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ANewMachine615 t1_ja4x6sk wrote

Reply to comment by 2_dam_hi in New England grid operator says small-scale solar is driving down electricity demand on some days by TurretLauncher

There is a possible free rider problem. Grid maintenance costs don't change much with lower use, and in some ways, more distributed generation offsets lower use of centrally generated power. Grid maintenance is billed on a per KwH, to my understanding. So folks with solar don't pay as much towards grid maintenance as other users. This is one of the ways solar pays for itself, but so long as you're still connected to the grid, it is a problem. Solvable by changing the funding model, of course. Same as the gas tax for highway maintenance will need to change as EVs become a larger share of the market to remain a viable funding model.

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ConcentrateNice7752 t1_ja5lzwm wrote

Many states already charge hundreds or thousands a year of extra money for registrations for EVs

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ANewMachine615 t1_ja607va wrote

I wasn't aware of that, but it's a good change. They're less costly in terms of externalities, but they do tend to be heavier on average due to battery weight, and that can wear on roads over time.

Lots of stuff is gonna have to change from taxing the input to taxing the use, I think, if we really do get to change over to a more electrified and dsitributed energy system.

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GRADIUSIC_CYBER t1_ja6181s wrote

the heavier weight of an EV is irrelevant, almost all wear and tear on roads is from tractor trailers, buses, and snowplows. A BEV sedan is like 4-5k pounds, vs 3-4k for an equivalent ICE vehicle. VS an 80000 pound tractor trailer.

“The damage due to cars, for practical purposes, when we are designing pavements, is basically zero. It’s not actually zero, but it’s so much smaller -- orders of magnitude smaller -- that we don’t even bother with them,” said Karim Chatti, a civil engineer from Michigan State University in East Lansing.

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ANewMachine615 t1_ja64ano wrote

Good to know! They do still have the gas tax problem, but that's fixable.

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wenestvedt t1_ja7vp2q wrote

> heavier on average due to battery weight

I find it hard to believe that the small population of electric cars, compared to the enormous population of (enormous) pickup trucks & SUVs -- which are the most commonly sold cars these days, by a large margin -- are disproportionally affecting the roads.

And especially not in NH.

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ANewMachine615 t1_ja827xj wrote

Not now, no, but they will eventually. And one of the most successful electric vehicles out there in terms of selling out its production for years to come is the F-150 Lightning, which is both electric and a larger chassis. But an average Tesla sedan is about the same weight as a standard F-150.

But as another comment here pointed out, most of the wear and tear still comes from heavy loads, 18 wheelers, etc.

Edit: my overall point was that you can't expand these things endlessly with our current funding model for upkeep of the networks they rely on (power or roads). For me, the fix is changing how we fund those networks rather than simply blaming the new tech abstractly. Heck I'd be down for a large gas tax increase + a registration fee for EVs that offset each other, so gas still pays for more of the maintenance as a method of discouraging further use of ICE cars.

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wenestvedt t1_ja88u79 wrote

> gas still pays for more of the maintenance as a method of discouraging further use of ICE cars.

Well, as long as something works to reduce gas use, I am in.

I wish that we had better public transit, but a lot of America is just too spread out for that. I have spent time living in the UK and Europe, and it's so awesome to be able to walk places or hop on a regional train...but that's not practical in northern NH or Minnesota's Iron Range!

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