Extreme Weather

[Biggles]

.... and with a push for us to go to electric cars, to be clean and green, where do they think the electricity to charge them is going to come from, with insufficient generation capacity for current needs.   We need to have a non-emotional debate about going to a network of nuclear power stations.    After all, we have the uranium, and better opportunity to store the used fuel than many other countries.

Even the Washington Post isn't convinced wind and solar will be the solution to the energy problem.  It's a Sept 2016 article but nothing has changed its projections:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/09/19/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-lets-get-our-priorities-straight/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1a7b9558e299

[LindsayGT]

Who would build these Nuclear Power Plants? The State? Or Private Enterprise?

Given the reluctance of Private Enterprise to build New fossil fuel power plants, it seems to be left to the State to finance Nuclear Power Plants.

Wikipedia has this to say on the economics of Nuclear Power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_nuclear_power_plants

More reading.

https://www.google.com.au/search?lr=&hl=en&as_qdr=all&ei=adZKXNq8ONGP9QPawrKgDg&q=%22nuclear+power+station%22+economics&oq=%22nuclear+power+station%22+economics&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30l2.350005.353700..354932...0.0..0.268.2058.0j3j7......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0j0i67j0i22i10i30.VpB74bfO3vk

[Gadget]

Looking at just Tesla some of their US charging stations use solar panels and the plan is to convert them all.

Would make sense if they did that out here as well -

Has anyone done the maths on how much panel area will be needed (on a clear sunny day) to charge one car for say 100 km of travel?
It's not a small amount of energy unless everyone is going to ride in one of those two person pods with no cargo space and no crumple zone and no aircon.

A former colleague is working on the QLD Electric Super Highway protect and they are going to be building 50 kWh and 150 kWh solar powered charging stations at least every 300 km between the Gold Coast and Port Douglas. So yep, Engineers have done the maths.

Most modern electric cars are capable of over 600 km between charges and the new ones can be 80% charged in under half an hour.

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[Gadget]

A nuclear plant would take a minimum of 15 years to build, and the cost required of the generated electricity, in order to Madge a return on the investment would be 15 times the cost of renewables.

If it was cost effective, the likes of AGL and Engie would be pushing it hard.

The only ones seriously pushing nuclear, are those who've bought shares in Ranger mine.

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[Williamson]

Has anyone done the maths on how much panel area will be needed (on a clear sunny day) to charge one car for say 100 km of travel?
It's not a small amount of energy unless everyone is going to ride in one of those two person pods with no cargo space and no crumple zone and no aircon.

This guy has done some homework on electric vehicles, in this video and some others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRTfVTETD8I

[Gadget]

A work colleague has a Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in Hybrid and lives over at Manly and drives to Brisbane Airport and back on a charge.

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[alans1100]

]

Has anyone done the maths on how much panel area will be needed (on a clear sunny day) to charge one car for say 100 km of travel?
It's not a small amount of energy unless everyone is going to ride in one of those two person pods with no cargo space and no crumple zone and no aircon.

I can't find much about that but Wikipedia does sort of give an idea about charge times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Supercharger#Tesla_Megacharger

Tesla supercharging stations charge with up to 135 kW of power distributed between two cars with a maximum of 120 kW per car. They take about 20 minutes to charge to 50%, 40 minutes to charge to 80%, and 75 minutes to 100% on the original 85 kWh Model S. The charging stations provide high-power direct-current (DC) charging power directly to the battery, bypassing the internal charging power supply. The next version of Supercharging is expected to charge with more than 350 kW.

As for the Nuclear Power thing - all for it and being an essential service and as with the coal and gas fired power station that were built it should a state thing

[alans1100]

A former colleague is working on the QLD Electric Super Highway protect and they are going to be building 50 kWh and 150 kWh solar powered charging stations at least every 300 km between the Gold Coast and Port Douglas. So yep, Engineers have done the maths.

Most modern electric cars are capable of over 600 km between charges and the new ones can be 80% charged in under half an hour.

At the moment with a Tesla you can drive from the Sunshine Coast QLD to Adelaide via Sydney and Melbourne using the Super Charger network.  https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/findus#/bounds/-0.6911344,166.7429167,-51.6633232,100.0911072,d?search=supercharger,destination%20charger,&name=Australia

If you add in destination chargers (motels etc.) then there's a few more route options https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/findus#/bounds/-0.6911344,166.7429167,-51.6633232,100.0911072,d?search=destination%20charger,&name=Australia

[Gadget]

Great video, although the Clive Palmer ad in the middle was very disconcerting.

As for the conventional 12V battery, all the lights, fans, computers and dash run on 12 V. The batteries to run the Wheel motors, are usually around 300 V DC. The standard 12 V battery acts as a filter for the inverter which keeps it topped up from the 300 V batteries.

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[Bodø]

Easier to carry a jerry can.

[StinkyPete]

Easier to carry a jerry can.

Easier to drive a petrol car.

[Nigel]

What does the genny run on, Fresh Air? Think not, maybe fossil fuels.  What's the point of it all? 2c worth

[Gadget]

It's like we haven't been using deisel powered electric vehicles for some time,
 

for energy efficiency reasons.

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[Langers]

I understand its costly to build a large nuclear power station and takes a long time. But how about modular type NPSs? By that I mean they can bung a NPS in a sub or aircraft carrier, surely something could be developed to power small cities around a country like Aus where there is plentiful water around the coastline?

[Gadget]

I understand its costly to build a large nuclear power station and takes a long time. But how about modular type NPSs? By that I mean they can bung a NPS in a sub or aircraft carrier, surely something could be developed to power small cities around a country like Aus where there is plentiful water around the coastline?

Even then, the cost per kWh is still far greater than solar, wind, wave and geothermal.

They only do it in military submarines for tactical reasons, where cost is never a consideration.

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[Bodø]

Same same.

[Nigel]

I actually find this rather discriminatory amongst the masses. But most is. 4c now. Be up to a dollar soon.