What is real cost of 1,000 watts mobile energy ?

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Now I have been doing some calculations of what does it really cost to produce a KW - or as we use it 1,000 watts while driving , living or camping or on the road.

The two figures that I came up with is if one uses a gas powered generator it costs about $1 in gas to produce one KW in energy and I'm using a Honda 2000 as one of the most efficient generators. This does not include the cost of the Honda or how many KW it could produce since I have never seen the life of a Honda 2000 in KW produced like that anywhere.

The most efficient cost that I have seen is if one would purchase a 1,000 AH bank of Lithium batteries cost approx $4,000 and this battery could be charged at home at 15 cents per KW , to keep numbers easy lets say this bank could store 10 KW per charge and it's weight is 360 lbs. with a min 2,000 cycles = 20,000 KW total cost of home enery is $3,000 vs cost of gasoline to produce 22,000 KW would equal approx $22,000 in gas - savings of $19,000 by just using batteries & bringing your energy from home. Now remove the $4,000 in batteries and you still have net savings of $15,000 projected over 6.6 years or longer.

Now I have a 2,000 watt solar system, cost $10,000 and this I guess could produce 8,000 watts daily average 8 KW giving me a cost saving of $8 per day or rounded off $3,000 per year - so it would take 3.3 years to return my investment - in comparison to using a gas or diesel generator. In a home grid tied application the numbers would be different of course.
Assuming my trailer & solar system could last 20 years ( which I greatly doubt ) then it would produce $51,000 in free mobile energy assuming gas stays at $4 gal for the next 20 years.

Just wondering if others have made their own calculations maybe using real figures for golf cart batteries or AMG etc ?

[Augie]

If you can salvage Deep Cycle Batteries from boats or RV, when they cant use them they will still have plenty of power, you can keep the costs low, really low. Pick up a cheap battery tender to keep them topped up at home, use your cars 12v system for topping up on the road while you drive, the calculations are much more in your favor. I have picked up used deep cells for the $15 - $16 core charge that you are charged if you dont have an old battery to turn in. So lets say 2 batteries both originally 12V 75AH Deep cycle Marine Batteries. Lets say they are starting to be worn and only hold 50AH. So you have 100AH capacity for $40 then buy a charger to keep them topped off at home for even $50.

So for under $100 you have all the power you would normally need for a long weekend, or even up to a week if you are judicious with your consumption. So LED lights, no fridge, minimal cell phone use. If you are really worried just pick up 5 or 6

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Wow Augie

I got an even better idea, just get 40-60 of those together & take them to one of those EV charging stations
Best if you can find a dc to dc station you can get 600 amps
Some of them give you the first hour free.....then you can run your whole house for ZERO cost

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

HAPPY 4TH JULY TO ALL

Just a quickie update - I just picked up a small Lithium battery only 16kw - direct from the factory
Does anyone know a campground with a 1250 amp dc charger ?
At .15 cents a kw it's gonna cost me $2.40 to charge my battery

Cheers OTTCT