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Thursday, August 20, 2020

More Hidden Costs Of Electric Vehicles

The starting point is that low density sources of energy, such as wind and sunlight, start with a cost disadvantage. They are also intermittent sources of electric power, so must have 100% fossil fueled backup and/or very expensive batteries for energy storage.

There are other costs that are often ignored by people cheerleading for solar and wind power ... beyond taxpayer subsidies: Sometimes there is so much wind that "wind farms" are paid to to switch off their turbines. In the UK, these ‘constraint payments’ were £140 million in 2019.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging station infrastructure investments. Extra demand for electricity at home to charge electric cars at night (when there is no solar power) will require most EV homeowners to install new circuit-breakers and distribution boards. In urban areas where most electrical cabling is underground, upgrading may require diggimg a trench between the home and the feeder circuits in the street.

Increased demand from having lots of EVs at homes along a street will mean the distribution network will need to be upgraded. This will involve installing larger cables and replacing distribution transformers with larger ones. Many urban and suburban streets with underground wires would need to be dug up.