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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
this is Australia, where anything goes, apparently


shows some interior conversion shots and apparently they're from a video. ain't nobody got time for videos

anyway, that's a Prevost H5-60, I think. maybe not with Aus + dual steers? besides these being ancient and diesel, they're also supposed to be horribly unreliable to boot. a great choice! :D over 45' in an indivisible piece is a no go for interstate travel in the US besides.

two more possible electric bus with good range platforms to look for that will pop up after normal service life is wrung from them on the auction sites:

New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE NG. New Flyer makes the drivetrain for the MCI above. in 40' guise it can be had with a 520 kWh pack for 258 miles of range. 160 kW power, 1,033 lb-ft torque, 2 doors, 9 degree approach/departure/breakover (heh). low floor!

Novabus LFSe+. another low floor 40' bus: 93" interior height! 564 kWh pack (!). 200 kW power, 5,200 N-m/3,835 ft-lb torque. 150 kW CCS fast charging, as the overhead 450 kW catenary fast charging they use at some depots isn't going to be around anywhere accessible.

if I ever get around to this stupid but amazing idea when I'm like 60 then here are 4 companies I quickly found that appear to do work on bus to RV interior work:




 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
mountain house renovations continue. haven't been up to verify but we have picked countertops, cabinets, just (re-)picked lighting choices, etc. here is the current accounting of monies spent (she had more detailed invoices for each of these items) and what's coming up. $36.4k charge to ye olde credit card that I'll hit "pay" on tomorrow, the 17th. the big deposit from the HELOC will clear fully as of Thursday the 20th, after which I'll pay off that charge immediately because mah poor credit score

current ledger.PNG


near term.PNG
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
With all these various and sundry incentives stacked that's actually an order of magnitude shorter than what I was expecting. The new as of 2023 30% Fed and 10% CO incentives really help. Hey @stoney after your test please come sanity check this, as I'm thinking these tea leaves indicate I should get a Powerwall or 3. All the credits scale with total cost other than the Denver one already hitting its cap at $500.
feeling out this idea a bit more:

- getting a quote from Freedom Solar Power on Wednesday to price out Enphase home battery products, since that pricing is opaque. the astute scholar in home battery products will note that original Enphase batteries only worked if you had a PV system that used Enphase microinverters. I'm pretty sure I don't have such a setup. but Enphase saw the light, as it were, and introduced another battery system that works with non-Enphase inverters.

- priced out 3 Tesla Powerwalls. pre-credit(s) pricing is $33,288 installed - $1,500 after the fact Tesla rebates for this season if installed via Tesla directly. alternately one can opt for a $25,998 delivered but not installed cost and arrange for installation separately. I sent emails to the two listed certified Tesla installers that popped up, Elevated and Photon Brothers, to see if their installation costs would be cheaper than $7,290.

working with $33,288 as the assumed total price, though, going through the credits from the full above-quoted post:

- $1,500 Tesla rebate
- 30% Fed tax credit
- 10% CO tax credit + sales tax exemption (might not be on the labor part, not sure)
- 50% of $25,998 non-installed cost back from Xcel == $12,999
- $500 from Denver (which reminds me to look into the heat pump water heater business later)

$33,288 * 0.60 - $12,999 - $1,500 - $500 == $4,974 net cost, before the per-day arbitrage on the off-peak/on-peak, which is $6.66 with the 3 Powerwalls if my calculations are correct :satan:

746 days simple payback (slightly worse than the 1 Powerwall scenario because the $500 Denver credit is fixed, not scaling x 3), again ignoring time value of money, etc. and 3 Powerwalls would be 40.5 kWh of whole home backup energy. given that we net overproduce this could actually last indefinitely in sun season, and would be good for at least 1.5 days in winter by very crude math, probably more since it's still marginally sunny then.


edit: math wrong due to my parsing Xcel's formula incorrectly due to them using wrong/mixed terminology. see below.

