New EV Battery Plant Requires Coal Plant To Keep It Running

Well, sure, why not, because there’s no way wind and solar will be able to power all the EVs (via Jo Nova)

EV Battery Factory Will Require So Much Energy It Needs A Coal Plant To Power It

electric vehicleA $4 billion Panasonic electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, will help satisfy the Biden administration’s efforts to get everyone into an EV.

It also will help extend the life of a coal-fired power plant.

Panasonic broke ground on the facility last year. The Japanese company was slated to receive $6.8 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been pouring billions into electric vehicles and battery factories as part of its effort to transition America away from fossil fuels.

The Kansas City Star reports that the factory will require between 200 and 250 megawatts of electricity to operate. That’s roughly the amount of power needed for a small city.

In testimony to the Kansas City Corporation Commission, which is the state’s equivalent of the Wyoming Public Service Commission, a representative of Evergy, the utility serving the factory, said that the 4 million-square-foot Panasonic facility creates “near term challenges from a resource adequacy perspective,” according to the newspaper.

As a result, the utility will continue to burn coal at a power plant near Lawrence, Kansas, and it will delay plants to transition units at the plant to natural gas.

Huh. What a bummer. All to make batteries for vehicles that most do not want. Too bad all the greeny-weenies are against nuclear power.

Also, continuing in the article

A 15-pound lithium-ion battery holds about the same amount of energy as a pound of oil. To make that battery requires 7,000 pounds of rock and dirt to get the minerals that go into that battery. The average EV battery weighs around 1,000 pounds.

All of that mining and factory processing produces a lot more carbon dioxide emissions than a gas-powered car, so EVs have to be driven around 50,000 to 60,000 miles before there’s a net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

So, people are really going to have to keep their forced vehicles for a lot longer than they usually would. The average time people keep cars is 4 years. And this will mean that the residual values for leasing will be horrendous. Combine that with much higher money factors (that’s essentially what you call the APR for leasing), and leasing costs will not be attractive.

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26 Responses to “New EV Battery Plant Requires Coal Plant To Keep It Running”

  1. Dana says:

    Second irony meter pegging story from our esteemed host this morning!

  2. Elwood P. Dowd says:

    Yikes! Despite Democratic objections, the Republican-controlled Kansas legislature passed nearly a billion in incentives to land the 4,000 job Panasonic plant!

    Even before Evergy learned how much demand Panasonic would create, the utility had already decided to postpone by a year the retirement of coal-fired Unit 4 at the Lawrence Energy Center, originally set for late 2023 or early 2024. Unit 5 was also expected to transition to using natural gas. But in June, the utility said it will keep burning coal at the plant until 2028 and would then transition Unit 5 to gas to provide power at times of high demand.

    “It would be a shame,” Zack Pistora, a lobbyist with the Kansas Sierra Club who helps lead its “Beyond Coal” campaign, said of the delayed closure. “Not only are we squandering an opportunity to access local Kansas clean energy resources that invest in our state, but it also is not doing anyone else a favor as far as more greenhouse gas pollution.”

    “We understand this decision was driven by a system-wide demand and not based on Panasonic,” (governor’s spokesperson) Zach Fletcher said.

    Carl Walton, Panasonic Energy of North America’s vice president, said Panasonic is committed to using renewable energy and reaching net-zero emissions by 2028. Panasonic is working to obtain renewable energy certificates that cover “our full operational load from day one,” he said. The certificates would effectively allow Panasonic to reduce the emissions associated with the plant’s energy use. Kansas’ abundant wind resources, as well as the potential for additional renewable energy development, also provide a strong base for limiting the carbon footprint of the plant’s electricity consumption, he said. “These resources are one of the reasons we selected Kansas for our facility,” Walton said.

    • James Lewis says:

      Dear Elwood

      “….. Kansas’ abundant wind resources, as well as the potential for additional renewable energy development, also provide a strong base for limiting the carbon footprint of the plant’s electricity consumption, he said. “These resources are one of the reasons we selected Kansas for our facility,” Walton said…..”

      He might want to ask those folks in Texas how renewables worked out when it became truly cold…

      BTW – Kansas is colder than Texas..

      The guy is a grifter…. ” Panasonic is working to obtain renewable energy certificates that cover “our full operational load from day one,…”

      IOW he’s gonna pay other companies to produce “clean” power to cover his “dirty” power production.

      +1 -1 = 0 IOW, he’s not making any reduction in the current carbon O2 situation.

      • Elwood P. Dowd says:

        Commenter: He might want to ask those folks in Texas how renewables worked out when it became truly cold…

        The commenter knows that renewables didn’t cause the devastating consequences of the Texas cold snap. Texas has its own grid and doesn’t import much electricity from the rest of the US. “Don’t Mess with Texas!” Gas-powered plants went offline.

        Much of what connies believe to be true… is not.

        Commenter: The guy is a grifter….

