The person is Jeremy Hsu.
Changes to the energy grid will be needed as electric car use increases.
The images are by Dinendra Haria.
If most drivers charge at home overnight, the power grids could be strained. Investments in daytime charging options will be crucial to help the western US power grid handle the demand with an estimated 50 percent of drivers using electric vehicles by 2035.
Computer models looked at how driver charging behaviors and available charging station infrastructure at home and in public places could impact peak net electricity demand, which is the highest electrical power demand minus power from solar and wind power.
If drivers charge their cars at home during the night, that could lead to a 25 per cent surge in net electricity demand when states reach 50 per cent electric vehicle ownership. Increasing daytime charging opportunities could reduce the increase in peak net electricity demand to just 7.5 per cent.
Making the shift of which charging infrastructure you build and where you encourage people to charge is a huge difference in the result for the grid according to the leader of the research.
The charging patterns of 27,700 electric vehicle drivers were analysed by Powell and her colleagues. The computer models were able to predict how the population of electric vehicle owners would affect the western US power grid.
A shift to daytime charging patterns could help the western US grid use its excess solar power more efficiently. When daytime solar power is available, daytime charging can be done, instead of requiring power grid operators to invest in more energy storage.
A business-as-usual scenario with many drivers charging at home during the night could reduce the grid's energy storage requirements by between $700 million and $1.5 billion, according to the computer models.
Gil Tal at the University of California, Davis was not involved in the study. Some electric cars may be charged at home during the day if more people work from home. The study suggests that future electric car adoption should be easy.
The demand for electricity from transportation is very flexible. Changing the time of use and the day of use can solve many of the problems.
The US Congress passed an infrastructure bill in November of 2016 that included $7.5 billion for a national network of charging stations for electric vehicles.
The impact on the grid was not based on a study but on other considerations. It turned out that everything was perfect for this.
Nature Energy was published in the journal.
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