drew fully upon my Denver HELOC (the $200k one drawn $72.1k or something like that for the first batch of renovation payments) as an update email on the house (washer/dryer layout had to be changed a bit on second floor due to wiring in the walls) read "Erica will also be working on invoicing and get that over to you this week", which I take to mean that $$$$$ will be due imminently.

having the money in my money market account will lose me money in that I'm paying prime - 0.74% or whatever on the drawn down HELOC while only earning 3.30% in money market. but it will let me pay the bills on my credit card then pay that balance down immediately. depending on exactly how big these bills are I might have to do this in two transaction/payoff/transaction/payoff mini cycles over a few days. we shall see.
so with the bill actually due $35k + credit card fees, instead of doing this I probably should write a conventional check for $35k and immediately pay the HELOC back down with the remainder of the deposit. Chase Ultimate Reward points aren't worth $1,400.
the wall mounting service that Handy.com provided apparently involved using a drywall anchor instead of finding an actual stud. the mount pulled out of the wall at one corner (thankfully not dropping the TV, just lowering it down to the console below it). they will not stand behind their service since it was past 30 days:

IMG_9826.JPEG


I replied, hoping to get them to fix it:

In the meantime I'm getting the LG stand mount for the TV (the G series doesn't come with it--they push wall mounting), and assuming my attempt to get Handy to do something fails I'll return the wall mount to Costco. hmph.
LG stepped up and offered another covered by them appointment with Handy to re-mount the wall mount. I still think I'm going to stand mount the G3 and return the wall mount to Costco, though, and not wall mount future TVs.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
look into the heat pump water heater business later
time to do this. two smaller kids both in bed. shall hop on Peloton again in a bit. but now this.

Denver's heat pump water heater rebates

Eligible EquipmentStandard Rebate

Heat pump water heater60% of the project cost, up to $1,000 for heat pump water heaters
60% of the project cost, up to $1,750 for smart heat pump water heaters

Xcel heat pump water heater rebates

$600. $800 if smart:

This program uses electric heat pump water heaters that can receive over-the-air signals from us to automatically adjust run times, allowing for more cost-effective daily load and peak demand scheduling. In exchange for your participation, you’ll receive a one-time $75 enrollment bill credit and a $25 annual bill credit (in October) every year you are enrolled in the program.
as these heat pump water heaters all would have tanks then this demand shifting to benefit Xcel/have them run expensive peaker plants less often wouldn't really change anything. (tankless electric water heaters exist but not as heat pumps, afaik, and they'd require more electrical service than even my 200A panel could handle, I think.)

so let's concentrate on the smart models: higher Denver and Xcel rebates by $950 total. eligible models here, not too many, actually. none eligible over 80 gallons, and with 5 people in my house I'd want 80 gallons. many dozens of eligible contractors here via picking the right options on the search. top rebate-producing contractors from their list here in bold inlined here:

Screenshot 2023-07-16 at 8.29.55 PM.png


let's pick one model in particular to rough out pricing, the American HPHE10280H045DVN (pdf brochure). UEF of 3.88 per their brochure for the 80 gallon, albeit 3.45 per Xcel's own doc and their separate spec sheet, go figure. WiFi connectivity, which is only relevant because you can turn it to a vacation mode where it only maintains 60F in the tank. you can also pick modes if you really want to force it to be heat pump only or resistive only for some unknown reason. the heat pump itself is effective between 45F and 120F so picking the mode where it can choose between heat pump or backup resistive heat is the only rational option.

per the installation guide it will require a 240V 30A circuit, which would be trivial since my main electrical panel is 10' to the left of the current location of my dual NG tankless Naviens and I have an extra breaker slot (not to mention the Naviens might already have their own 120V breakers for a net even exchange of two 120V for one dual pole).

