Uploaded on February 16, 2008 by geognerd

By the end of 2010 we could have five different electric vehicles to choose from. From the ubiquitous plug-in Prius Hybrid, to the Tesla, to the Mini EV and the Chevy Volt. Indeed within the next 7 years there will be numerous zero emission options to choose from without suffering the ignominity of the Geo Whiz.

With the Mini EV:

Leasing the Mini-E is little more than a real-world R&D program for BMW, which says it will use real-world drivers to further develop the EV with an eye toward production. Even at $850 a month, “they’ll probably lease every one they offer,” Aaron Bragman, an industry analyst with IHS Global Insight, told Wired.com. “It’s as much about real-world testing as it is showing off. It’s probably got a production future, simply because BMW needs it to meet the more stringent CAFE and emissions standards.”

and the Toyota Prius and City EV products:

there’s little doubt Toyota is embracing the electrification of the automobile. The company’s ambitious “low carbon” agenda calls for cranking out one million hybrids a year within the first half of the next decade and accelerating the development of small electric vehicles for mass production. “Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power train(s) for alternative energy sources,” company president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters when he announced the agenda in October.

And of course the much hyped saviour of General Motors, the Volt:

The production Volt has a rounded front end. Every surface has been sculpted in the wind tunnel to maximize aerodynamic efficiency and deliver the 40-mile all-electric range.

GM says that range will allow 80% of American drivers to use the Volt every day without ever using the generator’s 1.4-liter gasoline engine. In other parts of the world, where commuting distances are generally shorter, an even higher proportion of drivers will be able to power the car solely with electricity, Weber said.

All these new plug in products present an interesting question, namely where are we going to get all the extra electricity to support the additional demand. Granted a lot of this demand can be shifted to off peak night production, but consumers are consumers, so we don’t really know where the demand is coming from.

“Consumers’ inclination will be to plug in when convenient, rather than when utilities would prefer. Utilities will need to create incentives to encourage people to wait. There are also technologies such as ’smart’ chargers that know the price of power, the demands on the system and the time when the car will be needed next to optimize charging for both the owner and the utility that can help too.”

Science Daily continues:

The best-case scenario occurs when vehicles are plugged in after 10 p.m., when the electric load on the system is at a minimum and the wholesale price for energy is least expensive. Depending on the power demand per household, charging vehicles after 10 p.m. would require, at lower demand levels, no additional power generation or, in higher-demand projections, just eight additional power plants nationwide.

Source:

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2008, March 14). Hybrid Cars May Require Hundreds Of New Power Plants To Be Built, If Owners Charge Up During Peak Hours. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 25, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/03/080312140123.htm

Also to consider when pricing power consumption is in the not too distant future, Carbon trading will appear. This will penalize fossil fuel based electricity over hydro and nuclear energy production.

This new source of electric consumption will have a significant impact on the production and distribution of electricity in the future.

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