Driving an EV pickup

I’d think a large array of solar panels on a sunny day would provide enough solar to cover the average commute in vancouver 30km. Not enough for a contractor running around with a loaded truck but close. I agree charging from 20% would take a long time. Using it for power outages makes a lot of sense to me. Does the ford lightening and Mac-e support two way power flow? Is that still a thing, I know it was talked about.
Lightning does, not sure about the Mach.
 
and of course we can see as liquids become harder to get, black is the new green again.
burning coal generates electricity for EVs. and we come full cycle.
and of course, no oil = no food.
 
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Lih
I’d think a large array of solar panels on a sunny day would provide enough solar to cover the average commute in vancouver 30km. Not enough for a contractor running around with a loaded truck but close. I agree charging from 20% would take a long time. Using it for power outages makes a lot of sense to me. Does the ford lightening and Mac-e support two way power flow? Is that still a thing, I know it was talked about.
Lightning can support bidirectional charging though the Ford Home Pro 80 amp charger, which originally came free with all extended range battery vehicles. It also requires additional work on your home's electrical panel, to be done by a Ford-approved electrical contractor. I haven't heard of many Canadian owners who went that route, as it was quite expensive.

The quick and dirty way to do it is to get an electrician to collect 4-6 circuits you want to power in an emergency and drop them into a subpanel that is co-fed by an exterior 240V receptacle. In a power outage, shut off the home's primary disconnect, then connect a heavy gauge extension cord from Lightning's 240V 30A bed outlet to that 240V wall mount receptacle. It's enough to run fridge and freezers, lights and plugs. Sewer lift pump if you have one of those.

I mapped it out with an electrician I use a lot in my business. He estimated $1200-1500. I didn’t do the install because power outages are very rare for us. We are within 1 km of the substation and the street is all underground power.
 
Lih

Lightning can support bidirectional charging though the Ford Home Pro 80 amp charger, which originally came free with all extended range battery vehicles. It also requires additional work on your home's electrical panel, to be done by a Ford-approved electrical contractor. I haven't heard of many Canadian owners who went that route, as it was quite expensive.

The quick and dirty way to do it is to get an electrician to collect 4-6 circuits you want to power in an emergency and drop them into a subpanel that is co-fed by an exterior 240V receptacle. In a power outage, shut off the home's primary disconnect, then connect a heavy gauge extension cord from Lightning's 240V 30A bed outlet to that 240V wall mount receptacle. It's enough to run fridge and freezers, lights and plugs. Sewer lift pump if you have one of those.

I mapped it out with an electrician I use a lot in my business. He estimated $1200-1500. I didn’t do the install because power outages are very rare for us. We are within 1 km of the substation and the street is all underground power.
Thanks for this! We don't get many outages in Saanich, but when the big one comes we will need it.
 
Smart move is to do that work anyway, you can feed it from any 7500+ W generator that has 240V output - until you get your Lightning. 😉
Thanks, I gave my Honda generator to my neighbor. Hated tripping over it in the garage and trying to remember if I ran it or put stabilizer in it. Threw it into ai and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, give you 240v as well. They are as low as 20k usd used now. Sure a hell of a lot more expensive than a generator but mommas Acura will be long in the tooth and funding crappy governments for a couple more years, then it will be time for a replacement.
 
That's probably the busier family vehicle these days anyway? Makes sense to electrify the one that gets the most use. Although many people try an EV as a second vehicle and then realise a few months later that it's become the drive of choice. More fun and so much cheaper.
 
..... youre not going to live out the apocalypse in your ford lightning...... it will takes weeks for your solar panels to charge the thing. ...

I think we are not on the same wavelength. I'm not personally trying to live out an apocalypse, nor am I thinking there is one solution for all problems. I'm saying we can make changes where possible, not simply driven by convenience or basic economics, and favour solutions that localize control. Like local power generation for as much as possible, including transportation.

And no, it doesn't take weeks to power a vehicle with solar panels. We moved recently, but our prior house had 10kW of PV panels on the roof and we covered the house's electric needs including the car, which was run 15,000km per year. And the house was electrically heated. Very doable.
 
And no, it doesn't take weeks to power a vehicle with solar panels. We moved recently, but our prior house had 10kW of PV panels on the roof and we covered the house's electric needs including the car, which was run 15,000km per year. And the house was electrically heated. Very doable.
I had an assessment for PV array on my place, with a sub-optimal roof layout. Could still fit almost 13 kW up there, would have provided >90% of our annual electric needs including EV and heat pump. Upfront install cost was the equivalent of 12 years of energy bills though. Yes, the feds had the interest free loan, but we are mortgage free and approaching retirement. Decided not to take on a monthly payment, too late in the game for us personally even though it's a sweet solution.
 
I had an assessment for PV array on my place, with a sub-optimal roof layout. Could still fit almost 13 kW up there, would have provided >90% of our annual electric needs including EV and heat pump. Upfront install cost was the equivalent of 12 years of energy bills though. Yes, the feds had the interest free loan, but we are mortgage free and approaching retirement. Decided not to take on a monthly payment, too late in the game for us personally even though it's a sweet solution.

Yeah, that payback period sounds about right. I don't think alot of folks realize that its not a big stretch to have enough power on a typical house roof to mostly or completely offset all their energy needs (net metered) including heat and transportation. I'm talking about warmer areas of BC, where most of the population is. If we put the panels in when the houses are being built it reduces cost, results in more efficient roof usage by design, and reduces payback period significantly.
 
