeah I'm about to start doing some research on clean energy companies to invest in for the long term. Agreed about Elon. Love what he's doing and genuinely seems to care about innovating for the future. He's just gonna be in for a tough battle going against the entrenched fossil fuel titans.
I have heard the former CEO of Shell, John Hofmeister talk a couple times and he gives a well thought out and practical way for the U.S. to become energy independent as well as develop clean energy. I haven't read his book yet but plan on it. http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Hate-O...0OE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430586759&sr=1-1
Solar does a fine job at supplementing peak loads too, as they peak production when the grid as a whole peaks (mid day during the summer when businesses have their A/C blasting). The utility companies do not want to fairly compensate for owners producing this energy because they make a killing if they can get their corrupt PSC commissioner to do their dirty work. And of course utilities are buying their own PV arrays because they see the value in peak shaving from solar. The biggest problem in the energy debate is that the radicals on both sides take it to an extreme saying we should be all fossil fuels/nuclear or all renewable. The best energy stack is a diverse one and should promote distributed generation. SolarEdge: SEDG They recently went public. Their technology has an intrinsic advantage in that it complies to the Rapid Shut Down requirements of the 2014 National Electric Code and has DC arc fault protection. No other inverter does both (micro-inverters have rapid shut down but not DC arc fault protection).
SolarEdge Announces Collaboration with Tesla Motors to Offer Distributed PV Storage Solutions http://www.solaredge.us/articles/solaredge_announces_collaboration_with_tesla_motors It looks like the stock had a small peak but leveled back out to pre-announcement values already.
Excerpt from the book on Elon, definitely buying this: http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-elon-musk-spacex/
Good looking out man. I looked up this stock after I saw your post and ended up buying some shares around $27. It closed today over $37 and jumped over $3 today alone
Governor Larry Hogan recently signed House Bill 235, which will allow Tesla to open up to four dealerships in Maryland starting in October 1. “We hope this momentum combined with encouragement from independent entities, such as the Federal Trade Commission, will lead to direct sales in other states such as Connecticut, Michigan, Texas, and Arizona,” stated Diarmuid O’Connell, vice president of corporate and business development at Tesla. http://www.globalhacknews.com/2015/05/tesla-just-got-green-light-to-sell.html?m=1
3-tier system is never going away in Michigan unfortunately. In fact, part of the new funding package to replace the shitty Prop 1 that didn't pass earlier this month included revoking the electric car incentive and use that revenue to fund the new bill
This isn't really Tesla related, but I feel like this is the thread where we discuss improvements in technology that are good for the planet: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-bladeless-wind-turbine-looks-asparagus
http://fortune.com/2015/05/18/tesla-texas/ This is the same state senator that's trying to force small breweries to sell beer through disributors. Incidentally, the Texas Automobile Dealers Association is one of her top campaign donors. Reference: http://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=6387063&default=candidate AUTOS TESLA Tesla was just dealt another setback by Ben Geier @ben_geier MAY 18, 2015, 3:25 PM EDT E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons Photograph by Tim Rue — Bloomberg/Getty Images The electric car company hits a roadblock in Texas Another bit of bad news for Tesla: Texas will not be allowing the auto manufacturer to sell direct to consumers after legislation failed to pass the state legislature despite support from both parties. The deadline passed for the bill late last week, AutoBlog reports. It would have allowed Tesla stores in Texas to actually help customers get into an electric car. Currently, the law doesn’t allow pricing displays or test drives, a rule designed to protect franchise dealers. Unlike most car manufacturers, Tesla sells its cars directly to consumers rather than through dealerships. Democratic state Rep. Senfronia Thompson criticized the company by saying that “it would have been wiser if Mr. Tesla had sat down with the car dealers first.” But there is no “Mr. Tesla” involved in the company, which is named after the late inventor Nikola Tesla and is founded and run by Elon Musk.
Yea another instance when politicians should have to wear their sponsors' logos on their clothes. Fucking over the population to appease some big wigs. At least it's not a right or left issue.
One, the stupid bastard doesn't know who Nikola Tesla was (or apparently, the history of electricity). Two, he knows dick about the actual car company Tesla. Fuck state level politicians are so often drooling retards.
She's also represented the same district in Houston since 1972 and has been listed as one of their least effective reps in the legislature. That's exactly who I'd want deciding where I buy craft beer or a car from.