Electricity Grid Boss Says Peak-Time EV Charging Should Cost More
So it begins. The idea that electric cars are cheaper to run than combustion-engined ones is already coming under pressure from a leading electricity network boss.
SP Energy Networks, which is one of the firms in charge of distributing electricity in the UK in the same way that Openreach is responsible for the broadband network, has suggested that anyone wishing to charge their EV in peak time should have to pay more.
Frank Mitchell, the company’s chief executive, is quoted by the Financial Times as saying that people charging at peak time should “have to pick up the cost of it.”
“I do think there is a difference between somebody who wants to have a fully controllable high speed [EV] charging unit at their discretion to do with what they want, versus somebody who is happy to have one that is a managed service that allows us to balance the costs to society.”
Mr Mitchell is referring to so-called ‘smart chargers,’ which only charge your EV when there’s spare capacity in the grid. In extreme cases that means you could plug your car in to charge, return to it later in the day and find almost no extra juice in it. EV supporters insist we’ll all charge them overnight and it won’t be a problem, but the world isn’t that black and white.
Is it just us, or does all this sound a bit like a capitalism versus communism argument? It sounds pretty much like the surrender of personal transport freedoms under the guise of ‘the greater good.’ At the very least it’s a fiscal punishment for those people who want to enjoy full freedom to drive and refuel when they want, as we do today. That hits the poorest people hardest, as real-world communism always seems to.
Imagine rocking up at the filling station at the time you need to use it, only to find a queue, followed by price hikes at the pump because it’s busy. We’re not sure we like the idea. While we understand the basic laws of supply and demand, to us this speaks of a system that simply isn’t ready or able to cope with the speed at which electric cars are being introduced.
The FT mentions that think-tanks like the Green Alliance have carried out research suggesting that charging just six electric cars on the same street at peak times could cause power cuts and local grid instability. The cost of upgrading the grid to cope has been estimated at between £6bn and £16bn over the next three decades.
Comments
“Its just some gimmick sponsored by oil companies to get more people to buy gas!” - Most people
Woohoo!!!! Yes!!!!
EVs may end up being cheaper to operate at some point, but the cost and damage to the environment caused by the batteries is rarely taken into consideration. I argue that in 30 years, the cost of an EV will still be greater than that of a petrol vehicle (assuming grid upgrades have been completed and are no longer factored in) because of the lithium batteries.
Once again, Lithium batterys are not the only battery technology that exists. In fact, Lithium is dead pretty much. All concepts you see, are powered by solid batterys, that do exist, do not have any problems, we just have to wait for factorys that build them to well, start working. Also, in EVs, not many things can break down. And simple logic says, the less parts something has, the more reliable it will be. Let’s not forget, DCT can make 200,000 miles, if you take good care of it, while regular auto gearbox can do 500,000 miles if you take good car. Meanwhile, EVs don’t have a gearbox. You see where I’m going with this. Also ICE has terrible efficiency in stop-go traffic. While EE is infact perfect for such traffic. Sure EVs have downsides. That’s not questionable. But not as big as many people like to put out.
The production of the battery is always factored in to the production and lifecycle of the car… you’re on crack if you believe otherwise.
Typical criticism from popular scientific studies without any real basis. The damage lithium batteries have to the environment is taken into consideration, you just made that argument up. You sucessfully ignore that the EU mandates at least 50% of any battery to be recycled. Furthermore, UHT recycling process (developed by Umicore), for example, allows 99% of the battery to be recycled - and that’s not even the end of the road yet.
Because refining gasoline is sooooo much more eco-friendly… /s
Way i remind you top gear isn’t a documentary?
Well hello. We already have this. During the day electricity is more expensive than during the night. Yup under the law in Croatia, that’s how it works for the past 20 years…
Well that’s not fault of the electric cars, that’s just capitalism.
Which is good :)
As someone who works in the electricity industry, i think this makes perfect sense. During peak times electricity is much more expensive to produce because you are starting up less efficient peaking plants. During off peak times you are using cheaper baseload plants like nuclear. I think it is basic capitalism to say that if you as an electric car consumer are buying electricity when it is more expensive, you should pay more, and if you are buying when it is cheaper you pay less. My boss has a Tesla and he was able to get off peak rates, and thus he programs it to charge around 2am to account for that
Well, if everybody went electrical and fuel went cheaper. I will foreverlove driving combustion engines. I’ll avoid electric vehicles like the plague.
LOL … build those nuclear plants to cater for the EV
yeah, nevermind that your grandchildren will be born with 3 heads, co2 thats our only problem…. or at least thats what the environmentalists seem to think
Even when charging at peak rates, electricity if far cheaper than gasoline. A Tesla P100D can go 300 miles on roughly $12 of U.S priced electricity.
You would need gas to hit $2 flat and drive a 50 mpg car to reach that level of price per mile.
You mean you don’t pay more for electricity during peak hours in the UK? EV need to pay the full freight and the full freight includes extra charges for use at demand peaks.
I love reading articles like this that quote one paragraph of a study which in its conclusion ends up being pro EV. They always quote the paragraph that sounds like we’re all off to hell in a handcart if everyone goes out and buys an EV today completely ignoring the fact that Norway has the highest percentage of EV sales and they don’t have a Grid with constant outages as a result. Of course no one has time to search for the full Green Alliance study which would basically shoot this article down in flames. I can’t believe morons like this are still publishing this article and I’ve had to sign up to this utter tripe in order to post this comment.