Michael Ross via EV wrote:
The context of these comments it the idea that stored electric power in batteries can take over from fossil fuel energy; and that the capability in batteries is "there." I don't believe it.
Let's see... Wikipedia says the 2016 peak CA load was 46,232 Mw on July 27 (and it's been going DOWN in each successive year). The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established an energy storage target of 1,325 MWH by 2020 (2 years from now). That would support about 3% of the peak load for an hour. Presumably, that would be enough to cover the expected peaks/brownouts.
Therefore, *batteries are not "there."* Nor will they be there any time soon. *If you run the numbers,* instead of just wishing, it is unlikely grid storage can be done at all with batteries alone. It will require other very significant storage tech.
Cleantechnia.com says there are about 250,000 EVs in CA as of 1/20/2017. If each had a 25kwh battery pack and P2G charger, they would provide 6,250 MWH of storage. That's several times more than what CPUC is proposing. So it looks like enough battery capacity is already "there" on the streets. They just have to find a way to harvest it.
Even supplying cells for more than a million cars is not currently possible.
That does not sound quite right. First, let's just look at dumb old lead-acids: They are the most-used battery for EVs (since industrial EVs and golf carts exceed the number of on-road auto company EVs). There are already over a BILLION cars on the planet, and every one has a lead-acid battery. We add another 50 million cars per year, and every one of them adds another battery as well. When you add the lead-acid batteries produced for other applications, they are building over 100 million lead-acid batteries a year.
Manufacturers could easily produce 10% more per year. That's 10 million extra batteries, which could produce a million EVs with (say) ten golf cart battery-size packs each.
A similar situation exists if you want to use lithium cells. They are already being mass-produced for laptops, cellphones, and many other consumer gadgets. This market dwarfs the EV market! Last year, 3 billion cellphones, and 100 million laptops were sold. In excess of 50 gigawatthours of lithium cells were produced for them. If we assume an EV needs 25 kilowatthours of battery, that's enough to make 2 million EVs right there. Factories already under construction are expected to double producion in just 2 years.
So lack of batteries is not going to hold back EVs. It's more likely that sales will be limited by consumer demand and the high prices the auto companies are charging.
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