This video is a corrected version of the one about EVs from a few weeks earlier.
Sabine said, “According to estimates by the non-profit organization American Action Network, by 2035 the costs for the upgrade [of the grid] in the US will reach approximately 2.5 Trillion dollars.” She also talks about overloading transformers and blowing fuses.
This is not a realistic number and fails to take into account the amount of reduction in demand due to “DERs” – rooftop solar installations. It also fails to account for V2G – vehicle to grid – which will also reduce the load on the grid.
The following is my comment.
Sabine used a highly biased source for the 2.5 trillion dollar grid upgrade cost. The American Action Network is not non-partisan, it’s not a research organization, it’s a political propaganda organization. And the $2.5 trillion figure has no basis on any authoritative sources. The grid is already growing faster than the increase in the number of EVS- about 8% per year.
Sabine goes on to say that 1 million miles of new transmission lines will be needed by 2050. But only a fraction of this will be caused by the electricity demand from EVs. Most of the remaining demand will be caused by the changeover from fossil fuels to renewables – not EVs.
Then she said, “If the grid is fed with brown coal, then the EV can generate more CO2 than a fossil fueled vehicle.”
That has been debunked a number of times. The EVs are at least three times more efficient than gas cars. It has been stated by many that because gas cars are so inefficient (explained in the note below), even if the EV runs on coal generated electricity, it’s still more efficient than the gas cars. Note: all the “well to wheels” EROI must be counted. The gasoline must be extracted, transported, refined, stored, transported, dispensed even before it’s in the vehicle and these use up a lot of the energy in the petroleum. Then the engine wastes 75% of the gasoline as heat. So no, EVs running on coal generated electricity are not as inefficient or polluting as gas guzzlers.
Sabine said, “Altogether, electric vehicles use six times more minerals than conventional vehicles.”
This statement is incomprehensible! Gas cars use 150 times as much minerals from the ground as EVs. And it’s continually increasing with every tank of gasoline they buy. And the minerals in a gas car are gone forever, unlike an EV, where they are recyclable.
EVs using V2G-vehicle to grid – and VPP- virtual power plants – along with rooftop solar, may reduce the demand on the grid so the EVs may reduce the need for grid growth.
Some graphs
