Where Will The Electricity Come From?

[Mike]

While 'most everyone is now on the electric vehicle bandwagon, I wonder if they have thought of where the electricity needed to charge these vehicles will come from? I'm not talking about charging stations at homes or businesses - those are easy to install albeit expensive. I'm talking about the electricity to power these charging stations. Most of the nation's power grids are already at or near capacity and adding a few million electricity hungry vehicles is not going to help that problem. Since we haven't been able to solve our electrical needs before all these millions of vehicles come on line, I am dubious of enough new power being added to support our current needs as well as a bunch of new vehicles, especially since we are rapidly decommissioning nuclear, gas and coal fired plants. Add to that, the drought that is curtailing maximum hydro generation. I hope we don't have to choose between lighting, heating and cooling our homes and driving to the grocery store.

[Dave Grubb]

A valid concern. I do believe (but am unable to go into detail) that this is addressed in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Actually, I hope this is not overly detailed, we need to promote "imaginative" thinking and not simply more of the same. We are best when we dream!

I am a firm believer in the adage: necessity is the mother of all invention.

An example that I think you can identify with is the amount of data that could be pushed over a twisted pair phone line 20 years ago and the amount today

[UTAH]

Yeah, we need our Civil Engineers to be astute on the issues Mike raised. We shouldn't have to make choices putting our power grid at risk. I'm betting Fed and state legislators will pay attention to these issues, particularly if businesses raise them.

There are times I miss working in government. This is one of them.

Hunter