Re: electric car grid overloads

On 2 Sep, 17:45, Doug Houseman <d...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<14b674c2-49c1-4294-890a-89d42732d...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

 "misterf...@xxxxxxxxx" <misterf...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
glad to hear that plugging-in millions of electric cars into the grid
during the day and night won't contribute to grid overloads and power
outages!

I have heard a number of people speak and none of the people I respect
in the Utility industry have made this kind of a sweeping statement.
Some have said that the Generation available can handle cars at night.
None have promised that the grid is ready for millions - rather they
have all said the gradual introduction of PHEV and Electric vehicles
should not have an impact on the grid at night.

A quick BOTE calculation shows that the available excess night time
capacity in the UK is about the same as would be required by 30
million PHEVs (i.e. just about all cars).

Of course, this is an average. I'd expect vehicles to negotiate a time
with the electricity supplier when to charge.

One emerging issue is
that oil filled (no PCB's) transformers on hot days heat up almost to
their limit when they are heavily loaded and use the lower loads
overnight to cool off again. As they get hotter - losses increase and
failure of the transformer is more likely. With heavy concentrations of
PHEV - there may be an increase in transformer failures - and outages -
since transformers may not be able to cool off at night - if the load
increases significantly.

As long as this issue is known, it should be solvable over the 30
years it might take PHEVs to dominate the roads.

A second issue that no one is talking about is some of the proposed
chargers for PHEV may mean that new wiring has to be run in the home to
the garage to deal with the load the charger will place on the system.
For older homes (e.g. homes built before electric service moved to 100
or 200 AMPS) may require new services to be run from the transformer to
the house, and upgraded breaker panels to be installed in the home. This
could run to a few hundred dollars for some people.

A move from PHEVs to BEVs might cause a problem. Say 40KWhrs needed
for a large car with future batteries. That said, houses in the UK
seem to cope well with 10KW electric showers.

A PHEV (say 10KWhrs) would draw the same power as a kettle.

Neither issue is a show stopper, but they both point to the need to
think about your personal situation before you go shopping for a PHEV
and potentially to check with your electric utility.

Hopefully new tarrifs will come along. Ultimately, the car could
search for the best price from all utilities supplying in an area.
When's the best price slot and from which supplier?

That will by default be when there's the most capacity. For example,
as we have strong winds predicted for 3am, and day demand doesn't rise
till 7am, my car will arrange to take 6KWhrs between 3 and 5am, from
The Electric Wind Company. Or tomorrow will be 18C and sunny. With no
air conditioning demands, the car will buy electricity from Texas
Solar at 2pm.

glad to hear that there is an endless supply of cheap coal and natural
gas for the power companies!

Coal is less cheap than it was 2 years ago (eia.doe.gov) and natural gas
is too expensive to use to generate much power - most natural gas plants
are no longer used as base load and are out of service a much as the
ability to buy power from cheaper sources will allow. Baseload fuels are
now considered to be coal and nuclear - both types of plants are run as
many hours as possible.

Whatever happens, it'll be cheaper than burning petrol.

glad to hear that electric rates will always stay about the same as
they are now!

Electric rates will rise, with or without PHEV - the cost of people,
fuel, and materials are all rising and even non-profit co-ops are having
to raise their rates. The projections from eia.doe.gov show a 20% or
higher increase in power prices.

At worst, night time rates will rise to day time levels.


With all that in mind, I guess buying your own PV system to charge
your car's batteries is a waste of money.

In most of the US - a PV system to charge cars only is a waste of money,
unless you work a night shift - most days you have your car away from
home when the sun is shining - if you work a normal job. (-:

A PV system connected to the grid is always going to be more useful
than one not connected to the grid.

Though its not much use at all in England, that could change if it's
not more expensive than standard roof tiles.
.

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