Years ago former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson announced to the world that the UK’s electrical grid couldn’t handle the sudden change if everyone switched to electric cars all at once. Perhaps we saw our first real world glimpse of this issue in California last Thanksgiving, but it didn’t look quite like we thought it would. Here’s the situation with charging station gridlock.
Footage emerged last Thanksgiving weekend out of San Luis Obispo, California, showing one of the largest Tesla Supercharger sites, which has more than 40 charging stations, swamped with nearly-juiced Teslas. It was a scene reminiscent of the 1970s oil embargo and its resulting fuel rationing program. The mandates, in 1973 and 1979, led to massive traffic jams at every big-city gas station in America.
Perhaps a glut of Black Friday shopping had nearly stranded this pack of Teslas, or perhaps California has become saturated, but the half-mile line of electro-cruisers backed up waiting to charge was undoubtedly the source of some frustration.
Plus, Tesla just had their best year ever, and an announced fourth model, the Cybertruck, is set to debut soon, so this problem will only grow. With other electrics like the Porsche Taycan on the way, it remains to be seen how the greater power grid will hold up to the charging demands. But until the substations are overwhelmed, what can be done to mitigate EV charging station gridlock frustration?
For their part, Tesla is doing what they can. They’ve already installed 1,804 stations with 15,911 Superchargers between them.
They also have a system they call Megapack, which is essentially a giant flatbed semi trailer with a battery big enough to charge 100 Teslas. Though it can only charge 10 Teslas at a time, it’s still a pretty clever system. Not only can it shorten lines at busy locations like San Luis Obispo, it can be set up to test locations for permanent Superchargers.
You’ve already guessed the obvious solutions. Plan your trips accordingly. Use a gas car when you must. Don’t launch in Ludicrous Mode while you’re running to Trader Joe’s. It might also seem obvious that you can charge at home, because this is where most electric vehicle charging takes place. But many electric vehicles are street parked at an apartment building. You can’t exactly run an extension cord out through your apartment window, across the sidewalk, and into your Leaf.
Many apartment-dwelling electric car owners charge at work, but that’s not an option for employees whose offices aren’t so equipped. If that’s you, a solution might be to petition your office to get a charging station installed. Many states and municipalities offer tax breaks and incentives for contributing to the EV grid. And it would save you a good chunk of time every day.
Another possible solution is a little further off. Tesla, along with every serious automaker in the world, is hard at work on their autonomous driving systems, and in the future, you could send your car off to charge once you get home, or arrive at the office. Tesla is even developing a robotic arm that automatically locates and plugs in a charging cable, removing the need for a human employee to be there.
Yet fully autonomous cars, while technically possible, are far from being practical or legal yet. It will be some time before the engineers and the lawyers agree on a solution to the Trolley Problem.
Until then, you may have to sit and wait in those supercharger lines. At least a Tesla is a nice place to hang out for an hour.
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