It is far different, the scales at play just aren’t the same and a lot of distribution centers are already near capacity even if the grid can supply enough.
Your not wrong that it’s not static, but it’s ignorant to believe that it’s even on the same scale as any of those adoptions.
Add in there has been a transformer shortage since before covid started…. Yeah it’s not the same.
It’s exactly the same. You’re adding one 30-50A circuit to residential that will be used intermittently, and primarily during off peak hours. Very, very few vehicles will need a full charge every night, and the software on the charger side typically meters in current at much less than capacity if it’s on a schedule, as the lower the current, the less heat, and less stress on the battery . Large charging stations are on par with commercial/light industrial, and we add that sort of load all the time.
I’ve worked for power utilities for 25 years on the generation side with some on the T&D side. The planners spend a pile of time on analysis to determine where additional load and/or sources are being added and triage based on that. When old stuff is scheduled for replacement, sometimes an upgrade is warranted, sometimes not, based on that analysis.
A lot of electrical equipment currently has long lead times. I’ve got quotes for up to 70 weeks on some stuff. It’s been a side effect of relying on dodgy suppliers overseas. It has been improving.
Commercial transformers have a hell of a lot more head capacity. Codes and standards when doing panel calculations don’t care about off peak in most places. And unless it has a proper timer, you can’t remove it from calculations on an intermittent basis.
2 houses on the same transformer in a dated neighborhood and it needs to be replaced with a new one. You can plan ahead all you want, but you can’t plan for that at all. And every single one of those requests will push back planned upgrades.
So no, it’s not the same at all.
We had entire neighbourhoods go from oil furnaces and either 50A or 100A services to electric heat with 200A services. Yeah, equipment got upgraded, that’s how it works. Where did I say otherwise?
And you certainly can plan for that. People are doing it as we speak.
