Texas Is a Look Into the Future of Driving
Mindless energy consumption can no longer be the status quo. Listen to this article 00:00 08:25 Listen to more stories on hark Every Texan I know has what you might call grid anxiety, a low-humming preoccupation with electricity that emerged after brutal winter storms kneecapped the states isolated power grid in February 2021. That frigid disaster triggered highway pileups and runs on grocery stores; people inadvertently poisoned themselves with carbon monoxide by running grills and cars indoors to keep warm. My hometown of San Antonio, like so many places across the state, simply wasnt equipped to deal with several days of freezing temperatures. Many factors contribute to a disaster of this magnitude, but the fundamental failure of the states energy infrastructure cant be overemphasized. Extreme cold is one end of the spectrum. Texas reached the other this summer, as record-breaking heat enveloped the South . Now my conversations with folks back home inevitably lead me to ask, Is your grid up for this? So far, the answer has been yes, thanks in part to a substantial expansion of renewable energy, particularly solar power, in the state. But energy is not straightforward: Additional solar capacity will get us only so far if heat waves happen more frequently, and it can be undercut by unfavorable weather or high temperatures that stretch into the night. Experts have said that Texass grid is not prepared for the extreme shifts in climate that are still to come. Add to this another complicating factor: Texans need to drive, and more of them are starting to do so in electric vehicles , which interact with the grid in complex ways. Texas is now the third-largest EV market in the country; registrations have at least doubled since the year of that winter storm to more than 200,000 today all of them running on an electrical infrastructure that was never designed to power cars. Its understandable, then, for Texans to ask if the grid is up for that too. Even as EVs promise a better climate, many people assume that these cars will just suck up energy until theres nothing left , like giant appliances running all day long, causing power plants to work overtime to compensate. And once their batteries are charged, they can struggle under extreme temperatures. Scott Case, the CEO and co-founder of Recurrent, a start-up that delivers reports on battery health for EV buyers, notes that EVs can lose about 30 percent of their range when temperatures go over 100 degrees. Theres no battery technology thats going to change physics, he told me. Read: Teslas magic has been reduced to its chargers With this in mind, Texas is something of a bellwether for a future that many more of us will soon live in as our reliance on electric cars grows, all while temperatures skyrocket permanently upward. You can imagine the nightmare scenario: EVs become a drain on electric grids as the heat gets worse, contributing to widespread blackouts, and then their depleted batteries turn the cars into bricks on wheels. Such a dramatic future may not come to pass, but we will not be able to maintain the status quo: A more extreme climate, combined with the relative complexity of EVs, will require drivers to change their relationship to energy consumption in general, and car manufacturers to reconsider what they build and how. The Texas-based electricity giant Vistra is optimistic about whats next. Emily Stipe, the companys senior manager for federal and state advocacy, is one of several energy officials seeking to assuage EV-related infrastructure fears as heat becomes more extreme. We really do believe that the grid will be able to handle the deployment of electric vehicles, Stipe said during a recent presentation by the nonprofit Zero Emission Transportation Association, or ZETA. But that only happens if multiple parties work together, including not only the actual EV industry itself, but its supply chain, the electricity providers, and the consumers. Most evidence indicates that EVs wont put as much strain on grids as people might think. ZETA estimates that in 2021, EVs used just 0.15 percent of total national energy generation. The growth in available energy is far outpacing new demand from EVs, the group says. Even as sales in Texas are steadily growing, at this time, the loads from EVs are not significant enough to have an impact on the grid, a spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates 90 percent of the states electricity network, told me. The reported doubling of solar power since 2022 has also helped the states aging power plants keep the lights onthis despite considerable opposition to renewables in a place where oil and gas reign supreme. (A greener grid also helps EVs reach their maximum potential for reducing transportation emissions.) EVs can also provide benefits many people dont realize yet. Cars from Ford, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and others are being designed to return energy to the grid , a technology called bidirectional charging. Whereas the potential energy stored in a gasoline vehicles tank can be used only one way, these EVs can help power homes or sell electricity back into the grid. When you look at what grid resilience is, its really the ability for the grid to prepare for and adapt to changing operating conditions, Chanel Parson, the director of electrification at Southern California Edison, told me. Because EVs are actually driven only 5 to 10 percent of the day, she said, that leaves 21 to 23 hours of a day when a vehicle can discharge its battery to a home or even the grid. This does require smart grid upgrades that many utilities are working on right nowall sorts of things, including new transformers, extended power lines, and even better cybersecurity . But theres tremendous potential for battery storage to help on days when solar and wind are weaker; California even staved off blackouts during a crushing heat wave last September thanks to giant batteries connected to the grid, Stipe told me. Often, these are repurposed former EV batteries. We have seen firsthand the many benefits that energy storage provides, even just beyond emissions-reduction benefits, she said. Read: The one thing holding back electric vehicles in America Even now, most EVs come with options for smart charging : the ability to manage charging times and levels via the cars software or the chargers app. Like a smart thermostat, this allows EV owners to schedule and manage charging for off-peak hours . In other words, you can plug in your EV after you get home from work in the evening but schedule it to charge overnight, when grids arent already overworked from heat and the whole family running electricity in the house. This can be done at public chargers too. The current world leader in EVs has long played this game. Tesla offers solar tiles and home-energy-storage solutions such as its Powerwall. Now many traditional car companies are developing competing products. GM Energy, a new division of General Motors, is rolling out what it calls an electric ecosystem for homes and businesses, including solar power, charging, backup batteries, and bidirectional charging technology. If youre able to manage the energy, inflow, and outflow, which you could do as a consumer with all of these kinds of pieces, then you have an opportunity to be able to help mitigate some of the issues that come with inclement weather, Darryll Harrison Jr., a GM spokesperson, told me. These features are expected to roll out with the retail launch of the new Chevrolet Silverado EV, which will begin production later this year. The permanent-heat-wave era will change how EVs are built as well. Many automakers are coping with vehicles range reduction from extreme temperatures by adding new hardware features, such as heat pumps . Although these are generally seen primarily as a winter-range benefit, their ability to release warm air can greatly improve range in the summer too, Case said. The use of heat pumps, like so many other realities of owning an EVincluding monitoring energy usage and figuring out the best way to charge will require behavioral changes for drivers who have spent decades just paying for gas and driving away, he said: Everybody grew up learning how to take care of a combustion-engine car from their parents or their grandparents. In the nascent EV era, everyone now is coming up with new rules. Maybe a bigger challenge will be to get drivers, homeowners, and even renters to start thinking differently about their energy use, period. Mindlessly consuming fuel or electricity isnt a luxury we have anymore. For many people, they just want their lights to come on when they flick the switch, and they dont want to think about their electric plan anytime other than their renewal period every year, Stipe said. We really need to change that.