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Electric car that charges itself

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Re: Electric car that charges itself

#331

Post by dheera »

recursive wrote: post #329
dheera wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil. Why is this even an approval? Why do you think you have ANY say over their solar installation? Why does it even have to go through an approval process for anything other than fire/electrical/building safety? It's not your property. Stay out.

I don't even know. The HOA was here before I moved in. Why are you so angry? To be literal, the reason I think "I" (actually the HOA) have a say is because a bunch of legal paperwork says so. All the home owners signed it. A year from now I won't have any say, because I won't be on the board. Generally, I like the HOA since they mow my lawn. But if you are religiously opposed to being a member of an HOA, then you jus…

> The HOA was here before I moved in. Why are you so angry? To be literal, the reason I think "I" (actually the HOA) have a say is because a bunch of legal paperwork says so. All the home owners signed it.

They were forced to sign it if they wanted to purchase property. If it was optional I wouldn't be angry. To me the entire reason for owning instead of renting would be to be able to modify the hell out of it to my house of my dreams. Yes I could avoid moving into an HOA neighborhood, but HOAs are spreading like viruses and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a place that doesn't have one.

I would just ask that the law make HOAs optional when purchasing property. If you want the benefits HOAs give you (if any), you're welcome to join, but you shouldn't be forced to join one just because you want to move into a certain district.

> A year from now I won't have any say, because I won't be on the board.

So now the house you supposedly "own" will be governed by some people that you don't even know. If they don't like your yellow car they could make a fit of it. I'm angry because if I owned property in a free country they shouldn't even be legally allowed to make a fit of something that isn't impinging on their freedom.

> Generally, I like the HOA since they mow my lawn.

I'd rather save the HOA fees and pay for a lawnmowing service.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#332

Post by asoneth »

eldaisfish wrote: post #225
ben_w wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shade is certainly a consideration, especially given people normally prefer to park their cars in shade to avoid them being unpleasantly hot when they return. Cost, however, isn’t. The cells themselves are extremely cheap compared with the cost of putting them on a rooftop (in the case of homes), and in this case replaces the use of paint on the bodywork. Specifically, the cost of cells is now down to ~$0.30/W, so 5…

Neither cost nor plausibility are the key criticisms here. The key criticism is about usefulness. If you want useful solar output in cities and don't have space or desire for rooftop panels, a better starting spot is the roofs of bus shelters or even the buses themselves. Both are large enough to generate useful solar output and are already higher than the majority of cars. Also, what are "average" conditions? The we…

> a better starting spot is the roofs of bus shelters or even the buses themselves

I agree that buses and bus shelters are a good opportunity for solar, but this is a strange comparison.

First, if the panels really are as cheap as they claim (though I am skeptical) then wouldn't it make sense to do both? Why does it have to be either/or?

Second, I don't think anyone who is deciding whether to spring for the "solar" option on their electric car is weighing that against putting solar on their bus or bus shelter.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#333

Post by nomel »

rbanffy wrote: post #244
Rule35 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bus roofs are much better for solar than compact cars and you have a use for that incidental power in a way a car does not. As for the car, I imagine people will burn the energy and more by turning on the air conditioning when they get into their hot car that they intentionally parked in the sun. Did you glue(/etc) the panels to the roof or did you have to mount them on standoffs?

> turning on the air conditioning You could cool it a bit with a Stirling engine and get a little more power from the overheated interior. ;-)

And you could use some of the extra heat in hot air balloons to offset the weight of all the Stirling engines.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#334

Post by mechagodzilla »

mastax wrote: post #222

Based on the comments here this tech is for people who: - don't drive very much - but drive enough to spend tens of thousands on a new car - but can't put a charger at their residence - but can park somewhere that isn't shaded by trees or buildings or clouds or snow Still, as the overall market for electric cars grows that can add up to millions of people. There's also another larger group: - People who don't choose…

I probably fall into their target market - my typical commute is ~3 miles a day to a train station and back, where I park in an open lot (and I park in an open driveway at home). I have plenty of room for a charger, but this would just mean I would have to charge less frequently (and electricity is ~0.25$/kwh where I live).

