Electric vehicles hold the promise of the future.
The world is warming much faster than it has over human history and greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, have been named as the number one culprit.
A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, so moving away from the internal combustion engine is a vital step in combatting climate change.
Last week, California's air resources board moved to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles starting in 2035.
California Power Grid Stressed
But electric vehicles need to be recharged and that has become a challenge in the face of the current heat wave.
State officials have called for voluntary electricity conservation from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., when the power grid is most stressed from higher demand, due to high temperatures pushing up energy demand and tightening available power supplies.
Among other requests, motorists are being asked to avoid charging electric vehicles during those hours.
California has the greatest number of EVs, with about 39% of all electric vehicles nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency for the heat wave that is expected to last through the Labor Day weekend.
"This is just the latest reminder of how real the climate crisis is, and how it is impacting the everyday lives of Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
“While we are taking steps to get us through the immediate crisis," Newsom said, "this reinforces the need for urgent action to end our dependence on fossil fuels that are destroying our climate and making these heat waves hotter and more common.”
The call to refrain from charging electric vehicles heated up an already-simmering political debate.
Politics Mixes with Electric Power
"California is now telling people to 'avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles' from 4-9pm," U.S. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise tweeted. "This from the same state that’s going to force everyone to buy electric cars by 2035. This is what Democrat control looks like—and they want it nationwide. What a joke."
Scalise is from Louisiana, home of the largest oil refineries in the country.
"This is the reality of backward Democrat leadership," Georgia Republican Rep. Austin Scott said in a tweet. "Their 'green energy' infrastructure can’t even support their expensive electric vehicles."
Georgia has recently won two large electric vehicle plants, one from Rivian and another from Hyundai.
The comments did not go unchallenged.
"If you want to talk about backwards energy policies look at Texas instead," one tweet read. "Their infrastructure freezes when it gets too cold and this summer they’ve had to conserve power to avoid blackouts - all because the state GOP doesn’t believe in regulating a reliable power grid."
"This is a strawman argument," another person tweeted. "No one is saying the grid is ready to support all electric cars today. No one! Leaders set goals to achieve. Real leaders would know that."
Putting politics aside--assuming that's possible--scientists have raised concerns about the future.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, said most people end up charging their cars in the evening or overnight.
Difficult Choices
If people’s charging habits stay the same, once 30% to 40% of cars are electric, the state would need to add more energy capacity overnight to meet demand, he said.
However, he said that if more people charged their cars during the day, that problem would be avoided. Changing to daytime charging is “the biggest bang for the buck you’re going to get,” he said.
"In my view, the situation in California brings into sharp focus one of the key contradictions in the drive to electrification in cars and the climate crisis: There is not enough carbon-neutral renewable electricity to go around," said Peter Wells, professor of business and sustainability at Cardiff University.
Wells added that "thus far, the growth in renewable energy provision worldwide has just about kept pace with the growth in overall energy consumption, but therefore there has been scant substitution of traditional fossil fuel usage."
The need for action in the climate crisis means that fossil-fuel usage of all types must be sharply reduced globally, he said.
While electrification of the vehicle fleet is inevitable, Wells said it will be entirely unsustainable if it means adopting existing vehicle footprints and driving practices.
"Hence, the situation in California exposes the reality," he said. "We have to make some very difficult choices about how we generate electricity, how we power our vehicles, and whether we heat or cool our homes or drive somewhere."