30% Fed tax credit on heat pump water heaters, up to $2k. (that reminds me: claim the up to $600 tax credit on the mountain house window upgrade this year. :D)

but how much does it actually cost?! water-heater.org lists it for $3,379. for comparison the non-smart-eligible Rheem ProTerra 80 gallon heat pump water heater is $2,959 at homedepot.com so the smart aspect doesn't seem to be adding a ton against that $950 in extra rebates.

so let's call it $4,500 installed to be safe, give them a little margin and all. or even $5,000.

at $5,000, that'd be a $1,500 Fed 30% credit, $1,750 Denver rebate, $800 Xcel rebate, $75 Xcel bill credit, $25/year from Xcel forever. that's $875 net, and then I could most likely eBay off those two NG Naviens, probably for $200 or so each, I'm guessing. it might even be a bit cheaper, as part of that installed price that I assumed is the new 240V 30A circuit, which would be covered at 80% by Denver up to $2k.

this is pretty damn close to the "add enough incentives in such that net price to switch is near-0" magic point for those who care about decarbonizing.

(incidentally, when/if the old-ass NG boiler at the mountain house shits the fan, I should replace it either with a heat pump water heater—different incentives up there that I won't worry about for now—or a NG Navien combined water heater/boiler that can handle hydronic and domestic hot water needs.)

I should look at similar incentives and back of napkin pricing for air source heat pumps to replace my current 21? SEER AC + 2? 3? speed fan NG high efficiency furnace setup, too. maybe after Peloton.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
I should look at similar incentives and back of napkin pricing for air source heat pumps to replace my current 21? SEER AC + 2? 3? speed fan NG high efficiency furnace setup, too. maybe after Peloton.
current system is a 2 ton unit that's probably right by Manual J and a little underpowered in reality. per google a 3 ton air source heat pump should cost $8k installed or so, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more in Denver. keep in mind this would be with existing ductwork. let's work with that assumption of $8k.

for air source heat pumps as of 2023:

- Federal tax credit of 30% project cost, capped at $2k
- CO tax credit of 10% + sales tax exemption
- Denver rebate of 40% of project cost up to $3,500 if it's a cold climate air source heat pump system, which I'd want anyway due to keeping COP > 1 at typical winter temps
- Xcel rebate of $2k total for cold climate air source heat pump systems meeting their performance specs, with the usual going through approved contractor stipulation:
  • Efficiency Minimums: 18+ SEER, 11.5+ EER, 9.5 Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF)
  • Additional Requirements: The unit must be listed on ashp.neep.org and must have a heating capacity at 5°F of at least 70% of the heating BTU at 47°F.
$8k - 10% CO, -$2k Fed via cap, -$3,200 Denver below the cap, -$2k Xcel == $0. holy shit. that's the magic number.

if it's $10k before all is said and done given the efficiency requirements that's: $10k - 10% CO, -$2k Fed via cap, -$4,000 Denver at the cap, -$2k Xcel == $1,000 net.

$12k initial price would work out to $2,800 net.

looks like I should go on the contractor list for Xcel and solicit some quotes for this as well. as with the heat pump water heater, the actual circuit for this work should further be covered by Denver at 80% up to $1k if that's not already maxed out.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
started out this morning in Denver @ 80% SOC. popped up to Keystone Science School, now @ 31%. my wife was driving 75 mph and the car was loaded.

thusly tried to go to Dillon to snag 10 min on a 100 kW+ DCFC to bump it up 10% or so. 3/4 chargers occupied, 4th one inoperable at the Electrify America bank there at Wal-Mart, and we were 2nd in line for those 3 working. hmph. tunnel also closed at this point, which would mean adding time and distance going over Loveland Pass.

went over to Whole Foods and snagged some 5.8 kW slow L2 electrons from their EVSE there while Baby Aya went to the bathroom and she and wife got a few snacks, etc. after the short detour and slow charging we were back... at 31% SOC, now a few miles further away and lower, in Dillon.

tunnel reopened by then, and Aya was adequately drained of urine and fed of food. drove back without using any DCFC: 21% SOC at peak of the tunnel... but only dropped to 18% by Idaho Springs. 18% still at C-470 via magic of losing elevation. 13% SOC ultimately when back at home. AC blasting whole time since it was reading up to 103 Freedoms as we passed back through Denver, 75-80F up in the mountains.

