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The withering dream of a cheap American electric car

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152 points voisin | 2 comments | 17 Nov 24 23:52 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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GratiaTerra ◴[18 Nov 24 16:22 UTC] No.42173899[source]▶
I took advantage of the IRA solar power and $7500 EV credit, now I have an off grid home all electric appliances and excess power for hot tubs and EV's. The Ford Lightning acts as a generator. This was the greatest most life changing and impactful legistlation ever: I've had $0 (ZERO!) in gasoline, LP, and electric utility bills since installation last year.
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SoftTalker ◴[18 Nov 24 17:27 UTC] No.42174658[source]▶
It's great now but when it starts to degrade and needs maintenance and replacement that's now entirely your problem, there is no utility with a huge staff of electricians and linesmen ready to deal with that on a sub-zero winter day or in the middle of a rainy night.
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jebarker ◴[18 Nov 24 17:34 UTC] No.42174731[source]▶
With this kind of setup you can stay connected to the grid. In the event that your solar and storage fail unexpectedly you can still pay for grid electricity.
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vel0city ◴[19 Nov 24 16:41 UTC] No.42185395[source]▶
The grid you've been refusing to pay to support for years, that grid is going to be your backup?
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jebarker ◴[19 Nov 24 20:32 UTC] No.42187797{3}[source]▶
You still pay service fees to maintain a grid connection. Not to mention that many people with these setups contribute excess generation back to the grid or allow their batteries to discharged by the grid during demand spikes.
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1. vel0city ◴[19 Nov 24 21:15 UTC] No.42188167{4}[source]▶
A lot of those service fees were designed to scale with the amount of electricity used. If you've got a net metered bill chances are you haven't really been paying much for service fees.

I don't know anyone who bothers discharging their home batteries to the grid. The rates they get wouldn't cover the cost of the wear and tear to their batteries.

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2. jebarker ◴[19 Nov 24 21:25 UTC] No.42188241[source]▶
I am part of a plan that discharges my batteries to the grid. I don't initiate this happening, it is based on a pull from the grid upto 60 times per year when demand is high. Full disclosure that I received a rebate on my batteries for allowing this.

Also, I just checked my bills and my service fees are a flat amount independent of how much electricity I pull from the grid.