A Boring Dystopia

And just so we're really on the same page, just because something is a challenge doesn't mean it's a bad thing or shouldn't be done.

It's not like we didn't have the same problems with balancing the grid when people started installing electric ovens or Aircon or dishwashers or washing machines or pretty much any other heavy appliance you can think of.

In fact, did you know that if you were to install Solar and export production to the grid, that can cause the same problems? A lot of people seem to think that it's about how much power the grid can produce alone but there's a reason it's referred to as a "balance", too much input causes problems as well. Utilities need to plan energy production in advance to cope with an already variable demand, there are people who's entire job is predicting spikes and drops on consumption so they can figure out if they need to spin up or shut down entire power plants - both of which are expensive to do and any mistake will mean brownouts or worse, a collapsed grid. This isn't a new thing, it has been this way for decades.

If anything, EVs and EV chargers can be made a lot smarter than the above to actually help balance the grid.

My electric provider gives me cheap electric and a discount on my bill if I let them decide when the car charges (via controlling the car charger). I just tell them when I need the car to be fully charged by and they handle the scheduling. Do I care if the car charges at 2am instead of 9pm if it's fully charged by 7am either way? Absolutely not.

Better yet, V2X is starting to become a thing - this enables bi-directional charging for the EV. In other words, the EV itself actually helps balance the grid rather than just be a pure drag on it.

In the modern age, overall grid capacity is only a small part of the problem, what we need is a smarter grid. A smarter grid will cope with spikes in demand without forward planning and being cheaper overall for everyone.