moral of story: regen is powerful. charge to 100% SOC on Saturday when going to pick up the kids.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
IMG_9974.jpeg

Trumpet box pickup at FedEx

IMG_9972.jpeg
IMG_9971.jpeg
IMG_9970.jpeg

state of charge/range when I got back home. 3.5 mi/kWh is good efficiency, about 10% better than rated

IMG_9953.jpeg
IMG_9950.jpeg
IMG_9947.jpeg

happy kids at keystone camp dropoff

IMG_9944.jpeg
IMG_9941.jpeg
IMG_9945.jpeg

smol car is smol. but big enough for this trip.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
I'm seeing $11.5k estimated installed cost for one Powerwall 2 (which has the same kWh, slightly lower kW power but irrelevant since still well less than 4 hours worth).

Xcel has local incentives if one allows them to use the battery as a buffer: $500/kW up to 50% of equipment cost, + $100 annually. That'd be $5,750 + $100/year trivially but I think that caps due to the 50% bit, so let's call it $4,750.
So I messed up here, but it's not entirely my fault as Xcel used the wrong/mixed terminology. As I quoted, they'll pay $500… but per kW (power), not kWh (capacity). My math used capacity.

Why it's not my fault is that their literature says

Rewarding incentive for installing eligible battery equipment: – $500 per kW of storage capacity (up to 50% of the equipment-only cost)
Yeah, they used kW, but also "capacity". Thus my parsing it wrong. What led me to notice the error here is their little sidebar example:

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 8.41.25 PM.png


Here their terminology is in order: kW matches max continuous power, and a Powerwall 2 is indeed a 5.0 kW continuous battery. Anyway, that kills the economics of the Powerwall completely because 5.0 vs 11.5, not to mention their install cost is $6k through Powerwall Direct for 1, $7,500 for 3.

1 Powerwall as installed by Tesla: $8.7k + $6k install - $500 Tesla summer/fall rebate per unit - 30% * $14.7k Fed - 10% * $14.7k CO - $2,500 Xcel - $500 Denver == $5,320.

3 Powerwalls as installed by Tesla: $33,288 installed - $1,500 Tesla rebate - 30% * installed cost Fed - 10% * installed cost CO - $7,500 Xcel - $500 Denver == $10,472.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
anyway, I don't mess around when getting estimates. looks like the battery system idea will be a dud due to the economics of it but will still find out what the Powerwall installation would cost through Elevated (vs the Tesla $6k for one, $7.5k for three installation price).

(the astute reader who clicked links above will note, as I didn't beforehand, that only the Powerwall and the SolarEdge systems are eligible for the $500/kW (grr) Xcel incentive. so if tomorrow's company only does SunPower then they're automatically way back in the running unless they're super cheap somehow.)

and I'll get a ton of quotes for smart heat pump water heaters (sHPWH on this) and cold climate air source heat pumps (ccASHP). these are the ones I have lined up on a few upcoming (and one past) days when I'm either working from home or not working on a weekday.

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 9.00.57 PM.png
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
I periodically check whether bidirectional EVSE are actually available in the US for V2H or V2G given that Denver has their (presumed 80% of project cost up to) $2k rebate specific to this.


as of now here's the state of the world:

- Ford Charge Station Pro + Lightning gives you V2H. V2G promised, not yet here in any market
- apparently the Fermata Energy FE-15 actually exists and is for sale. CHAdeMO only, though.
- Delta V2H also apparently exists, but also CHAdeMO and the current models require 3 phase power (!) so would be totally cost prohibitive for homes
- whole lot of vaporware and promises otherwise
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
we've got a ton of extra moonlighting hours this month up for grabs: short staffed due to vacations and having two new hires starting August.

long and short of it is that I might gross $27k in moonlighting alone for the month (pre-tax, hmph). and I shall try and work as many of those hours as I can: WFH, at my own leisure/working around kid bedtimes/dinner/etc.

