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Tesla Energy

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Re: Tesla Energy

#571

Post by aharonovich »

jessriedel wrote: post #401
krschultz wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would take a wall plug standard for low current DC. If I have a giant battery pack in my garage full of DC, why do I need to convert it back to AC to run 15 feet into my house where it then gets turned back into DC to charge my phone & laptop? I had a boat with both AC & DC sockets, but we had the normal socket for both and the label plates showed you which was which. I don't think that solution is acceptable for t…

From an efficiency standpoint, the only thing that matters is how you handle the high drain equipment. It doesn't make sense to worry about inefficiencies in your 5V phone charger because its power draw is trivial anyways.

oh but think how much nicer the cable looks without the bulky box of the transformer.

Re: Tesla Energy

#572

Post by lockes5hadow »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #98

The max temperature basically makes it a no-go in much of the so-called "sun belt" where solar power conditions are optimal.

In those areas I guess you just install it inside the home somewhere, which is the whole point of making it look decent.

Re: Tesla Energy

#573

Post by mikeash »

alkonaut wrote: post #569
mikeash wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really doubt that's true, just because it's too early for it. There are approximately zero used Tesla batteries available right now. The fleet is just too new. Maybe in another ten years.

When the used batteries start piling up, it's best for tesla if this system is already in place. Entirely possible that this will be new and subsidized batteries initially. They will need to find a use for the old car batteries.

Could be, but they're jumping the gun a lot if that's the main idea. Tesla sales didn't really ramp up until 2014, and the batteries will probably last at least 10 years in the cars themselves.

In any case, they wouldn't need to subsidize these batteries. $350/kWh is a pretty decent price, and consistent with estimates of what they cost in Tesla's cars.

Re: Tesla Energy

#574

Post by IanCal »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #461
IanCal wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I never had a load of more than 3.5kW Different issues over the pond, my kettle can draw 3kW :) Since so many of my countryfolk have something similar, this actually causes our energy production quite severe issues when popular TV shows finish. Often a 200-400 MW spike but at the end of the 1990 world cup semi final penalty shootout against Germany, there was a spike of 2.8GW. An interesting example of some of the…

> my kettle can draw 3kW Pretty awesome for when you want that coffee ready in like 30 seconds flat, huh?

A 2 or 3 kW kettle is pretty common in the UK. We enjoy a good queue, but not to have to wait for a cuppa.

Re: Tesla Energy

#575

Post by eru »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #206
eru wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That, and the factory is in the USA. I would assume shipping something that large and heavy would add to the cost in Australia. Put it on a boat. Shouldn't cost more than shipping inside the US.

You still need to ship it inside the US to the boat dock, and then pay to put it on a boat, and then pay to ship it from the australian dock to the homeowner.

Yes, so the only extra part is the boat in the middle. Boats are cheap. (OK, Australian unloading costs are crazy from what I've heard, because of the unions here..)

Re: Tesla Energy

#576

Post by eru »

matt4077 wrote: post #221
eru wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on country. I doubt you could ever run, say, Germany or Britain on locally produced solar power.

There also wind... But solar already provides quite a substantial contribution in Germany. See this live chart: https://www.energy-charts.de/power.htm . Considering the rate at which solar power is getting cheaper, I'd say a solar power based economy is within reach.

Sure, wind, geothermal, nuclear etc.

Re: Tesla Energy

#577

Post by Thiz »

saryant wrote: post #469
Thiz wrote: post #308

I predict Venezuela will be the biggest importer of powerwalls to cope with daily outages. Who knew oil-rich but impoverished countries would help fuel innovation.

Venezuela has almost no dollars. They don't have the money to import toilet paper much less multi-thousand-dollar battery installations.

Venezuela has plenty of money from oil which goes to the hands of the power elites and their cronies and families.

So yes, while 29 million people lives in total poverty, there is one million families that would benefit a lot from that invention, and they will get it, believe me.

Re: Tesla Energy

#578

Post by kragen »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #557
kragen wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit that I haven’t! However, I think you’re talking about baking in a crappy solar oven, not baking in a solar oven in general. For example, http://www.solare-bruecke.org/infoartikel/Papers_%20from_SCI... describes a 3.4m² kilowatt prototype solar oven successfully used to cremate chunks of goat meat at temperatures of 800° to 900° in under an hour. Larger solar ovens (usually known as “solar furnaces”) can reach…

I could use an exotic molten-salt-backed oven, or I could pop in a third battery pack for $3500.

Are you really saying that a metal bucket full of saltpeter (tree stump remover) is “exotic” compared to a giant electrical battery based on lithium, a metal which doesn’t exist in nature, violently explodes on contact with water, and needs a solid-state electronic charge controller to keep the battery from exploding when you charge it? Why would you say something like that?

Re: Tesla Energy

#579

Post by lotsofmangos »

DaniFong wrote: post #567
lotsofmangos wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was going to ask if you are ever planning on doing a home system, as although compressed air tanks can be risky, presumably they are slightly less risky than normal gas supplies.

Compressed air tanks are tested very rigorously; including the gunfire test, bonfire test, impact test, sulfuric acid test, over test, over pressurization test... It is definitely safer than gas supplies, which strike me as an insane idea, especially in San Francisco where it previous burned down the city. We will eventually do a home system. It is in the planning stages

Thanks for the reply. I have been keeping a close eye on Lightsail and am hugely looking forward to the day when I can install one of your systems. My power bill this winter has been atrocious.

Re: Tesla Energy

#580

Post by Dylan16807 »

kragen wrote: post #578
Dylan16807 wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could use an exotic molten-salt-backed oven, or I could pop in a third battery pack for $3500.

Are you really saying that a metal bucket full of saltpeter (tree stump remover) is “exotic” compared to a giant electrical battery based on lithium, a metal which doesn’t exist in nature, violently explodes on contact with water, and needs a solid-state electronic charge controller to keep the battery from exploding when you charge it? Why would you say something like that?

By itself it's not exotic. Using it in molten state to cook things is exotic, yes.

Lithium clearly exists in nature. Elemental lithium might not, but they don't make the batteries from that either.

Molten salt also explodes on contact with water.

A charge controller is unnecessary. It's just a cheap way to improve efficiency. The bucket of salt would have a similar controller.

Also since price isn't a part of the equation for whether it's exotic, feel free to mentally replace the lithium ion battery with a lead acid one, made out of utterly boring materials and full of water.

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