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Hybrids - News, Reviews and Views in the Press

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What is this discussion about? Toyota Camry Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Honda Civic, Hybrid Cars

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#422 of 567 Record Year for Hybrids by moparbad Aug 02, 2007 (7:19 am)
Hybrid sales on pace for record-setting year quote- An estimated 187,000 hybrids were sold in the first six months of 2007, accounting for 2.3 percent of all new vehicle sales, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Although a sales slowdown is expected in the second half of the year, J.D. Power is forecasting total sales of 345,000 hybrids for the year, a 35 percent increase from 2006. -end
#423 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [tpe] by cdptrap Aug 02, 2007 (8:59 am)
Replying to: tpe (Aug 01, 2007 6:46 pm) I understand your point about the accounting.   We did look at household energy bill savings when planning the PV just like we looked at gas-pump savings when buying our hybrid but money savings were not the only factors. We got the hybrid mainly for its emission. I almost went for a Prius except it could not meet our needs.   The PV was for independence from PG&E, for doing our part as long time Sierra Club members , and it is also part of our "emergency" planning in earthquake country. Whenever a plug-in appears for a reasonable price, we are ready .
#424 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [gagrice] by cdptrap Aug 02, 2007 (9:11 am)
Replying to: gagrice (Aug 02, 2007 6:12 am) Holy Cow! Do you know the power rating for each of these panels?   That is 10,000 panels and if each is 185W, at 85% efficiency (limited by inverters and CA law if in CA), that is still 1,572,500 W of power! That is a 1000 KWh or 1MW system! Enough to light up a small village.   185W panel is popular in residential installation, some go as low as 145W. I know PG&E gets nervous when residential installation goes beyond 20KW and they really get nervous when it hits 30KW grid-tied because it could impact their transformers and power lines with such a load. For a 1MW system, it would rate as commercial, most likely completely stand-alone.   Anyway, I digress from the EV discussion, sorry! Replies to this message: kdhspyder (Aug 02, 2007 11:43 am) cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 4:47 pm) tpe (Aug 02, 2007 8:14 pm) kdhspyder (Aug 02, 2007 9:07 pm) hiwayman (Aug 03, 2007 1:46 pm)
#425 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [cdptrap] by kdhspyder Aug 02, 2007 (11:43 am)
Replying to: cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 9:11 am) Not being in the 'Land of the Sun Gods' what is the storage capacity of your system ( if any ) in the event of storms, long cloudy periods, etc. Is it a 'pass-through' where you collect the energy, use what you need on a daily basis and then send the extra onto the grid? Or can you store enough for several days usage then pass on the extra?   I'm totally unfamiliar with it. Replies to this message: cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 4:47 pm) tpe (Aug 02, 2007 8:14 pm) kdhspyder (Aug 02, 2007 9:07 pm) hiwayman (Aug 03, 2007 1:46 pm)
#426 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [tpe] by gagrice Aug 02, 2007 (3:25 pm)
Replying to: tpe (Aug 02, 2007 6:38 am) I'll get a picture. It may not be that big. It just looks like a huge array.
#427 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [kdhspyder] by cdptrap Aug 02, 2007 (4:47 pm)
Replying to: kdhspyder (Aug 02, 2007 11:43 am) In CA, "grid tied" means the PV system is tied to the power company grid. "Standalone" is of course, independent of the grid. Grid-Tied system can use batteries for back-up but it is an option. Standalone system always have battery back-up for night usage.   Our 9KW is grid tied without battery back-up or storage. All excess power feeds to the grid and we trade credits with our power company, PG&E. During peak hours, we get 3W credits for every 1W sent to the grid. During non-peak hours, it is a 1 for 1 trade.   Power companies do not want battery back-up power feeding back into the grid when the grid is down and being repaired. This unexpected juice can injure or kill a worker working on the line. So a properly installed battery power back-up for a grid-tied system will always cut off grid feed before coming on-line.   Battery back-up is also limited so it is not useful to feed any back into the grid. Whatever is not used will just remain in the batteries.   In our case, if we own a plug-in and charge it at night, it will draw power from PG&E. Our day time PV credits will pay for that usage. In the day, it will charge using our PV power. If our PV cannot generate enough to meet demand, it will automatically draw from the grid to make up the difference. Again, we just pay for it using our credits.   Hope this answers your question? Replies to this message: tpe (Aug 02, 2007 8:14 pm) kdhspyder (Aug 02, 2007 9:07 pm) hiwayman (Aug 03, 2007 1:46 pm)
