[silisili]

Absolutely agreed.

Electric cars are for the rich. And of course they say it's the future and everyone should do it, without realizing it's literally impossible. No grid in the US could come close to handling that, much less in developing countries.

Not to mention due to range limitations, many people and companies are ruled out automatically.

I don't think electric is bad, or should go away. But it's not meant for the masses. I think H has a brighter future worldwide.

[socialismisok]

Hydrogen is less energy per volume than gas, it requires pressure vessels rather than tanks, it's stored pressurized in vehicles and stations, it makes materials it contacts brittle, it relies on a manufacturing process that either requires natural gas production or a huge excess of electrical energy, fuel stations are huge capital costs, etc.

I could go on, but it just doesn't make sense to pin hopes on hydrogen.

[bhhaskin]

The exact same thing can be said about EVs and then some.

Batteries are less energy per volume than gas. Batteries are extremely hazardous if damaged. They have a relatively short lifespan. They are hardcore industrial hazardous waste. Power generation is likely coming from a gas power plant or even a coal power plant. The required infrastructure upgrades would be astronomical.

[cycrutchfield]

> Power generation is likely coming from a gas power plant or even a coal power plant.

A significantly more efficient plant than an ICE.

[avtolik]

There are so many false statements in your post, I don't even know where to start.

The grid absolutely can handle EVs.

The range of modern EVs is totally fine for almost all cases.

The price is an issue, but even in my poor Eastern European country the number of EV exploded this year. Mainly second hand small city cars, but also others.

[silisili]

The same grid that can't handle heat waves without begging people to turn off AC, and even then having rolling blackouts, can handle everyone charging at night or after work at the same time, too?

Almost everyone in the midwest and mountain west considers a 3 hr (one way) drive a normalish weekly or monthly event. Sure, it's not most people, but it's not some tiny outlier.

I'm completely fine with being made a fool of, but I'm going to need more than 'yeah, it can do it.'

[saagarjha]

Absolutely. The reason the grid begs you to turn off your AC is because you do it at 4 PM when there isn't enough power. EVs charge at night when demand is low.

[Jtype]

demand won't be low if that's when everyone is charging their EVs. lol

[organsnyder]

Time-of-use pricing combined with scheduled charging solves this, and is already widely available.

[readthenotes1]

"The grid absolutely can handle EVs."

Maybe yours can.

In California, they were recently asked to not charge cars during certain times of the day because the power system could not support the additional load.

My understanding is that California's grid could have supported the load, they just weren't able to generate the electricity required to do so.

[avtolik]

Almost all EV owners are charging them during the night, when the electricity demand is lower.

And ok, maybe some upgrades will be needed in some places. But the situation is not so dark as the person above described it.

[silisili]

Keep in mind, if my math is right, CA is at like 6% electric vehicle saturation. So basically multiply that load they claim not to be able to handle by 16.

[cycrutchfield]

The vast majority of home EV charging happens at night. Is that when CA was telling people not to charge their cars?

[silisili]

Would America even function if gas stations were only open at night?

[cycrutchfield]

If you could fill up your gas tank in your garage, probably most people would be just fine.

[Defitio]

Huh?

Are you not cooking?

Our stove needs 1kw and our oven has 6kw.

It's not crashing when everyone is cooking why would it crash when everyone is charging?

Also it costs more (energy wise) to make H and then consume it than using the energy itself. This should probably has a relevant cost saving.

Economy of scale will bring much cheaper batteries very soon. Let's say 10-20 years

[silisili]

Cooking is super bursty, and at variable times, and for short durations. And even then, varies by day.

It's not at all the same as everyone on planet earth in the same hemisphere trying to charge their cars during peak summer AC time, between 4 and 6ish pm.

[Defitio]

Either you charge over night than you can charge slow and steady ( I did this at my parents house a few times with 800watts or so, which is not a lot) or at work where you already can have smart charging.

Independent of this, plenty of counties use energy to heat (consumes a lot) or have ac which also pulls a lot.

Ev charging is estimated with 10% additional load on a power grid. That's doable.

Is it a challenge? Yes. In one place more than in another place

[cycrutchfield]

> everyone on planet earth in the same hemisphere trying to charge their cars during peak summer AC time

Why do you keep parroting this nonsense? Virtually nobody charges their car at this time

[silisili]

I don't see how it's nonsense. Everyone keeps saying 'at night', but more realistically for most people, when they get home from work.

[Defitio]

My car itself can control when it's charging.

If you use anything more fancy on the PV side you can also control it on the other side.

And for more than one flat, load control is already available. We're I life we have 90 cars in the parking garage and there is a load controller

[frumper]

You plug in when you get home, and your car doesn’t actually charge until it’s scheduled…sometime later at night. Mine starts at 8pm. During the heatwave I bumped it to 10pm because it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s done charging in about 3 hours.