The US Refuses to Fall in Love with Electric Cars

Re:The US Refuses to Fall in Love with Electric Cars by rnk on Monday January 24, 2022 @01:45PM (#30062014)

The grid has held up just fine. We are hardly even taking advantage of the easy things like charging cars mostly at night when there is excess power. Ignore texas' failing network, that's their own fault for not requiring cold and hot weather power requirements.

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Re:The US Refuses to Fall in Love with Electric Cars by LinuxBender on Monday January 24, 2022 @02:41PM (#30062848)

I believe the concern is about growth. If a majority of people switched to EV the grid would be overwhelmed. [1] It is estimated that by 2030 about $125 billion would be required to upgrade the power infrastructure. That is based on just one study there are probably better ones.

[1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/13/electric-...

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Re:The US Refuses to Fall in Love with Electric Cars by toomuchtodo on Monday January 24, 2022 @04:15PM (#30064157)

You left out some context from the cited study [1].

> Total annual fuel savings of $12 billion/year relative to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles translates to an estimated societal payback of 8.6 years to cover the costs of electric sector investments (7.2 years if GHG benefits are included)

That's quite the ROI, and arguably the spending must take place regardless to decarbonize electrical generation and transmission.

[1] https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/19421_bra... (Slide 4, Key Findings)

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Re:The US Refuses to Fall in Love with Electric Cars by LinuxBender on Monday January 24, 2022 @05:40PM (#30065078)

Agreed. It will have to be done one way or another I just meant that we couldn't all just switch to EV's today without an overhaul of the system.

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