@ wolfetone: There's also the issue with charging the cars. Sure, plug them in to the grid. Well the grid is under pressure every winter, getting more so really, so how will that cope?
I know I risk being accused of pedantry but I'm not sure how true the statement is. Generating capacity is certainly under pressure, but whether the grid - i.e. the distribution network - is under pressure is less clear.
However, if electric vehicles do form a significant part of the total the grid certainly will come under severe pressure then. IIRC this house has an 80 Amp fuse on the incoming supply, which is about half of what it would need to be for a fast charger to be included. Then of course there is the bonkers government scheme to move away from gas for domestic heating, and that will require another 30 kW or so from the supply. OK let's have a 300 Amp fuse on the incomer, along with all the neighbours having the same.
It's a toss - up as to what would fail* first; the underground cable feeding us or the substation. The whole thing reeks of "politician think" rather than "engineer think" and as we all know from experience the engineering view will be ignored as being too "negative".
Thinking about it, with all the demand that could fall on the electricity industry I suspect that cables to estates would be of such a diameter that they couldn't be drummed ready for transport and installation; the coiling radius would simply be too big.
* spectacularly
Edit: @ jmch: I think you're a bit wide of the mark in your comment about the investment comparison with conventional petrol stations; petrol stations don't need a truly humungous electrical cable supplying them; their "electric only" counterparts will.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
