Some time ago I wondered where all the power was going to come from and how it was going to get distributed, and did some rough estimates. The New Zealand Transport Agency publish annual spreadsheets of all the vehicles registered here. They have very comprehensive details of each vehicle including the engine size and power.
Taking 2018 as an example (the stats for 2016 and 2017 produce similar results)
There were 214,000 vehicles of all sizes, scooters to HGV’s registered in NZ in 2018, of which 164,000 were powered, including EV's of various types. The average power of the vehicles was 128Kw. If the average annual mileage is assumed to be 16,000km (10,000 miles) at, say, an average speed of 50km/hr then the average usage is 320hrs/year. Those vehicles aren't going to be driven at full power so let’s say they are driven at 20% of their max power.
Had all the vehicles been electric that would have been 164,000 vehicles, 128Kw at 20% for 320hrs = 1,343,488 MWh of power consumed per annum. With 8,760 hours in a year that would require a 153MWh power station running 24x7
New Zealand currently has 5 million vehicles and the government has stated that they are expecting 80% of all the vehicles to be electric by 2050. So 4,000,000/164,000 x 153MWh = 3,732GWh of additional power generation plus the transmission line infrastructure to move the power to where it’s needed.
The real concern is what is all this going to do to consumer power prices in order to pay for the build the required infrastructure? In the UK the problem must be 10 times that of New Zealand?
I may be well off the mark here but I can't find any references to any short,medium or long term integrated planning. Just piecemeal solutions and an air of somehow it will all come together.
Mr Malcolm Davies:
This ongoing discussion about air quality, the demise of nuclear power station, and the urgency to introduce BEVs as part of the solution, is missing some very important questions. E.G. WHY do we need to charge up a 1500 kg BEV every night in order that a 75Kg employee may drive 20 miles to work the next day, when the Telecomms and Data Comms Industry has already solved the problem with ADSL Broadband. If the majority of office workers were to be allowed (in planned stages) by their employers to work remotely from localised Data and TeleComms Centres - built within easy walking, cycling, or public transport distance of their homes, rented out by their employers, then we would solve the air polution issue overnight! (Or within a very few years if we applied ourselves to the transition programme). Clearly, those working in jobs that are essentially 'hands on' (non, fully robotised) e.g. on manufacturing production lines and in goods/food distribution etc would still need to travel to the factory or warehouse.
Surely, putting between 22KwH (Old Leaf) and 64KWh (New Kona) of mains electricity into a 1500 Kg BEV every night in order to deliver a 75kg 'payload' to work each day is the height of mechanical inefficiency? If we really MUST 'travel electric' then every BEV purchased would necessarily include a 4KW Solar Panel Installation for the owners rooftop. Thus all those who can afford £28k for the BEV plus say £6K for the chinese solar panel installation - are home and dry so to speak.
We're about to take you to the IET registration website. Don't worry though, you'll be sent straight back to the community after completing the registration.
Continue to the IET registration site