No. Because if there is too much power demand the overload results in some people getting no power. You dont often hear of rolling blackouts or brownouts in North America.
Everyone can use as much power as they have subscribed to whenever they want. Your panel is rated for a certain amount of power and protected by a breaker or fuse if too much is used. Same for the transformer your panel is connected to. Same for the distribution line your transformer is connected to. Same for the transformer it is connected to. And so on.
There is enough capacity in the system to meet the demand. If there wasn't the lights go out due to some overload.
When demand grows more capacity has to be added before the limit is reached. Capacity takes years to build. Utilities have planning departments that decide where they need to add capacity next and how much.
Which would be a problem when everyone gets an electric car and every night the owners will request 20 kW for up to 8 hours (hence sustained, not peak). For a condo that could easily be half a megawatt.
That is an unreasonable number. That is 160 kwh of power which is double the largest model 3 battery. This would require everyone to drive nearly 600 miles a day at highway speed. Roughly nine hours of driving a day at 75miles an hour.
The expectation is that people drive 30ish miles a day. This is about 11kwh. Over 8 hours a night, well within reasonable limits.
I was thinking of 10 kW * 2 cars, but actually even for a single car you need 120 kWh to charge 85 kWh. You're right that it won't happen every night for 8 hours, I was wrong about that.
Problem is that you have to size for the worst case, which may happen only once a year, but it will happen. Everyone coming back after Thanksgiving. Everyone reaching a vacation place on a Sunday evening in the summer. Bam, 20 kW sustained for a few hours.
It takes only a few big condos before you need to bring 400 kV lines downtown...
Although your power requirements are somewhat overblown, this is one reason that companies like EMotorWerks are developing grid-connected EVSE’s (“Chargers”) that can be centrally controlled to manage load. Ultimately, EV’s will be plugged in for the 20+ hours a day that they aren’t being driven, and the grid will use them as a giant variable load to soak up excess solar and wind power and shed load when everyone turns on the A/C on a hot day.
Lots of plugged EV’s are also the perfect pairing to rooftop solar — in Hawaii, they’ve had to stop people from installing panels on their homes because the neighborhood feeder circuits can’t handle the power being generated by all of the homes. Just redirect that power to the EV in the driveway (or your neighbor’s driveway), problem solved!
Yes, although it not really "promised". A 200A residential service isn't a promise you can consume 200A 24/7, it's just the "never exceed" rating. If you need significantly more power than normal residential needs, I'm sure the utility will be happy to talk to you about your requirements.
Everyone can use as much power as they have subscribed to whenever they want. Your panel is rated for a certain amount of power and protected by a breaker or fuse if too much is used. Same for the transformer your panel is connected to. Same for the distribution line your transformer is connected to. Same for the transformer it is connected to. And so on.
There is enough capacity in the system to meet the demand. If there wasn't the lights go out due to some overload.
When demand grows more capacity has to be added before the limit is reached. Capacity takes years to build. Utilities have planning departments that decide where they need to add capacity next and how much.