WHAT is the percent of electricity increase to the grid needed to meet increased electric needs of charging 80 million additional vehicles 1 to 2 times per day?
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beats me. but given that batteries don’t work so well in cold climates— you can bet that volume increases will most affect the grid in places like California Arizona Nevada and other southern states.
The desert states will likely solve the needed extra electricity problem by putting up more solar panels. That’s what they’re doing now anyhow—and will be doing for the next three years.
(imho the best solution to the needed added extra energy is lftr portable nuclear power plants.)
I haven’t done the math but my wag would be that for electric cars to become one third of the auto inventory in the USA — electric cars would have to maintain current high growth rates of 20+% annually for 10-20 years.
A lot is going to happen in the energy space and everywhere else between now and then.
How soon will they tax the electricity to recharge cars at the rate of gasoline to help pay for roads?
The mention of steam power for charging batteries in remote locations wasn’t all tongue-in-cheek, BTW. I really looked into it quite a bit in detail, and there are keywords and phrases in the following for anyone interested.
It would be doable with wood or kerosene for firing, but expensive, even with a self-install by someone knowledgeable in machining, steel fabrication, mechanics, electrical work and associated codes (including mechanical codes). The boiler plans would need to be ASME approved, and the piston engines would best be horizontal, compound (for smoother torque), stationary customs with more volume than the currently offered marine types. And much more (reservoirs, switches, many safety valves, large, custom-built axial flux alternators (potentially more durable than generator heads on the market), controllers, rectifiers, inverters, etc.).
Other than that, the small plants that some individuals in the global market would like to sell (reflectors, stainless boilers, turbines, etc.) are crazy expensive and regulated. Then, there are the Stirlings, wobblers, etc., for duping students into thinking and evoking laughs of astonishment.
Other than gas or diesel fired engines, where there are enough sun days, a PV solar plant (still expensive and inefficient) would be the best charging answer so far for a place that’s too far from power lines for the best hookup.