77
Sceptics say EVs will overwhelm the grid. In fact, they could be part of the solution
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
77 points (93.3% liked)
Electric Vehicles
3151 readers
1 users here now
A community for the sharing of links, news, and discussion related to Electric Vehicles.
Rules
- No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
- Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
- No self-promotion
- No irrelevant content. All posts must be relevant and related to plug-in electric vehicles — BEVs or PHEVs.
- No trolling
- Policy, not politics. Submissions and comments about effective policymaking are allowed and encouraged in the community, however conversations and submissions about parties, politicians, and those devolving into general tribalism will be removed.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It is a legitimate current issue in California.
I agree that EVs have the potential to solve the very problem they're creating, but as of today there are almost no viable solutions apart from Tesla's very expensive Powerwall system.
The problem is everyone plugs in their EVs with zero regard for the large strain they're putting on the grid. They charge ~10x faster than they need to and don't utilize off-peak charging typically built into the vehicles. Because it just doesn't occur to them.
In the future I assume we'll have something akin to connected thermostats where the vehicle can self-manage charging in cooperation with electric providers.
Are people really that dumb that they willingly pay peak pricing to charge their EV? Or are significant numbers of people in CA not on TOU rates? Everything I've seen suggest TOU rates are quite effective in getting users to shift certain loads (and EVs are easily shiftable).
People don’t like TOU metering because they’re afraid of getting price gouged. I was too, who can trust a corporation not to take advantage? But now with an EV, I have an obvious use case where it would give me huge benefit. I’m ready to switch over
I’ll have to replace my hvac in the next couple years and am mostly annoyed at the lack of storage heating for heat pumps. My parents had that for electric heating and it worked great. Instead of a baseboard strip, every room had something about the size of a standard radiator - it absorbed heat overnight when rates were low and you just controlled a fan to adjust heat throughout the day. Where are those for heat pump head units?
I wouldn't generalize that people "don't like TOU". People understand that energy costs more during peak periods and are generally receptive to these market forces. People are used to driving around to save $0.02/gallon on gas, they can run their dishwasher later in the evening and adjust their thermostat slightly to save money. Plus obviously off peak EV charging.
As to the heat pump situation, you're describing an air to water heat pump and a large buffer tank. You heat the tank off peak and it distributes the water throughout the day. You can then optimize to price, but the equation is complicated because the COP varies dramatically with outdoor temperature. These systems just aren't that common in the US though, where forced air or ductless heads are dominant, but people absolutely replace boilers with heat pump driven hot water systems. We should see more options (e.g. R290 monoblocs) in the US at some point, hopefully.
Found it, but not available where I am. Choices like these could really help