Clearly the grid in Cali couldn't handle charging all the EVs if every ICE vehicle on the road today was magically replaced with an EV, but that will take decades to happen, during which the grid will be built up.
> You've probably heard it all, too: A Prius is worse for the planet than a Hummer. EVs are coal-powered cars. Electric cars produce more CO2 than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Lithium mining is uniquely bad for the environment. Cobalt mining relies largely on slave labor, if not child slave labor. Actually, that last part is sadly true. But the rest? Lies.
Later:
> Sure, more EVs will mean more batteries, but unlike gasoline, which always has to be burned, battery production can become (and is becoming) greener. Another way to look at it is the energy required to produce an average EV's battery is equivalent to about 74 gallons of gas.
What happens when everyone pulls into a gas station “all at once?”
Throwing a load on a system at max is a bad thing. Switzerland is trying to make preparations: https://www.electrive.com/2022/12/02/switzerland-rumoured-to.... There’s only so much power out there right now and it’s often “elsewhere” than the major population centres (or mountain fastnesses).
Meanwhile everyone’s AC is going full blast at noon on a hot summer day meanwhile EV’s generally charge when rates are cheap.
A microwave takes 1000+ watts.
7,200 W * 1.5 hour/day = 7.2 kW * 1.5h * 4 miles per kW hour * 365 days ~= 15,768 miles per year.
7,200 W * 1.5 h / 24h/day = 450 W on average.
Plenty of EV home chargers are already internet connected and let you schedule when to start charging. Tesla for example let’s you specify to wait for low rates or use a specific time. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/models/en_us/GUID-BEE08D4...
This level of flexibility let’s EV’s maximize the use of the grids existing infrastructure which will likely lower average costs per kWh.
Hundreds of millions of people aren’t all living in lockstep and many of them are trying to save money using demand pricing. A family might go on a long trip and use fast charging, but every family in the country isn’t going to be going on a trip that same weekend and try to charge at the same second.
There was that story a couple years ago about England's electrical grid and specific localities being stressed because apparently all of England would turn on their teapots at the same time after a TV show ended.
Some people charge at home, others at the office, and some exclusively at fast chargers.
Also, I'm not sure I can get behind the logic about peak times either way until we discuss how rolling blackouts would affect this.
It probably sounds like I have a side in this, but I do not. I do not currently own an EV, but that is due to up front costs (I do not even buy ICE cars new, the prices are insane for an asset that only depreciates). My daily commute makes me want to own one, actually. However, I do have an interest in making sure we are not saying flamboyant things like "electric cars cause less indirect pollution" without making even an attempt to quantify it, or saying unhelpful things about how the average load of an EV relates to whether a grid can support a lot of them.
I charged just fine to my normal 90% battery every day of that heat wave. Turns out that it's cheaper to charge overnight, so why would I charge during the peak anyway?