From what I heard at the dealership yesterday, the grid here is “struggling to keep up” as a result. I don’t know how true that is, but he did talk me out of spending several thousand dollars on a faster charger for my bike (6kw -> 12kw), claiming it would actually charge slower since it can’t negotiate at peak rate pretty much anywhere in the state.
I would usually be more sceptical, but this guy is paid on commission and basically talked himself out of a bigger paycheck.
I don’t know specifically for Vermont but “the grid struggling to keep up” usually means that there is a specific moment in the day/week/month at peak consumption where the production is struggling to keep up.
99.9% of the time outside of this specific moment the grid is fine and your fast charger should work fine.
PS: I am not 100% certain of what I am saying so I would be happily corrected if I’m wrong.
That is today. Even if true, the grid sees this demand and they are looking to meet it. So next year things will be different.
Though a good salesman wants repeat sales and so if he things you will be unhappy he won’t sell it. Thus selling the cheaper thing now and hoping you come back in a few years when the grid is better is the right thing for him.
Assuming of course that your grid is allowed to keep up. Vermont isn’t on the ocean, but it is close enough to get offshore wind from neighboring states. Trump seems to be shutting that down, and so the area should refuse to provide enough power since their best option isn’t allowed. (building coal would be allowed, but it is uneconomical) Write your congressman to make sure wind is unblocked. I don’t know how windy Vermont is, but in state wind is likely an option if allowed. Likewise there is some solar potential though it isn’t a great location.
I’m lucky enough to live in a location where all my power comes from Wind.
What bike do you have? Can you post a photo of it if you are comfortable doing so.
I have never seen a bike with a 17kWh battery. That battery pack must look huge
Out of curiosity, how what kwh does your bike’s battery have? Thinking that you could get a big 12kw inverter and a few server rack batteries. It’d be several thousand for the setup, but it could charge asynchronously throughout the day.
It’s ~17kWh and it takes about two hours…ish at the stock “6kw” charge rate, but can be hardware upgraded to “12kw” in order to cut that down to about an hour when the charging infrastructure supports it. Evidently there is some kind of issue where if it can’t provide 12kw due to charger limitations, it actually downgrades itself to 3kw, there by lengthening charge time over the stock… gizmo (inverter??? Idk).
How would your bike charge? At home? Public charging station?
Both, but at home I think I’m limited to 240v/48ish…amp since it’s 60amp breaker? I’m new to this, don’t quote me.
