A new study from Stanford University has found that the vast majority of electric vehicle (EV) owners are charging their cars at home in the evening or overnight, and this could be costing the electricity grid a significant amount. The study has recommended that the practice should change, with more EV owners charging their cars during the day at work or at public charging stations.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature Energy, examined the stress that the western United States’ electric grid will come under by 2035 from growing EV ownership.

It found that if rapid EV growth continued with a continued dominance of residential, nighttime charging, peak electricity demand could increase by up to 25% in just over a decade. However, if more people shifted their charging habits to daytime at work or public charging stations, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the need for the extra costs of generating and storing electricity.

(via Instapundit)

[One note, and then a comment: this is not a “new” study; it was published a year ago. However, it’s still worth noting, as it points out a massive hole in the logic of reliance on renewable energy. The problem with charging at night is that solar power stops producing when the sun goes down. A grid based on the full complement of potential energy sources — oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro — would compensate for that, and nighttime would be the *best* time to charge. After all, it’s when demand is normally sharply lower already. This finding, in one study anyway, hints at the disaster to come — even if we build enough solar and wind to meet current daytime demand *without* a massive transfer of vehicles to the grid. — Ed]