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Old 03-23-2019, 02:36 PM   #337 (permalink)
JSH
AKA - Jason
 
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: PDX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RedDevil View Post
Battery degradation depends on many factors, but high currents, excess heat and full charge/depletion are the biggest culprits; if avoided in the V2G scenario there's little to worry about.
Your biggest culprits are true. However, every battery has a finite number of cycles. Cars are a durable good with a 20-25 year lifespan. Nobody knows if an EV battery will last that long in normal use let alone putting an extra charge cycle on it every day to sell power to the electrical company.

It seems like a perfect money making scenario for someone that leases a car and doesn't car about long term battery life. This makes me think in the future we will need a easy tool to see battery health. (Number of cycles, depth of discharge, temperature history.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedDevil View Post
Nobody has to love the power company, but making money off them should appeal.
Tesla wants you to buy their PowerWalls and use that for this purpose. It is pricey, but it makes money even when you're away.
Whether or not a powerwall makes money depends on cost, the price of electricity bought and sold, and the lifespan of the battery. The last factor is an unknown. However, with a powerwall at least battery degradation isn't as important. At PowerWall with 50% capacity remaining is still useful while an EV with 50% of the original range may not be.

My power company buys power at the off-peak rate if you have time of use billing. This is specifically designed to prevent people from gaming the system by charging a battery bank at night and then feeding the power back to the grid at peak rates.
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