Electric cars to fuel huge demand in electric power in UK
13 Jul 2017
A dramatic growth in electric vehicles on the roads in UK could push electricity demand over the capacity of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station by 2030, according to National Grid.
The number of plug-in cars and vans could reach 9 million by 2030, up from around 90,000 today, according to the company, which ran the UK's national transmission networks for electricity and gas.
The charging of millions of car batteries would reverse the trend in recent years of falling electricity demand, due to energy efficiency measures such as better refrigerators and LED lighting.
It is necessary to avoid peaks and troughs in power demand, such as when people returned home between 5 pm and 6pm. It is estimated that peak demand could be as much as 8GW higher in 2030, if electric vehicles were not charged smartly, to avoid peaks and troughs were not according to National Grid.
The extra peak demand would be lower at 3.5GW if the charging of cars was shifted to times when demand was lower. This demand could be met by the new reactors being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The forecasts formed part of the grid's Future Energy Scenarios report, published just days after Volvo announced that all its new cars would be electric or hybrid from 2019 and France pledged to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
According to the grid operator it expected a steep rise in the number of electric vehicles, with sales projected over 90 per cent of all cars by mid-century.
Electricity demand was expected to increase driven initially by electric vehicles and later on by heat demand as the pace picked up to decarbonise the heating sector.
Peak electricity demand in the UK was currently around 50-55 GW in winter.
