(snip)"Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- California’s push to lead U.S. sales of electric cars may result in higher power rates for consumers in the state, as a growing number of rechargeable vehicles forces utilities to pay for grid upgrades.
The autos’ effect on electricity fees is being reviewed by California’s Public Utilities Commission this month as the most populous U.S. state will require Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. to sell more plug-in vehicles from late 2011.
Power companies including Southern California Edison, the state’s largest, have to install new transformers and meters to handle greater demand and prevent blackouts when autos are being charged at outlets. Utility rates will rise to cover the costs, said Travis Miller, a Morningstar Inc. analyst in Chicago.
“If you look at the kind of money that will be needed for a full smart grid and support for electric vehicles, then you are talking about a substantial amount,” Miller said in a phone interview. The spending may total “multiple billions” of dollars over a decade or more, he said.
From model years 2012 through 2014, the largest carmakers by volume in California must sell about 60,000 plug-in hybrids and electric cars combined, according to the state Air Resources Board. President Barack Obama is aiming for 1 million plug-in cars on U.S. roads by 2015 to curb tailpipe emissions and cut dependence on foreign oil.
System Overload
Rosemead, California-based Edison International, the owner of Southern California Edison, has identified the city of Santa Monica as a community with many potential battery-car customers that may require transformer upgrades.
A typical Santa Monica circuit, which serves about 10 households, may be overloaded should two or three of those customers charge vehicles simultaneously, even if they do so overnight during off-peak hours, Ted Craver, Edison’s chief executive officer, said in a phone interview on Oct. 20.
While surplus power is available at night at cheaper rates, the grid needs adjustments to handle such charging, Craver said. For example, additional or larger transformers may be needed in neighborhoods with numerous plug-in car owners.
“If all those people do it at off hours, in the middle of the night, a lot of our system is designed so the transformers cool down at night,” Craver said. “That’s part of how they are able to function at full capacity during the day.”
Electricity Rates
Edison, PG&E Corp., owner of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric have said in filings with the state utilities commission they’ll have to make infrastructure investments related to plug-ins, without proving specific figures.
Expenses will start next year for plug-in “readiness efforts, and will require a reasonable process for seeking recovery of these costs,” Edison said in its filing. "(snip)
from



Reply With Quote


Bookmarks