$900 to charge a Telsa in Texas right now.

[Nobody Special]

The electricity shortage in Texas amid the cold snap has sent spot electricity prices soaring so much that the surge in power prices equals a cost of $900 for charging a Tesla.
Texas Freeze Raises Cost Of Charging A Tesla To $900 | ZeroHedge

And with all the outages... :frusty:

 

[Bumbo]

That is pretty wild...

I have been working on a DIY home solar and powerwall setup... I like the idea of being able to generate and store my own power to charge the car.

Never have to worry about stuff like this.

 

[Nobody Special]

Prices skyrocketed to more than $9,000 per megawatt-hour—compared to the pre-storm prices of less than $50 per hour.
$5,152 Power Bill? Texas’ Winter Storm Hell Only Gets Worse

 

[ElectroBoy]

It sounds like you’re blaming windmills for the power outages. (Wind power is only about 20% of the TX power mix). Ercot cheaped out by not buying carbon fiber heated blades which will not ice up. It’s not like Texas never gets cold. Windmills perform in winter all around the world in extreme temps. Plus if Ercot weren’t so independent and unregulated they could draw power from other system operators. Oklahoma does and they’re OK.

 

[RichinRidgewood]

There was an article that popped up on Apple News today about this.

You could buy a Kubota diesel generator to charge your EV and run the basics on your house for the price of a few recharges utilities are charging.

 

[Deuxdiesel]

So rather than look at this from the perspective that Texas was knowingly unprepared for such an event, and allowed the utility companies to gouge consumers, and is now try to place blame on everyone else, we deride Tesla owners?

 

[mrblah]

So rather than look at this from the perspective that Texas was knowingly unprepared for such an event, and allowed the utility companies to gouge consumers, and is now try to place blame on everyone else, we deride Tesla owners?

nobody in this discussion is "deride tesla owners".

 

[thennen]

It sounds like you’re blaming windmills for the power outages. (Wind power is only about 20% of the TX power mix). Ercot cheaped out by not buying carbon fiber heated blades which will not ice up. It’s not like Texas never gets cold. Windmills perform in winter all around the world in extreme temps. Plus if Ercot weren’t so independent and unregulated they could draw power from other system operators. Oklahoma does and they’re OK.

I don't see Nobody Special blaming windmills or anything else. He simply posted a couple of links. And the fact is, there are reports of $900 prices for charging Teslas. That's not anyone's opinion.

 

[Rapid_Amble]

I don't see Nobody Special blaming windmills or anything else. He simply posted a couple of links. And the fact is, there are reports of $900 prices for charging Teslas. That's not anyone's opinion.

Most of the news articles on this topic are so-called fact-checking type articles based on a whole lot of opinion and little if any data. Maybe it's projection lol.

This article is from Feb 15 when wholesale electric prices increased from $50/MW-hr to $9k/MW-hr. Crazy times.

Texas wholesale electric prices spike more than 10,000% amid outages | Reuters

Perhaps more people with EVs will invest now in solar panels and rechargeable batteries to store energy, just in case.

 

[ElectroBoy]

I don't see Nobody Special blaming windmills or anything else. He simply posted a couple of links. And the fact is, there are reports of $900 prices for charging Teslas. That's not anyone's opinion.

Its not him blaming wind power directly, but the linking of an article from a far-right radical conspiracy theory blog that is known for publishing lots of wacky ideas, that does blame wind power. It’s been banned from FB and Twitter in the past and that author “Tyler Durden” is a pseudonym for several staff writers. Hardly a reputable source.

That Zero Hedge article while stating some facts, it selectively mentions frozen turbines many times, not the whole story, and would lead an uninformed reader to believe wind power played a major role in the power problem. Instead of the real problem of no regulation to force winterization of the state’s power infrastructure. Gas and oil generators froze up too. This is not a one-off occurrence. It’s happened before and will likely again if warnings are not heeded. Even this polar vortex cold blast was predicted weeks in advance.

With no power for days, house damage from frozen and burst pipes, drinking water shortages, I don’t think Texans are all that concerned about their Teslas.

 

[Rapid_Amble]

Its not him blaming wind power directly, but the linking of an article from a far-right radical conspiracy theory blog that is known for publishing lots of wacky ideas, that does blame wind power. It’s been banned from FB and Twitter in the past and that author “Tyler Durden” is a pseudonym for several staff writers. Hardly a reputable source.

That Zero Hedge article while stating some facts, it selectively mentions frozen turbines many times, not the whole story, and would lead an uninformed reader to believe wind power played a major role in the power problem. Instead of the real problem of no regulation to force winterization of the state’s power infrastructure. Gas and oil generators froze up too. This is not a one-off occurrence. It’s happened before and will likely again if warnings are not heeded. Even this polar vortex cold blast was predicted weeks in advance.

With no power for days, house damage from frozen and burst pipes, drinking water shortages, I don’t think Texans are all that concerned about their Teslas.

Using FB and Twitter as validation LOL. FB and Twitter are radical far left publishing platforms honing censorship in order to fortify their echo chambers.

Fact is, wind turbines froze. Fact is, there isn't a clear picture yet of everything else that led up to the outages. Pointing fingers at fictional scapegoats won't help anyone understand the situation.

