 SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The good news is that carmakers are getting ready to roll out electric vehicles en mass in 2010. The bad news is that there may not be enough electricity available to power all these plug-ins.
Current distribution facilities would probably have a hard time meeting the demand of re-charging all these new vehicles, unless they charged during off-peak hours.
"It would be a terrific help for us because in California we usually have maximum wind generation at night, and we don't have sufficient load to match that wind generation," said Engineer David Hawkins, with the California Independent System Operator or the ISO for short.
Hawkins says the new electric cars could also be programmed to know when to stop recharging, like during high demand times during the day.
"So you certainly could send a signal to them to stop charging between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. You want to make sure that the unit is charged and available, but you can still start to slow down the charging by one in the afternoon.
Hawkins is optimistic that the influx of plug-ins in the next few years will go smoothly if it's managed correctly by both the auto industry and the grid operators.
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KCBS' Larry Chiaroni reports
