Summary:
Energy industry officials believe they will be able to cope with the increased electric demand when rechargeable cars become a reality. Industry has already dealt with increased electric demand from millions of plasma TVs (cars consume 4x more electricity). Changeover from ICE to electric is likely to be gradual (still lot of issues with batteries to be solved). Will thus be able to handle it in same way as they handled plasma TVs. Most electric cars will likely be charged during off-peak electric use times, utilities should have no problem generating enough electricity. Potentials problems: rise in oil price causes transition to be very rapid; stress on distribution system in certain areas; electric vehicles getting larger and requiring far more electricity for recharging; and demands from people that their vehicles be recharged quickly, drawing more electricity during peak times. (Published: 23/07/08)
Notes:
- cars vs. plasma TVS
- rechargeable cars consume about four times the electricity as plasma TVs
- but: industry already has dealt with increased electric demand from the millions of plasma TVs sold in recent years
- experience will help them deal with the vehicle fleet changeover
- Mark Duvall, program manager for electric transportation, power delivery and distribution for the Electric Power Research Institute
- "So as long as the changeover from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles is somewhat gradual, they should be able to handle it in the same way"
- "We've already added to the grid the equivalent of several years' production of plug-in hybrids."
- "The utilities, they stuck with it. They said, 'All right, that's what's happening. This is where the loads are going, and we're going to do this.'"
- Automakers are planning to bring rechargeable vehicles to the market as early as 2010
- but will take much longer for them to arrive in mass numbers, due in part to a current lack of large-battery manufacturing capacity
- auto and battery companies still are working on the lithium-ion battery technology needed for the cars, and on how to link the battery packs to the vehicles
- Efrain Ornelas, environmental technical supervisor with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in San Francisco
- "We see the vehicle penetration levels coming at a rate that's manageable. It's not like tomorrow the flood gates are going to open and 100,000 vehicles are going to come into San Francisco or something like that."
- PG&E will be able to track their charging patterns and plan accordingly for the future
- current demand
- utility officials say they already are coping with increased demand
- especially during peak-use periods in the afternoon and early evening
- rest of the day, most utilities have excess generating capacity that could be used to recharge cars
- most electric cars will likely be charged during off-peak electric use times, utilities should have no problem generating enough electricity
- the preparation doesn't mean electric vehicles will be accommodated without problems and good planning
- since people with the means to buy electric cars likely will live in the same areas, utilities worry about stress on their distribution systems
- if high gasoline prices could push sales of rechargeable electric vehicles well into the millions by 2020, that could stress the system
- other possible problems include
- electric vehicles getting larger and requiring far more electricity for recharging
- demands from people that their vehicles be recharged quickly, drawing more electricity during peak times
- choice for consumers
- consumers will face a lot of choices about when and where they charge up their cars and how much they want to pay for the electricity
- utilities likely will raise rates to charge cars during peak use times, generally from around noon to 8 p.m., and lower them for charging during low-use hours
- e.g. PG&E charges 30 cents per kilowatt hour to charge an electric vehicle during peak hours, he said, but charges only 5 cents from midnight to 7 p.m
- talk of the cars storing electricity and sending it back to the power companies during peak times
- officials say that's a long way off