:notbadobama:

edit for updated number as more hours yet available now.
mid month update: still on track. tonight's a rare night when I'm not moonlighting. won't be on Thursday night either. but after then it'll be a sprint until the end of the month as the last week got even tighter on the non-moonlighting schedule due to a radiologist being out sick (apparently back problems is the word on the street—he's old so not entirely surprising).
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
Per this 7 pm to 1 pm is off-peak, which is 18 hours if I can do math. 10 cents/kWh in either season.
1-3 pm is mid peak. 19 cents/kWh summer, 13 winter.
3-7 pm is peak. 27 cents/kWh summer, 17 winter.
that 10 cents/kWh was from a 2022 source. current pricing as published at the moment is the same save for 11 cents/kWh off-peak. don't know about winter pricing as they don't have that.

anyway, as of last week I have smart meters installed. well, at least 2 are clearly smart and I hope the contractor wouldn't have just decided to not replace the third, main one? if I had done nothing then I'd have been switched only come the April 2024 billing cycle!

I'm now officially in time of use. and I confirmed that I had picked at some prior time the Solar Bank option of Continuous Rollover Credits instead of their way-below-market-price year-end payout for excess production:

Screenshot 2023-07-19 at 12.56.05 PM.png


re excess production, I think this is a rolling representation of how many kWh we'd banked up at any point from excess production over the course of a year. their presentation isn't super clear. that's month-day from meter readings over the past year.

Screenshot 2023-07-19 at 12.27.39 PM.png
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
I'll get a ton of quotes for smart heat pump water heaters (sHPWH on this) and cold climate air source heat pumps (ccASHP).
I'll update my quote spreadsheet as things come in, but a quick note (not knowing their pricing) that I was very impressed with Alex from UniColorado just now.

he was by for a quote on both of these systems. on the phone earlier when setting it up and reiterated in person he mentioned that the Xcel-listed hybrid heat pump water heaters (hybrid in that they have a resistive backup) had not been well received by initial customers: unreliable/requiring a manual reset now and then, noisy, and they make the ambient temperature around the unit cold, because the heat's coming from somewhere, namely that room's air. the cold and noise complaints don't bother me since it's a separate mechanical room, but unreliability is a deal killer.

anyway, he showed up during the window, took his shoes off even though I said he didn't have to, was very polite (looked to be Lebanese maybe? and we had a nice discussion re Tokyo/inflation/cost of living/building practices), and from my perspective of having only a superficial grasp of these topics seemed very knowledgable.

things I gleaned from him as we walked around to the relevant parts in and around the house:

- air handler box sizes apparently have "B cab" and "C cab" sizes. I have a B cab with a bump out to make part of it wider (?) and he thinks my house should have been specced with the larger latter one for better upstairs airflow.
- he thinks the stock 2.5 ton AC, although a nice Carrier Infinity high-SEER unit, is likely underpowered for the house size given solar gain and this B vs C cab choice. this jives with our experience in living with it
- the two main product choices he'd suggest for an all electric system would both be cold climate heat pumps (those with COP < 1.0 to low temps): Bosch and Mitsubishi, with other options either not well priced, junk, or both. Bosch has a more modern system design with variable capacity from 3-5 tons for the unit he'd spec at a nominal 3 ton need, a concept that I don't really understand honestly, but Mitsubishi has better low temp performance
- per his recollection of Xcel study data on their customers here in Denver with these units last year, Bosch users were on heat pump rather than the backup resistive elements 87% of the year. Mitsubishi users were on heat pump >99% of the year (!)
- he agrees with me that my electrical system has no obvious/visible main shutoff! I have sundry shutoffs outside for the various solar systems but my main panel doesn't have a main breaker, if you will. must be somewhere else. good to know I'm not just stupid wrt this
- if we go with UniColorado for this project then they'd probably amenable to doing a mini split project at the mountain house, whereas for non-established customers who just call them randomly they stick to Denver metro. recall we'll need a probably 2.5 ton 2 head unit for the new master suite as that space now has no cooling
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
re better low temp performance, here's temperature vs % heating capacity for two modern Mitsubishi models. I think these are both actually mini splits with the left multi-zone and the right single zone. can't find the directly equivalent data for the one I'd have, at least until I get a quote with a model name.

