Experts have warned that the shift to electric vehicles would put as much strain on Australia’s electricity grid as it already puts on homes and apartments.
The news comes as the House of Representatives continues its inquiry into the impact of the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, or EVs, including the impact and costs to motorists.
According to Race for 2030 interim director, Associate Professor Roger Dargaville, powering electric vehicles in just one million households could cost up to $10 billion in power inverters.
Representing the renewable energy advocacy group, Professor Dargaville told the inquiry that to charge an electric vehicle at home, users would need to purchase a DV to AC converter device.
“That piece of infrastructure currently costs about $10,000, and if in the future there are a million vehicles trying to do that, that will be $10 billion,” he said.
“It's very dangerous to make cost predictions… we've all made the mistake of saying solar panels can't be dismantled and they've exceeded expectations.
“That's a lot of money… I suspect it'll be half or a third of what it costs now, but it'll be $3,000 a head. If you have millions, that's a lot of money.”
Professor Dargaville said there was only one brand of inverter currently on the market, but he was unable to confirm whether people who own solar inverters needed another one.
The “optimal situation,” he said, would be to have a large charging infrastructure “where cars are parked during the day at office buildings, shopping centers, schools.”
Asked about the potential for electric vehicles to feed energy into the grid, Professor Dargaville admitted it was a “very complicated question” and that more research into the benefits was needed.
He said research was also needed into the impact of electric vehicles on the entire grid, but warned that they would require “the same amount of electricity that the residential sector requires right now.”
The inquiry aims to establish the far-reaching impacts of the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, including batteries, and is chaired by South Australian Labor MP Antonio “Tony” Zappia.
