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It really isn't trivial and having light does not mean you can support EV charging. You are going to want a ~1MW supply to a parking lot with even 30 or so char

It really isn't trivial and having light does not mean you can support EV charging. You are going to want a ~1MW supply to a parking lot with even 30 or so chargers. That's not a trivial thing to suddenly install. Often will require significant new ducting and cabling to be ran from far away. Even before EV rollout getting a 1MW supply can take years from the power company. You also have another problem that cities do not have enough transmission capacity from the main grid to them to handle 2xing power supply. It's definitely doable but really is going to be similar to building today's power grid out all over again. Everything needs doubled.

leoedin 6y ago
As long as everyone in the city isn't charging at peak time, the capacity issue can be handled. The grid is sized for peak loads - that moment between 5 and 7 when everyone in the city gets home, turns the heating on and starts cooking. That means rolling out demand response charging - not technically hard, but absolutely necessary before electric cars are too ubiquitous. We'll probably also find that in normal use most cars don't drive much on a given day, so they're not needing to draw full power all night to charge. The charging infrastructure for those without a driveway is still a big question (one to which the answer isn't lampposts - there's at least a 7:1 ratio of cars to lampposts where I live).
- martinald 6y ago
  I'm not sure about that. People expect electricity to just work. People also are likely to plug their cars in at peak time after they get home from work and may want them somewhat charged before going out again in the evening. I think demand response can help, but there is the fundamental issue that transportation uses as much as all electrical consumption currently, so there will be twice as much kWh needed. That 7:1 ratio looks actually a lot worse in power terms. A streetlight consumes maybe 100W, 7 EVs could soak up 350kW for a period of time. This is made much worse in N America with 110V everywhere.

leoedin 6y ago

As long as everyone in the city isn't charging at peak time, the capacity issue can be handled. The grid is sized for peak loads - that moment between 5 and 7 when everyone in the city gets home, turns the heating on and starts cooking. That means rolling out demand response charging - not technically hard, but absolutely necessary before electric cars are too ubiquitous. We'll probably also find that in normal use most cars don't drive much on a given day, so they're not needing to draw full power all night to charge. The charging infrastructure for those without a driveway is still a big question (one to which the answer isn't lampposts - there's at least a 7:1 ratio of cars to lampposts where I live).

martinald 6y ago
I'm not sure about that. People expect electricity to just work. People also are likely to plug their cars in at peak time after they get home from work and may want them somewhat charged before going out again in the evening. I think demand response can help, but there is the fundamental issue that transportation uses as much as all electrical consumption currently, so there will be twice as much kWh needed. That 7:1 ratio looks actually a lot worse in power terms. A streetlight consumes maybe 100W, 7 EVs could soak up 350kW for a period of time. This is made much worse in N America with 110V everywhere.