Californians are being advised not to charge their electric cars at certain times as a 90-degree heatwave hits.
The move comes just weeks after the California Air Resources Board decided to ban gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has urged state residents to “reduce” energy use between the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. “when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high.”
Beginning Wednesday and through Tuesday, residents are being asked not to charge their electric vehicles between those hours, set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and turn off unnecessary lights.
“Reducing power consumption during this period will become easier [the] to stress the system and prevent more drastic measures, including alternating power outages,” the bulletin said.
California officially became the first country in the world to enforce a 2035 ban on the sale of new gasoline cars after a public hearing on Thursday that ended with the California Air Resources Board agreeing to approve the policy.
Californians are being advised not to charge their electric cars between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday through Tuesday due to the excessive heatwave to relieve the grid
Residents are also being urged to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and turn off unnecessary lights
Automakers must now reduce the number of gas guzzlers they sell to meet the first quota of the plan, which requires 35 percent of new cars, SUVs and small pickup trucks sold in California to be zero-emission vehicles by 2026.
The rate increases every two years, by 2028 it will be 51 percent, by 2030 68 percent and five years later 100 percent of all new vehicles sold will be battery-powered – 20 percent of which can be hybrid plug-ins.
The new policy may be a step in the right direction to tackle emissions, but officials face several obstacles to ensuring each of the targets is met.
One such hurdle is installing enough charging stations across the state.
Although California has the most nationwide, 2.1 million will be needed by 2030 to meet demand from the new massive fleet of electric vehicles.
So far, more than 73,000 public and shared chargers have been installed, with another 123,000 planned by 2025.
Those numbers fall short of the government’s goal of 250,000 chargers for 54,000 installations.
California is expected to experience the mid to high 90s throughout the weekend and the west is also expected to experience an intense and prolonged heatwave
John Bozzella, President and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said the mandate is an “extremely challenging” for automakers.
“Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly related to external factors such as inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor force, availability and pricing of critical minerals, and ongoing semiconductor shortages,” Bozzella said in a statement.
“These are complex, interrelated and global problems.”
Additionally, officials have not mentioned how they plan to upgrade the power grid to cope with the onslaught of more electric vehicles, nor how it will deal with a congested power grid during heat waves in the future.
The CA ISO told that the main stress on the power grid in the summer is air conditioning, but said it is too early to know the final impact more electric vehicles will have on the power grid as drivers switch.
“It is too early to say what the impact of the 2035 ban will be, but for now we are asking EV owners to avoid charging during the 4pm to 9pm time on Flex Alert days, if possible” , Anna Gonzalez, CA ISO’s public information officer, told on Wednesday.
“Instead, consumers can charge EVs earlier in the day when solar supply is plentiful and electricity prices are likely to be lower.”
Gonzalez also told that the nonprofit will continue to work with “government agencies and our stakeholders” as the state “transforms to cleaner energy sources.”
has also reached out to the California Air Resources Board for comment.
Gov. Gavin Newson called the move to an all-electric vehicle state “groundbreaking” and that the state is investing $10 billion in the transition to a greener state.
He also said the transition would make it “easier and cheaper for all Californians to buy electric cars.”
The governor’s comments came after a report that Californians could spend about $20,000 more to buy a new electric vehicle — an amount that is affordable for more than half of the state’s middle-to-low-income residents. could be unaffordable.
State officials have not said how the state intends to deal with the grid becoming even more congested as it transitions to more electric vehicles on the roads and future heat waves sweep the West
A worker wipes his sweat as temperatures in California reach dangerously high levels
The median price for a new electric vehicle in the US recently rose to $66,000, an increase of more than 13 percent year-on-year compared to $43,338 for a gasoline-powered vehicle.
According to Kelley Blue Book, the cost of electric vehicles is “well above the industry average and more in line with luxury prices than mainstream prices.”
As Labor Day weekend approaches, California and the rest of the West are expected to grapple with a high-temperature heatwave.
Forecasters are warning people the heatwave will be intense and prolonged with above average temperatures typically seen in June and July rather than early September.
Most of the West has avoided intense summer heatwaves due to the North American monsoon, which has kept temperatures lower than normal, but heat advisors and excessive heat monitors will begin to roll out this weekend.
California is expected to experience the mid to late 90s this weekend through Tuesday.