GCR: Study: Jump in electric vehicles may not stress California's power grid

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GRA

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https://www.greencarreports.com/new...ehicles-may-not-stress-californias-power-grid

. . . San Francisco-based think tank Next 10 published reports this week that said Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to increase the number of electrified vehicles by more than 13 times wouldn't stress the state's power grid by as much as some have feared. There are 369,000 EVs on the road, according to the group, and Brown has said the state should set a goal for 5 million plug-in electrics (PEVs) by 2030.

The group projects that 3.9 million PEVs would add 15,500 gwh of charging demand, which is roughly 5 percent of the state's current power need. . . .

To cope with the increased burden of more PEVs, the group says that California will need update and manage PEV charging but said that the benefits of having the clean transportation far outweigh the costs. Those measures would include off-peak charging incentives and smart charging programs, although the authors admit there will be challenges to implement those programs. Specifically, energy storage programs that use the EVs as home batteries to supply electricity to the grid would be costly and complex. Stationary storage programs such as Tesla's Powerwall are a better solution, according to the report. . . .

California has more than 800,000 rooftop solar-panel systems and has been adding 100,000 more annually, according to the report. This year, California mandated rooftop solar panels on commercial buildings that could add another 75,000 systems annually.

That type of large-scale adoption will help increased electric demand, although the studies' authors point out that California lags in "demand response," or flexible power provisions when demand is high.
 
During our severe heat wave a couple weeks back in which local temps were in the 110-120 range, my local utility warned of possibly brownouts and even blackouts (due to overloading causing transformers and other infrastructure to fail) if we don't manage our daytime electricity use wisely, to include setting thermostats higher and putting off using major appliances until after 9 PM. An EVSE especially a 240 volt one is going to use more electricity than just about any other major appliance in the home with central A/C the possible exception.

One time during this period I was forced to charge my car during the day, but opted to use the 120 volt cord instead, that way at least I'm only drawing 1440 watts and not the 4800 it would normally draw. It also kept the battery at the full mark for the least amount of time since it took a lot longer to charge.

Unless they're willing to build more infrastructure particularly generation plants, charging off-peak and encouraging more solar adoption is the only way to manage the growing number of EV's.
 
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