Electric Cars Are Coming, and Fast. Is the Nation's Grid Up to It?

[Zorro]

GM’s decision this week to phase out gasoline vehicles is the latest in a major shift that will mean drastic new demands on electric utilities. Here are four things that will need to happen.

Major automakers are increasingly betting that millions of new cars and trucks over the next decade will be plugged into electrical outlets, not fueled up at gas stations. That raises a question: Is the nation’s power grid ready to handle this surge of new electric vehicles?

Today, fewer than 1 percent of cars on America’s roads are electric. But a seismic shift is underway.

General Motors said Thursday that it aims to stop selling new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks by 2035 and will pivot to battery-powered vehicles. California’s governor has set a goal of phasing out sales of new combustion engines statewide in just 15 years. Automakers like Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen plan to introduce dozens of new electric models in the years ahead, spurred on by plummeting battery prices and concerns about climate change.

That shift will have sweeping implications for the companies that produce and sell electricity and manage the grid. Analysts generally agree that it is entirely feasible to power many millions of new cars with electricity, but it will take careful planning.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/climate/gm-electric-cars-power-grid.html

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Yes, the grid is up to it.

This canard ha been debunked repeatedly.

[dalton99a]

2. And will there be a standardized charging network that is not controlled by Tesla?

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a35030461/why-other-car-companies-dont-use-tesla-superchargers/
Why Other Car Companies Don't Use Tesla Superchargers
Tesla says it will give its charging technology to any automaker who wants it. But the fine print makes this a terrible deal, even if it's free.
By Mack Hogan
Dec 21, 2020

[Initech]

3. My next car will be a plug in hybrid.

I wanted to get a Honda Clarity this time around but was told that it wasn't practical for how much I drive. Hopefully by the time I am ready to buy the next time, plug ins will get better, full electric will be more affordable, and the charging grid will get faster and better.

[MurrayDelph]

6. I wanted to get a Prius Prime

(after giving up on a Tesla 3 as being too expensive once kitted out with AWD and extended range), figuring that other than the occasional road trip the majority of my driving was in a 50-mile radius. But when it came down to it, I went with the AWD version instead.

Thanks to Covid, a tank of gas lasts six-to-eight weeks.

[ItsjustMe]

4. Electric car batteries with five-minute charging times produced

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/electric-car-batteries-race-ahead-with-five-minute-charging-times

Batteries capable of fully charging in five minutes have been produced in a factory for the first time, marking a significant step towards electric cars becoming as fast to charge as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles.

Electric vehicles are a vital part of action to tackle the climate crisis but running out of charge during a journey is a worry for drivers. The new lithium-ion batteries were developed by the Israeli company StoreDot and manufactured by Eve Energy in China on standard production lines.

StoreDot has already demonstrated its “extreme fast-charging” battery in phones, drones and scooters and the 1,000 batteries it has now produced are to showcase its technology to carmakers and other companies. Daimler, BP, Samsung and TDK have all invested in StoreDot, which has raised $130m to date and was named a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneer in 2020.

The batteries can be fully charged in five minutes but this would require much higher-powered chargers than used today. Using available charging infrastructure, StoreDot is aiming to deliver 100 miles of charge to a car battery in five minutes in 2025.

[uponit7771]

5. The night time capacity will be, the US bleeds electrons at night but the cars can use them

[Klaralven]

7. Switching outdoor lighting to LED or shutting it off will free capacity for overnight charging

[bello]

8. The solution is smart V2G controllers

With the availability of smart vehicle-to-grid controllers, the demand on the grid actually goes down and the grid becomes more robust, with no changes to the actual grid itself.

Charging the EV at night during low demand periods and back feeding the grid at peak periods will shave the peak demands on the grid and better utilize the grid during times of low usage.

In many cases, a smart V2G will save the homeowner money by avoiding peak period usage surcharges.

Win, win, win