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This seems long on hand-wringing, and short on actual problems. For example, the article notes that cars recharging at night will help utility companies to eve
by Afton 17y ago
This seems long on hand-wringing, and short on actual problems.
For example, the article notes that cars recharging at night will help utility companies to even out their demand-curve. The article then worries about whether the utilities will want to run their network at full-capacity, and how having it always running would be a maintenance problem. But that's ridiculous, of course the utility companies want to run at higher capacity and sell more utility. If their network is being taxed, they (or a competitor) can build more power generation and the problem is solved.
Similarly, if the concern is around the peak/off-peak power pricing, these times can be adjusted (if, for example, the car recharging 5-7pm the new highest power consumption times).
- hga 17y agoOK, I haven't Read The Fine Article, but an earlier item from the IEEE that I think was submitted to HN pointed out among other things that neighborhood transformers aren't sized for high output 24x7 (they need off-peak nights to cool). California utilities expect to lose some this year in areas like Santa Monica. There were other issues mentioned, like a Canadian utility that sells cheap "green" hydropower to California during the day and saves up water during the night; if they/California get a lot of nighttime demand they'll have to buy coal fired power from another province. Hey, the system was build under one set of assumptions; if you change those drastically as the electric car people propose to do it won't adapt automatically or cheaply. You can't fool Mother Nature.