#428 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [cdptrap] by tpe Aug 02, 2007 (8:14 pm)
Replying to: cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 4:47 pm) I think that grid tied is the way to go. If you want the security from blackouts then buy a generator. It's a lot cheaper than maintaining a bank of batteries.
#429 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [cdptrap] by kdhspyder Aug 02, 2007 (9:07 pm)
Replying to: cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 4:47 pm) Thanks, very clear.
#430 of 567 Re: Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids- Sensible or Stupid [cdptrap] by hiwayman Aug 03, 2007 (1:46 pm)
Replying to: cdptrap (Aug 02, 2007 4:47 pm) That's a very interesting system. Would love to see your farm's power set up. We have solar panels on our suburban house with the same set up. In our case we had to have two inspections before the system could be energized. The local building codes had to be met, and PG&E's inspectors has to assure themselves that our grid tie wouldn't kill someone in a power outage. In our case, our system senses if there is power on the grid. If there ISN'T, it doesn't feed our solar-generated power back onto the grid. Additionnally, we have a BFS (Big Friggin' Switch) we can throw, which cuts us off from the grid completely (this is different from the master breaker on most homes). My wife's dream is to have a total EV car, or a plug in, that we can recharge using our solar. And you are right, by the way, because the panels do not collect at night, the idea of charging an EV at night doesn't make much sense, environmentally, since you'd draw on the house batteries, or pull from the grid (usually from the grid).
#431 of 567 Re: More tax incentives for hybrids? Are they needed? [gagrice] by hiwayman Aug 03, 2007 (2:50 pm)
Replying to: gagrice (Aug 01, 2007 7:37 pm) Thanks for your sympathy. Obviously, the reason we're here isn't just about the money. There are a lot of personal reasons that keep us from moving to a less expensive area (I'm originally from Wisconsin, so I do pine for the pines, so to speak). I don't live in Silicon Valley, fortunately, because my cost of living would be even higher (I live just north of San Francisco) by about 20%. And your comment about living in Detriot? Really? Detroit????   In regard to the tax incentive, I would suggest that it really has almost NO impact on YOUR wallet, when you put it in the context of the tax incentives and breaks given all over the board to big corporations and other entities. There are billions of dollars in tax incentives that are taken advantage of by various entities and special interest groups such as tobacco and big oil. When you take the piddling little tax incentives that are given for hybrid cars (that are dropping to almost zero as we speak) as a percentage of the whole, it probably costs you something less than a penny each tax year.   To be honest the Feds support of alternative technologies is pretty pathetic. The influences of big oil and the automakers (who generally would rather not produce hybrids, and only do so, grudgingly, to increase their fleet overall MPG ratings) and a currently very fiscally conservative (at least when it comes to alternative fuels) government means that very little public funding (tiny slivers of a percentage of the total expenditures) is going to hybrids or similar cars. If I were to pick a battle to fight, I would go after the tax incentives given to big oil to do "research" when their profit margins are well over 100%, and their gross bottom line is in the billions of dollars.   Without getting any more long-winded, if you consider the couple of thousand-dollar tax breaks on a few thousand hybrids in the context of a Federal Budget that is approaching 3 TRILLION dollars (the budget comes out of your pocket, among other places), the cost to you as an individual is miniscule to the point of disappearing.   That is incredibly short-sighted on the Feds' part. As fossil fuels become increasingly scarce, and the demand for them increases, it will not be very long before the high price of these fuels will impact our economy and the economies of the countries around the world. A crappy economy directly results in tax revenue streams that become trickles. Revenue streams drying up means the feds can't do what they're supposed to do. Shock waves go through the economy. Hiways get crappy. Petrochemical companies, shipping companies, travel, power, and everything else gets even more expensive. Soon, the economy craters...   Nope. A piddling little tax incentive for a hybrid car doesn't make much difference to you. If anything, more incentives should be put in place to get people out of their Yukons and into their Prius'..... (BTW, I don't own a Prius..I own a Nissan Hybrid).... Replies to this message: tpe (Aug 03, 2007 3:48 pm) gagrice (Aug 03, 2007 4:12 pm)

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