Our Utilities Deal with the Challenge of Electric Vehicle Charging

Here’s a good article on the relationship between the power utilities and the charging of electric vehicles.  The author’s position is that the presence of electric transportation adds flexibility for grid operators, enabling them to adjust the rate at which EVs are charged according to the real-time availability of renewable energy.

I agree that there is a wonderful opportunity to use EVs as a tool to integrate more renewable energy onto the grid that would have caused a problem in the absence of this storage capacity.  There is a problem the author is overlooking, however: For car owners, the availability of their vehicle is not a “nice-to-have;” it’s a requirement.  Telling EV owners that there is a chance that they won’t be able to use their cars is not a viable plan, if we expect electric transportation to take root.

I see this as a soluble issue, but it’s one that I think we need to understand and confront.