The best thing for battery packs that have dropped to 80% capacity is to use them in the home, slap a solar array on the roof and charge it during the day, come home and use that to recharge your ev, leaving only 20% for the mains 
A 50kwh battery would mean only 10kw, easily done on home power.
Cheers David who would love to have the money to go off grid totally
Absolutely.
There is also the question weather cutting down forests just to place inefficient solar panels is anything but continuing the problems that planet has anyway.
Maybe some would like to see tons of hills filled with solar panels, apparently some people say they are ok with that and I have already seen some place almost becoming entirely like that, instead of the lush vegetation there are tons of solar panels on small hills.
Considering that even housing in certain areas lack any nature around I can understand why the majority living in large concrete or no nature cities are in favor of just plastering the country side with solar panels.
The surface area needed to even generate all the earth’s electricity is surprisingly limited so the entire countryside needs not plastered with solar panels at all. But to choose the nicest spots for solar panels sounds like a bad idea, people have created enough ugly places for that.
When they’re gasping for air because O2 production starts declining, maybe they’ll think otherwise.
Well said. Tesla Model X looks great, but it’s a joke for reliability—too many manufacturing issues are the cause. One gripe I have with Tesla—TOO MUCH TOUCH SCREEN RELIANCE! You need tactile controls. Electric cars ARE making progress, though. VW/Audi will be featuring some in the next few years.
My 2007 Audi A3 has been a phenomenally reliable car, with tons of torque, sports car handling, & good looks. Just mediocre gas mileage. I’ve decided to continue with it, instead of going to yet another internal combustion engine vehicle. I will hang onto it a bit longer then go electric and very much looking forward to it. I’ll miss my loyal steed, the A3… but will have fond memories.
Rooftops are the best place for solar panels— look at Hawaii. They have given proper credit for individuals to install them (and MOST have), so no new power plants needed. The “grid” is charged by thousands of independant roof-top installs in any given town around Maui where my friend lives (the last 30 years). It works and no nature impact as the roofs are already there and look as good with panels as with out.
Putting solar on a rooftop increases R factor in hot places like Kansas too (where I am one of 750 grid tied installs out of 450,000 customers, sadly). It makes sense in so many ways and there are no transmission losses when we power MOST of our own home’s needs in summer from 50 ft away (when the sun is shining of course). We also chose an East/West array for our PV system to better “fit” the needs of the grid WHEN we are producing electricity (with 1/2 our production coming from the west array to off-set “peak demand” times for AC use- the #1 use of electricity in summer here).
But Wall Street HATES solar when it cut’s into coal and nuke plant profits and so most power companies the last decade have fought to screw us on the credits. Kansas finally got a decent governor who stopped our dumb* electric company from charging “demand” charges (and other penalty actions they tried to use) against we FEW solar users. But damage is done sadly, and little solar is happening around these parts.
So for the most part, the big energy companies DID effectively shut down solar here in the Midwest. They’ll take their energy credits (and they do get MANY millions a year) to build thousands of windmills and charge customers a premium for “wind energy”. Meanwhile, my PV system has been in service four years this August and it’s paid about 1/2 of its cost to date (after tax credits were figured in). With a 10 year warranty on my inverters and 25 years on the panels, we hope to break even in the next 3-4 years then it’s all gravy money wise (*until we upgrade gear— but the panels have a great lifespan and inverter cost isn’t much compared to the initial install cost so I think we’re good for the long-term).
If 100k roof tops in our market were online today (as was the plan 10 years back), we really would be making a positive impact. But it always goes back to the problem of scale and if you don’t hit a tipping point, you aren’t doing a LOT of good— but at least we are doing a “little” good 
And, I OF COURSE am waiting for Tesla (and co.) to get batteries cheap enough to build a power-wall. Today, with my soldering iron, ranch engineering skills, and available building to house batteries… going off grid would STILL cost me about $12k (or more if I want MORE than 3-4 days of back-up for dark, stormy times). I’d have to update my inverters, buy batteries AND add 10 more panels (in a south array). My largest electric bill is December as I have no panels facing south, so to go year-round I’d have to spend about what I did on my initial install (approx $15k, and all DYI here so I didn’t pay a contractor the extra $6-8K for a typical system my size at 8500kw).
But if we get to $1 Panny Bs, I probably would upgrade and install DIY batteries and new “hybrid” inverters as I’d save another $600 - $800k a year off the electric bill. But needing about 5000 batteries, at $2 each today… it’s not worth doing (yet).
Anyone have an idea of how “cell to pack” packaging of cells differs from “bundling cells” ?
Nice example of the impacts and costs of getting solar, Zappaman, that is very insightful.
That’s one of the biggest problems with trying to “go green”. Too many of those who’d “lose out” start stuffing their hands down your pockets like some playground perv.
Electric companies started penalising those who’d want to go solar, claiming that they’re not paying for “infrastructure” by reducing their demand on the grid. Eliminating net-metering for those who produce an excess also penalises those who have bigger better setups (on their own dime).
