A letter in yesterday's Telegraph claimed 'Given that an EV (electric vehicle) battery can take the equivalent of the daily energy consumption of 10 average households'
Could this be right? The writer is complaining that the way things are going only the rich will be able to afford EVs with the rest of us hard put by the government's headlong dash to net zero and denied non-EV vehicles, and if he is right in what I have quoted - the ability of the Grid to cope with the increased demand caused by EVs seems even worse than currently assumed.
Mike
An EV with a typical 60 kWh battery needs 60kWh to charge it & a typical household will use around 8 kWh per day so it consumes as much electricity as 8 (rounded up) households.
P.S. Warning for the pedantic, my figures assume a charge from empty to full & average household consumption.
thanks, Phil - so he wasn't very far out. Worrying
Mike
I just looked it up. My son's EV has a 77kWh battery. With a summer usage of about 4miles per kWH that is just over 300 miles range per complete charge.
My average electicity usage is 6kWh per day.
On the face of it that car uses over the quota for 10 houselholds like mine.
The thing is he doesn't do 300 miles each day. His lease is for 18,000 miles per year which is about 50 miles a day or so.
In ball park terms for him the car uses 12kWh per day so it would triple my electricity use.
The reporting is poor but it doesn't alter the fact that the electricity grid will need a big uplift to cope with the extra demand. HMG are currently hoping against hope that demand for electricity will fall to avoid the lights going out this winter.
If my sums don't quite stack up then sorry but I think they stack up a lot better than those which surely can't have been done for this country to meet the Tories Net Zero target unless the idea is that we export all our heavy industry along with impoverishing and imprisoning the population by making personal transport a thing for the history books discussing the quaint old days of the 20th and early 21st century.
perhaps we are expected to become the bicycling generation?
Funny you should say that...
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1670133/nicola-sturgeon-green-plans-driver-fury-replace-old-cars-bikes-millions-3000
Well if Herself thinks I'm getting rid of my car, she can go to sleep and dream again. :nooo:
It's probably only those big old diesel 4WD drivers in her sights :grin:
With electricity, switchgear, cables and transformers in the supply lines, it's not just the kWh that matters but also the kW rate of demand, because it's the current that trips circuit breakers.
Quote from: Oi you! on September 17, 2022, 11:31:49 AMIt's probably only those big old diesel 4WD drivers in her sights :grin:
That's exactly what we have, 2 of them.
Did you think I hadn't guessed? :grin:
The trouble with policiticans apart from being stupid, is that they think everyone lives in places like Islington and Chelsea. They have no idea what it's like in a remote area or even a village.
Quote from: Ashy on September 17, 2022, 12:13:22 PMWith electricity, switchgear, cables and transformers in the supply lines, it's not just the kWh that matters but also the kW rate of demand, because it's the current that trips circuit breakers.
With a probable doubling or more of usage I'd expect that the local cabling and transformers would need upgrades which would also involve pavements and roads being dug up. I haven't noticed much of that going on and it's only 8 years I think until there are supposedly only going to be electic cars on sale.
When my son had a charger put in for his EV the neibghbour had to have a fresh cable put in as his house had just been wired as an extension of the feed to my sons house. Those chargers are 7kW. It's like having an electric shower on all night.
It won't happen. The infrastructure just won't be in place in time.
The way the car manufacturers and retailers are plugging their electric cars on the telly, anyone would think that almost every car owner in the country is seriously considering replacing their 'old-fashioned' ICE cars with EVs.
I believe that quite a few are now going for the new electric cars on offer, probably because they don't have to pay 'road tax' (or whatever it's called now). However, I consider that short-sighted, for several reasons:
The electricity supply infrastructure will be unable to cope with the demand of a great number of EVs, as will the present number of charging stations.
EVs will lose value rapidly after a few years, as their batteries will need replacing at a cost approaching that of a replacement car.
The practical range of EVs, especially in winter, might be enough for those who only require short trips, but for those who drive for longer distances frequent charging is likely to be necessary during such journeys.
EV owners will eventually have to pay 'road tax' anyway, because if the number of owners increases to what the government hopes, they won't want to lose that useful additional tax.
and it won't 'save the planet' anyway!
Quote from: Oi you! on September 17, 2022, 08:51:31 AMThe reporting is poor but it doesn't alter the fact that the electricity grid will need a big uplift to cope with the extra demand. HMG are currently hoping against hope that demand for electricity will fall to avoid the lights going out this winte
Quote from: Ashy on September 17, 2022, 12:13:22 PMWith electricity, switchgear, cables and transformers in the supply lines, it's not just the kWh that matters but also the kW rate of demand, because it's the current that trips circuit breakers.
Correct, well pointed out.
In fact electrical over-draw could well become more of an issue than electrical under-supply in terms of the lights going out.
Quote from: Michael Rolls on September 17, 2022, 04:23:51 PMand it won't 'save the planet' anyway!
No, of course it won't.
All this talk of increasing CO2 is completely unfounded. Trees and other vegetation NEED CO2, and in return they produce Oxygen.