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Originally Posted by Ximian
I see now. Your argument seems to be that charging many EVs with power supplied only from renewable sources certainly isn't going to match the demand. Of course, anyone can agree to that for the foreseeable future.
Adopting a new way of doing things doesn't have to be perfect in every aspect before it's acceptable. I'm not caught up in the false marketing of EV's being "green" so we can certainly continue to power EVs with coal or natural gas to meet the gap. It's awful for the environment, but the alternative is awful for the environment as well. Not a big deal.
The long term goal is significantly reducing oil imports and gaining energy independence so we're not reliant on a bunch of lunatics to live life normally. The greenhouse gas emission reductions are certainly an added bonus.
Car companies are going electric, utility companies are upgrading and adding renewable capacity. Utility companies will continue to want to make money so they'll provide that energy, one way or another. Similar thing happened when air condition systems started becoming popular.
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Most utilities aren't upgrading, they are simply trying to keep up. Just like how we don't call replacing bald tires on our car an upgrade. Most power providers are regulated monopolies, they can't "upgrade" because their return on investment is capped, they just try to return enough margin to remain solvent and ready for bad years, and to stay afloat. Anything beyond that requires rate increases which have to pass through the PUC, and then cost rate payers more. If you power billing rate hasn't gone up, it's because they aren't "upgrading". If you want an upgrade, you'll have to pay for it.
I don't want to destroy our grid along the way, or fool ourselves about how green we are on the way to setting up something better (and I do 100% want that "better).
A large majority (90% in many places) of EV's charge between midnight and 6 AM when power is cheaper. That's almost all coal and natural gas energy at that time of day, with a little hydro mixed in (which with droughts is also no longer sustainable).
Utilities are adding capacity, but it's not going where people think it does, and it's not a stable supply. They are also removing capacity elsewhere (coal retirement) that is
actually stable.
Driving an EV powered by coal and natural gas has a per-mile-CO2 production similar to driving a prius, but a prius doesn't load the grid, and those cars are cheap and reliable already. Half the price of an average EV too.
I'm concerned we are putting the cart before the horse on some of this stuff. Forcing it won't make it work better.