[sonnekki]

This sparked a thought experiment in my mind.

Let's assume that we are in an age where the grand majority has an electric car which is charged from home. Let's also assume that the electrical consumption of all other electrical devices (appliances, electronics, lights etc) stays constant.

What extra load will electric cars add to the power grid?

Would the extra power plants required to meet this extra load add up to a relatively equal waste output as today's cars?

e: grammar, clarity

[IgorPartola]

From what I gather, currently you need to check with your utility company to see if they can deliver enough power to your home before installing a charging station. They are concerned about it, so I imagine they are not ready to charge any significant proportion of cars.

[bugsy]

Yeah, the Roadster requires a 220V/70A charging system. I've owned a lot of homes and don't recall ever having seen beyond 220v/30A lines for electric dryers and stoves. A 70A line is definitely requiring a new service box for just about any residential set up. The Model S requires 440V service. No idea how that is going to work, I've never seen a house anywhere in the world with 440V AC service. For this you're going to need the electric company to set up a separate transformer on the pole just for your house.

But charging is mostly at night when there is an excess of capacity, so that is a good thing.

I hear people talking about using solar panels to charge these things. There is no solar service on any residential house that is going to be providing 220V 70A service for recharging these cars.