If Oil Prices Rose, Would Elio Rise With Them?

[Samalross]

Here's a good what is for you; where they just had hurricanes, all of the power is knocked out over a large area.
How do you charge your car then?

I keep a generator for emergencies, cheap insurance

 

[Coss]

Yes, but sooner or later, you'll need gas for that too; I've seen the lines of people waiting to get gas.

 

[Samalross]

Yes, but sooner or later, you'll need gas for that too; I've seen the lines of people waiting to get gas.

Then ICE vehicles will not be able to work either. Some of my neighbours use natural gas generators. Never been without natural gas. For me having a power failure once every ten years it is not worth the expense of a Generac.

 

[Coss]

Then ICE vehicles will not be able to work either. Some of my neighbours use natural gas generators. Never been without natural gas. For me having a power failure once every ten years it is not worth the expense of a Generac.

I was just giving a "what if" for the people in areas like Houston and Florida since they just went through hurricanes.
That's all.
I live in the Pacific NW and we haven't had but 1 power failure in the last 12 years; so I'm in the same boat you are.

 

[Samalross]

Not sure what I would do if I lived down there. I just need a generator to power boiler in winter or fridge in summer. Would probably get a natural gas generator down there. Not sure if they lose natural gas supplies in a hurricane. Here gas lines are 3 foot deep minimum, not sure down there.

 

[raptor213]

Here's a good what is for you; where they just had hurricanes, all of the power is knocked out over a large area.
How do you charge your car then?

A fair number of Tesla owners also have photovoltaic solar panels and/or a residential wind turbine(s) on their property. One of the principle reasons Elon Musk merged his two separate companies (Tesla Motors and SolarCity) was to enable the option of offering a convenient package to customers — all-electric vehicle, solar panels (including installation), and energy storage and distribution infrastructure. It is quite possible to fully charge your all-electric vehicle at night using the renewable energy captured all day by your rooftop solar panel arrays and transferred to your PowerWall or similar energy storage and redistribution system for discharge later.

...Houston and South Florida sure aren’t lacking in the sunshine department...

Another benefit of electric vehicles is the option to tap into their energy storage potential as literally being mobile batteries that discharge on-demand electricity. The newly redesigned Nissan Leaf even touts its capability to be utilized as a residential generator in their recent marketing campaign: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/vehicle_to_home.html

The capability for ‘vehicle-to-home’ energy transfer has existed since the advent of the 1st Generation Nissan Leaf and the debut of all-electric vehicle powertrain systems. But earlier they were DIY setups by owners with detailed working knowledge of inverters and the like.

In the event of a natural disaster or otherwise widespread power outage, it is fully reasonable to fathom a scenario playing out in which a Nissan Leaf recharges from sources of renewable energy (regenerative braking during routine driving habits, rooftop solar arrays, etc) and discharges on an as-needed basis while being utilized as a whole house generator.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Here's a good what is for you; where they just had hurricanes, all of the power is knocked out over a large area.
How do you charge your car then?

Plan ahead. If finances allow, a solar array can easily be installed to endure a CAT 5 event and/or be stowed to endure a CAT 5 event. A Power Wall would also be a nice addition.

It would also require a house and garage to be build to similar specifications, but, if you can afford a Model S or X, it would be well within your budget.

Advantage:
Solar.

 

[NSTG8R]

Screw Tesla. Get one of these! Cadillac ELR. Same platform as the Volt, but twice the price! They must've been marketing to the people in states where weed is legal.

 

[pistonboy]

If electricity is out in an area where home owners have no power to charge their electric vehicles, the gas stations also have no power to pump gasoline.

 

[Rob Croson]

It is quite possible to fully charge your all-electric vehicle at night using the renewable energy captured all day by your rooftop solar panel arrays and transferred to your PowerWall or similar energy storage and redistribution system for discharge later.

...Houston and South Florida sure aren’t lacking in the sunshine department...

A 5kW solar panel system in Houston runs an average of $16k, and takes 400 square feet of panels. That would take at least 16 hours of full sun to fill an 80kWh battery like Tesla uses. A more practical daily average would be 10 hours of full sun, requiring 8kW of panels. That's approximately 650 square feet (about a 30'x22' area) of panels, at a cost of over $25k. That doesn't count the cost of the storage system you will need to store 80kW of power during the day when the energy is being generated and your Tesla isn't at home.

The projected cost of Powerwall 2 (the larger battery version) is $5,500 per 13.5 kWh. You would need 6 of these to hold 80kWh to fully charge your car. That's $33,000, not counting installation costs.

To be able to charge your Tesla battery from dead to 100% every night by solar power, you are talking a minimum of $60,000. So, yeah, possible, but *very* expensive.

Of course you probably won't need a full charge every day. A 5kW system filling a single Powerwall 2 battery would only take a couple hours during a decently sunny day. My Bolt gets about 4.7 miles per kWh. 13.5 kWh x 4.7 m/kWh would get me about 63 miles. Not quite enough for my daily commute, but pretty close. (It's about 4kWh short.) More than enough for the typical commuter, and much more affordable at around $20k, before any federal/state/local incentives and rebates. Some power companies may provide additional incentives. But then there are some, including areas of Florida, I understand, that are very hostile toward consumer solar.