Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
For one, if they can offload power they can grab power, so I would assume that if they don't have sufficient juice they just take some off the grid, theoretically to be replaced later.
|
Well sure, it's just an exercise in accounting then, at least until you exceed your ability to replace it. You can sign up for Greenmax and be happy that a portion of your electricity comes from "green" sources, but if everyone signed up they'd have to close or change the program.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
For another, if only (for example) 4 cars can use the charging station at a time, and each takes half an hour, there's a maximum throughput of power per day that they can plan around.
|
And they have to plan around the limiting factor of how much solar energy they have available to them. That maximum throughput of power would require 20,000 square feet of solar panels (far more actually, that's just the theoretical amount), for 1 station.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
The scaling argument is valid, though, although you would think it would actually be cheaper per station as you increase the number of stations.
|
The solar cells can't be onsite at the station (too big), so it's just an accounting exercise at that point, just make sure you have the 20,000 square feet of solar panels per station somewhere on the grid selling to the grid, and take the electricity off the grid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
Except that not everywhere is suited for power generation from solar, although it'd work here (except maybe in mid-winter where it's usually sunny, but not for many hours) I'd suspect.
|
It'd work, but solar cells would generate half the energy here compared to California, so you'd need 40,000 square feet.
And that's yearly average I bet, the variation between winter and summer here is like 50% or something.