What Would Happen if We All Switched to EVs at the Same Time?
Grid overload, energy disaster… or nothing at all?
As an EV driver and an advocate of green energy for many years, I’ve often wondered what the real-world impact would be when (and it is a when, not if) the vast majority of us finally make the switch to EVs for our day-to-day transport needs.
But when people all over the UK (and, in fact, the world) add pretty significant loads to our National Grids, aren’t we risking overloading the distribution networks? Surely, if we all plug in at the same time, we’ll draw more power than we can produce and we’ll end up sitting in the dark with an empty battery to boot?
Well, as it turns out, there is a surprisingly easy answer to this conundrum — and it’s perhaps not what you’d expect.
But before we dive in and look at the numbers, there’s one piece of very important historical context we need to understand first, so let’s start there.
The grid and historical power use
These days, the power grid in the UK — where I live — is pretty stable. Of course, there are occasional brown or blackouts for maintenance, upgrades or emergency repairs caused by a huge range of human and natural interventions, but, on the whole, we can…
