The Expert Podcast

Look, by now we've all seen this story where the state of California is banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in about 10 or so years, 12 years, 2035. It seems like a long ways away, and it sort of is, but it's a pretty significant change. This story is not about the ban; it's about what happened a couple of days later. California told its residents not to charge their electric vehicles because the power grid is over-demanded. According to the article, California's power grid is under strain due to extreme heat, and the utility grid operators are asking residents to avoid charging their electric vehicles voluntarily to avoid blackouts.

What does this mean? Well, obviously, there are still 12 years left to upgrade the power grid. Is that enough time to upgrade it so that it can charge these electric vehicles? Right now, electric vehicles represent about 5 percent of the vehicles on the road, even in California. If you go from 5 percent to 100 percent, that's a pretty significant number of new charging devices that need to be connected to the grid.

At the same time, there certainly will be more residents and households and usage of other electrical demands in households that will add to the grid. One thing that is not part of this story, but the state of California is also banning new hookups of propane or gas appliances in households, like hot water heaters, stoves, dryers—all the things that normally would be hooked up to natural gas. Even in restaurants, you have to now cook with electricity. All of those transitional devices are going to put even more strain on the power grid.

The question is, by 2035, is there going to be enough, or are you going to have to stay parked for a few days because you can't charge your car? What do you think about this? Is this a game of chicken? Is this an accident waiting to happen, or do you think that the power grid and the regulatory agencies have all this figured out? Do they know what they're doing? What do you think? Would you want to have an electric vehicle? Are you worried that you wouldn't be able to charge it, even at home? A lot of people worry about finding a charging station, but if you can't even charge it at home, that's even worse. Am I over-exaggerating? Am I being too cautious about this, or do you agree?