Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[What good is an electric vehicle if there's no electricity?]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/28/what-good-is-an-electric-vehicle-if-theres-no-electricity/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/28/what-good-is-an-electric-vehicle-if-theres-no-electricity/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/28/what-good-is-an-electric-vehicle-if-theres-no-electricity/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A Glut Of EVs Could Make America's Shoddy Power Grid Even Worse

Power Outage

The increasingly rickety American power grid seems to short out for all sorts of reasons.
It took just one worker in Yuma, Arizona to plunge millions of people into the dark in the Southwest U.S. and Mexico, a few weeks back. A fluke, perhaps, but not a rarity.

If anything, major power outages are becoming an increasingly serious problem and at precisely the worst time possible - at least if you're an advocate of electric propulsion. Utility officials concede that it will be increasingly difficult to win over potential battery-car customers if they can't be certain of a steady supply of electric power.

Yet, that's precisely what American consumers are facing. In the Detroit suburbs, two months back, a heat wave popped the circuits at a number of sub-stations around the city. It plunged much of my own little community of Pleasant Ridge into the dark for as much as three days. We were lucky. The hurricane and tropical storms that struck the East Coast, from the Carolinas to Maine, just days later, cut power to millions more utility customers, some for weeks.

Paul EisensteinPaul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com, and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.

Continue reading What good is an electric vehicle if there's no electricity?

What good is an electric vehicle if there's no electricity? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>eisenstein on autoblogelectric carelectric car power outageelectricityev power outagePaul Eisensteinpower gridpower outageWed, 28 Sep 2011 17:28:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20068133/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2011/09/28/what-good-is-an-electric-vehicle-if-theres-no-electricity/20068133/article-detail.xml 20068133 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/09/power-outage_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/09/power-outage.jpg <![CDATA[Report: Power companies need to upgrade grid to prepare for electric cars]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/20/report-power-companies-need-to-upgrade-grid-to-prepare-for-elec/http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/20/report-power-companies-need-to-upgrade-grid-to-prepare-for-elec/http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/20/report-power-companies-need-to-upgrade-grid-to-prepare-for-elec/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

2011 Chevrolet Volt - Click above for high-res image gallery

The onslaught of electric vehicles expected to hit the market over the next five years, such as the Chevrolet Volt (pictured above), is keeping many local power utilities up at night. The dilemma has to do with the power supply - more specifically, how to feed the increased demand on the grid down to the household level.

There isn't really a shortage of power, experts say. However, while your electric company has built the infrastructure to keep your microwave, HDTV and computer all running simultaneously without dimming the kitchen lights, an anticipated flood of innovative all-electric cars concurrently guzzling electrons off the system in private garages may lead to household circuit breakers tripping and street corner transformers burning out.

Not to worry, say the utilities. While it is a challenge that they must address, there is something working in their favor... cost. As is often the case with new technologies, the high selling price of the early all-electric cars (expected to hit $40,000 or more... or less) allows the power companies to anticipate which neighborhoods need upgrading first - now, that's electrifying insight.


Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Volt


[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Report: Power companies need to upgrade grid to prepare for electric cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>20112011 Chevrolet Volt2011ChevroletVoltchevroletChevrolet VoltChevroletVoltchevychevy voltChevyVoltCircuti BreakerCircutiBreakerElectric vehiclesElectrical issuesElectricalIssuesElectricityElectricVehiclesinfrastructurePower Gridpower supplyPowerGridPowerSupplytransformersvoltWed, 20 Jan 2010 08:28:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/19316981/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2010/01/20/report-power-companies-need-to-upgrade-grid-to-prepare-for-elec/19316981/article-detail.xml 19316981 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/01/volt630_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/01/volt630.jpg <![CDATA[Curiosity: Report says we have 35x more HP in our driveways than our power plants]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/19/curiosity-report-says-we-have-35x-more-hp-in-our-driveways-than/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/19/curiosity-report-says-we-have-35x-more-hp-in-our-driveways-than/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/19/curiosity-report-says-we-have-35x-more-hp-in-our-driveways-than/#commentsFiled under:



It may not be a particularly glamorous definition of the automobile, but it's true on some level that cars and trucks are individual little power generators on wheels, a fact pointed out here by Wired staff writer Alexis Madrigal. Interestingly, when viewed in that light, the United States has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to overall latent power availability.

In fact, Madrigal calculates that the U.S. has 35 times more horsepower sitting there in our driveways than in all our power plants combined. Like numbers? Says Madrigal:
Turns out we have something on the order of 51 billion peak horsepower sitting in our driveways. That's an incredible 38,276 gigawatts of power available. That absolutely dwarfs the nameplate capacity of our electrical power plants, which total up to a mere 1,087 gigawatts. In fact, each week of 2008, a horrible year for car sales, almost 38 gigawatts of capacity rolled into the streets of America.
That's mighty impressive, no? While we're not sure we'd follow the logic all the way to the conclusion that we should all be driving Tata Nanos, we do agree that the average passenger car doesn't really need 200 horsepower to get its lone occupant to work on time. We also can't help but consider the potential of a national electric car infrastructure as a way to store excess power that could be called into action in a jiffy if required.

[Source: Inventing Green]

Curiosity: Report says we have 35x more HP in our driveways than our power plants originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alexis madrigalAlexisMadrigalelectric carelectric carsElectricCarElectricCarspowerpower generationpower generatorpower gridpower plantPowerGenerationPowerGeneratorPowerGridPowerPlantWed, 19 Aug 2009 11:40:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/19132831/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2009/08/19/curiosity-report-says-we-have-35x-more-hp-in-our-driveways-than/19132831/article-detail.xml 19132831 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/power-graphic_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/08/power-graphic.jpg <![CDATA[State intends to find out how much stress plug-in hybrids would put on grid]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/12/state-intends-to-find-out-how-much-stress-plug-in-hybrids-would/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/12/state-intends-to-find-out-how-much-stress-plug-in-hybrids-would/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/12/state-intends-to-find-out-how-much-stress-plug-in-hybrids-would/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Judging by the vast array of plug-in hybrids at the past few auto show, it's reasonable to assume that at some point in the next ten to 15 years there could be millions of vehicles plugging into our nation's power grid. The Michigan Public Service Commission will be looking at this issue over the course of the next several years as part of its effort to assess the state and region's future power needs.

The MPSC will use real plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to judge how the vehicles will effect the power grid at different times of the day, and the study will also gauge the possibility of plug-ins giving power back to the grid during peak times. The MPSC is inviting Detroit automakers, the utility companies, advocacy groups and others to participate in the ongoing study, and the group's first report is scheduled to go public in June 2009.

If the plug-in electric vehicle is going to be a major means of future propulsion, it's good someone is studying whether our aging power grid can actually handle the extra load.

[Source: Detroit News]

State intends to find out how much stress plug-in hybrids would put on grid originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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