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The British National Grid disagrees: https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero/electric-vehicles-myths-misconceptions https://www.nationalgrid.co

The British National Grid disagrees: https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero/electric-vehicles-myths-misconceptions https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero/ele... "Does the electricity grid have enough capacity for charging EVs? The most demand for electricity in recent years in the UK was for 62GW in 2002. Since then, the nation’s peak demand has fallen by roughly 16% due to improvements in energy efficiency. Even if we all switched to EVs overnight, we believe demand would only increase by around 10%. So we’d still be using less power as a nation than we did in 2002 and this is well within the range of manageable load fluctuation. The US grid is equally capable of handling more EVs on the roads – by the time 80% of the US owns an EV, this will only translate into a 10-15% increase in electricity consumption.1 A significant amount of electricity is used to refine oil for petrol and diesel. Fully Charged’s video Volts for Oil estimates that refining 1 gallon of petrol would use around 4.5kWh of electricity – so, as we start to use less petrol or diesel cars, some of that electricity capacity could become available."

SoftTalker 3y ago
Parts of the US grid are barely able to handle the load today. Rolling blackouts have been used in some areas. There may be enough total capacity to handle more use, but peak demand levels are already straining the system.
- gary_0 3y ago
  It's weird how the US went from the "fuck it, let's visit the Moon" country to the "electricity stuff is too hard, wah" country. Snap out of it!
- rgmerk 3y ago
  A) you can charge your EV at off-peak times. B) the US electricity grid is uniquely unreliable for a developed country.
- somsak2 3y ago
  power outages that aren't weather related are not increasing. https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/surging-weather-related-power-outages https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/surging-weath...
  - edgyquant 3y ago
    Where did they say they were?
- Tagbert 3y ago
  You may be referring to California who had issues last year during an historically high heat wave. This year, they are not having the same trouble. Part of the reason is that they increased production capacity since last year.
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    The main reason is that this summer has been much, much cooler in CA. In SV, for example, we've had a handful of days over 90 this year, whereas last year there were probably 20 days over 90 at this point in the summer. Our AC has only kicked on a few times all year, whereas last year it was on much more frequently. There may have been increases in production, but it would have been shocking if we'd had rolling blackouts this year, given how mild the summer has been. Other parts of CA are warmer than SV, but AFAIK (having family in Sacramento and LA) this summer has been cooler than last summer all over CA.
  - _hypx 3y ago
    California is very close to seeing blackouts right now. If there's another heat wave on the scale of last year, there will be blackouts again.
- alistairSH 3y ago
  But that’s highly localized. And one of the most reported areas where this happens is Texas, who decided to roll their own grid, and is now paying the price for that stupidity.
- redserk 3y ago
  I'm skeptical of a narrative where concern for the electrical grid's ability to handle load is only considered for EV growth over several years versus the air conditioning use in the current unprecedented heatwave. Anecdotally, my A/C energy usage (compared to last year) far outweighs my energy usage in an EV.
  - _hypx 3y ago
    Not to mention radical increases from demanding everyone switch to heat pumps plus demanding industry switch to electrified versions of everything too. It's seriously a complete fantasy to think the grid can happen all that with minimal upgrades.
    - redserk 3y ago
      Dominion Energy in Virginia has an even worse problem than EVs to worry about: datacenters https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD216/PDF https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD216/PDF If you scroll to page 66 of the PDF, it’s insane how much more demand is needed for datacenters. It completely dwarfs forecasted EV power usage.
- theshrike79 3y ago
  The US is a huge exception, your power grid is from the age when cowboys roamed the lands. Literally. There was a huge fire that was caused by a power line slowly mechanically wearing down its connector. OVER A HUNDRED YEARS. Nobody bothered to check or replace it. Also you have exceptions for oil and gas pipelines. 1-2 permits on a high level and the land owners can pound sand if they complain. For power lines you need levels on a dozen different levels and even after that everyone who can even see the power poles has the irrefutable right to veto said wire or at the very least sue and slow it down to a crawl...
CodeWriter23 3y ago
Also, this weekend in the UK https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-fleet-news/2023/07/20/busiest-day-ever-for-electric-vehicle-charging-predicted-on-uk-roads https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
skybrian 3y ago
This question depends on the specifics of local energy generation, so you’re not going to get good answers without zooming in. Japan’s electrical grid has some unique challenges that explain why they are so interested in hydrogen. An article about the UK isn’t all that relevant for that, Talking about the US electrical grid as a single entity doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when it’s not a single, nationwide market. There can definitely be local problems as we saw in Texas and California.
partiallypro 3y ago
Since when does Toyota only sell in England?

