Electricification of everything

[tyweather]

During this cold spell in Alberta people have been saying, "it could be worse, we all could be driving EVs..". But is it worse?

Alberta has loads of extra, OFF PEAK, when EVs can charge. Warnings about PEAK time usage (4pm to 8pm) have nothing to do with off peak capacity.

It is like saying the highways are busy during rush hour, that means there is no capacity for a late night transit bus to run on the highways.

Think about this:

At these temperatures gas cars need to be plugged in to prevent lead acid starter batteries from freezing. (If people are really worried they could get a lithium based starter battery.). But if you get home at 4pm and don't plug in until 8pm as they advised, your car may not start the next day. .

Plus who loves running out in the cold to plug in? ( EVs on the other hand can be plugged in and the charging set to start at a specific time.)

Another aspect is block heaters will use between 300 watts to 1200 watts, with a typical one drawing 600 watts. In these temperatures, a car should be plugged in continuously, when not driven. The average Albertan is 18km or 25 minutes one way. So for 23 hours a day they are commuting, let's add another hour for running errands, so 22 hours a day where the car needs to be plugged in at work or at home, where ever. 22 hours × 600 watts = 13.2 kWh.

The average EV uses 20 kWh per 100km in ideal conditions. Ignoring the fact that newer EVs are more efficient, factoring in EV heater usage for 2 hours of drive time at 2000 watts, that is 4 kWh for heating and say 42 km of driving, so 8.4 kWh, total usage per day at these temperatures is 12.4 kWh.

This means to charge an EV for a day's use will use less energy than to plug in a typical block heater for 22 hours a day. And EVs don't need to draw power during those critical hours between 4pm and 8pm when there is a power advisory.

[Glacier]

The articles are so dumb. They say BC is in a crisis because it imported 20% of power last year. And then in other articles they say BC has loads of power to export to Alberta.

Well, the truth is BC has Hydro dams. So during the day BC sells power to Alberta and then at night buys it back while the dams fill.

BTW, Anyone who isn't using smart plugs on their block heaters is a complete idiot of epic proportions. They're like $10. You program them to come on an hour before you have to leave so you're not wasting energy.

There is no crisis even if BC is importing loads of power after Site C comes online because we can buy power for cheap from coal plants in Wyoming during the night when it's cheap and sell it to Alberta for lots of money during the day. Even if we have to use half of the imported power, there is no crisis.

Yes, the electric cars will be running on coal power (because any future electricity will be running on whatever future power is produced, which will be coal, gas, or nuclear from the US). Also some wind and solar amounting to 5% at most. We don't have the appetite for producing any more base load power in Canada. I suspect that once electricity rates start shooting up we will go nuclear because it's clean power. Even the Greenpeace chapter in Finland has endorsed nuclear.

[SouthSardiswx]

The articles are so dumb. They say BC is in a crisis because it imported 20% of power last year. And then in other articles they say BC has loads of power to export to Alberta.

Well, the truth is BC has Hydro dams. So during the day BC sells power to Alberta and then at night buys it back while the dams fill.

BTW, Anyone who isn't using smart plugs on their block heaters is a complete idiot of epic proportions. They're like $10. You program them to come on an hour before you have to leave so you're not wasting energy.

There is no crisis even if BC is importing loads of power after Site C comes online because we can buy power for cheap from coal plants in Wyoming during the night when it's cheap and sell it to Alberta for lots of money during the day. Even if we have to use half of the imported power, there is no crisis.

Yes, the electric cars will be running on coal power (because any future electricity will be running on whatever future power is produced, which will be coal, gas, or nuclear from the US). Also some wind and solar amounting to 5% at most. We don't have the appetite for producing any more base load power in Canada. I suspect that once electricity rates start shooting up we will go nuclear because it's clean power. Even the Greenpeace chapter in Finland has endorsed nuclear.

With the dry cold weather the Mrs. and l Glace have been zapping each other with our own electrification it's quite he contest to out do one another.