UK’s solution for home charging…guess will apply to Teslas there too

[SMAlset]

Just read the UK’s solution to avoid overloading the electrical grid during peak hours there from EVs charging.

“Under regulations that will come into force in May, new chargers in the home and workplace will be automatically set not to function from 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm. Public chargers and rapid chargers, on motorways and A-roads, will be exempt.

The government is also taking powers to impose a “randomised delay” of up to 30 minutes at other times to avoid pressure on the grid if there is a scramble among motorists to recharge their batteries at the same time.”

I’m assuming this will apply to Tesla EVSEs over there as well??

The Times The Sunday Times appears to be a subscription source but here’s their link: E-car chargers will turn off to prevent blackouts

Link from AppleNews+: E-car chargers will turn off to prevent blackouts — The Times and The Sunday Times

 

[SMAlset]

Can’t imagine my husband’s company, a very large company with a very large number of L2 EVSEs, preventing co-workers from charging when they get to work and only giving everyone 5 hours to charge while at work unless they stick around after work to after 10pm to do so. Usually there’s the morning EV “charger group” who will move their cars during/after lunch so the afternoon group can access the chargers for their rides home.

 

[.jg.]

Just read the UK’s solution to avoid overloading the electrical grid during peak hours there from EVs charging.

“Under regulations that will come into force in May, new chargers in the home and workplace will be automatically set not to function from 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm. Public chargers and rapid chargers, on motorways and A-roads, will be exempt.

The government is also taking powers to impose a “randomised delay” of up to 30 minutes at other times to avoid pressure on the grid if there is a scramble among motorists to recharge their batteries at the same time.”

I’m assuming this will apply to Tesla EVSEs over there as well??

Note that this will be a default setting and users will be able to override it, to force charging within the peak periods.

In the UK, there are special tariffs available which offer very cheap rates overnight, balanced by high rates during the day and many EV owners are already taking advantage of these tariffs and limiting their charging to the cheapest overnight slots.

A government grant is available in the UK to subsidise EVSE installations, subject to a number of requirements - these include requirements for EVSE to be "Smart", which means allowing communication and control by the utility company. It is this mechanism that will likely be used to implement the "no charging" periods next year.

However, EVSEs are not required to be "Smart" and Tesla's wall chargers do not meet the UK's Smart criteria, so they are not eligible for the OLEV grants and would be immune from the "no charging" periods.

Ultimately, the UK hopes to have smart meters installed in all premises and this will facilitate dynamic electricity pricing, where utilities will be able to charge different rates at different times of the day and the rate chosen at different times will vary according to grid demand. Smart meters would then decide which devices/circuits would use power, depending on the prevailing rate.

 

[David_Cary]

That work place needs to install more chargers. 5 hours should be plenty for anyone in the UK or anywhere frankly. How many cars don't charge at least 20 miles an hour and how many people drive 100 miles to work?
In the UK?
Certainly in the US, there are high mileage commuters. But presumably they have at least 250 miles ranges. And charge closer to 25-30 miles an hour.
Again - there is no reality outside of sub .1% edge cases where 5 hours of workplace charging is not enough.
Back to the UK solution - it really should be staggered. Odd addresses turn on 30 min later for example. Or perhaps a complex formula that staggers things on a 10 min cycle. And really - if you are going to have a "solution" in 2021 - it should be a heck of a lot smarter than just a timer. It should specify the charging parameters and let the utility make it happen.
"I need to be charged to 200 miles at 6 am tomorrow so I need 3 hours of charging. I just plugged in at 6pm." The utility will charge some cars at 10pm, some at 2 am based on need. This isn't even remotely rocket science.
Turning everyone at 10pm is a recipe for local transformer issues I would think. Let alone bigger grid issues.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Just read the UK’s solution to avoid overloading the electrical grid during peak hours there from EVs charging.

“Under regulations that will come into force in May, new chargers in the home and workplace will be automatically set not to function from 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm. Public chargers and rapid chargers, on motorways and A-roads, will be exempt.

The government is also taking powers to impose a “randomised delay” of up to 30 minutes at other times to avoid pressure on the grid if there is a scramble among motorists to recharge their batteries at the same time.”

I’m assuming this will apply to Tesla EVSEs over there as well??

The Times The Sunday Times appears to be a subscription source but here’s their link: E-car chargers will turn off to prevent blackouts

Link from AppleNews+: E-car chargers will turn off to prevent blackouts — The Times and The Sunday Times

In addition to .jg.'s note, the randomized delay idea is because many EV owners use a simple TOU tariff like Octopus Go with a set period.
Their EVs would start charging at the same time. By randomizing the off-peak start in the default settings, it will help spread out the start of charging, helping to avoid a surge in demand.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

That work place needs to install more chargers. 5 hours should be plenty for anyone in the UK or anywhere frankly. How many cars don't charge at least 20 miles an hour and how many people drive 100 miles to work?
In the UK?
Certainly in the US, there are high mileage commuters. But presumably they have at least 250 miles ranges. And charge closer to 25-30 miles an hour.
Again - there is no reality outside of sub .1% edge cases where 5 hours of workplace charging is not enough.
Back to the UK solution - it really should be staggered. Odd addresses turn on 30 min later for example. Or perhaps a complex formula that staggers things on a 10 min cycle. And really - if you are going to have a "solution" in 2021 - it should be a heck of a lot smarter than just a timer. It should specify the charging parameters and let the utility make it happen.
"I need to be charged to 200 miles at 6 am tomorrow so I need 3 hours of charging. I just plugged in at 6pm." The utility will charge some cars at 10pm, some at 2 am based on need. This isn't even remotely rocket science.
Turning everyone at 10pm is a recipe for local transformer issues I would think. Let alone bigger grid issues.

For now, they don't need to stagger, the randomization should be sufficient to avoid a demand surge.

There's a known "bathtub" they can fill in, which is where Octopus Go's 0:30 to 4:30 cheap period comes from.

Once volume is high enough, and as they continue to add offshore wind, they'll adjust and I'm sure they'll have different households with different cheap periods.