> how well the grid will tolerate millions of cars being plugged in all the time Glad you asked. The typical driver drives 12k to 15k miles per year. That's

> how well the grid will tolerate millions of cars being plugged in all the time Glad you asked. The typical driver drives 12k to 15k miles per year. That's about 33 to 41 miles per day, or about the range of a 1st Gen Chevy Volt. The thing is, you can recharge a Volt overnight from a normal household outlet (the kind you already have in your living room, kitchen, or garage). In other words, it uses only about as much power (~1.5 kW) as your toaster, coffee maker, hair dryer, or vacuum cleaner. It is dramatically less power than a central AC unit (around 4 to 6 kW). So, no, this is not going to cause a massive problem for the grid. > During the summer California struggles to keep the lights on, so I'm wondering whether we will be investing in electrical infrastructure this time. This is more of a PG&E problem than a California problem. LA and Santa Clara both have municipally-owned electrical utilities (including generation and transmission) that don't have a problem keeping the lights on.