“Europe does not have enough electricity to convert electric vehicles quickly”

Movement

There are high hopes that the world’s transportation system can be quickly converted to electric vehicles, but that requires a large amount of electricity to change. The electricity generated is not enough for a long time and the major countries in Europe need to expand production by more than 40% so that a large part of their fleet can run on electricity.

Norway and Sweden lead the way in electric car sales, but there are also countries with fewer people, fewer vehicles and exceptionally large power generation compared to the size of the population. We also have per capita GDP and have opportunities to subsidize electric vehicles and invest in power generation and distribution expansion.

In other countries it looks different Out. 1,500 km per year for each electric car. It requires 2,250 kilowatts of electricity to run. In the case of Germany, 120 TWh of electricity equivalent to production from 24 nuclear reactors, with 48 million cars, is to supply power to the German car navy. Truck transport and buses require approximately the same amount of electricity, equivalent to a total of 48 nuclear reactors.

For the UK, 200 TWh is required, which is equivalent to 40 nuclear reactors. Wind or solar power is obviously desirable, but the number of nuclear reactors acts as a unit that people can understand.

Germany currently produces 600 TWh of electricity and the 240 TWh increase will require almost 40 per cent expansion to run all road transport with electricity. The surplus may cover a portion of the demand, but the use of the surplus also requires investment. The United Kingdom, like Germany and other countries, uses gas for many purposes and currently produces 325 TWh of electricity. An increase of 200 TWh is more than 60 percent of current production.

There is a production in Italy today At 275 TWh and as in the UK there are more vehicles, meaning Italy needs more than 70 per cent of its current production to switch e-movement. On par with Sweden, we have a production of 140 TWh per year, and require 20 TWh (4 nuclear reactors) to run road transport with electricity, an increase of 20 per cent, a significant increase, but mostly manageable.

Although we have a high capacity of 19 TWh, it is already earmarked for industrial projects such as converting SSAB’s steel plant in Lule to hydrogen, other companies’ plans to convert to electricity and expansion of data centers. On colder days in the winter there will be less capacity, and when we change the mode of transport, the capacity should be sufficient throughout the year. Requirements during peak load periods must be taken into account and they can be addressed either by storage or by the possibility of using additional resources when the demand for electricity is high. These issues need to be taken into account in the discussion and in the decisions that are made.

Seems to be of Europe Decision makers and citizens are often unaware of the need for electricity and the need to expand power generation and distribution to convert into electric vehicles. Part of the demand can currently be met by lost electricity, but this requires investments to manage demand during periods of low demand (“smart electricity networks”).

On behalf of the Lobby Group on Transport and the Environment, Yukov conducted a survey in which 10,050 people responded in 15 major European cities, with the majority responding that the EU should introduce a date that would not allow the sale of petrol and diesel cars. . The UK government announced in December 2020 that it wanted to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2030. In an article in Frankfurt’s Alzheimer’s March 12, 2021, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefkovic proposes that by 2025 there should be battery cells for 8 million cars. Made in the EU. In addition, Volvo Cars has decided to produce only electric cars from 2030, and AB Volvo has set a target of having 50 percent of its trucks electric by 2030.

Under current power generation conditions It covers only a fraction of the demand and requires huge investments in the expansion of the charging infrastructure for both electricity generation, distribution, smart phases and static charging and charging while driving, for example, ban petrol and diesel vehicles already by 2030 unreliable and very dangerous. As Volvo Cars and AB Volvo plan to produce a greater number of electric vehicles, an area like Vostra Cotland should look forward to 2030 as there will not be enough electricity for electricity.

Leaders around the world need to start analyzing how much electricity is being generated and how much power generation will expand in the coming decades. Additional expertise in these issues and decision-making in political experts and organizations should focus and be realistic. First, a factual discussion of what is possible and realistic is needed as electrical motion expands.

Mats Larson has been working on a major transformation to e-mobility since 2004 and has authored five internationally published books on the subject. The comments in the article belong to the author.

Discussion Post: Mats Larsen, GET