Tesla Powerwall 2 User Discussion Thread
July 3rd, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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There is very little concrete information publicly available about the Powerwall 2’s actual capabilities. I think that the reason for Tesla’s coyness is that they are still heavily iterating on the systems that have been sold to customers. Tesla does this with cars that people are driving around on public roads, so no surprise here with the Powerwall 2 situation.
As a potential Powerwall 2 customer, I’m not willing to see if my requirements will be met with some future app or firmware update, so I’m waiting and reading about the experiences other people are having. I’m very interested in backup and offgrid capabilities, but those are the the most nebulous details to try to nail down right now. Tesla has consistently promoted the Powerwall 2 as being suitable for off grid applications, while providing no technical details about how that would work.
As of now, this text appears on Tesla’s New Zealand Powerwall page:
Reliable Power Day and Night
Powerwall provides backup power during utility outages, natural disasters and even the Zombie Apocalypse (you know it’s coming). Compact, stackable and with a built-in inverter, Powerwall also comes ready to integrate seamlessly with solar, enabling you to self-power your home and even go off-grid, if you like.
I’ve been reading through a thread where end users are left to try to figure out the details, and I think bkp_duke summed it up pretty well:
Typical Tesla . . . we are all glorified Alpha / Beta testers.
It’s astonishing that a product that seems to be in an advanced beta stage of development (at best) has everyone in the industry standing around, bug eyed and in awe. Although I’m dazzled, I’m keeping my wallet shut for now.
That said, if anyone with access to Powerwall 2 installer manuals would like to send copies my way, I’d really appreciate it. Most of all, I’d like to see wiring diagrams, technical specifications, operating manuals and/or installation manuals related to the “Backup Gateway.” This seems to be the secret sauce. The Powerwall 2 is fully AC coupled (the DC version is definitely cancelled outside the U.S.), so it’s using your inverted PV generation or grid supplied AC to charge. From what I can gather, there is no additional generator input, DC or AC.
So how is thing suitable for off grid without a backup mechanism for charging? Or, if there is a backup mechanism for charging (besides the grid and solar), what is it?
Anyway, my hat is off to the early adopters/pioneers who are paying to beta test this thing! Thank you.
1,800 Tons of Radioactive Waste Has an Ocean View and Nowhere to Go
July 2nd, 2017Via: Los Angeles Times:
The massive, 150-ton turbines have stopped spinning. The mile-long cooling pipes that extend into the Pacific will likely become undersea relics. High voltage that once energized the homes of more than a million Californians is down to zero.
But the San Onofre nuclear power plant will loom for a long time as a landmark, its 1,800 tons of lethal radioactive waste stored on the edge of the Pacific and within sight of the busy 5 Freeway.
Across the site, deep pools of water and massive concrete casks confine high-power gamma radiation and other forms of radioactivity emitted by 890,000 spent fuel rods that nobody wants there.
And like the other 79,000 tons of spent fuel spread across the nation, San Onofre’s nuclear waste has nowhere to go.
The nation’s inability to find a permanent home for the dangerous byproduct of its 50-year-adventure in nuclear energy represents one of the biggest and longest running policy failures in federal government history.
10 Battery Gigafactories Are Now in the Works, and Elon Musk May Add 4 More
June 30th, 2017Via: Green Tech Media:
Overall, Bloomberg reports that global battery-making capacity is set to more than double by 2021, topping 278 gigawatt-hours a year compared to 103 gigawatt-hours at present.
The massive planned increase in battery production feels similar to the Chinese manufacturing boom that radically altered the PV landscape around a decade ago, by creating oversupply that ultimately led to the demise of dozens of solar firms.
Could the same phenomenon be underway in battery manufacturing?
Probably not, say storage experts. The pricing declines won’t be nearly as dramatic due to supply chain differences.
“Unlike PV, battery raw materials are rare metals that have to be mined and processed, so they will have constant supply-demand push-pull, minimizing risk of supply glut,” said Ravi Manghani, director of GTM Research’s storage practice.
“The industry is in the middle of a huge cost declines phase as manufacturers continue to bring large gigafactories on-line. While some individual vendors may see massive cost step-downs as facilities are activated or new generation products with superior density are launched, on a macro level, the declines are going to be much more gradual,” said Manghani.
Related: China Is About to Bury Elon Musk in Batteries
Dutch Startup to Produce Electric Car with Integrated Solar Charging
June 29th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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I can’t see how a sedan is going to have enough surface area to make this work. Why not try it on something like a Nissan E-NV200? Nontrivial levels of PV generation would be possible from that.
