Accelerate the World's Transition to Sustainable Energy - to fight Anthropogenic Climate Change, page-254

What do you expect Zippo?

Now EVs must also be a solution to inequality in our society, before EVs are allowed onto our roads?!?

First you say that EVs are going to crash our grid... when we point out ways how lots of EVs can actually help to balance the grid and allow more renewable energy sources to be connected to it, you stipulate that this must be done by low income earners?!?

Then you discover the fatal flaw in our argument - only 7 out of 10,000 vehicles sold in QLD apparently are EVs!! So now suddenly you must realise how silly the "EVs will crash the grid" argument is for Australia right now... So you complain about funds paid for EV charging infrastructure being a waste of money... given how few EVs are on the roads.

Then you offer as a solution to the transport and energy transition - which is happening all around the world - is to improve our rail transport infrastructure... "better bang for our buck".

Like a magician's deception... don't look at this.. look over here!!!

While any investment in rail infrastructure may or may not be sensible - perhaps worth starting a seperate thread for? - it adds very little to the discussion as to how to make Australia ready for the inevitable energy and transportation transition to electric vehicles and more renewable energy.

To try and somehow argue that EVs are not allowed, as only the rich will be able to afford them and it would be unfair on low income earners is ludicrous.

Look at PV solar. Initially it was used in remote locations, then as it became cheaper, it went on house rooftops (only for the "rich), until it became so cheap, that it is now being installed at utility scale (and benefits the poor).

Using your logic - i.e. low income earners cannot afford rooftop solar, so let's not install it on rich people's homes, would mean that PV solar would never have becomes as cheap as it is today.

Rather than trying to make up new and creative reasons why you think the transition is not going to be possible, maybe you ought to think a bit harder as to what actually ought to happen to facilitate it.

One suggestion: For new apartment blocks, mandate in building codes that EV ready wiring is installed. If this was done up-front at the time of construction, it would require minimal incremental cost to the project. Then, once tenants wanted to charge an EV, they would only have to pay a few hundred dollars for a wall connector making this option affordable for even lower income earners.

On the V2G electricity trading, the "how" or "when" electricity is loaded into the battery and sold back into the grid, would depend on prevailing tariff structures. Today, off-peak periods are in the middle of the night, because coal power stations are idling along and generating power that no one can use - hence the "special" every night, trying to flog it off cheaply. Once more renewable is being generated during the day, the off-peak period might very well shift to midday to early afternoon, when solar electricity generation is at its peak and excess electricity is being generated.

You are correct that if you drive your EV to work, you can not charge on your home PV installation... perhaps you can negotiate with you employer to get free charging while parked at work? At worst your employer ought to charge you at cost, which again is likely to be off-peak or shoulder tariff. The gains would be less, but as you have already paid for your EV, any tariff differential could be exploited by many EV owners (although never by all, due to different personal circumstances). This would not necessarily be the silver bullet for all grid issues, but could go a long way towards taking pressure off the grid. It would certainly reduce the total investment required to upgrade the grid for the 21st century.

I do not pretend that the transition towards sustainability will be all peaches and cream. However, being unprepared for this transition is almost certainly going to lead to long term costs to the Australian economy interns of falling behind in the EV technology race as well as generally lower productivity relative to our major trading partners, who are mostly rushing to prepare their economies for what is coming.

The choice is ours.