[ArkanExplorer]

But we're already going to be building those batteries anyway: Electric cars.

What we need is a proper international standard for cars to be able to interact with the grid, to be able to charge and discharge based on grid conditions and pricing.

Its stupid to have everyone coming home from work at 6pm and plugging in their cars to charge right at the existing afternoon demand peak, when solar is waning. Just getting those cars to delay charging until around midnight (allowing user override) would shift a huge amount of peak demand.

Same concept if you don't use your car during the day - it should be able to discharge right into the morning and afternoon peaks, at your control. The user should be credited for this onto their car account.

It might even make sense to have dedicated high-voltage circuitry in houses and apartment blocks, to be used for EVs, solar, etc.

And we should really figure that out immediately since EV production is ramping up right now. We can't just rely on single automakers (Tesla) to work out these societal problems.

[UnpossibleJim]

If we're going to try and ramp up battery production and technology, then in for a penny in for a pound. We should really decentralize the power grid enough to take the weight of these types of spikes, putting in batteries to the home (like the Tesla wall, but with more competition) and solar/wind/gravity generation to supplement grid power generation. It's a jobs program that's been needed and called for for the last few years anyway, and now seems the time... not that the governmental gridlock would ever let anything like that happen, or even a spending project for small equity home/apartments retrofitting would happen. Not to mention the raw materials needed for the batteries.

[URSpider94]

Most of us here in CA already start charging at midnight, because of time of use power incentives. However, after using an app that showed the carbon burden of my charging, I learned that charging at midnight means I’m using relatively dirty power sources - there’s no solar at night, and the wind typically dies down.

The greenest time to charge here in Northern CA is between 11AM and 1PM, when solar production is maximum.