California needs to charge electric vehicles during day, not night, to save grid, study says.
California needs to charge its new electric vehicles during daytime hours, not at night, to save electricity for the grid and electricity network, a new report says.
The report by the state’s two largest electric companies and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies says there has been “widespread confusion” about whether charging during the night would harm the grid.
“It’s all well and good to be concerned about the potential for blackouts (at night) but you have to have a comprehensive understanding of the issues,” said Thomas Czerwinski, director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies.
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The report, which examined different models to charge electric vehicles, concluded that overnight charging is safe for the grid — and that it’s not worth the additional expense when it could save the state $1 billion a year, or about $700 per EV being charged.
“You can put a lid on it overnight for the grid,” said Czarwinski, who worked on the report with fellow researchers from San Diego State University, the University of California at Davis and the University of Washington.
But the state can’t just stop charging, or let the charging stations sit empty, because then the vehicles would sit idle, decreasing the state’s ability to capture the energy they produce.
The state should instead decide ahead of time to stop charging at night on the grid, as well as in parking garages, when the grid is strained and there is more demand for electricity, the researchers concluded. They also said the state should charge electric vehicles at midday, rather than at night.
The report was published online Monday in the Journal of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The research is the first comprehensive study of charging during the day and night, and the researchers called on the state to take those
