time2roll wrote:
troubledwaters wrote:
time2roll wrote:
The grid will never be an issue. Growth will be slow and will be accommodated along with the adoption of electric vehicles. Most charging is done at night when there is an abundance of over capacity. Solar is growing so fast there is already mid-day glut of energy in CA requiring curtailment in renewables. Electric vehicle owners are frequently also installing home solar so net demand on the grid is often reduced when an EV is sold.
The grid already is an issue. They may have the capacity to generate the power, but they do not have the capacity to deliver it where it is needed. The last mile has always been the biggest and most costliest piece of the puzzle to fix. This was true with telephone, cable, fiber, and now the electric. Just imagine a few thousands homes on the last mile of a typical suburb all plugging in their hybrid at 6:00 p.m. when they get home from work. Lines will melt, transformers will smoke, and line fuses will pop like popcorn. Unless of course you have some plan for the several hundred billions of dollars it will take to up the capacity of the last mile, all over the country.
Brownouts are already prevalent. Now exacerbate that with a few thousand chargers on the same last mile of line.
CA peak demand history:
http://www.caiso.com/Documents/CaliforniaISOPeakLoadHistory.pdf
I think this is one of many adaptations that will be made as transportation becomes electrified in both the public and private realm. Eg, busses etc.
Interesting reading on busses as well. Most city bus manufacturers don't see any market within 7 years for anything but electric buses. No natural gas or diesel busses etc. China doesn't expect to manufacture internal combustion city busses of any type within 3 years.
We will also be able to see how they do the transition in Europe and learn from their experience and probably save some money in the process. Micro grids are showing promise in a few European countries although they also come with challenges. Sometimes there are benefits from being behind the technology curve. :)
