As more cars are powered by electricity and not fossil fuels. Questions are being asked about the effect electrical vehicles are having on the electrical grid.
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00:00Life in the fast lane. Like a growing number of Australians, Peter Piotrowski drives an
00:08electric vehicle, or EV. One of the biggest attractions? Performance.
00:13It can't compete with that sort of instant torque.
00:20But there's a much bigger electric machine that's increasingly occupying the minds of
00:24energy experts. With Australia on the cusp of an electric vehicle revolution, the ability
00:29of the power grid to cope is an open question. Yes, EVs will have an effect on the grid.
00:35But I actually think that effect could be positive if it's managed well.
00:39EVs accounted for close to 10% of all new cars sold in Australia in the first quarter
00:45of this year, up from just 4% in 2022. It's a trend that's only expected to gather pace,
00:51as the federal government targets sales of 50% by 2030.
00:55I don't think anyone disagrees with the notion that the long-term future is electric, at
01:02best hybrid. One of the little appreciated aspects of EVs
01:06is their sheer size as electrical appliances. Compared with most other devices, they are
01:11huge. And while that might not be a problem when they're being charged slowly, fast charging
01:17them can add significantly to a household's demand for power.
01:22Boiling a kettle will use about the same amount of energy as an EV plugged into a standard
01:28outlet. But for the average customer that has a wall-mounted charger, they'll be adding
01:33about 50% demand to the network. Poles and wires companies are adamant the
01:38grid can handle the extra demand, saying the vehicles could even help make the system more
01:43efficient. Your electric vehicle would be plugged into
01:46your charger, and it would enable energy from that battery to be discharged or flow
01:55into the network at a time when the network really needed it.
02:00Everyone agrees that getting the settings right will be crucial.
02:03You can future-proof sometimes the networks by taking overhead lines, the poles and wires
02:08you might see outside your house, and burying them underground with new cables. And those
02:12new cables are bigger, typically, so they can carry more juice, more electricity.
02:16Peter Petrovsky is backing Australia to navigate any bends in the road ahead.
02:21I'm very optimistic. I don't think EVs will present a problem for the grid as long as
02:26they're managed responsibly. Charging a revolution, one trip at a time.
02:31Daniel Mercer, ABC News.