There’s a lot of buzz following the Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit about mass adoption of electric cars and the impact it will have on the grid.
On a panel, Chairman of Edison Electric Institute Anthony Earley said, “The beauty of electricity is it’s already there … So we’ve kind of got a jump-start” – meaning it’s not a huge infrastructure overhaul to build charging stations.
But when asked about overloading the grid with too many EVs he said, “The last thing you want is millions of electric vehicles plugged in at 5 o’clock on a hot summer afternoon when the grid is already being taxed.
Mr. Earley may have missed the mark, slightly. The beauty of electricity is not only that it’s already here, but also that it’s available 24 hours a day. Electric cars can be charged at your home while you sleep using excess electricity in the grid. While it’s true that electric cars could significantly tax the grid if many are charged within close proximity in the daytime during peak hours, we don’t think most people will do that. Lower night time electricity rates will be a big incentive for consumers to charge during off-peak hours (between 11 pm and 4 am), and the development and installation of timed meters, like PG&E’s SmartMeter™ will make this convenient.
In fact, according to a 2007 study done by researchers at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (which assumed all cars, trucks and SUVs were PHEVs across the country), 84% of the additional electricity demand created by plug-in vehicles could be met with the current grid’s off-peak generation, transmission and distribution capacity.
0 Comments