Electric Cars Being Targeted For Overloading Electric Grid

[schwartzie]

Electric Cars Are Now Being Targeted For Overloading The Electric Grids During An Energy Crisis

By Michael Robison

Published July 14, 2022 at 8:45am


Tesla has asked owners in Texas not to charge their cars during a heat wave to help avoid blackouts and overloading the state’s failing power grid.



The alert comes as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) called on residents to conserve energy. They have asked the state’s residents to refrain from using electricity from appliances and more to stop the grid from being pushed to near-emergency conditions.



Tesla stepped up to help the state with a new in-car alert to owners in the state, encouraging them not to charge during peak hours.



“A heat wave is expected to impact the grid in Texas over the next few days. The grid operator recommends to avoid charging during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand”, an in-car alert sent to Tesla owners reads, as reported by Electrek.


ERCOT has also asked that people in Texas avoid running appliances between 2 pm and 8 pm. Reuters reported the state’s risk of losing its power reserves “with no market solution available.”



The ERCOT website indicated late Tuesday that it only had about 3,600 megawatts of reserves, which is enough to power three-quarters of a million homes. The lack of power reserves is a genuine concern for more than 26 million state residents.



The state is expected to register temperatures of more than 100 degrees in the coming days. The heat also stops wind power from being generated in Texas, which usually provides the state with a quarter of its electricity.



In an interview Tuesday with Fox News Digital, energy expert Jonathan Lesser warned that the power crisis in Texas underscores the broader problems with green energy.



Lesser argued that due to the lack of reliable utility-scale battery storage infrastructure, forcing a green transition will lead to more power outages.



“The reality is: we’re going to have to get used to more blackouts as long as we continue down this green energy path,” Lesser said. “The technology simply isn’t there. You’re going to either have more blackouts or more requirements to conserve energy.”



Lesser pointed to the lack of reliability of wind energy during the summer.



“The least windy time of year is summer when electricity demand in Texas peaks,” Lesser said. “So, you’ve got a resource that is at its highest in the spring and fall when electricity demand is lowest. That means the wind as a resource has a low economic value because you want something that’s available when demand is highest.”



“So, it’s not surprising at all that Texas, which has the largest wind capacity of any state in the country, is seeing this problem,” he continued.


Lesser pointed out that the U.S. utility-scale battery storage infrastructure is currently insufficient. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the country has about 4,605 megawatts of total battery storage but regularly consumes more than 400,000 megawatts daily.



Pushing too quickly for green energy will lead to a lack of power and a direct impact on most Americans.

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[OmegaMan]

Tesla Owners Share Alarming Message Received on Screen Amid Heat Wave



By Warner Todd Huston

July 15, 2022 at 1:45pm


As the summer heat envelopes Texas, putting stress on the Lone Star State’s electric grid, we’ve learned that Tesla has sent messages to owners asking them to avoid charging their cars during peak hours to help ease the load.



It’s just another example of how electric vehicles are not quite as convenient as those selling them want us to imagine.



The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said twice this week that the state’s power grid would be sorely tested during a heatwave. Because of that, ERCOT asked Texans and Texas businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity on Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 8 p.m.



“The heat wave that has settled on Texas and much of the central United States is driving increased electric use,” it said in its news releases. “Other grid operators are operating under similar conservative operations programs as ERCOT due to the heatwave.”



Temperatures have exceeded 100 degrees in much of the state this week, with Somerville seeing a high of 113 on Sunday, according to The Washington Post.



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In addition to high demand, the Texas power grid has faced a lack of wind to power up its turbines. “Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10 percent of its capacity,” ERCOT said.



All this adds up to a deficiency.



Starting with Texas’ first heatwave of the year in May, Tesla sent updates to vehicle screens asking owners not to charge their cars during peak periods, The Drive reported.



Tesla owners have shared images of the alerts they were sent — with the title “Help Relieve Heat Wave Stress on the Grid” — in posts on Reddit and Twitter.



“A heat wave is expected to impact the grid in Texas over the next few days,” the message said. “The grid operator recommends to avoid charging during peak hours between 3pm and 8pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand.”

Apparently, part of President Joe Biden’s “transition” away from fossil fuels means we’ll have to stay home during hours of peak electric usage because we won’t be able to charge our cars to go anywhere.



Related: New Study Shows Electric Cars Have Much Lower Quality Than Gas-Powered Vehicles

It also means doing without air conditioning when you do get a chance to drive your EV. A study by AAA found that cooling a battery-powered car results in a 17 percent drop in driving range, according to The Drive.



EV experts say owners may have to alter the way they drive in hot conditions, eliminating short trips, which require air conditioning to recool heated cabins over and over and thus necessitate earlier recharging.



Many are beginning to see the limitations of electric vehicles. You can’t just get up and go when you want or need to like you can with a gas-powered vehicle.



Recently, a writer who was a big fan of the idea of EVs took one on a road trip, and the experience made her realize that they are not all they are cracked up to be, especially for long trips.



Another writer noted that EVs burn through new tires at an alarming rate, mostly because they are so much heavier than traditional gas-powered cars.



Then there are the bottlenecks EV owners often find at charging stations. When it takes up to an hour to charge a car, the line waiting for the next available charger can often wind around the block, meaning users have to wait many hours just to get to the point where they have an hour of charging time.


It adds up to a series of inconveniences and issues that buyers probably won’t be told about when standing in the car lot.

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