Comments by "Joe Qi" (@i6power30) on "America will have over 700,000 EV fast chargers by 2030" video.

Throughput is the hey word. Being able to handle peak demand is still a challenge. Since DC fast charging still takes 3 - 4 times longer than filling up gas, it will need 3 - 4 times more charging stalls as gas pumps to be able to handle the same amount of traffic throughput during the peak travel seasons, or high crowd events. And the grid also need high enough capacity to handle sudden rise in demand. Just because it's no problem in average times doesn't mean it will be as robust as peak demand. Think critically. Gas stations can stock up in preperation to a peak demand event such as conert or sports, or solar eclipse, but most EV charging stations don't have its own battery storage, but rely on grid capacity. Will the grid be able to handle sudden spike of 5x 10x of demand?
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Being able to handle peak demand is still a challenge. Since DC fast charging still takes 3 - 4 times longer than filling up gas, it will need 3 - 4 times more charging stalls as gas pumps to be able to handle the same amount of traffic throughput during the peak travel seasons, or high crowd events. And the grid also need high enough capacity to handle sudden rise in demand. Just because it's no problem in average times doesn't mean it will be as robust as peak demand. Think critically. Gas stations can stock up in preperation to a peak demand event such as conert or sports, or solar eclipse, but most EV charging stations don't have its own battery storage, but rely on grid capacity. Will the grid be able to handle sudden spike of 5x 10x of demand?
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@chris27gea58 don't forget that grid needs upgrade to handle peak demand spikes. Not just average usage.
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@Ryan-ff2db you need to learn how to read. I'm not talking about average daily usage. But robustness to handle peak demand events
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@Ryan-ff2db Gosh, how can I get through your dense skull? I'm not debating on daily average usage scenario. I agree that charging at home off peak etc. works for every day. But I'm speaking of peak demand events such as concerts and sports. When Taylor Swift comes to town, all of the sudden, there are 5x more cars need charging. We haven't seen this problem yet, because 95% of cars are petro still, but when EVs account majority of cars, how will grid handle sudden surge of power demand? even if you have enough charging stalls for everybody, the grid need to reserve excess capacity just to meet this sudden surge in demand or everyone will be waiting in queues for hours if not days to charge up their cars.
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@Ryan-ff2db yes I agree the grid capacity will grow with EV adoption but it'll be more expensive because the current grid is designed for more or less constant demand with minor daily and seasonal fluctuation. But when EV charging takes larger percentage its fluctuations during peak congestion events will fluctuate much more. For the grid to reserve much capacity that would otherwise sit idle would be still require upfront capital investment and ongoing maintenance that will raise the cost of electricity. If you want the EV charging to be as reliable and robust as gassing up the car.
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@Ryan-ff2db again you are talking about daily fluctuations. Work - sleep, work - sleep, predictable peak / off peak etc. This does not apply for one off events like concerts or sports events or peak summer travel season. A lot of people with EVs arrive from out of town to attend some event / concert / conference. They all NEED to charge at that time or they cannot go home. It's not like they can wait till off peak time in the middle of the night to charge. They probably all require DC fast charging on that day before they can drive home. With gas stations, you can simply stock up more fuel in anticipation of such event. With DC fast charging, you need massive battery storage locally, that's going to add cost also, or have extra grid capacity which is probably even more expensive. And you need 3 - 4 times the number of charging stalls as gas pumps because it takes that much longer for DC charging vs filling up liquid fuel. All in all, electricity is efficient and cost effective for predicatble regular daily activities - work, go home, charge while sleep etc. But it's less robust for one-off events like concert, sports games, peak summer / Christmas travel seasons. Or if you want to achieve the same robustness as liquid fueled vehicles, you will need to invest in a lot of excess grid or battery capacity for redundancy that will add to the average electricity rate.
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@Ryan-ff2db Not everybody, but even a certain percentage of people coming from further distance or have shorter range EVs need charging, say even 20% travellers of a large event could be a significant addition to demand, That percentage would go up in winter times. I'm an engineer too actually. I'm not saying that grid can't ever be upgraded to handle 90%+ EV adoption. It can, but what we learn in engineering is there is always a trade off. In this case, it's the cost. For sure, the cost of electricity will go up if we want the same level of convinience and reliability for charging EVs as fueling up gas cars. Unless the cost of battery storage drops significantly, then we can just store electricity locally at every charging station with just small amount of additional cost. But if all parameters stays the same , only EV number go up, then we are looking at higher electricity rate.
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@fractalelf7760 things like AI and crypto mining can be shut off during emergency demand times such as winter storm and high traffic events.
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