Screenshot 2023-07-19 at 2.47.54 PM.png


here are data that someone made ~2019 regarding M series performance at different temps. these data should still be relevant and this is the money chart:

cop-vs-temperature1-700x700.jpg


we rarely get below 0. expressed a different way, at the extreme of temperature I found this written (see comments): "The MXZ-4C36NAHZ has a COP of between 2.83 to 2.12 (min to max output) at -13[F]." so still well more efficient than resistive even way down at that temp. impressive.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
a quick note (not knowing their pricing) that I was very impressed with Alex from UniColorado just now
not as impressed by Blake with Photon Brothers on our call an hour ago:

Context is that Tesla Energy will sell Powerwalls direct to consumers (as they did with my whole PV setup). As I found out on a video call with a hapless sales guy from SunPower, the direct pricing—at least for SunPower—is much lower than that through going through a reseller, as one might expect. how much? try $36.6k vs $23.5k for the same two installed Powerwalls, before all credits and rebates for those numbers. big difference.

here's the Powerwall-only pricing from Tesla, no delivery or installation at this stage, no incentives included to mask the true price:

Screenshot 2023-07-19 at 3.05.47 PM.png


anyway, when you put these Powerwalls in your Powerwall Direct cart you get two options:

Screenshot 2023-07-19 at 3.05.54 PM.png


1) have Tesla Energy install them: Tesla Delivery & Installation. flat fee with a big fixed component: $6k for one Powerwall, $6.9k for two, $7.5k for three. downside to this besides that being a high installation cost subjectively is that apparently Tesla isn't good about filling out paperwork, like for the whole $500/kW continuous power Xcel Battery Connect business.

2) Equipment Delivery Only for $200, and then arrange for a Tesla Certified Installer for that bit. the two said Certified Installers are Elevated Independent Energy (quote pending; sent them all the relevant photos of the various panels, inverters, etc.) and Photon Brothers. and this is a legit option to buy direct and have a 3rd party install.

well, the gripe is that to get Blake to agree to give a quote on just this installation bit for two Powerwalls was quite painful. he really wanted to make commission on the whole package including Powerwall sales + markup, I'm guessing. but from my call this morning and that pricing differential that would be insane.

anyway, they're going to come up with an installation quote as will Elevated. I'm guessing that neither will budge substantially enough from Tesla's own delivery + installation to make the corrected math (with $500/kW from Xcel, not $500/kWh) work out in the system's favor.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
this is a damn good deal

(their other sale ones are all SRAM builds, meh)


I'd be all over it for returning an acoustic bike to my stable except I'm in a mood of paying down debt, not burning monthly cash flow.
Another XTR build GG deal cropped up

and instead of dithering I ordered it. Will sell my underutilized DH bike (although I do have some Fridays blocked off for later for Trestle days in August and Sept, @6thElement!). I should list the DH bike soon, eh? Any tips on best venue?

Anyway, adding an acoustic bike back/I like Shimano builds:

IMG_0033.jpeg


update: asked GG to cancel this not yet built/shipped order. No bites on Commencal.
 
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6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,300
14,787
I should list the DH bike soon, eh? Any tips on best venue?
Start with CL and bookface front range bike swap as you can avoid needing to ship. Then if it doesn't sell go on Pinkbike and full bookface marketplace.

If you'd got it by Saturday you could join the ride, but it's likely to be a couple of weeks until you can collect I imagine.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
Start with CL and bookface front range bike swap as you can avoid needing to ship. Then if it doesn't sell go on Pinkbike and full bookface marketplace.

If you'd got it by Saturday you could join the ride, but it's likely to be a couple of weeks until you can collect I imagine.
My meniscus isn’t a state for mountain biking still. A few more weeks will do it—I get back from the west coast mid August and should be back to speed by then
 
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canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,061
21,602
Canaderp
lucky. that is indeed one of the confirmed 1570 film IMAX locations!

