Last week, I told you about the state of California passing a ban on the sale of new internal-combustion engine vehicles starting in the year 2035. This week, the same state is asking residents not to charge their current electric vehicles this weekend because of expected demand on the power grid due to a heat wave moving into California. Needless to say, the timing of the two events is leading to plenty of finger-pointing and Nelson Muntz “Ha Ha!” laughter from those who do not live in California. But it does show the incredible risk that is being taken by putting into place renewable energy requirements before enough renewable energy supply is available.
In one article on Wednesday’s story about “please don’t charge your car”, a Brookings Institution fellow is quoted as saying the power grid will have to at least double in size in order to deal with an all-electric vehicle fleet of the future. The percentage of electricity generated by renewable sources in the US is currently 20%. That means those sources will have to quintuple just to meet our current power demands–and then grow by another 100% to meet expected demand of a fossil fuel-less future.
In the US, electrification began in the 1880’s. It was around the time of World War II that just about everyone had powerlines running to their homes. That is a 60-year build out. With so much infrastructure now in place (albeit aging and less reliable every day), a Green grid shouldn’t take that long–but obviously, it will not be ready by 2035. Just refer to any articles on building anything new in California, and you will find that just getting environmental permits for projects can be a decade-long affair. The process is so onerous that opponents of high-density housing projects and green energy facilities use it to delay construction for so long that developers just give up.
The articles detailing the “please don’t charge your car” request are followed by comments from plenty of “helpful” readers telling those that might be affected that all they need to do is install their own solar panels on their house, and they “won’t have to worry” about not being able to plug into the grid! In California, installing solar panels to power your home costs about $16,000. But when an electric car goes for an average of $66,000, and the median home price is $789,000, I guess that really isn’t that much more of a financial burden. Although it’s not much of a help to those that live in high-density housing or that don’t own their homes.
All kidding aside, the real threat to keep in mind here is that this time, the state is “requesting” people not charge their electric cars. But it’s very likely that when “compliance” is not at high enough levels for the powers that be, they will begin “ordering” people not to charge their cars. Laws will be passed, municipal charging schedules will be adopted, utilities will turn over usage records to government agencies, and neighbors will be encouraged to rat out each other for plugging in when it wasn’t allowed.
And as I have stated before, that is the end goal here: Control. Sure, you might be angry the first five or ten times it happens, but eventually you will just shrug your shoulders and see it as an inevitable thing. And that is when they have got you in the trap.
