Comment by harwoodleon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by harwoodleon | Hacker News Reader

As batteries get better and cars charge less frequently, solar improves (and improved solar is added to the car's energy collection) and wind too - the demand will even out, in fact the demand per car may well decrease by a large margin - as market forces come into play (think the MPG figure for marketers).

Local generation can take up the slack too, with fewer volts being sent over wasteful energy grids - that can waste 6-7% of energy in transit, up to 30% in undeveloped countries.

I was concerned before I got my first electric car that the electricity bills would be massive. But I use the car every day, charge it at home 70% of the time and I have hardly noticed an increase in my bills.

I think the fear that the grid won't be able to cope is overblown. Especially in hotter countries where solar will have such a massive impact on transport.

In fact reducing oil consumption will only have benefits in remote locations where oil is very difficult to come by. Think about places where oil is a reason for war. No one will fight over the sunshine.

I was concerned before I got my first electric car that the electricity bills would be massive.

That should have been an easy calculation to at least get a ballpark figure of what to expect.

But I use the car every day, charge it at home 70% of the time and I have hardly noticed an increase in my bills.

Any decent charger should be able to tell you, once you tell it how much you pay for electricity, how much you spend each month to charge. For us, it's about $20/month compared to $60 or $70 for ICE. And that car never needs to spend time at a gas station, which once we owned an electric, is more of a hassle than I thought.

I used to drive a Volt to work, where I had access to charging and Booster for the rarely needed gas fill-up. On days when my wife's Prius was low on gas, we'd switch cars and I'd fill it up while at work. We didn't visit a gas station for months with either car.

Unfortunately, we got rid of the Volt and I now ride my bike, so no charging and no Booster. The Prius tank now has to get below 0 on the gauge before either of us will find the time to go out of our way to a gas station.

Thats odd, considering that calculations say that on average one would use 4000 kwh per year. (with average 10.000 kwh per house) Do you drive very little, or you charge mostly at work?

Personally I use 3500 kwh per year in my house. I would notice the bill going up. But I would also notice a bill disappearing all together.

I do 10k miles a year, the range on my car is about 90 miles effective in the summer and 70 in the winter. I charge fully every 2-3 days and top up on long journeys over 60/70 miles using the motorway chargepoints.

My bills have not really shifted - there may be an increase as the battery becomes less effective, and as winter sets in - but I'm due a new car in 8 months - as the pcp deal I have runs out then.

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