Quote:
Originally Posted by edsuski
As for the capacity of the existing "grid" to re-charge plug-in electric cars - the DOT estimates that we could re-charge 85% of the existing passenger vehicles and light trucks, during off-peak times, without adding a single wire or power plant to the grid. It will take a very long time to replace 85% of the existing cars with plug-in electric vehicles. You have to understand that recharging at night is not an issue. The brown outs you allude to had much more to do with Enron and energy manipulations and/or problems at a particular power plant and/or section of the grid than they did with an excess of demand and even then we are not talking about off-peak times.
|
Last thing I read about this said that in the Northeast and in California the electrical grids are so tightly stretched we'd be well advised not to add any more load, off-peak or otherwise - to them. Not without serious upgrades.
That said, Ed, you make an excellent point: we're pretty much ready, with some upgrades, to handle using electricity for transportation. Hydrogen? Not at all. Indeed, I remain baffled as to why the major automakers keep throwing money at fuel cells with no good solution for hydrogen supply on the horizon.