Grid can handle plug-ins, but only slowly and gradually
Can't be too many in one neighborhood too fastThe US grid is ready for the electrification of the automobile - as long as adoption is slow and gradual, charging only occurs at night, and EVs and PHEVs stay much smaller than today's current fleet of autos.
That's according to Mark Duvall, program manager for electric transportation, power delivery and distribution for the Electric Power Research Institute, based upon lessons learned as grids have gradually adapted to electricity-hogging plasma TVs. Of course, EVs will easily suck up four times as much juice as plasma TVs.
Even with a gradual increase of plug-ins, utilities are still somewhat worried according to the AP. Because of their higher costs, utilities are already worried that 'rich' neighborhoods might be EV and PHEV clusters that could threaten local electric substations. Other worries include size and weight, such as the inevitable desire for larger and more powerful electric vehicles that could greatly increase electricity demand from autos.
Ultimately, the same consumer trends that spiraled America's oil dependence out of control, could threaten the plug-in revolution as well. Can we do better this time?
Labels: electric cars, plug-in hybrid vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
7:22 AM
4 Comments:
Well I take all comments from EPRI with a grain of salt and this is no exception.
I do not understand the concern for our electric grid when it comes to EV's and the non-existent PHEV's. First of all, how many electric vehicles are there in the States? 3000? How many PHEV's? 150? How many Volts are coming? 10K in the first year and maybe 60K thereafter? Seriously, will these puny numbers really affect our grid?
I would think that plugging our cars in at night would actually HELP the electric companies by letting them have more demand during these off peak hours and maybe, just maybe, eliminating the need to take power plants offline. I must be missing something here! :)
At any rate, I am finding used Chevy Cavalier CNG bi-fuel vehicles available for sale and I might go this route! $2.00 per gallon of CNG in Ohio....
Dach - This is timely as we were just chatting about this yesterday on another of your blog threads. In any event, I think the article you referenced said it way better than I did. In a nutshell, they can handle the electrification of the car.
What's interesting is trying to infer what they mean by "the somewhat gradual" time-line they say they need to make sure things go smoothly. Their example of being able to accommodate the increased demand imposed by Plasma TVs implies to me that they can handle change that occurs over a time frame of a few years as opposed to decades.
I see this as again reaffirming, as even with the most optimistic projections, we are talking about a decade or more before the plug-in hybrid really makes a dent (although I and tens of thousands of others will have theirs long before then).
That's a rate of adoption that the grid can easily handle. What they are trying to prepare for is several hundred thousand a year, even more than a million per year by 2020, especially if larger truck and van EVs are also produced, which will use much more electricity than smaller electric vehicles.
Right now, as you point out, isn't a problem at all. This is preparation for wide scale mass production beginning within the next decade that they are focused upon.
energy independence-
same as you, i can't see how phevs and evs can really get rolling before 2020, although i'd love to see it happen.
MIT thinks there could be 5 million EVs on US roads by 2020. that seems aggressive, but i'm sure their study has to be based on sound reasoning.
maybe GM is just blowing sunshine out of their asses, or maybe by about 2015, huge increases in Volt and E Flex production are a very real possibility.
add what other automakers are doing, especially toyota, and maybe we are finally on the verge of a real revolution that could really kick into gear within about 5 years.
man, wouldn't it be nice to be shocked - pun intended - by the auto industry once in our lives?
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