NY Grid Ready for EV Night Charging

With the prospects of electric vehicles becoming a more common sight sooner than everyone expected, questions started arising regarding the capabilities of electric grids worldwide being ready to sustain them. Even if the translation from internal combustion to electric power will not happen over night, that question formed the basis for several studies, finished or ongoing.

The US, or at least New York, reports that its power grid is ready to receive electric vehicles, provided they will be charged at night. By doing so, no other electric plants need to be built. The forecasted increase in power demand due to PHEV and EV by 2030 is estimated at around 2 percent in the New York area.

"If New York motorists start plugging in significant numbers of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), we will see new demands on the grid," Stephen Whitley, president of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) was quoted as saying by Autonews.

"However, if deployed with technology and incentives to encourage favorable charging patterns, PHEVs can offer valuable new ways to store electricity produced in off-peak periods," Whitley added. "That energy storage potential could enhance the grid's use of wind power."

By 2016, some 1.5 million PHE vehicles are expected to be sold by 2016, reaching some 50 million by 2030. This is largely due to the recently adopted mileage, greenhouse and emission laws adopted locally.

The aforementioned figures are the result of two studies, conducted by Electric Power Research Institute and the US Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The two say that by 2020, 25 percent of all US vehicles will be PHEVs.