I installed a gasoline engine in my Rivian

[mkhuffman]

This has to top the list of "stupid EV questions that gasholes ask." Gas is actually LESS reliable than electric, as we saw after the NC flood. The power never failed, but the gas was all full of mud.

But natural gas and propane are pretty reliable in a natural disaster. It takes no electricity or gasoline to change or fill a propane tank, and unless it is the end of the world, that NG line into my house is always pressurized.

The last time a major hurricane hit here (years ago) we were without power for five days. That was really tough. The gas stations had no power. People running gas powered generators had to drive 50-100 miles to fill up their tanks to run their generators. People with NG or propane generators were in good shape. Relatively.

Sponsored

 

[SwampNut]

So, is something like this basically a range extender? My two largest EVSEs both top out at 32a, or 7680 watts. But they make larger ones. 7680w gives around 16 MPH, which is pretty significant.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

And this is the top reason why I hate all of this "AI" crap. I really, really hate this timeline.

We just need some nuclear power plants. We have the technology to provide for all of our electricity needs between renewables and nuclear with little to no pollution. Using that much power isn’t a problem by itself, it’s using that much power supplied by fossil fuels.

 

[mkhuffman]

So, is something like this basically a range extender? My two largest EVSEs both top out at 32a, or 7680 watts. But they make larger ones. 7680w gives around 16 MPH, which is pretty significant.

I like that generator because it is an inverter generator. My Champion is not an inverter generator. I may have to upgrade one day because inverter power is cleaner. In theory. My Champion was less than half the cost, though. Meh. You get what you pay for. (Sometimes.)

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It's not wrong



We're in the part of the tech cycle now where people don't understand that it's just a tool. And they are actively using it for the wrong things, getting bad information out of it, and are making important decisions based on that incorrect information. To the detriment of us all.

Once people learn the limitations and understand how to use it we'll all be better off.

Every technology that’s ever been invented has been abused. The question is whether the tech has more benefit than harm and the potential for AGI to help humanity outweighs it’s potential for abuse IMO.

I use it pretty often in my career, and AI is great at seeing trends in data and they are a helpful partner in brainstorming as well. If you’re smarter than the AI you can see it’s mistakes and the fact that it can generate false information.

The system is only as good as the person using it, and the problem is with the people doing the misuse not the system. Ironically, AI has the potential to help these sorts of people function on a higher level as it gets better.

 

[SwampNut]

We just need some nuclear power plants.

Phoenix is mostly nuclear, but powering this stuff is still creating a lot of problems. Now, I'm never one of those people who says that problems mean stop progress, but some of them can't be fixed as fast as we're creating them.

One example is that the way our laws work, the power companies have increased costs slightly to pay for build-outs to support this. We ALL pay for it, because the laws don't apportion the rate to the problem specifically. So it's a regressive tax on the poor, for one. Can we fix this? Of course, but it takes years by design to change the laws. "Just add nukes" is a good step, but we need much more.

I like that generator because it is an inverter generator. My Champion is not an inverter generator. I may have to upgrade one day because inverter power is cleaner. In theory. My Champion was less than half the cost, though. Meh. You get what you pay for. (Sometimes.)

For EV charging, the power almost doesn't matter. The EVSE and converter can swallow a lot of trash power with no issue. For other things, it can be critical, such as motors. The generator I'm using is the iGen4500DF, it's a good machine, the price was great, warranty good. I had a carb problem that was fixed under a recall, with very little cost to me.

I don't camp remotely enough to justify $2k-$2500 for a fast charger, but it's an intriguing option for some. The area where I spend the most time has an RV park I can use if needed (not super convenient, not awful). And the nearest SC is slightly out of the way to/from home but not ridiculous. I think it adds 6-8 miles total.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Phoenix is mostly nuclear, but powering this stuff is still creating a lot of problems. Now, I'm never one of those people who says that problems mean stop progress, but some of them can't be fixed as fast as we're creating them.

One example is that the way our laws work, the power companies have increased costs slightly to pay for build-outs to support this. We ALL pay for it, because the laws don't apportion the rate to the problem specifically. So it's a regressive tax on the poor, for one. Can we fix this? Of course, but it takes years by design to change the laws. "Just add nukes" is a good step, but we

Fair point. There are problems with our laws and the way the government works to subsidize big businesses at the expense of the working and middle classes. That’s a symptom of a larger problem with our government which hopefully can be fixed.

I certainly don’t have all the answers on that one but a good start would be removing lobbying and special interest money from politics, ranked choice voting and term limits for government officials.

 

[SwampNut]

Fair point. There are problems with our laws and the way the government works to subsidize big businesses at the expense of the working and middle classes. That’s a symptom of a larger problem with our government which hopefully can be fixed.