SoftTalker 3y ago

Parts of the US grid are barely able to handle the load today. Rolling blackouts have been used in some areas. There may be enough total capacity to handle more use, but peak demand levels are already straining the system.

gary_0 3y ago
It's weird how the US went from the "fuck it, let's visit the Moon" country to the "electricity stuff is too hard, wah" country. Snap out of it!
rgmerk 3y ago
A) you can charge your EV at off-peak times. B) the US electricity grid is uniquely unreliable for a developed country.
somsak2 3y ago
power outages that aren't weather related are not increasing. https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/surging-weather-related-power-outages https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/surging-weath...
- edgyquant 3y ago
  Where did they say they were?
Tagbert 3y ago
You may be referring to California who had issues last year during an historically high heat wave. This year, they are not having the same trouble. Part of the reason is that they increased production capacity since last year.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  The main reason is that this summer has been much, much cooler in CA. In SV, for example, we've had a handful of days over 90 this year, whereas last year there were probably 20 days over 90 at this point in the summer. Our AC has only kicked on a few times all year, whereas last year it was on much more frequently. There may have been increases in production, but it would have been shocking if we'd had rolling blackouts this year, given how mild the summer has been. Other parts of CA are warmer than SV, but AFAIK (having family in Sacramento and LA) this summer has been cooler than last summer all over CA.
- _hypx 3y ago
  California is very close to seeing blackouts right now. If there's another heat wave on the scale of last year, there will be blackouts again.
alistairSH 3y ago
But that’s highly localized. And one of the most reported areas where this happens is Texas, who decided to roll their own grid, and is now paying the price for that stupidity.
redserk 3y ago
I'm skeptical of a narrative where concern for the electrical grid's ability to handle load is only considered for EV growth over several years versus the air conditioning use in the current unprecedented heatwave. Anecdotally, my A/C energy usage (compared to last year) far outweighs my energy usage in an EV.
- _hypx 3y ago
  Not to mention radical increases from demanding everyone switch to heat pumps plus demanding industry switch to electrified versions of everything too. It's seriously a complete fantasy to think the grid can happen all that with minimal upgrades.
  - redserk 3y ago
    Dominion Energy in Virginia has an even worse problem than EVs to worry about: datacenters https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD216/PDF https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD216/PDF If you scroll to page 66 of the PDF, it’s insane how much more demand is needed for datacenters. It completely dwarfs forecasted EV power usage.
theshrike79 3y ago
The US is a huge exception, your power grid is from the age when cowboys roamed the lands. Literally. There was a huge fire that was caused by a power line slowly mechanically wearing down its connector. OVER A HUNDRED YEARS. Nobody bothered to check or replace it. Also you have exceptions for oil and gas pipelines. 1-2 permits on a high level and the land owners can pound sand if they complain. For power lines you need levels on a dozen different levels and even after that everyone who can even see the power poles has the irrefutable right to veto said wire or at the very least sue and slow it down to a crawl...

CodeWriter23 3y ago

Also, this weekend in the UK https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-fleet-news/2023/07/20/busiest-day-ever-for-electric-vehicle-charging-predicted-on-uk-roads https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

skybrian 3y ago

This question depends on the specifics of local energy generation, so you’re not going to get good answers without zooming in. Japan’s electrical grid has some unique challenges that explain why they are so interested in hydrogen. An article about the UK isn’t all that relevant for that, Talking about the US electrical grid as a single entity doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when it’s not a single, nationwide market. There can definitely be local problems as we saw in Texas and California.

partiallypro 3y ago

Since when does Toyota only sell in England?