Thought exercise: charging a Tesla with a dirty generator?

[LittleLebowski]

Ok Im not up on current generator technologies as far as who can and cant sync with a built in system. I was making the point that it could be done in less time on a higher output. I would think it would be more cost effecient to buy a commercially rated generator for longevity and not have to worry about syncing. Considering the maintenance cost of running a generator Id have to question the cost of doing this vs buying the electricity.

Yeah, I'm not sure if we could pull it off, but it would be glorious to charge my Tesla on dirty, nasty diesel

[LittleLebowski]

60kwh gets you about 200 miles and will cost you anywhere from $5 to $30 in electricity from a utility company depending on the rate (with mine it would be as low as $0.08/ kwh from 12am-6am and as high as $0.50/ kwh 5pm-8pm). That puts the energy cost between $0.025 and $0.15 per mile.

That generator does about 5kw per hour and apparently uses as little as 0.4 gallons of diesel in the process (though I suspect this is at low load) so it would need about 5 gallons of diesel to give you 200 miles of range. To match the $0.025 per mile energy cost from a utility charging $0.08/kwh, diesel would need to cost $1/gallon. To match the $0.15/mile energy cost of a utility charging $0.50/kwh, diesel would have to cost $6/gallon.

And that isn't factoring generator purchase, maintenance, or the cost of bringing the diesel to the generator. So while I lol @ sticking it to the tax man, it wouldn't make sense financially unless you're payiny pretty high electric rates.

Perhaps my California relatives.

[UNK]

Perhaps my California relatives.

Or if you had access to a ranch and could generate methane.

[whomever]

My take: if you could generate electricity by any means cheaper than the local grid, lots of people would be doing it.

[UNK]

When I was in trade school one of my teachers knew a guy who had natural gas beneath his property. Apparently this guy converted everything including his vehicles to run on natural gas.

I know a guy who buys older diesel vehicles and runs them off used motor oil. He has cars trucks and motorcycles. He also has a heating system for his house that runs off oil.

[LittleLebowski]

My take: if you could generate electricity by any means cheaper than the local grid, lots of people would be doing it.

You have more faith in lots of people than I do.

[Bart Carter]

60kwh gets you about 200 miles and will cost you anywhere from $5 to $30 in electricity from a utility company depending on the rate (with mine it would be as low as $0.08/ kwh from 12am-6am and as high as $0.50/ kwh 5pm-8pm). That puts the energy cost between $0.025 and $0.15 per mile.

That generator does about 5kw per hour and apparently uses as little as 0.4 gallons of diesel in the process (though I suspect this is at low load) so it would need at least 5 gallons of diesel to give you 200 miles of range. To match the $0.025 per mile energy cost from a utility charging $0.08/kwh, diesel would need to cost $1/gallon. To match the $0.15/mile energy cost of a utility charging $0.50/kwh, diesel would have to cost $6/gallon.

And that isn't factoring generator purchase, maintenance, or the cost of bringing the diesel to the generator. So while I lol @ sticking it to the tax man, it wouldn't make sense financially unless you're payiny pretty high electric rates.

OMG! Does solar start to make sense?

[LittleLebowski]

OMG! Does solar start to make sense?

Only if taxpayers foot the bill, I'm sure.

[Bart Carter]

Only if taxpayers foot the bill, I'm sure.

Well, we (the taxpayers) are paying $7,500 each so people can buy a Tesla, aren't we?

[wvincent]

Well, we (the taxpayers) are paying $7,500 each so people can buy a Tesla, aren't we?

What?????