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Pragmatic. Can anyone say more how the increased electricity consumption by EVs will pressure the existing grid, and what sources (green or otherwise) will gen

Pragmatic. Can anyone say more how the increased electricity consumption by EVs will pressure the existing grid, and what sources (green or otherwise) will generate the extra capacity?

DangitBobby 4y ago
Who knows. Caution is commendable but if we want to avoid catastrophe we might have to start taking steps before everything is 100% ironed out, which might mean having less reliable infrastructure in the short term. Our current system is basically just a bunch of inefficient portable ICE generators running around everywhere. Maybe a short term solution is to install large ICE generators (at existing gas stations, for example). Sounds expensive, but inaction will also be expensive. It helps tremendously that many people will hold on to their ICE cars for as long as possible. I for one plan to run my truck for a long time yet. So we have a long ramp-up time for shoring up the electrical grid.
zaptrem 4y ago
https://www.wired.com/story/electric-vehicles-could-rescue-the-us-power-grid/ https://www.wired.com/story/electric-vehicles-could-rescue-t...
Ekaros 4y ago
I don't think generation capacity is much issue. Just waste money on renewables and it will be there. Now matching the demand to that production and forcing people not to use their EV-vehicles in certain periods when there aren't enough production... As clearly they should be last ones to get it in high-demand, low supply scenarios.
rootusrootus 4y ago
I charge my EV after 10pm, when demand is so low that I can buy it for 1 cent a kilowatt hour. So first we need enough EVs charging overnight to reach the late afternoon peak before we worry a lot about grid capacity. I also generally charge my EV in 1 or 2 hours, it does not typically take all night. So if grid capacity becomes a problem, a bit of smart scheduling to spread the load should be pretty straightforward. And after that, we just add more capacity to the grid. The electric company exists to sell us electricity, and if we demand more, they will make more. The kind of growth we'd need to see in the grid to support 100% of all new cars being EVs is entirely within the abilities the electric producers have demonstrated in times past.
missedthecue 4y ago
The average American home consumes 29kwh per day. It takes 62kwh to charge a base Tesla Model 3 once. Of course, not everyone will be charging from complete empty every night, but if every household is charging one car from 50% to 100% each night, the amount of daily electricity demand per household doubles. And most households own more than one car!
- theshrike79 4y ago
  But a base model M3 has a 360 mile range. Your scenario would only be true if every household drove their M3 for 180 miles _EVERY_DAY_. EVs can be charged overnight during off-peak hours when the electricity is usually dirt cheap.
snarf21 4y ago
More and more coal plants have tons of slack as renewables come online. We don't yet have a good system for local generation but that will come. There is no reason that most garage roofs can't be solar storing to banks of lead acid power banks for charging at night.

Pragmatic. Can anyone say more how the increased electricity consumption by EVs will pressure the existing grid, and what sources (green or otherwise) will generate the extra capacity?

DangitBobby 4y ago

Who knows. Caution is commendable but if we want to avoid catastrophe we might have to start taking steps before everything is 100% ironed out, which might mean having less reliable infrastructure in the short term. Our current system is basically just a bunch of inefficient portable ICE generators running around everywhere. Maybe a short term solution is to install large ICE generators (at existing gas stations, for example). Sounds expensive, but inaction will also be expensive. It helps tremendously that many people will hold on to their ICE cars for as long as possible. I for one plan to run my truck for a long time yet. So we have a long ramp-up time for shoring up the electrical grid.

zaptrem 4y ago

https://www.wired.com/story/electric-vehicles-could-rescue-the-us-power-grid/ https://www.wired.com/story/electric-vehicles-could-rescue-t...

Ekaros 4y ago

I don't think generation capacity is much issue. Just waste money on renewables and it will be there. Now matching the demand to that production and forcing people not to use their EV-vehicles in certain periods when there aren't enough production... As clearly they should be last ones to get it in high-demand, low supply scenarios.

rootusrootus 4y ago

I charge my EV after 10pm, when demand is so low that I can buy it for 1 cent a kilowatt hour. So first we need enough EVs charging overnight to reach the late afternoon peak before we worry a lot about grid capacity. I also generally charge my EV in 1 or 2 hours, it does not typically take all night. So if grid capacity becomes a problem, a bit of smart scheduling to spread the load should be pretty straightforward. And after that, we just add more capacity to the grid. The electric company exists to sell us electricity, and if we demand more, they will make more. The kind of growth we'd need to see in the grid to support 100% of all new cars being EVs is entirely within the abilities the electric producers have demonstrated in times past.

missedthecue 4y ago

The average American home consumes 29kwh per day. It takes 62kwh to charge a base Tesla Model 3 once. Of course, not everyone will be charging from complete empty every night, but if every household is charging one car from 50% to 100% each night, the amount of daily electricity demand per household doubles. And most households own more than one car!

theshrike79 4y ago
But a base model M3 has a 360 mile range. Your scenario would only be true if every household drove their M3 for 180 miles _EVERY_DAY_. EVs can be charged overnight during off-peak hours when the electricity is usually dirt cheap.

snarf21 4y ago

More and more coal plants have tons of slack as renewables come online. We don't yet have a good system for local generation but that will come. There is no reason that most garage roofs can't be solar storing to banks of lead acid power banks for charging at night.