Want to “go green” with an electric car? Be prepared to pay fees and surcharges to “pay your fair share” because you’re ostensibly skirting gasoline taxes.
What better way to keep people off solar power, and not buy EVs, than to punish them financially for doing so.
Was gonna point out
as an example, but just goggle
https://www.google.com/search?q=electric+vehicle+surcharge
for more examples.
And Solar Power World magazine has pretty good articles discussing incentives/disincentives like credits/rebates, net-metering fights in various states, etc.
You are welcome djozz… I should mention I have gain MUCH insight from your many posts over the years also!
And Lightbringer confirms things well here too (as always, but hey?… no funny video this time?) 
Going solar here raised many (farmers’) eyebrows as I’m an anomaly coming from ranching, to high-tech, then back to rural— to the heart of the Midwest. I’ve had no less that a dozen farmers “stop by” to ask about the “solar system” and I always think to myself… “what would Carl Sagan say?”
I’m pretty sure they think I’m kinda’ “off” but they do stay interested and a FEW keep asking me every now and then if I’m still, “screwing the power company?” Good guys really… just not interested in it much beyond basic curiosity (*AND, they’ll not go solar, but drop $600k on a new combine in a heartbeat). As long as farm diesel exist… there isn’t a problem to them anyway 
Okay, okay…
Batteries used by another car manufacturer:
Seems like the top cells on the market (as of a few years ago) were these 26700s.
Why You Won't See A Koenigsegg Regera Super Battery In Your Car – www.APEX.one - YouTube “price is roughly 100 times higher” . Assuming 3.7V nominal voltage, 4.5kWh, 384 cells = 3167mAh per cell. Power output is 525kW meaning the discharge rate per cell looks to be about 370 Amps if my calculations are right.
Even if those cells aren’t at a nominal voltage, you’d need a whole order of magnitude’s difference to get to a “reasonable” to us amperage discharge rate.
Crazy
Wow… I had no idea lizards farted
Maybe if we get enough in one sealed hydroelectric turbine… they could act as capacitors or something??? (ok, enough scotch for tonight maybe)
Oh yeah, absolutely.
q: Whut’s invisible and smells like mice?
a: Snake-farts.
Without attempting to be cynical, I do not think the majority of people have any interest in trees or forests or proprieties with trees, at least that is my experience when talking with people that have land propriety, apartments, businesses, etc.
There are unfortunately people that think deforestation of old forests is reversible by just plating trees, that in itself is flawed on a couple of levels, but I am not going into that matter.
Unfortunately I do not have pictures of most of the places I have seen, I know today if you do not have photos or videos it does not exist, but there still are examples of what I am saying with deforestation for making room for solar panels, except very little photos online, especially since does not stand well with the “green energy” label.
Ewww. Those look like big scabs on the earth’s “skin”.
Interesting article on Engadget yesterday.
Dyson finally unveils its canceled electric car
Of note (to me, anyway) was the bit at the end about how you need “a fleet of profitable gasoline cars and diesel cars to offset the ‘huge losses’ on every electric vehicle made.”
That’s true. The logistics and re tooling needed to build electric powertrains and the infrastructure are significant. This is why the major automakers still make gasoline amd diesel vehicles. Demand is still too low. Americans in particular won’t be willing to give up their Honda Civic that gets 400 mi to a $35 tank of gas effortlessly and runs for 180k miles. Or their Ford Superduty that hauls their toys. Tesla has a big corner of a small market. That’s what’s keeping them in business. As soon as Ford or GM or FCA develops, markets and mass produces an affordable electric car that matches Tesla’s cars for cheaper then that will change the game. But that’s years, maybe a decade off. I think the biggest innovation to electric vehicles is in electric motorcycles like the Harlwy Davidson Live Wire, but it’s around $30,000 still.
That’s what i was thinking, and that doesn’t even include any sort of charging network to make long distance trips, just the basic commuter car.
People feel like they must have an unlimited travel range, but what’s the reality of how far they actually drive every day, starting and ending at home? 40 miles, 50, 60?
Case in point. I have 2 cars. I drive about 20 miles per day average, my wife drives the other more. That would work with an EV, but I need 2. Now say I want to take off for the weekend or for several days into the boonies, I might drive over 100, maybe 200 miles. I drove over 200 miles one way last summer to SE Oregon with my Subaru wagon fully loaded with camping gear and my two kayaks on top. This was driving up steep hills (over Santiam Pass, up the Cascade foothills). Could a Tesla do that? I doubt it. Putting any kind of extended load on battery drains it fast (anyone who owns a high power flashlight kknows this).
If it could, how would I recharge it in the woods? An RV hookup maybe? What if one’s not available? So you see the conundrum of owning an EV. For a family, it almost means owning 2 or maybe 3 vehicles…a EV (or two) for around town, or a getaway vehicle with a gas or diesel engine for longer trips. That’s pretty expensive since you need to register, insure, store/park, maintain, etc. I think some folks would do really well with an EV. I know it wouldn’t work for me (at least now).