4 ms·
EVs provide flexible demand, they are parked 22 hours+ a day, can charge whenever power is negative (which happens 100s of millions of times/year) or power is z
by thelastgallon 3y ago
EVs provide flexible demand, they are parked 22 hours+ a day, can charge whenever power is negative (which happens 100s of millions of times/year) or power is zero. Right now, there is excess production from renewables, which is wasted. EVs can absorb all that.
We don't need quick chargers at home, unless you mean 240V chargers? Which is in some of the countries with 110V/120V.
We don't need more generation capacity. Utilities are keen on increasing costs, their profits are a percentage of cost, there is a nexus between generation, transmission and distribution companies to keep adding capacity. This was pointed out by many commenters, a recent out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39487714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39487714
Energy demand will down with EVs and renewables: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/iea-energy-scenarios https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/iea-energy-scenari...
Whats needed is demand response. But utilities won't do it, because it won't increase their profits.
- quantified 3y agoHow does the amount of energy necessary to recharge the vehicles compare to the amount of energy required to run the additional industry?
- mschuster91 3y agoThe idea is to a) use V2G vehicles over a day / night cycle to "buffer out" gaps from renewables and b) incentivize high-demand consumers during low-production times to shut down by the power of the free market. Point a) has already been explained by GP, but b) is the interesting one. Right now there's barely any incentive for large consumers such as aluminium smelters to shut down or limit consumption during the night (where there is no solar energy), the only incentive these kind of consumers get is a premium for short-term load shedding. We would, as a society, need far less of generation capacity buildout if we can get the large consumers to drastically reduce their consumption at night.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoBut don’t we want them running at night today vs during the day when more power is used. Scheduling those work shifts at the smelter is going to be annoying. “Sorry Bob, the power market is spiking now, you’ll need to come in 8 hours later to start your shift.” We can solve this problem simply by closing all our plants and importing more aluminum from Japan.
- mschuster91 3y agoSure but you can predict that there will be no solar power available at night.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoWe can also predict that higher AC use correlates with more solar power.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoSolar power is greatest at noon. I think Bob would be thrilled to be told that he will be required to work during the day rather than at night.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoOther energy uses peak during the day, like AC in the summer.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoNot enough to compensate. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=56880 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=56880
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoCalifornia is the wrong state to look at AC usage (most people live in big metro areas where AC isn't even ubiquitous, nor needs to be).
- delfinom 3y ago>. Right now there's barely any incentive for large consumers such as aluminium smelters to shut down or limit consumption during the night You cannot shut down smelters period. They must be kept running or the entire smelter has to be rebuilt taking months.
- falserum 3y agoThis point seems to be overlooked very often.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoYou cannot shut down smelters completely, but AFAICT you can idle them, substantially reducing their power requirements.
- ZeroGravitas 3y agoNote the energy demand going down is due to the inefficiency of fossil based transport and heating that gets replaced with electrical versions. But it'll still mean an increase electricity production/consumption. It's not a big drama, and it's already planned for, but it'll still be an increase (even after accounting for efficiency gains).