Charging EVs versus NZs net electricity generation

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s_nz, Jun 30, 3:35am
Either a power cable is run from their apartment to the parking space, or Body corp power already in the garage / carpark with some kind of billing / metering setup is used.

Assuming the risers etc. are accessible the first option is nice and simple. Means each apartment owner pays for their own power, and requires minimal involvement from the body corp (owner can supply their own wall box etc). Does mean a lot of $$ in copper though.

The second option involves a lot less wiring work, but may require the power feed for the body corp power be upsized. Worked best with all matching EVSE's which allow power to be shared between cars (decreasing the feed size required), and with integrated metering / billing int the EVSE's.

Likely will see more of the latter setup when EV charging at their parking space becomes an amenity more widely demanded by prospective tenants and owners.

Some places like California have passed laws that make it illegal for apartment/condo management to block owners from installing charging points at their carparks. Sticking point before this was often aesthetics of exposed conduit required to retrofit. NZ might see similar laws at some point, but regardless, once a decent chunk of owners / tenants demand this amenity, it's provision will likely pass in body corp meetings etc.
tony9, Jun 30, 3:54am
marte, Jun 30, 4:26am
Yes, i must be.
I dont see any ' night rate' power on my bill, just a seperate meter with a very very slightly lower unit price that meters/controls my hot water cylinder
I know that, well here anyway, that nightstore heaters were connected up to this meter.
My power companys changing from Trustpower to Mercury soon, so i might see what my options are after that.
mrcat1, Jun 30, 4:51am
That's incorrect, the last government DIDNT buy Chinese steel for bridges, the contractor that won the tender bought the steel, it came with test certs so it was supposed to comply with what was ordered, apart from the fact that steel for bridges has to be tested here, and it failed the test here as per the test certs that came with it, once again the Chinese trying to shaft people.
mrcat1, Jun 30, 4:56am
There's 2 coal trains a day carting from the Mount to Huntly, I believe some is for Huntly power station, the other is mixed with high quality NZ coal and carted onto NZ steel as coking coal for steel making.
Plus I also heard there's every man and his dog with HV units carting coal over the hill to Huntly.

I can really see the incentive to get rid of my 6.7litre ute.
mrcat1, Jun 30, 4:58am
My kids school uses woodfires in the classrooms.
gazzat22, Jun 30, 8:28pm
But does Glenbrook cost the Taxpayer Many Millions of $ in subsidies with threats to close it down?
cattleshed, Jul 2, 12:22am
From what I know fast charging is too costly, that is, it speeds up battery degradation. On another note, when looking strictly at the EV (as opposed to the bigger picture) the major emphasis is on the battery life. What do we know about the electric motor? Are they NOW economically repairable? Can they even be dismantled or is it a one piece single life disposable unit and what would be a replacement cost and then plus labour cost, generally? IF repairable now who's to say that won't change.
tweake, Jul 2, 12:31am
the electric motor i'm not worried about, they are generally pretty robust.
its usually the control gear etc that fails first and thats the difficult part to fix.
elect70, Jul 2, 12:49am
All depends on the cook strait cable & the 2 sub stations as to if they can take the extra capacityif not then seveal mill $ for another cable
trade4us2, Jul 2, 12:55am
An electrical engineer that worked at Glenbrook tells me that about 125 wagons of coal are used every day and that is mixed with the ironsand in a furnace to make steel. That is the necessary process and it cannot be done any other way. I don't think they use a significant amount of electric power.
(Steel needs carbon in it. Where else would they get the carbon?)
marte, Jul 2, 1:59am
Thanks, i just searched & found this. I knew they had carbon arc furnaces though i dont know much else about it.

1100 Gigawatt hours
At full capacity the Glenbrook operation consumes up to 1100 Gigawatt hours of electricity a year. This is approximately the amount that Wellington City (excluding Hutt Valley) uses each year. The bulk of this usage is by the plant's two iron melters which each consume up to 300 Gigawatt hours each year
marte, Jul 2, 2:09am
Weirdly enough. Tiwais electricity use can be supplemented by natural gas.
The reduction cells can be heated by gas ( with changes, its established technology ) & that would reduce the amount of electricity needed to do that.

The Carbon bake kilns for firing the Carbon Anodes & Cathodes could be run on gas instead. This would free up a huge amount of electricity that could be used elsewhere without having to upgrade the grid as much.
Even if its just offsetting coal use, it would free up power for EV use in some of the flattest parts of NZ.
mimik3, Jul 20, 11:58pm
Just to add to your comment nearly all vehicle chargers now monitor the incoming load to the house and automatically will adjust their output accordingly.
There will be very few cases where the existing incomer or board will have to be upgraded.
If you have more than one charger of the same brand they will connect via wifi and share the load between them to ensure optimum performance and charging.