        And KS repubs fell for it?

        • drowningpuppies says:

          It was a litte more complicated than that, you simple moron.
          Seems Rimjob knows how to run everybody elses business but his own.

          What happened to that $77M your company (GRTX) pissed away with nothing to show for it?
          https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_scratch.gif

          #TheStenchFromAfftonMoHasNoAnswers
          #LGBFJB
          #Trump2024
          Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            Oh Rodney L.,

            You ignorant sack of shit.

          • drowningpuppies says:

            Prove me wrong, Jeffery K.
            Or sue me, dipshit.

            #TheStenchFromAfftonMoCantHandleTheTruth
            #Galera Therapeutics Inc
            As of September 29, 2023 • 3:00 PM CDT
            NASDAQ: GRTX
            0.175USD
            Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            Sue you, LOL, dumbass? You have nothing I want.

            Regardless, you’re still an ignorant sack of shit. But all nuCons are famously ignorant, so you hardly stand out.

          • drowningpuppies says:

            Keep proving what an ignorant little coward you are, PorkChop.
            It’s easy being a tough guy online, right?
            You don’t have to back up any your ridiculous threats.

            TheStenchFromAfftonMoKeepsProvingHesAPussy
            Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

  3. H says:

    Teach
    Will you participate in Honda helping to force EVs down the throats of Americans who don’t want them?

    • Dana says:

      Fortunately, neither our esteemed host, nor any other car salesman, can force people to buy vehicles they don’t want.

      Our host lives in the Tarheel State, and the Raleigh area is awash in traffic and, at least right now, road construction. The last time I drove through Carolina, on our way back from Ocracoke Island, traffic was extremely heavy, even mid-day on a weekday, in the Raleigh area, but one thing seemed to be true: there were towns and neighborhoods and people everywhere.

      Compare that to Kansas, about which this article was concerned. Drive west of the Mississippi River, and population density thins out dramatically. The western states are absolutely huge, but with smaller populations, and when you can see for miles and miles and miles, you can also drive for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, before you get from anyplace to someplace else.

      That’s when the range of plug-in electric cars really comes into play, when long distances are involved.

      In our drive from Ocracoke, we had to stop for gasoline once; that took ten minutes. If we had been driving a Chevy Dolt, there would have been at least two stops at charging stations, for about an hour each time. Of course, there is only one gasoline station on Ocracoke, and no electric car charging station at all, so that would have been a problem as well.

      • L'Roy White says:

        Fortunately, neither our esteemed host, nor any other car salesman, can force people to buy vehicles they don’t want.

        if these communists and Nazis can make us take medicines we don’t want and drugs we don’t want it’s only a matter of time before they can force us to buy cars we don’t want. You’re gonna eat bugs and you’re gonna like it. According to that uncle fester looking Nazi they have in charge.

        By the way Elwood you filthy pig stop calling a woman a whore she called you fat which you are you have no reason to call her a whore except the fact that you’re a lowlife Democrat and they do things like that. You’re probably used to Democrat women because they’re all whores.

        • Elwood P. Dowd says:

          Hey White,

          Both men and women can be whores. While I’m certain she appreciates your defense, if she’s going to insult others she should be able to take it.

          • L'Roy White says:

            Insulting others is one thing we do that all the time here but you’re when you’re dealing with a lady, a young lady at that, a mother of three kids, one of which is special needs, who she and her husband both work, and pay taxes, calling her a despicable name like a ***** which has special connotation to women is unnecessary.

            Now I and the rest of us here have seen your picture so we know that literally speaking you’re a fat BLOB. Do you know literally speaking she’s a whore? And I’m pretty sure you doubt that she even approaches anything like that. Unless you’ve got documentation like we have of your picture. They’re a young married couple with children that own their own home and are trying to make a go of it in America being slowly eradicated by that pig in the White House. Say I can call him a pig. And you can call Carolina whore. But he’s the president and a public figure and that falls under freedom of speech calling Carol Lynn a whore falls under slander. And it’s also unnecessary. It’s one thing for us men to insult each other it’s another thing for a supposed gentleman to call a woman that’s sort of a name. Especially without any documentation.

            I know I’m just a worthless republican nigga to you defending horrible white republican woman what is raunchy as we get to each other here I don’t think that’s necessary with her. Just an opinion. And like all of my other opinions I’m sure that will go neglected. But thanks for participating.

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            Hey White,

            Slander? Are you kidding? The commenter who goes by CarolAnn has threatened to SWAT my home! Another commenter here has supplied what he/she claims are my work and home addresses! I’ve been identified here AND called a child molester! Now that’s defamation.

            Mr Teach has a code that he doesn’t enforce.

            Ye can rant and rave at me, but be mostly polite to any other commentors. I will put up with quite a bit, but be mostly respectful to others.

            Mr Teach doesn’t give dispensations to female commenters.

