Electric vehicles won’t overload the grid – and they could even help modernize our aging infrastructure

• Energy and transportation experts say electric cars won’t soon overwhelm the US grid.
• Now, electric cars don’t consume much energy, and it will be decades before electric cars take over.
• The EV can be charged when it’s best for the grid and can even store energy for the future.

Battery powered Teslas, Fordsand Volkswagens not about to overwhelm the US grid, despite what Tucker Carlson and some Republican politician Speak.

Last month, electric vehicle skeptics were field day when California’s utility urge customers to save energy during a severe heatwave by not charging their cars during certain hours. Some conservatives question how the state is expected to ban the sale of internal combustion-engine cars by 2035 if it can’t handle the number of electric vehicles on the road today.

On his Fox News show, Carlson electric car smashed as a “new way to tackle California’s already collapsed energy grid.”

Energy and transportation experts disagree. They say that more electric cars plugged in will increase energy demand over time, necessitating a stronger grid and smarter charging habits. But there is no reason for immediate alarm. With careful planning, there will be plenty of electricity to go around.

EVs could one day make the grid stronger and more resilient.

EVs are not a huge source of energy

Although California has more electric cars than any other state, they only 4% of total energy consumption during peak hours. Even by the 2030 estimate, about 5.6 million electric cars, truckand trucks will only cover 4% of the peak load.

“Saying they’re straining the grid ignores 99.6% of today’s challenges,” said Max Baumhefner, senior counsel for the National Resource Defense Council. blog post.

Although electric vehicle sales are on the rise, Americans keep their cars on average for 12 years, so it will be a long time before the entire US fleet changes. The Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainability research group, projects that total U.S. energy demand will increase by 1% to 2% annually as a result of the use of electric cars. That is comparable to the increase in utilities seen during the energy boom of the 20th century, with the rise of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems, the group said.

Chaz Teplin, a principal at RMI, said: “Load growth is something some utilities haven’t had to deal with for a while, but it’s often within the range where utilities can plan and management,” said Chaz Teplin, a principal at RMI, adding that the challenge will be to transition the country to renewable energy sources. However, experts say it is still necessary to upgrade the grid to handle the extra load. According to a 2020 study from Brattle Group, 20 million light electric vehicles on US roads by 2030 will require $45 to $75 billion investment in more powerful energy generation, distribution and storage.

EVs are very versatile

Unlike a refrigerator that needs to keep food cold 24/7 or an air conditioner that can consume electricity for hours on end on a hot day, a typical electric car can be parked 23 hours a day. That gives a lot of flexibility about when to charge. Moving charging to times that are most beneficial to the grid – like overnight when demand is low or during the day when solar power generation is high – can significantly reduce high stressors, experts say point of the grid, even as demand from electric vehicles increases.

Nick Nigro, founder of map Public Policy, a transportation-focused consulting firm, told Insider.

RMI sees California’s recent heatwave as proof that managed charging is working: People have adjusted their habits and the state avoids outages. “If drivers keep charging whenever they feel like it, that means we need to build an extremely robust power grid,” said Matthias Preindl, a professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University. sure. But smart grid technology that guides vehicles when to charge can do wonders in managing peak loads and negates the need for infrastructure upgrades in many areas, he said. Some gadgets have smart charging schemes, but they’re not that common yet.

One recent research of the 2035 EV ecosystem found that encouraging people to charge their batteries during the day could save Western states billions of dollars in investment in energy storage. Increasing solar energy production will require the battery to store electricity for use at night, but charging during the day cuts that need.

In the future, electric vehicles can support the grid

Some experts envision a future where electric vehicles can enhance the grid if used skillfully. Vehicle-to-grid technology, or V2G, will turn plugged-in electric cars into a distributed battery system that could help utility companies store electricity for emergencies or times of extreme demand.

This future is far away, but car companies are working on adjacent technologies. The Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck such as being able to act as a backup generator and power a home for up to three days. Preindl says V2G will be key to storing wind and solar-generated energy and moving the US to clean energy sources. “If all cars were to run on electricity, the amount of stored energy we could have access to would be enormous,” he said.