Is the Grid Ready for the Electric Vehicle Transition?

Boucar Diouf ()
Additional contact information
Boucar Diouf: Department of Information Display, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyunghee-daero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-36

Abstract: The advancement of electric mobility undoubtedly presents a chance to reduce carbon emissions in road transport and ideally mitigate global warming. The significant and ongoing swift growth in the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) clearly demonstrates a successful technological advancement; however, it comes with significant obstacles, particularly regarding the grids’ ability to provide adequate energy and, more importantly, a sufficient installed capacity to manage potential spikes during massive EV charging. Another significant challenge for nations aiming for 100% registrations made of EVs is the S-curve that accompanies their adoption. The S-curve illustrates three primary phases, one of which features a swift increase in the EV fleet, and this phase is likely to surpass grid investments and enhancements in many countries. This manuscript discusses a study on grid preparedness for the EV transition, addressing potential challenges, the benefits of public charging stations, particularly in densely populated regions, and the incorporation of renewable energy. Renewable energy offers the chance to alleviate the pressure on grids, provided that charging behaviors correspond with generation times. There is a need for progress in battery technology to replace classical gas stations with standalone solar or wind powered charging stations. This manuscript showcases this particular scenario in the United States of America (U.S.).

Keywords: electric vehicles; grid stress; S-curve; renewable energy; charging habits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4730/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4730/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:17:p:4730-:d:1742781

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().