 

[ElectroBoy]

Using FB and Twitter as validation LOL. FB and Twitter are radical far left publishing platforms honing censorship in order to fortify their echo chambers.

Fact is, wind turbines froze. Fact is, there isn't a clear picture yet of everything else that led up to the outages. Pointing fingers at fictional scapegoats won't help anyone understand the situation.

From Fox News, Austin TX:
“Dan Woodfin, a senior director for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, told Bloomberg frozen instruments at natural gas, coal, and nuclear facilities and limited supplies of natural gas is the main reason for widespread energy shortages.”

What caused power outages for 4 million people in Texas? | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

 

[Rapid_Amble]

From Fox News, Austin TX:
“Dan Woodfin, a senior director for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, told Bloomberg frozen instruments at natural gas, coal, and nuclear facilities and limited supplies of natural gas is the main reason for widespread energy shortages.”

What caused power outages for 4 million people in Texas? | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

So, shutting down reliable coal based electricity plants and shifting to unreliable green energy wind turbines and nat gas plants is the root cause of $900 Tesla charge ups.

 

[RichinRidgewood]

So, shutting down reliable coal based electricity plants and shifting to unreliable green energy wind turbines and nat gas plants is the root cause of $900 Tesla charge ups.

Correct

 

[ElectroBoy]

So, shutting down reliable coal based electricity plants and shifting to unreliable green energy wind turbines and nat gas plants is the root cause of $900 Tesla charge ups.

Huh?

There was no “shifting”.

Green energy is supplementing the gas/oil/nuclear mix because it made economic sense. No one forced Texas to install it. It’s all about the money.

 

[Rapid_Amble]

Huh?

There was no “shifting”.

Green energy is supplementing the gas/oil/nuclear mix because it made economic sense. No one forced Texas to install it. It’s all about the money.

There's a big shift under way. They've shut down many coal plants and have plans to shut down many more. Need to make up the difference somehow, green sounds good on the surface (to some) so $ is sent that way.

Texas Coal Plant to Shut Down By 2020

Colete Creek coal to close. Can Texas shut down all its remaining coal by 2030? | Energy Central

 

[ElectroBoy]

There's a big shift under way. They've shut down many coal plants and have plans to shut down many more. Need to make up the difference somehow, green sounds good on the surface (to some) so $ is sent that way.

Texas Coal Plant to Shut Down By 2020

Colete Creek coal to close. Can Texas shut down all its remaining coal by 2030? | Energy Central

Good links, thx.
Yeah, a lot of coal plants are privately owned and just can’t compete with natural gas plants. The cost of fueling, upgrading aging equipment, maintenance, etc, is just too high. So they close. Even with massive expansion of wind, solar, and improvements in storage, we’re always going to need to burn something to generate continuous power. Nat gas is the preferred way now. Let’s hope the agencies in CA, TX, and other states can get their shit together and learn from their mistakes. Otherwise we all suffer.

 

[thennen]

It sounds like you’re blaming windmills for the power outages. (Wind power is only about 20% of the TX power mix). Ercot cheaped out by not buying carbon fiber heated blades which will not ice up. It’s not like Texas never gets cold. Windmills perform in winter all around the world in extreme temps. Plus if Ercot weren’t so independent and unregulated they could draw power from other system operators. Oklahoma does and they’re OK.

Just gonna throw this out there. It’s about all the research I’m gonna do on this subject. This is from a MachineDesign article on January 21, 2021:

“ Due to the high cost of carbon-fiber composite blades, only one firm uses them extensively in its blade designs.”

So maybe cheaping out isn’t exactly what they did. Maybe they’re uncommon and expensive.

 

[thennen]

Its not him blaming wind power directly, but the linking of an article from a far-right radical conspiracy theory blog that is known for publishing lots of wacky ideas, that does blame wind power. It’s been banned from FB and Twitter in the past and that author “Tyler Durden” is a pseudonym for several staff writers. Hardly a reputable source.

That Zero Hedge article while stating some facts, it selectively mentions frozen turbines many times, not the whole story, and would lead an uninformed reader to believe wind power played a major role in the power problem. Instead of the real problem of no regulation to force winterization of the state’s power infrastructure. Gas and oil generators froze up too. This is not a one-off occurrence. It’s happened before and will likely again if warnings are not heeded. Even this polar vortex cold blast was predicted weeks in advance.

With no power for days, house damage from frozen and burst pipes, drinking water shortages, I don’t think Texans are all that concerned about their Teslas.

Since when is being banned by FB and Twitter meaningful? I’m sure you recognize that they ban in only one direction.

 

[ElectroBoy]

Just gonna throw this out there. It’s about all the research I’m gonna do on this subject. This is from a MachineDesign article on January 21, 2021:

“ Due to the high cost of carbon-fiber composite blades, only one firm uses them extensively in its blade designs.”

So maybe cheaping out isn’t exactly what they did. Maybe they’re uncommon and expensive.

That sounds correct. Blades made entirely out of carbon fiber are expensive and rare. Sandia labs is working on a new carbon fiber technology geared toward less expensive and stronger blades.

What is used now by a Swedish company are thin carbon fiber coatings that are heated when sensors determine there is a risk of icing.
Other techniques they use are repellent coatings and circulating heated air inside the blades. It’s not perfect and must be expensive, but it’s worth it to them since they want to operate all year round. In Canada too.