It seems to have went well...

 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
multimodal HRH commute day. 40 miles ultimately ridden—skipped the A Line leg on the way back and took Rocky Mountain - poop-smelling Platte River - Sand Creek from Colfax/Auraria. 2/10 bars left on the battery after that, which is totally acceptable by me.

much more enjoyable than being traffic on I-225, I-25, and C-470. Shall repeat this in the future.

IMG_0041.jpeg

Near my house on the Sand Creek Greenway this morning

IMG_0046.jpeg

A Line looking east

IMG_0051.jpeg

Outbound headlamp set to stun/triple flash

IMG_0052.jpeg

Pretty park south of Littleton/Mineral. Backtracked all the way through this due to the C-470 trail closure

IMG_0065.jpeg

Platte River Trail near the Pepsi plant, just south of 38th

IMG_0068.jpeg

1,875 miles total on this very handy commuter bike. Quite happy with how it’s set up now save for its weight lifting it up the D Line cars (will take a lighter weight lock next time) and stupid tires, which have been fine since the Mr Tuffy liner
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
anyway, I don't mess around when getting estimates. looks like the battery system idea will be a dud due to the economics of it but will still find out what the Powerwall installation would cost through Elevated (vs the Tesla $6k for one, $7.5k for three installation price).

(the astute reader who clicked links above will note, as I didn't beforehand, that only the Powerwall and the SolarEdge systems are eligible for the $500/kW (grr) Xcel incentive. so if tomorrow's company only does SunPower then they're automatically way back in the running unless they're super cheap somehow.)

and I'll get a ton of quotes for smart heat pump water heaters (sHPWH on this) and cold climate air source heat pumps (ccASHP). these are the ones I have lined up on a few upcoming (and one past) days when I'm either working from home or not working on a weekday.

View attachment 197405
state of the quotes. all coming back expensive. I won't be doing any of these elective projects at these net prices.

Screenshot 2023-07-21 at 11.24.48 PM.png


Elevated math is a placeholder with $0 install cost at moment, so isn't accurate
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
Charged the EQB to 100% state of charge overnight (starting at 9 pm so as to be mindful and then some of the time of use pricing I've opted into. 58% SOC at Keystone, 56% at Silverthorne for lunch, 45% at the top of Eisenhower Tunnel, and ultimately 36% when arriving back at home. That should be plenty of range for the wife's 17 mi each way jaunt to Harvey Park to perform in a Denver Municipal Band concert.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815

As we experience fewer problems, we don’t become more satisfied. We just lower our threshold for what we consider a problem.

there's more to it beyond this quote. an anti-whining article from MMM.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,843
8,815
Got someone in Fort Collins interested in the EQB--I've had it idly listed on cars.com since getting it. :D

$60k seems to be where we're at.

MSRP + TTL == $76,265. If I were to lease one today with max Mercedes Benz lease incentives (including pass through of the credit as well as $2,349 "suggested dealer contribution" to buy the cap cost below MSRP then net cap cost after the newly increased CO tax credit would be $62,806. Thus me coming up with $60k as a reasonable discount from that.

My net price is higher since I paid straight MSRP vs that effective $2,349 below MSRP cap cost, and my CO tax credit for a pre-July 1 delivery was $2k vs $5k. hmph

Anyway, if this goes through for $60k then I'll be out $76,265 - $7,500 Fed - $2,000 CO + ~$1,600 registration fees + $645 in interest to date - $60k sale price == $9k or so.

In exchange vs keeping it for 24 mo until a Pacifica BEV comes out, my insurance will drop about $800/yr, I'll avoid about $5,944 in interest over the next 22 payments (! 5.49% hurts that way even if that's good in the climate now), and I'll avoid next year's registration/use tax fee that's probably $1,300. And the Land Cruiser will have a purpose again.

:D

So it's expensive either way. But if someone wants to buy it for $60k I'm selling it as that only costs $1k or so vs the status quo as it stands now. I spent that money when I bought it so shouldn't be tentative because of sunk cost bias.