Poll : How will you power your LEAF ?

[gonefishin]

47% of leaf owners have Solar? That's "shocking"! I have a 7.2kw system in Seattle and payback is on schedule for around 9 years due to a 54c/kwh incentive from WA for using WA made panels & inverters. I encourage everyone in WA to go solar if you have the cash, or can borrow it. Where else can you get an 11% annual return with little risk, and benefit the environment? I chose to go with a Leaf as the perfect accessory to my roof.

 

[PatricioEV]

We just got approval from our HOA for a 5.8kw system! Hopefully we can get it installed before our MY2012 gets in late next month.

 

[zarwin]

Ok don't get me wrong, installing solar to offset utility use of power is fantastic. I'm all for that. My brain just has a cramp every time I hear "Charge your EV with solar". I plan on using the leaf as a commuter car and will be parked at work for 80% of 'sunlight time' so therefore if I had solar installed at my house I would be offsetting the grid usage during the day, which is good since that is peak usage time, and charging the car from the grid at night. I'm sure some people will have their car parked at home all day but I would think the typical user would not.

Still doesn't change the wonderful fact that you are offsetting grid usage during the day even if the car is not plugged in, but my OCD brain (or whatever) thinks it should be termed as "solar offset to charge the car", like 'solar credits', or something like that. Go ahead, downvote away! (wait this isn't Reddit).

-Zarwin

 

[JPWhite]

My brain just has a cramp every time I hear "Charge your EV with solar".

-Zarwin

Give your cramped brain a rest on the weekend when you could quite conceivably charge directly from the sun

Solar charging is also another benefit of telecommuting and working from home. Both the car and computer are powered by the sun all at the same time !!

 

[Yodrak]

+1

Ok don't get me wrong, installing solar to offset utility use of power is fantastic. I'm all for that. My brain just has a cramp every time I hear "Charge your EV with solar". I plan on using the leaf as a commuter car and will be parked at work for 80% of 'sunlight time' so therefore if I had solar installed at my house I would be offsetting the grid usage during the day, which is good since that is peak usage time, and charging the car from the grid at night. I'm sure some people will have their car parked at home all day but I would think the typical user would not.

Still doesn't change the wonderful fact that you are offsetting grid usage during the day even if the car is not plugged in, but my OCD brain (or whatever) thinks it should be termed as "solar offset to charge the car", like 'solar credits', or something like that. Go ahead, downvote away! (wait this isn't Reddit).

-Zarwin

 

[phastphill]

I'm surprised and impressed at how many leaf owners have solar, even if it isn't technically what charges their car between midnight and 7am.

I'm fortunate to buy my juice from Alameda Municipal Power, "The Greenest Little Utility in America".

 

[wsbca]

My brain just has a cramp every time I hear "Charge your EV with solar"...Go ahead, downvote away!

I KNOW!!...it's the same thing that drives me crazy when people say they earn the money they spend on food..I mean, it's not like they use the actual money that their employer pays them to go out and buy the food. What really happens is each pay period that money goes into some sort of bank account. When they are at the store there is no way they are using that same money. It's ridiculous. It's totally different money! To claim that they "earned" that money just makes no sense at all to me. I mean, props to them for having a job and everything, but still, let's get real.

====

Actually what I find ridiculous is that this concept gives you a brain cramp, assuming it really does and you're not just dabbling in some "clever" pot stirring for amusement. Would your brain be less cramped if everyone who has solar had a battery bank, so it was literally the same electrons, even though that would be less efficient overall? I should hope so...but isn't that putting a little to fine a point on it? By the same logic you use to belittle the benign abstraction of "solar charging" where the grid operates as a battery (btw the car has a battery too - how does that fit into your viewpoint?), one could readily relieve themselves of the mental burden of being reliant on "foreign oil"...I mean, by the time you burn it in your car, it's been transported, refined, stored, and resold...it's not foreign anymore, it's not even oil anymore...so I guess we don't have to fret about using it...right?

 

[chris17660]

I saved money in the bank to buy my Leaf. Later when I went to the bank to withdrawal the money it wasn't the same exact bills that I put into the bank. Does that mean I didn't buy the Leaf with my money???

 

[JPWhite]

I saved money in the bank to buy my Leaf. Later when I went to the bank to withdrawal the money it wasn't the same exact bills that I put into the bank. Does that mean I didn't buy the Leaf with my money???

I paid cash too, but are you saying you actually went to the bank and withdrew money and took it to the dealer in a brown paper bag?

I paid for my car using paper and electrons. The check was paper, but once cashed the banks computers exchanged electrons. Since electrons don't 'die' its quite conceivable that some of the same electrons will end up in my car :ugeek:

 

[chris17660]

I saved money in the bank to buy my Leaf. Later when I went to the bank to withdrawal the money it wasn't the same exact bills that I put into the bank. Does that mean I didn't buy the Leaf with my money???

I paid cash too, but are you saying you actually went to the bank and withdrew money and took it to the dealer in a brown paper bag?

I paid for my car using paper and electrons. The check was paper, but once cashed the banks computers exchanged electrons. Since electrons don't 'die' its quite conceivable that some of the same electrons will end up in my car :ugeek:

LOL, I paid with check too but didn't want to add that to the conversation for fear of causing another brain cramp for anyone.

 

[Herm]

You are not even using the electrons from the power company, they just shuffle a short distance back and forth in the wiring.. dont ask me where the electrons came from in the DC battery

 

[Nekota]

You are not even using the electrons from the power company, they just shuffle a short distance back and forth in the wiring.. dont ask me where the electrons came from in the DC battery

For the DC electron source here is a repeat (apologies to original poster somewhere on MNL - edit: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2002#p41739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false .

Here is link to source --> http://www.ri.cmu.edu/video_view.html?menu_id=387&video_id=60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Yodrak]

From those nebulous electron clouds surrounding the nuclei of the elements in the battery as they re-arrange themselves into different compounds that don't require quite so many electrons?

... dont ask me where the electrons came from in the DC battery

 

[lpickup]

Bump.

I checked Green Power from Utility.

With all the money I save per month on gas (over $200), it costs me $16/month to add 400kWh (my monthly LEAF power usage) of renewable energy to my local grid. $16! That's less than 1/4 tank of gas (and shrinking!)

So what if I'm not using the actual electrons coming from a solar panel or windmill. I am funding projects (many of whom are individuals and small businesses--through the program I'm in I can actually get a map of each generator and the size of their system) that are generating renewable based energy and if more people did this it would only encourage more projects. Several years down the road when there are enough used battery packs out there (or other energy storage solutions) then maybe I can truly feel confident that my LEAF is instantaneously being powered by renewable sources. It doesn't bother me that it's not right now because in the end, the net effect is the same: I am paying for 400kWh of renewable energy that does not have to be generated from fossil fuels.

 

[TomT]

LADWP is so corrupt and mismanaged that I would not give them an extra cent for anything!

I checked Green Power from Utility.