Oh boy, I want a used E-NV200 so bad. I’ve been keeping my eye on them for a couple of years. There’s a 7 seater out now. It’s almost enough to make me want to get a “real” job for a while. *gasp* There are devices that allow people with home solar power systems to charge their electric vehicles only when there is sufficient PV generation. In other words, once the loads in your house are covered, you charge your car instead of getting paid next to nothing for exporting your solar power to the grid.
That’s going to make much more sense than placing the PV cells directly on the car, at least for the next several years.
But I salute these freaks anyway and wish them the best of luck.
Via: Inhabitat:
The solar-powered Lightyear One can travel up to 500 miles on a single charge. Other automakers have unveiled electric cars with solar panels on the roof, but none of them have been able to propel a car as far as Lightyear’s new vehicle.
The integrated solar cells on the roof of the Lightyear One will generate enough energy to recharge the battery during the day, rendering charging virtually unnecessary. In sunny climates, the car can drive for months without charging, but if you need to travel further, you can also charge it using a standard power socket.
Plastic Bottle Apocalypse
June 28th, 2017Via: Guardian:
New figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the surge in usage of plastic bottles, more than half a trillion of which will be sold annually by the end of the decade.
The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and the spread of a western, urbanised “on the go” culture to China and the Asia Pacific region.
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Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently calculated people who eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year.
American Pravda: CNN
June 27th, 2017Via: Project Veritas:
Project Veritas has released a video of CNN Producer John Bonifield who was caught on hidden-camera admitting that there is no proof to CNN’s Russia narrative.
“I mean, it’s mostly bullshit right now,” Bonifield says. “Like, we don’t have any giant proof.”
He confirms that the driving factor at CNN is ratings:
“It’s a business, people are like the media has an ethical phssssss… All the nice cutesy little ethics that used to get talked about in journalism school you’re just like, that’s adorable. That’s adorable. This is a business.”
According to the CNN Producer, business is booming. “Trump is good for business right now,” he concluded.
California: Glyphosate Will Be Added to List of Chemicals Known to Cause Cancer
June 27th, 2017Via: Reuters:
Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co’s (MON.N) popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7, the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday.
Monsanto vowed to continue its legal fight against the designation, required under a state law known as Proposition 65, and called the decision “unwarranted on the basis of science and the law.”
The listing is the latest legal setback for the seeds and chemicals company, which has faced increasing litigation over glyphosate since the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said that it is “probably carcinogenic” in a controversial ruling in 2015.
Dicamba, a weed killer designed for use with Monsanto’s next generation of biotech crops, is under scrutiny in Arkansas after the state’s plant board voted last week to ban the chemical.
OEHHA said the designation of glyphosate under Proposition 65 will proceed following an unsuccessful attempt by Monsanto to block the listing in trial court and after requests for stay were denied by a state appellate court and the California’s Supreme Court.
Monsanto’s appeal of the trial court’s ruling is pending.
MAERSK: IT SYSTEMS DOWN DUE TO CYBER ATTACK
June 27th, 2017Via: Twitter:
UPDATE 15:00 CEST pic.twitter.com/L5pBYvNQd3
— Maersk (@Maersk) June 27, 2017
New Cyber Attack Underway
June 27th, 2017Via: Reuters:
Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) said a large-scale cyber attack hit its servers on Tuesday and computer systems at some banks and the main airport in neighboring Ukraine were also disrupted.
A Moscow-based cyber security firm, Group-IB, said it appeared to be a coordinated attack simultaneously targeting victims in Russia and Ukraine.
In Copenhagen, global shipping firm Shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) said it had suffered a computer system outage caused by a cyber attack thought it was not immediately clear if it was connected.
One of the firms Group-IB said had been hit in Russia, Damco, which is Maersk’s logistics company.
Volkswagen Partners with Nvidia to Expand Its Use of AI Beyond Autonomous Vehicles
June 27th, 2017Use AI to fire workers, in other words.
Via: TechCrunch:
Volkswagen is working with Nvidia to expand its usage of its artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies beyond autonomous vehicles and into other areas of business, the two companies revealed today.
VW set up its Munich-based data lab in 2014. Last year it pushed on with the hiring of Prof. Patrick van der Smagt to lead a dedicated AI team that is tasked with taking the technology into areas such as ‘robotic enterprise,’ or use of the technology in enterprise settings.
That’s the backdrop to today’s partnership announcement. VW wants to use AI and deep learning to power new opportunities within its corporate business functions and, more widely, “in the field of mobility services.” As an example, the German car-maker said it is working on procedures to help optimize traffic flow in cities and urban areas, while it sees the potential for intelligent human-robot collaboration, too.
