On December 18, 2016 at 17:54, buzz said...
I'm not suggesting that scheduled charging is impossible to work out, only that it might make people grumpy and slow adoption.
I was not even discussing scheduled charging, just the simple fact that the nightmare scenario you described "If everyone in the neighborhood attempts to simultaneously fast charge their car" is unrealistic to begin with.
I will go with a simple example my sister has kids so she has flex time and makes sure she is home by 3PM, my dad is retired so if he goes out it would be between 10 am-2 pm, my gf starts work 1 h before me and is home usually a couple of hours before me. Now I can't go around my neighbourhood documenting everyone's comings and goings but if fast charging takes 10 hours of full throttle, there would be a good chance that we will all be charging our cars at the same time, if we are talking 1 h then it won't happen.
Now if we are talking an office tower where everyone works 9-5 there might be a spike when people get to work
Not everyone needs to use our present highways at the same time, but there is a rush hour peak in demand that must be accommodated.
but the road system is a terrible example
1) roads are a cost center while power is a profit center. It is the same issue that Fin is missing when discussing powered roads.
if someone does not understand what I am talking about
[Link: investopedia.com]A cost center is a department within an organization that does not directly add to profit but still costs the organization money to operate. Cost centers only contribute to a company's profitability indirectly, unlike a profit center, which contributes to profitability directly through its actions. Managers of cost centers including human resources and research and development (R&D) are responsible for [b]keeping their costs in line or below budget. [/b]
to put it simply roads have traffic because it brings road costs down and people from complaining even more because taxes would need to be higher taxes.
On the other hand electricity is a profit center and as such the more power that is sold the better for the producer so there is no benefit in creating the equivalent of road "traffic" where capacity is way outstripped by demand.
To put it differently electricity here was nationalized decades ago and Hydro-Quebec is the corporation that produces and sells electricity. Last year it paid 2.3B$ of dividends to the Quebec government. So if Transport Quebec goes to the government and says I want 2B$ to add a lane so that Anthony spends a bit less time in traffic what would be the answer? If hydro Quebec goes and asks for 2B$ so that they can sell more electricity to Anthony so he can power his car what do you think the answer would be?
2) Roads are mostly inflexible while power is not.
what I mean is that if you want to add a lane to an existing road in a city you can't easily move the buildings the width of one lane further back to make room you also cant make the existing building the width of one lane thinner. The only way to make extra room for a lane would be to buy the area and demolish the existing buildings.
On the flip side a few years ago I upgrade the amperage of my home. All that was needed was a new cable from the transformer to my home and a new panel right beside the existing one, in no time it was done. I did not need to tear down my home and start a new.
The utility might need to buy more power or produce more power at peek demands but it should be easier for it to do so then increasing road capacity when a new car is added to the neighbourhood.
