Today is a big day... getting my gas range replaced with induction. Chuffed, as they say.
Used to live in a place with one, then had to switch to gas, and let me tell you, it's real hard to go back to anything else after induction, but especially gas.
Because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the climate is a good reason to replace your gas stove with an induction cooktop. But health risks could be even more motivating. Pollution reaches bedrooms. Asthma and death rates rise. And I bet you don't use your fume hood much.
So, electrification of road transport is proceeding despite all the headlines.
Just like this winter when a lot of news outlets tried telling me that my EV wasn’t working well in Minnesota (contrary to my experience for the past two winters).
Electric vehicles are making an increasingly bigger dent in oil use, both globally and in Australia. In 2022, they displaced the use of 1.5m barrels of oil a day. Daily global oil demand is around 97m barrels, so there's a long way to go.
But it is not electric cars doing most of the work. It is e-bikes and mopeds. These #micromobility devices are ten times as common as electric cars globally (led by widespread adoption in #China), and twice as popular as e-cars in Australia. In 2022, electric micromobility devices globally displaced more than four times as much oil as electric cars.
If you've never tried one, consider giving it a go. Most bike shops will give you a free test ride. Personally, getting an #ebike has been one of the best decisions I've made in the last few years and has been one important way of maintaining our household record of never having owned a car.
The Fully Charged/Everything Electric team really is one big family, and I love these photos. The London show was our 14th (inc all international shows) and every one is so exciting - so many new ideas/techs for cleaner energy and transport, and they’re already the present, not just the future. Onwards and upwards!
Amazing opportunity for students (& other young people) here - Everything Electric LONDON tickets are FREE for under-25s:
"Young adults (16-25) will get free admission to the show. Tickets can only be bought at the show when proof of age is provided."
If you know young people who are interested in working in or studying a clean future for energy and transport, this is for them. Please do pass the word on!
#electrification pop quiz: somewhere in South London there is a section of rigid bar overhead electrification in amongst all of the third rail. (Trams don't count)
As of January 2024, #India's #railway network is 94% electric.
"Indian Railways has become the country’s largest consumer of electricity, and the impact of this shift towards #electrification on the country’s #EnergyIndependence is significant."
Absolutely stellar performance for my use cases, which are
A. hash browns
B. boiling water
C. eggs
Biggest issue:
A. cookware compatibility
Biggest benefit (aside from energy/no gas burning emissions):
A. extremely controllable temperature
Note: Getting other folks to try the induction stove did not go well; I am a technology early adopter and willing to experiment, no one else here is. They are comfortable with using what they have used, even if there are issues (lousy burner design here, for one).
Thoughts on Caltrain? Will the new electric replacement actually be running this time next year or will it be pushed back yet another year? And will current trains continue to fail due to lack of maintenance?
The article states. “Electrification is expected to slash greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 55,000 cars off the road annually.” So that means all these years Caltrain has been contributing massively to carbon emissions. Meanwhile BART is an electric system which has been operating since 1972. It is wild that Caltrain could be run on diesel this long and causing so much pollution.
The thesis in the latter half of this article that maybe we shouldn't be trying to recreate the gas refueling experience with EVs isn't unsound, and is compelling. But I think there's more context to be had here.
For one, oil major adoption of EV charging is a lagging indicator. They primarily got us into this mess, so we should never expect them to lead on solutions (though we damn sure better try to hold them to account).
This is a big deal. Utlities and EV Charging stations are starting to roll out per-kWh charging. Looks like Ontario is first in Canada with the Ontario Hydro-adjacent Ivy network (it's a private contractor funded by OH I believe) launching per-kWh charging today.
Up until now, EV charging at fast (L3) and slow (L2) chargers has been priced per-minute as if you were in a parking lot.
It is anywhere from 10c/min to 40c/min (The going rate these days is usually around 30c/min). I believe this was because many EVs couldn't receive more than about 25-50KW of power which meant it took more than an hour to fully charge a 40KWh battery. New cars are able to charge at 75KW-200KW and batteries are in the 60-100kWh range, so you're looking at 30min-60min charge times (in ideal conditions) for a full charge and less for the standard charge people do of about 50% the capacity.
It makes sense then to move to the actual electricity consumed as the measure for pricing since that, not time, will be the limiting factor.