You won't find me disagreeing with everything you said about politics, but it's worth pointing out that the current method was specifically made to HELP the poor. Basically to spread the costs out. Because at the time, we had no thought of putting dozens of megawatts into a building full of GPUs, and therefore the commercial users were actually subsidizing the residential. Now it's been inverted.

Mini-nukes, at/near the sites, and fusion, are really the answers.

One of my best friends is a top engineer at Nvidia. He's the one who gave me the GPT-6 answer I posted. His cluster is specifically located right by an existing nuke plant AND river for cooling. We need that here. I keep having these visions of the lake near me hosting a DC. They can cool it, and power it with a mini nuke. That lake is surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing. I live right by the new TSMC plant for reference.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

You won't find me disagreeing with everything you said about politics, but it's worth pointing out that the current method was specifically made to HELP the poor. Basically to spread the costs out. Because at the time, we had no thought of putting dozens of megawatts into a building full of GPUs, and therefore the commercial users were actually subsidizing the residential. Now it's been inverted.

Mini-nukes, at/near the sites, and fusion, are really the answers.

One of my best friends is a top engineer at Nvidia. He's the one who gave me the GPT-6 answer I posted. His cluster is specifically located right by an existing nuke plant AND river for cooling. We need that here. I keep having these visions of the lake near me hosting a DC. They can cool it, and power it with a mini nuke. That lake is surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing. I live right by the new TSMC plant for reference.

You could be right. I don’t know enough about power demand and the best way to help everyone specifically when utilities are concerned to make an educated statement on that exact policy.

What you said makes sense though.

 

[mkhuffman]

Fair point. There are problems with our laws and the way the government works to subsidize big businesses at the expense of the working and middle classes. That’s a symptom of a larger problem with our government which hopefully can be fixed.

I certainly don’t have all the answers on that one but a good start would be removing lobbying and special interest money from politics, ranked choice voting and term limits for government officials.

100% on the term limits. 1000%, actually.

 

[SwampNut]

My numbers were wrong on fuel economy on my truck. When I changed tires to the Nitto Grapplers I know it got better, but didn't really watch the usage exactly.

This is after a round trip of 30 miles each way, so we can eliminate road and altitude variations. I was mostly in D+ at 75 MPH. There was a bit of street time but mostly highway, which for an EV, is actually often the lowest economy due to aerodynamics. Also in this case, I had the bed loaded on one leg (delivering bikes to donate for people who need them). Obviously that adds some drag.

I picked up the wife and immediately left to go to the Rivian toy drive and mini party, also getting the same usage on that trip, but running 80. Which shockingly didn't have as much impact as expected.

So, my correct real-world economy is 2.3 miles per kWh. The math then is this:

Full load usage is 0.5 GPH, at 3700w.

Official spec charts put my 3120 load at 0.43 GPH.

The car reported an actual 3kW going into the battery.

2.3 miles per kWh.



16 MPG

 

[mkhuffman]

My numbers were wrong on fuel economy on my truck. When I changed tires to the Nitto Grapplers I know it got better, but didn't really watch the usage exactly.

This is after a round trip of 30 miles each way, so we can eliminate road and altitude variations. I was mostly in D+ at 75 MPH. There was a bit of street time but mostly highway, which for an EV, is actually often the lowest economy due to aerodynamics. Also in this case, I had the bed loaded on one leg (delivering bikes to donate for people who need them). Obviously that adds some drag.

I picked up the wife and immediately left to go to the Rivian toy drive and mini party, also getting the same usage on that trip, but running 80. Which shockingly didn't have as much impact as expected.

So, my correct real-world economy is 2.3 miles per kWh. The math then is this:

Full load usage is 0.5 GPH, at 3700w.

Official spec charts put my 3120 load at 0.43 GPH.

The car reported an actual 3kW going into the battery.

2.3 miles per kWh.



16 MPG

That's worse than a Suburban.

 

[SwampNut]

Oh, it gets even worse when I ran a real-life test on usage. Probably 13 MPG.

 

[SwampNut]

I put exactly 1 gallon of gas in the generator and let it run until it stopped. It had previously run until it stopped so it should be a true 1 gallon test. It fell into the lowest efficiency range that I’ve seen for an inverter generator, and clearly the rated numbers from the manufacturer are overly optimistic. While this generator is five years old, it got a brand new carburetor and full tune up about nine months ago.

Anyway, based on that, 13mpg is the true final number. When I ran it in camp, I had a gut feeling that it was consuming gas far faster than I had expected.

 

[blturner]

Still cheaper than most the fast chargers. 13 MPG at $3 per gallon is 23 cents per mile. 2 Miles per kWh makes breakeven 46 cents per kWh at the fast charger. If a generator would charge while driving I would get one.
Wait, I just described the Scout.

Sponsored