A week ago the United States California just introduced new regulations, which will be banned from 2035 in the local market sales of new fuel cars. This week the local but because of the heat wave to limit the charging time of electric cars, requiring owners to try not to charge their electric cars between 16:00 and 21:00.
The California Independent System Operator, which operates California’s power grid, issued a Flex Alert asking all residents to voluntarily reduce their electricity use between 4 and 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, warning that more warnings could be issued during the weekend.
As a heat wave sweeps across California, local temperatures are expected to soar above 37 degrees Celsius. High temperatures are forcing residents to turn on their air conditioners, and electricity use will soar. The California government is also urging local residents to conserve electricity by turning their air conditioners up to about 26 degrees Celsius or higher, avoiding major appliances and turning off lights whenever possible.
This is not the first time hot weather has affected U.S. electric car owners. During the heat wave that swept through Texas in July, Tesla asked customers to avoid charging their electric cars during peak hours.
California’s power restrictions drew fire from conservatives as well as the coal and gas industries. “This state is asking everyone to buy an electric car by 2035,” Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise (R) tweeted on social media, “and that’s a joke.”
The warning comes as a series of climate bills, including record spending totaling $54 billion, strict limits on oil and gas drilling and an order to stop emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2045, were introduced by California lawmakers to Gov. Gavin Newsom around midnight Wednesday.
For her part, Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for California’s governor, said critics have misrepresented calls for restrictions on electric vehicle charging.
“We’re not saying no charging,” Mellon said, “we’re just saying don’t charge between 4 and 9 p.m.”
Experts acknowledge that shifting to more electric vehicles in the coming years will pose no small challenge, and one of the main issues is how to create a grid that can carry large loads. But they say it’s ridiculous to take a few hours of charging limits and say the transition to electric vehicles will fail.
“No one is going to charge during that time anyway,” said Elaine Borseth, president of the Electric Vehicle Association, an advocacy group, “and it’s more expensive “.
Even without a heat wave on the horizon, this is often the most expensive time to charge an electric vehicle. That’s mainly because residents go home between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., while many businesses are still open, resulting in the greatest demand for electricity; and the grid can no longer use renewable energy sources such as solar.
Borseth said that when she charges her Tesla Model S during off-peak hours, it costs as little as 24 cents per kilowatt-hour. Peak hours, she said, are more than 50 cents per kWh, “and that’s the biggest factor affecting residential charging.” According to Energy Sage, an online marketplace, electric cars generally cost less than 30 percent of a fuel car’s energy consumption per mile (about 1.6 kilometers) run
Energy analyst Tyson Siegele (Tyson Siegele) noted that California has some of the highest electricity prices in the nation, and that electric car owners have to have their heads on straight. But he said the transition to renewable energy will eventually lower costs. “California is going through growing pains, just like the transition period for any new technology.”
Scientists believe the current heat wave that led to California’s warning stems from global climate change. Extreme heat is becoming more frequent, hotter and longer-lasting than in past decades. The U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA) noted in 2018 that by the first decade of the century, the frequency of extreme heat had jumped from an average of two times per year in the 1960s to six times per year. According to the report, the annual duration of high temperatures has been extended by 45 days compared to the 1960s.
The National Weather Service said the next few days will produce a potentially record-breaking sustained heat wave in the western United States, including California, with high nighttime temperatures. The weather service said record-breaking temperatures are possible in many places. Temperatures are at record highs in many places from Nevada to Washington state, which California power operators say will make it more difficult to deploy power locally from neighboring state grids.
At a news conference Wednesday, California Governor Newsom said the heat wave “has never been more challenging” and stressed the urgency of accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
“We’ve been trying to conquer nature,” Newsom added. “But it’s clear that nature has still conquered us.”
