by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
How will EVs charge with CalISO’s flex alert and energy providers pleading for electricity conservation?
Thursday and Friday U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm will travel to Southern California to tour the site of one of the first electrified truck dealerships in America.
Secretary Granholm just happens to be visiting California during such an “extreme heat event” according to Gov. Newsom, a flex-alert was just issued by the California Independent System Operator (CalISO) telling Southern California “due to high temperatures pushing up energy demand and tightening available power supplies.”
It’s the “tightening available power supplies” part that has many Californians vowing to stick with their gas-powered autos and trucks. Because simultaneously, as Gov. Gavin Newsom has now ordered the state to prohibit the sale of gas-powered autos by 2035, less than one week later, California energy providers can’t provide the necessary electricity to power what we even currently need electrified. Where will all of the electricity come from for the millions of electric vehicles in California’s future?
Wind and solar? Meh. Maybe California should figure out how to fix our electric grid before we outlaw gas cars.
CalISO implored residents to conserve energy between 4pm and 9pm. Other energy officials have asked residents to avoid charging electric vehicles, and if possible not to use electricity during the heat wave. It is 100+ degrees in Southern California today, tomorrow, Friday and possibly through Labor Day. Northern California is expected to hit anywhere between 100 degrees and 106 by Sunday, and possibly 110 degrees Monday. Although, the “extreme heat” predictions haven’t even been close in Northern CA recently
