Can the grid handle electric cars?

[Ed P]

This question has come up often. This video has some good information, plus some actual facts.

Yes, we do need improvement, most of us knew this but not how much

[Snag]

At a time when people are being told they can't run their AC because the grid can't handle the load , are you advocating we all get electric cars ?

[Ed P]

No. I'm advocating doing something about it. Now is the time. Do you blame people that have electric cars for the proble4m, or the people that have air conditioners, or the people that maintain the grid?

You and I will be dead, but our grandkids will have a hard time getting gas as wells dry up and get expensive to operate. NOW is the time to plan for it

Sometimes you have to push for innovation and invention. When a crisis hit, we got polio vaccine. Now we push for more power Do you want to wait?

[Snag]

I blame the government for allowing a small sector of our population to dictate what technologies we're allowed to use for electricity generation . They've taken out multi-megawatts of hydroelectric generation for often-specious reasons . They've killed nuclear energy on grounds of "nuclear waste" when that waste can be recycled thru "fast breeder" reactors to produce ... more fuel ! We have the technology to safely support our energy needs if we were allowed to use it ! Now , about "fossil fuels" . There is a growing consensus among some independent* scientific researchers that the Earth is continuously producing oil and gas . I don't know about that but I do know that the amounts of gas and oil already discovered under just the contiguous US are enough to support current rates of domestic usage for several hundred years .

We are being played , and most people can't see it .

*Those whose livelihood is not dependent upon government grants or Big Pharma/Tech/Whatever money .

[T]

It is "virtue signaling".

[Ed P]

This says 47 years.

This says we are good to at least 2050 53 years

Show some reputable sources for your hundreds of years.

[rbowman]

He completely ignores the economics. In the '70s Public Service of New Hampshire predicted an increase of demand for electricity and started building for the future. Setting aside they may have overestimated and their choice was nuclear power, which was not as controversial, they ran into a problem.

Building plants costs money as does improving infrastructure. Their solution was to add a Construction Works In Progress to the ratepayers' bills. In the ensuing court battle the decision was they couldn't charge now for for future capacity. Between that and the protests against Seabrook Station PSNH went bankrupt. A consortium bought the existing infrastructure and the planned nuclear plants were cut back to the one that was close to completion.

So while we can agree generation and distribution will have to be upgraded, who is going to pay for the added capacity that may be needed 10 or 20 years from now?

Norway is really cherry picking. 95% of their power generation is hydro and they normally export electricity. Even better due to 'climate change' they are getting more rain and even more hydro capability. It's cheap, so why wouldn't they want plug in cars?

[rbowman]

To simplify my response, WHO is going to pay for it NOW?

[rbowman]

The best part about 'virtue signaling' is getting somebody else to pay for your virtue.

[Ed P]

The same people that paid for what we have now, of course.

[rbowman]

Who might that be? Consider the network of filling stations, pipelines, refineries, and so forth necessary for ICE automobiles. Aren't they paid for by the users of those automobiles in the long run?

If electric companies find a way to raise rates now to pay for additional generation capacity and transmission lines that means I, who probably will never drive an EV let alone own one, will be subsidizing those that do.

[invalid unparseable]

You may some day if Chinese break through here with their cars:

[Ed P]

To a point, yes, but EV users will consume more, thus, pay more toward grid improvements. Look at Texas right now. You can cause the grid to collapse if you like your toast a bit darker. They should pay more and fix and damned thing.

In life we pay for many things we never use. Should the lifeguards on the beach only be paid by people they rescue?

[Scott Lurndal]

Indeed. And show that it can be economically recovered. One hundred years ago, the EROEI for a barrel of crude was 100:1 (100 barrels produced using 1 barrel of energy). Today, for conventional oil it's in the teens to low forties, depending on source (oil shale, for example, requires one barrel of energy to produce 1.5 barrels of crude, oil sands varies from 1:1 to 5:1).

Then there is the energy trap - to develop new sources to replace the fossil fuel resources requires energy; if high ratio sources are exhausted before we convert to sustainable energy sources, the world is basically screwed.

[Scott Lurndal]

Better now, then later.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Everybody. It's a "common good".

Better energy infrastructure (including power generation) is good for everybody, not just EV drivers.

[Cindy Hamilton]

And by anybody who uses anything that was ever shipped by truck or train.

You already are subsidizing anybody who uses less electricity than you. Perhaps you should go beat seven colors of hell out of them and get your money back.

[trader_4]

Where are you living where you've been told that you can't run your AC because the grid can't handle it?

[trader_4]

If polio had showed up today most of these crazy Republican luddites would be demanding that we let natural immunity take care of it.

[rbowman]

I'd give those a few years before jumping in. China can make high quality products but they often don't. There was an influx of Chinese motor scooters that were much cheaper than Vespas or Piaggios. Cheap they were. My favorite was a '150 cc' model. In this case the 150 ccs referred to the oil capacity not the anemic 49 cc engine.