I was a little surprised TBH. I've overseen several solar installs in recent years as a builder in the Okanagan, but I thought my roof was a poor candidate as its ridgeline runs north-south, meaning an east-west array. These can work OK, less peak production but longer production hours most days. However, my west-facing roof is cluttered with mechanical vents and skylights, and the east has a false dormer cutting it up as well. Finally I got the electrical contractor we use for solar work to come by with his drone. He crunched the numbers and came up with about 50% more array potential than I'd guesstimated. Yet another reminder to me that I'll never know everything about building.
 
I had an assessment for PV array on my place, with a sub-optimal roof layout. Could still fit almost 13 kW up there, would have provided >90% of our annual electric needs including EV and heat pump. Upfront install cost was the equivalent of 12 years of energy bills though. Yes, the feds had the interest free loan, but we are mortgage free and approaching retirement. Decided not to take on a monthly payment, too late in the game for us personally even though it's a sweet solution.
Wouldn't the payment for the solar be around the same as your hydro bill? My business partner got solar on his house and the cost for the solar is basically the same as the credit they get for their hydro bill, so it's not an extra payment. It's just changing who you are paying but after the solar is paid off, you might not have a hydro bill.
 
Supply and install estimates were in the upper range for solar due to the cut up nature of the roof. I should clarify that we are adding heat pump this year, having modeled out the additional electrical. That pushed payments well up toward double existing electrical bill. I'm still keeping an eye on solar pricing, as it's slowly coming down. Future incentive programs might just tip us over into solar anyway; it's close.
 
Supply and install estimates were in the upper range for solar due to the cut up nature of the roof. I should clarify that we are adding heat pump this year, having modeled out the additional electrical. That pushed payments well up toward double existing electrical bill. I'm still keeping an eye on solar pricing, as it's slowly coming down. Future incentive programs might just tip us over into solar anyway; it's close.
I'm close to jumping on the solar train. We got a heat pump last year. My EV a month ago, and now my wife wants a PHEV. The only thing holding me back is that I want to upgrade to 200amp service before installing the solar or I'll have to redo the solar connection to the panel. And 200amp service isn't looking like a cheap/easy install for my house. If I keep it at 100amp service, at least my wife won't be tempted to get a hot tub and sauna and on and on and on
 
I'm close to jumping on the solar train. We got a heat pump last year. My EV a month ago, and now my wife wants a PHEV. The only thing holding me back is that I want to upgrade to 200amp service before installing the solar or I'll have to redo the solar connection to the panel. And 200amp service isn't looking like a cheap/easy install for my house. If I keep it at 100amp service, at least my wife won't be tempted to get a hot tub and sauna and on and on and on
Do you need to upgrade service to 200 amp, or just get a 200A panel? I know my panel can't accept the full 13 kW from the array without the upsized panel - another reason why our pricing is on the steep side. Panel needs at least 125 A bus bar and the old unit has only 100. Could restrict the array size I guess.

We're doing OK with 100 A service though, and the imminent heat pump isn't an issue as it just replaces the old AC unit and uses its circuit. We are keeping the condensing furnace (8 yrs old) as a backup that kicks in below about -5 C and avoids the need for a cold climate heat pump with backup coil. The EV charger uses a 40 A circuit. We haven't had to use any load sharing devices yet, but those are an option for people faced with service upgrade. One scenario would be to have hot water tank and clothes dryer share the same 30 A circuit. I would consider that as a possible way to get off gas for water heating when the current tank reaches end of life.
 
BC hydro rates going up by about 12.5% over the next few years? In 10 years I could see it going up by 30-40% in total. @sly_karma did you estimate account for an Increases in rates?
Some. But with time-of-day billing likely in Penticton soon-ish, our bill will go down for a while before it eventually climbs (City of Penticton buys power wholesale from Fortis).
 
Regarding the rates: BC Hydro is moving from net metering to net billing, and reducing the amount they will pay for your excess energy. Effectively you will pay retail when you use their energy, and you will sell at something lower or like a wholesale price. So not a direct price increase, but an impact to your payback math.

For those of you looking at getting a deal where you don't pay the upfront costs, but you keep a fixed monthly bill...just be aware that you are paying more in the long run. If you are ok with that, then great...just be aware that installers are getting paid for that financing, as they should.

Looks like the gov't subsidized loans for financing the initial installs are also tightening up. eg. Canada Greener Homes loan program ended late last year. Anecdotally I heard from an installer that the subsidized financing paths they had available are drying up. We (homeowner) can still finance the upfront costs, but that financing is no longer as cheap.
 
Do you need to upgrade service to 200 amp, or just get a 200A panel? I know my panel can't accept the full 13 kW from the array without the upsized panel - another reason why our pricing is on the steep side. Panel needs at least 125 A bus bar and the old unit has only 100. Could restrict the array size I guess.

We're doing OK with 100 A service though, and the imminent heat pump isn't an issue as it just replaces the old AC unit and uses its circuit. We are keeping the condensing furnace (8 yrs old) as a backup that kicks in below about -5 C and avoids the need for a cold climate heat pump with backup coil. The EV charger uses a 40 A circuit. We haven't had to use any load sharing devices yet, but those are an option for people faced with service upgrade. One scenario would be to have hot water tank and clothes dryer share the same 30 A circuit. I would consider that as a possible way to get off gas for water heating when the current tank reaches end of life.
My 100 amp panel is maxxed for slots, but I probably never use 100 amps. I changed the stove to gas to free up space for the heat pump. I have the NeoCharge splitter off the dryer for the EV charger. I think I’m maxxed but I’m no elechicken so I don’t really know. It’s a 70’s house and was re wired fairly recently but I think they didn’t do too good of a job. I don’t even know what some breakers do. Some might have one outlet on them for all I know
 
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