As you point out, by the standards of 'car accessories and upgrades', this one is probably reasonable and novel.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#335

Post by recursive »

dheera wrote: post #331
recursive wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even know. The HOA was here before I moved in. Why are you so angry? To be literal, the reason I think "I" (actually the HOA) have a say is because a bunch of legal paperwork says so. All the home owners signed it. A year from now I won't have any say, because I won't be on the board. Generally, I like the HOA since they mow my lawn. But if you are religiously opposed to being a member of an HOA, then you jus…

> The HOA was here before I moved in. Why are you so angry? To be literal, the reason I think "I" (actually the HOA) have a say is because a bunch of legal paperwork says so. All the home owners signed it. They were forced to sign it if they wanted to purchase property. If it was optional I wouldn't be angry. To me the entire reason for owning instead of renting would be to be able to modify the hell out of it to my…

What gives you (accusitorily) the right to deny me from living in a HOA neighborhood?

> So now the house you supposedly "own" will be governed by some people that you don't even know.

"Governed?" I wouldn't really say that. I'm still allowed to take a shit whenever I want, and use as much toilet paper as I feel is right and proper.

If you want to argue about the existence of HOAs, I'm probably not the best counterparty. I don't feel too strongly one way or another. Just giving my perspective on whether HOAs would "lose their shit" over solar panels.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#336

Post by dheera »

recursive wrote: post #335
dheera wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The HOA was here before I moved in. Why are you so angry? To be literal, the reason I think "I" (actually the HOA) have a say is because a bunch of legal paperwork says so. All the home owners signed it. They were forced to sign it if they wanted to purchase property. If it was optional I wouldn't be angry. To me the entire reason for owning instead of renting would be to be able to modify the hell out of it to my…

What gives you (accusitorily) the right to deny me from living in a HOA neighborhood? > So now the house you supposedly "own" will be governed by some people that you don't even know. "Governed?" I wouldn't really say that. I'm still allowed to take a shit whenever I want, and use as much toilet paper as I feel is right and proper. If you want to argue about the existence of HOAs, I'm probably not the best counterpar…

> What gives you (accusitorily) the right to deny me from living in a HOA neighborhood?

I don't deny you from your right to live in an HOA neighborhood, but I strongly oppose the HOA making it a requirement that you join them. It should be optional, and you can join if you want.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#337

Post by nomel »

mavhc wrote: post #144
rythie wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how it works, it's based on the date of the solar installation, not when the house was built.

But why didn't the owner install solar back then?

There are other investment options for something that has no liquidity and doesn't result in a profit for 8 years or more.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#338

Post by vermontdevil »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #194
samcheng wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an electric car driver, and I'm still skeptical. It's hard to imagine a scenario where I accidentally run out of batteries and then can afford to wait for MULTIPLE DAYS before finishing my trip. Pretty sure I'd at least want to get a tow to the nearest gas station, where they would be able to plug me in if necessary. Even a plain old 120V 15A plug has much more power than solar, and works overnight...

The only plus I can see is that if you leave your car at the airport for a week or some other long term parking situation, you don't come back to a dead battery.

Airports have 24/7 service to jump start your car etc.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#339

Post by orthecreedence »

everdrive wrote: post #308
orthecreedence wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally hate the idea of HOAs, so I agree with you on a gut level. Taking a wider view, HOAs are a form of free association and I can't condemn them entirely. If people want to subject themselves to complete hell, they should be able to. And frankly, the kind of neighborhood that has an HOA is not the place I'd want to live anyway, so it's not like I'm personally missing anything. That said, the existence of HOA…

>HOAs are a form of free association and I can't condemn them entirely. I think an argument against this is that the HOA follows the property, not the consumer. If I could opt out of an HOA when purchasing a home, it wouldn't be so bad. (but then again, the HOA would likely be severely weakened.)

The same goes for overbearing counties and their permitting. If I could just shirk off the local regulations or they could be opt-in, the world would be a much different place.

An HOA is effectively just a contractual micro-state, and conversely, some counties are a scaled HOA.

That said, I agree with you. I think HOAs are stupid, at least in the context of telling people what their shrubs should look like or what color to paint their house.

Re: Electric car that charges itself

#340

Post by nomel »

throwaw2934238 wrote: post #179
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What if you live in an apartment and only use your car for weekend activities? Then you probably live in a city and would be better served by transport modes where you don't need a big upfront cost, and other expenses and hassle of owning your own vehicle. I mean bus, tram, metro rail, taxi, uber. You can always qualify with further "what if you..." to find someone who matches this case. But by the time you're done…

People who live in big cities and ride crowded public transport every day to work, do not want to spend their free time on the weekend riding crowded public transport in the city. The cars are used to get away from crowds and from the city, to have some privacy and comfort and go out into nature.

If the intent was to be green, to minimize your carbon footprint, then you would buy an older, pre-owned, small displacement vehicle instead.
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