The impossible dream...natural gas to gasoline cheaply may be real...

[boutons_deux]

Well that sucks, that pretty much kills it as something you can use on long road trips.

battery swap only makes sense if there is a standard, rather than mfr-proprietary, battery format, like gasoline is generic, and not supplied by auto mfrs.

Why should EV mfrs be in the "fuel" business?

anyway, fast charging, long lasting, cheaper, higher density batteries are on the way. Regenerative braking + (super)capacitors will also help with mileage.

[Wild Cobra]

Well that sucks, that pretty much kills it as something you can use on long road trips.

I wouldn't like the idea myself. If I had a Tesla, I would be skeptical of changing my known battery for an unknown one.

[boutons_deux]

Well that sucks, that pretty much kills it as something you can use on long road trips.

charging stations must have generic connections, not proprietary.

road side, or near road side, restaurants could make business out of generic charging points with metered electricity, paid with a card swipe, exactly like liquid fuels.

[baseline bum]

charging stations must have generic connections, not proprietary.

road side, or near road side, restaurants could make business out of generic charging points with metered electricity, paid with a card swipe, exactly like liquid fuels.

But your waitress is going to get pissed when you're just sitting at her table for six hours waiting for your car to charge tbh.

[SpursforSix]

So what happens when we get a couple of cold winters and deplete the natural gas in storage? Even without any other future uses, the price of natural gas can be incredibly volatile, doubling and tripling in a month.

[Wild Cobra]

even if you can turn water to gas or whatever thats unlimited and free to energy

do you think those big stakeholders who have billions of dollars at stake will allow such scheme to get of the ground?

down here they already pulled out of solar funding cause its hurting big energy companies share prices and , biggest coal and gas reserves, u think they will allow solar to get off the ground? lmao monkey leaders

Energy profits are dropping because oil is getting cheap again. more supply, not only less wholesale, but more compe ion reduces profits.

Why should they find something as expensive as solar when oil is so much cheaper? The bottom of the cyclical market needs to be higher than now to make solar and wind attractive.

[boutons_deux]

" more compe ion reduces profits."

(that's why BigCorp HATE compe ion and will do ANYTHING to avoid compeition) About the only place where compe ion is really working in major areas is cell phones, TV, vehicles.

there's no retail price war over gasoline or natgas. The price of oil is down because the Saudis trying maintain their producer dominance by killing off the US shale suppliers, producing a gut of oil.

"oil is so much cheaper"



"easy" oil has peaked, that's why oilcos are drilling down miles into the ocean and trying to drill in the Arctic.

solar and oil are not in direct compe ion in USA, except maybe Hawaii where fuel causes electricity to cost $0.30/hour (similar to Germany). As a result, Hawaii has highest penetration of rooftop solar, like 15%, so the electric utilities are right now trying to kill feed in tariff to preserve their profits.

Solar and wind are extremely close to parity with coal, NOT "expensive". you're blind ideology head is up your ass.

[boutons_deux]

and if the external costs of coal, gas, oil were accurately included, solar and wind would be easy winners.

[Wild Cobra]

and if the external costs of coal, gas, oil were accurately included, solar and wind would be easy winners.

No they wouldn't.

With strict regulations in place now, they are still cheaper. Not practical to get much stricter.

Tar sand areas are cleaner after extracting the oil then before.

[boutons_deux]

No they wouldn't.

With strict regulations in place now, they are still cheaper. Not practical to get much stricter.

Tar sand areas are cleaner after extracting the oil then before.

Wrong, as always.

[boutons_deux]

No they wouldn't.

With strict regulations in place now, they are still cheaper. Not practical to get much stricter.

Tar sand areas are cleaner after extracting the oil then before.

Utility-Scale Solar Reaches Cost Parity With Natural Gas Throughout America

Although the Southwest has the lowest prices, $50 to $75 per megawatt-hour is the new norm across the country, according to GTM Research. Boulder’s PPA with SunPower, for example, came in at $46 per megawatt-hour and Austin Energy’s most recent solar project came in at under $50 per megawatt-hour.

Falling prices have also opened up some markets to avoided-cost contracts, where solar is cheaper than a utility’s avoided costs to generate electricity elsewhere. In states like Utah and North Carolina, avoided-cost contracts are bringing in various solar contracts.

“This recent onslaught of applications for avoided-cost contracts has prompted the utilities involved and their state utility regulators to re-evaluate these contracts and the utilities’ PURPA requirements," reads the Berkeley lab study.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...ughout-America

[boutons_deux]

No they wouldn't.

With strict regulations in place now, they are still cheaper. Not practical to get much stricter.

Tar sand areas are cleaner after extracting the oil then before.

Renewable Electricity Surpasses Coal In UK

For the July-September 2015 time frame, renewable sources produced more electricity than coal in the UK. The energy specialist EnAppSys found that 14.3 TWh was generated by renewables then, which was 20% of the UK’s average electricity production. Output from coal-fired power plants fell 54% during the same period, due to outages related to maintenance and lower gas prices. Gas and nuclear maintained their top two positions in UK electricityproduction.

That renewably-sourced electricity surpassed coal in the UK is quite a milestone. Many critics of renewable energy have said for years that such a thing couldn’t be done any time soon: coal is cheaper, with a proven technology, etc. Actually, burning coal has all sorts of problems associated with it, such as climate change emissions and toxic air pollution.

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/29/...eanTechnica%29

And naturally, knee-jerkily, the UK Conservatives are doing everything they can screw up renewables.

[hater]

It's still a natural resource. So it will still be subject to corporation, nation enslavement and war.

[boutons_deux]

But your waitress is going to get pissed when you're just sitting at her table for six hours waiting for your car to charge tbh.

ABB has unveiled a new automated fast-charger system for electric buses — a system that will potentially allow electric buses operating in urban environments to run 24/7, only being taken out of service occasionally for maintenance.

The basic idea behind the new system is the utilization of pantograph-based automated rooftop connection — one that could be fairly easily put into service on existing bus lines. The idea is short periods of charging — 4-6 minutes at a time,

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/30/abb-unveils-automated-fast-charger-system-for-electric-buses/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaig n=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

No doubt that charging cars in 10s of minutes rather than hours will arrive, as will range of 200+ miles, sufficient for almost all urban/suburban cars.