Electric Vehicles Could Rescue the US Power Grid

Send To Pod

Content provided by SendToPod AI. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by SendToPod AI or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

2+ y ago

MP3•Episode home

Original Article: Electric Vehicles Could Rescue the US Power Grid

Convert your long form article to podcast? Visit SendToPod

Follow me on Twitter to find out more.
----

Last month, California finalized a rule that will ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, starting in 2035. Obviously, that’ll accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and encourage other states to do the same. (Oregon has already followed California’s lead.) But less obviously, spurning carbon-spewing vehicles could help buttress the United States’ ancient, creaky electrical grids.

Cars are no longer just modes of transportation; they are increasingly integrated into the larger energy infrastructure. If your EV is sitting in your garage fully charged (cars are typically parked 95 percent of the time) and you lose power, that big battery offers an opportunity to keep the lights on. And when there’s a sudden spike in demand for the grid—because everyone wants to turn on their AC during a heat wave or their heat during a deep freeze—utilities could pay homeowners for their excess battery power.

This is known as bidirectional or vehicle-to-grid charging (aka V2G), and it’s “one of the legitimate game changers,” says Clifford Rechtschaffen, commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission. “If all the EVs in the state plug in during these peak load times and feed power back to the grid, they’re acting as giant batteries. We could use them to greatly relieve stress on the grid during the periods of greatest need.”

It’s still early days for V2G. More than 100 V2G pilots are scattered worldwide, though most are in Europe. California’s experimentation has been limited to small test programs. Still, more makers of cars and chargers are offering two-way charging, and experts think the concept could work on a large scale. Some 200 million electric vehicles could be on global roads by 2030, according to a recent estimate. California alone could have 14 million by 2035, the Natu...

190 episodes

#Tech #SendToPod AI