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Kay Rants Prop 30 Energy Availability
Oct. 16th, 2022 03:20 pmProp 30
Energy Availability
I’m hearing that one of the complaints about Prop 30 is a concern that the grid won’t have enough power for all the electric vehicles.
The major problem with power availability is not a lack of supply so much as a lack of supply if we all use it at once. The current grid is mostly set up well for the regular use of the population as far as supply, but it assumes we’re not all going to use as much energy as possible all the time. Most of the time that works fine, and is far more efficient than making sure there is energy to cover that maximum use. It’s like having 4 people living in a 2 bathroom home, you could move to a place with 4 bathrooms so that no one ever has to wait, but that’s a much more expensive home so we can accept sometimes waiting and pay less for housing.
Utilities know when the high use times are, they try to discourage use then with higher rates, and sometimes flex alerts. If charging adds significantly to those peak times it could required increased production, but even then it would take a huge number of vehicles for it to be a significant factor.
(I’m talking statewide, there are probably some local areas where this would have an impact sooner, which is one of the reasons you should talk to your utility if your planning on installing a charger.)
With few exceptions electric vehicles don’t need to be charging during high use times. We just saw that with the week of flex alerts because of the heat. In fact some electric school buses actually provided electricity to the grid when it was most needed.
A massive increase in use of electric vehicles will eventually mean we need more power overall, but that will take quite a large uptake, and the grid has dealt with this before, when air conditioning became more common, and personal computers started being in many more households as examples.
Transportation does take a significant amount of energy, and if we want to reduce pollutants in the air, reduce greenhouse gases, and/or move away from fossil fuels electric is a good solution, and eventually we’ll need more unless we cut back on other uses, or gain in efficiency. The CPUC, and utilities are already planning for this increased need.
Electric vehicles can also help with incorporating more renewables into the system. One of the problems with wind and solar is that the energy is available when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, but not all the time. That’s great when the grid usage matches up, but means there’s renewable energy we don’t use when there is more available than would be used, and we use something else (in CA mostly natural gas with some nuclear) when there’s demand that isn’t met. Electric vehicles are giant batteries on wheels, and for most of us they sit around most of the time. If they’re integrated into the grid they can help match grid usage to renewable output.
The first step of this is smart charging where vehicles are charged when there’s a lot of electricity available, and don’t charge when there isn’t. This can be done now with most chargers, or even just a smart plug, and communication.
There’s exciting potential for a situation where the utility or your home, if you’re plugged in at home, could pull electricity from the battery when there is less electricity available this can minimize peaks in need, and save on energy bills. Even small cars have batteries bigger than most home battery storage. For instance my 2013 Leaf has a 24 kWh battery, and that’s more than 2 energy walls.
It would also allow for powering vital things during a power outage, and even moving power from a place where the power is on to somewhere it isn’t if necessary (this is not efficient as a regular thing, but could help in emergencies or for specific situations).
This all means that while long term a population level switch to electric vehicles will mean a need for more electricity the ramp up will be slow, and more flexible than current usage.
I can’t imagine Prop 30 increasing electricity use to a point that the utilities aren’t ready for.
Also with the ZEV mandate in place the vehicles will be coming anyway these funds will help make that easier for those that would have trouble switching, and/or have trouble charging.
Energy Availability
I’m hearing that one of the complaints about Prop 30 is a concern that the grid won’t have enough power for all the electric vehicles.
The major problem with power availability is not a lack of supply so much as a lack of supply if we all use it at once. The current grid is mostly set up well for the regular use of the population as far as supply, but it assumes we’re not all going to use as much energy as possible all the time. Most of the time that works fine, and is far more efficient than making sure there is energy to cover that maximum use. It’s like having 4 people living in a 2 bathroom home, you could move to a place with 4 bathrooms so that no one ever has to wait, but that’s a much more expensive home so we can accept sometimes waiting and pay less for housing.
Utilities know when the high use times are, they try to discourage use then with higher rates, and sometimes flex alerts. If charging adds significantly to those peak times it could required increased production, but even then it would take a huge number of vehicles for it to be a significant factor.
(I’m talking statewide, there are probably some local areas where this would have an impact sooner, which is one of the reasons you should talk to your utility if your planning on installing a charger.)
With few exceptions electric vehicles don’t need to be charging during high use times. We just saw that with the week of flex alerts because of the heat. In fact some electric school buses actually provided electricity to the grid when it was most needed.
A massive increase in use of electric vehicles will eventually mean we need more power overall, but that will take quite a large uptake, and the grid has dealt with this before, when air conditioning became more common, and personal computers started being in many more households as examples.
Transportation does take a significant amount of energy, and if we want to reduce pollutants in the air, reduce greenhouse gases, and/or move away from fossil fuels electric is a good solution, and eventually we’ll need more unless we cut back on other uses, or gain in efficiency. The CPUC, and utilities are already planning for this increased need.
Electric vehicles can also help with incorporating more renewables into the system. One of the problems with wind and solar is that the energy is available when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, but not all the time. That’s great when the grid usage matches up, but means there’s renewable energy we don’t use when there is more available than would be used, and we use something else (in CA mostly natural gas with some nuclear) when there’s demand that isn’t met. Electric vehicles are giant batteries on wheels, and for most of us they sit around most of the time. If they’re integrated into the grid they can help match grid usage to renewable output.
The first step of this is smart charging where vehicles are charged when there’s a lot of electricity available, and don’t charge when there isn’t. This can be done now with most chargers, or even just a smart plug, and communication.
There’s exciting potential for a situation where the utility or your home, if you’re plugged in at home, could pull electricity from the battery when there is less electricity available this can minimize peaks in need, and save on energy bills. Even small cars have batteries bigger than most home battery storage. For instance my 2013 Leaf has a 24 kWh battery, and that’s more than 2 energy walls.
It would also allow for powering vital things during a power outage, and even moving power from a place where the power is on to somewhere it isn’t if necessary (this is not efficient as a regular thing, but could help in emergencies or for specific situations).
This all means that while long term a population level switch to electric vehicles will mean a need for more electricity the ramp up will be slow, and more flexible than current usage.
I can’t imagine Prop 30 increasing electricity use to a point that the utilities aren’t ready for.
Also with the ZEV mandate in place the vehicles will be coming anyway these funds will help make that easier for those that would have trouble switching, and/or have trouble charging.
