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by avtolik 1347 days ago
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.

2 comments

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.'

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.
demand won't be low if that's when everyone is charging their EVs. lol
Time-of-use pricing combined with scheduled charging solves this, and is already widely available.
"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.

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.

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.
The vast majority of home EV charging happens at night. Is that when CA was telling people not to charge their cars?
Would America even function if gas stations were only open at night?
If you could fill up your gas tank in your garage, probably most people would be just fine.