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Excellent discussion from Engineering Explained. The short answer is yes, switching to EVs, over a period of decades, appears very doable for power companies to increase service for.
The problem in my area is that nearly everyone uses electric heat, and it gets coldest at night, when most people would be charging. When it gets below 20 degrees the grid in my area is already close to maxed out during the early morning hours.
The problem in my area is that nearly everyone uses electric heat, and it gets coldest at night, when most people would be charging. When it gets below 20 degrees the grid in my area is already close to maxed out during the early morning hours.
Do you expect everyone in your area to transition to EVs overnight? How quickly are EVs flying off the shelves in your area?
Also, does your area have your air conditioning or did your utility companies give up when air conditioners started becoming popular and thought making money was for fools, so they never upgraded the utilities and decided that people shouldn't run air conditioners? Actually, why does your area have electricity at all?
The problem in my area is that nearly everyone uses electric heat, and it gets coldest at night, when most people would be charging. When it gets below 20 degrees the grid in my area is already close to maxed out during the early morning hours.
There are lots of fixes for particular locations. Bring in natural gas plant in a pinch. But pretty much it will get solved for the next decade with solar/wind and storage.
And overall it will not be a big problem. Simply have to add needed resources as the shift continues. But it will not be fast. Gonna take a couple or three decades.
Do you expect everyone in your area to transition to EVs overnight? How quickly are EVs flying off the shelves in your area?
Also, does your area have your air conditioning or did your utility companies give up when air conditioners started becoming popular and thought making money was for fools, so they never upgraded the utilities and decided that people shouldn't run air conditioners? Actually, why does your area have electricity at all?
I think it is more a question of “How much will it cost?†as opposed to “Can it be done?†There are just too many downsides for EVs right now, and I don’t see that changing for a while. The costs to upgrade the grid and install chargers everywhere will be very expensive.
Plus, there are too many inconveniences with EVs. I can take 5 minutes at a gas station to go 400 miles, but an EV can’t get anywhere close to that range in that amount of time. To get to 50% EVs, out of all cars on the road, is going to take until 2040, if not later.
I think it is more a question of “How much will it cost?†as opposed to “Can it be done?†There are just too many downsides for EVs right now, and I don’t see that changing for a while. The costs to upgrade the grid and install chargers everywhere will be very expensive.
Plus, there are too many inconveniences with EVs. I can take 5 minutes at a gas station to go 400 miles, but an EV can’t get anywhere close to that range in that amount of time. To get to 50% EVs, out of all cars on the road, is going to take until 2040, if not later.
Nope. Very little fast change to the grid. Much more decade long changes which will be easily accommodated. Much of the grid loading will be at times it has excess capacity. May need more generating resources but they will be easily met by solar/wind.
The antis really need to understand that the grid is very resilient over decade times. And there are lots of tools for the utility to avoid bad problems. Pricing being a good one.
And the solutions to quick charging and high energy density are coming now. Goodenough et al seems to have a good solution which will purportedly be available commercially in 2022. So we will see...
Do you expect everyone in your area to transition to EVs overnight? How quickly are EVs flying off the shelves in your area?
Also, does your area have your air conditioning or did your utility companies give up when air conditioners started becoming popular and thought making money was for fools, so they never upgraded the utilities and decided that people shouldn't run air conditioners? Actually, why does your area have electricity at all?
1. Those substations and high voltage lines--as well as their easements--aren't younger than the air conditioner. They would all need to be made about 60% fatter than they exist now just if even half the vehicles on the road today were converted.
2. Nobody needed DC feeds to their curbs before. Now everyone would need them, or else you'll be scheduled into long lines at retail charger outlets. And not every car owner can garage their EV or even park it in a personal driveway.
There are lots of fixes for particular locations. Bring in natural gas plant in a pinch. But pretty much it will get solved for the next decade with solar/wind and storage.
And overall it will not be a big problem. Simply have to add needed resources as the shift continues. But it will not be fast. Gonna take a couple or three decades.
Yep bring in a fossil fuel like natural gas to make clean energy.:
Yep bring in a fossil fuel like natural gas to make clean energy.:
Nonsense. The natural gas plant is simply a crutch to help over the transition. Will not last a decade but will prevent any hardship in the transistion.
1. Those substations and high voltage lines--as well as their easements--aren't younger than the air conditioner. They would all need to be made about 60% fatter than they exist now just if even half the vehicles on the road today were converted.
2. Nobody needed DC feeds to their curbs before. Now everyone would need them, or else you'll be scheduled into long lines at retail charger outlets. And not every car owner can garage their EV or even park it in a personal driveway.
Mass EV adoption is both lunacy and a pipe dream.
1. What are you even going on about here? Much of the transmission lines and substations and high voltage lines in the US have seen some kind of change or were put in place since the 60s when A/Cs became common place. Why would a 30% or so increase in potential overall demand over the course of a couple of/a few decades require so much change?
2. What DC feeds to their curbs en masse? Do you understand home charging is done with AC? Also, the inverter for AC to DC or the other way around is far cheaper and more efficient than in the past, so this isn't even a real issue. Not every car owner has a garage, but not every car owner has their own gas station at home either. The worst you come down to is that you go back to what you were doing before which is charging at stations that you don't own except this time around it's far easier and more likely for businesses and places of work to run power to charging stations where one parks, so it's at least possible that you wouldn't have to go anywhere out of your way to fill up at all.
Your purported issues with mass EV adoption are both lunacy and a tailpipe dream.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 02-11-2021 at 08:11 PM..
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