            So knock it off. Stop revealing personal details related to the commenter CarolAnn. If you’re not interested in discussing topics, please don’t
            comment.

            BTW, I had a cheese steak sandwich from Donkey’s Place last week! Delicious! I always get it “wit” (i.e. with grilled onions) and their fresh pepper sauce. Their seasoned fries are the best. I prefer their round poppyseed buns over the Philly style hoagie (e.g., Pat’s/Geno’s). Neither you nor CarolAnn responded to my offer. I would have bought you lunch!

          • Dana R Pico says:

            The distinguished Mr Dowd wrote:

            Another commenter here has supplied what he/she claims are my work and home addresses! I’ve been identified here AND called a child molester! Now that’s defamation.

            Which begs the obvious question: since you have been identified here, what’s the purpose of denying it or using a pseudonym? I understand our esteemed host doing so, to keep from too close association with his employment, and I suppose that might be an issue with you, but surely just Jeffery wouldn’t hurt.

          • Elwood P. Dowd says:

            Why does anyone use a pseudonym online?

            Why does Porter Good use a pseudonym after he has identified himself?

            Why did other commenters cyberstalk and post what they claimed is a work and home address? You know the answer to that.

            Finally, why do you care?

  4. CarolAnn says:

    ?Tikes? You’re still living in 1952.

    Lose any weight yet fatso?

  5. drowningpuppies says:

    Looking shallow. EVs provide almost unmatched opportunities for virtue signaling, and that is of course why a lot of people choose to buy them. It’s quite a spectacle of vacuity.

    https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_bye.gif

    https://issuesinsights.com/2023/09/26/10-reasons-not-to-own-an-ev/

    #LGBFJB
    #Trump2024
    Bwaha! Lolgf https://www.thepiratescove.us/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

    • Dana says:

      I can see plug in electric vehicles having a niche. If you live in an urban area, and virtually all of your trips are short trips, an EV could fit the bill for you, if you have secure off-street parking in which you can install an at-home charging unit, and if you have enough money to have a second, gasoline-powered vehicle for the times in which you need it.

      Those are things which speak of a family being rather well-to-do. My darling bride and I have only one car apiece; it’s just not practical for us to have an additional vehicle, even though we do have a place in which an at-home charging unit could be easily installed.

      We even have the space for an extra vehicle. But the obvious question arises: why would we spend the extra money to buy, and insure, a third vehicle? We’re not poor, but we certainly are not wealthy, either, and throwing away $40-50,000 seems kind of foolish to us.

      Our older daughter has a 2018 Toyota Prius Hybrid, and that seems to be a very good car.

  6. unklc says:

    EV’s are and will remain niche vehicles for the foreseeable future. When cost, range and convenient charging have become competitive with ICE vehicles, then you may see a more commonplace acceptance. I certainly would not leave Houston in an EV and drive to San Diego. We did that comfortably earlier this year in our conventional midsize. Not to say you couldn’t do it, but I wouldn’t.

    • Dana says:

      Unklc wrote:

      When cost, range and convenient charging have become competitive with ICE vehicles, then you may see a more commonplace acceptance.

      There’s an obvious limit: you simply cannot force more sparktricity into a battery pack beyond a certain rate, without catastrophic failures of the battery system. The super-chargers are already using 440-three phase circuits, and, quite frankly, I am not a fan of untrained personnel making any electrical connections, even with what appear to be about as idiot-proof as can be, with 440 or 480 volt circuits.

      I’ve used, and worked on, 440 volt, three-phase power throughout my career. While most parts of a concrete plant can be run on 220 volts, high horsepower motors, to run heavy duty belts and turn central mix drums take 440, and that can kill you stone-cold graveyard dead if you do not know what you are doing.

    • L.G.Brandon!, L.G.Brandon! says:

      Earlier this year my father decided to travel from who’s house in Palm Beach to my house in Tampa driving his new Mercedes top of the line SUV electric. The trip is about 225 miles SUV EV is rated to go 500 plus. He told me he was sweating bullets by the time he got halfway here. Driving in Florida during the summer with the air conditioning blowing at top speed both front and rear air conditioners reduced his mileage by about 40%

      then when he arrived at my house outside of Tampa he realized he was gonna have to do a lot more cruising around my area to find the chargers he needed. Houses in my area are about $650,000 the houses and dad’s area started about $3 million and go up to well Mar-a- Lago. That’s not to say we don’t have chargers we just don’t have Palm Beach chargers..

      It was there two days and had his car charging the complete time and he was literally leaking sweat has he and mom and my brother and his wife entered the car for the return trip. This from a man who has a 5 car garage and still has to leave his Ferrari in the rain.

      They all made it comfortably home and I was informed by my father that he will never make a trip further than 100 miles again in that God forsaken EV. He’s giving it to my mom to use as an around town car so she can make a splash at the Breakers when she arrived for cocktails with the other goofy Broads.

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