Automotive Engineering - November 2017 - 42

READER
FEEDBACK

EVs and the charging grid

My company does analysis for the electricpower industry. It's our conclusion that for
the U.S. grid to sustain up to 20% growth
in battery-EV sales and the related charging of those new vehicles at SAE Level 2,
we'll need at least twice the present capacity for electricity generation in the U.S.
The editor is correct about the existing
capability at the residential neighborhood
level-it is not nearly ready for a surge in
EV sales-whenever that comes.
William Ramsey
Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Editor's note: The October Editorial
sparked (pun intended) numerous reader
comments about the state of the U.S. electricity grid, its capability to handle electric
vehicle charging in high volume, and reaction to the transformer explosion at a suburban Detroit substation-the repairs to
which (more than two months later) are
still ongoing.
An approximate estimate of the electricity
generation capacity required for a complete
change to [automotive] electric power is a
simple calculation, based on the current
consumption of auto fuel and the relative
thermal efficiency of IC-powered vehicles,
electric-powered vehicles and fossil-fuelbased electric generation and distribution.
The answer is: We need to approximately double the current generation capacity! Why have we not seen this number
in the press?
Dave Harding
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP

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42 November 2017

I live in northern Ohio and like you, regularly see wire-strung traffic lights above
four-way intersections out of commission
during even light wind. Everyone has to
"tip toe" through these bottlenecks. If this is a "robust grid,"
what can we expect when the "EV revolution" arrives?
Transformers popping like popcorn and wooden telephone
poles burning as a result. Can't wait!
M.J. Tornowski
RE: robust EV grid-get ready for a big bump in your electric
bill when the plug-in cars arrive in large volume.
Eddie Nelson

Mazda's SpCCI

I was surprised to read your article on Mazda bringing its
SpCCI combustion regime to market ahead of the "heavyweights" of the industry. I, too, would have bet on GM getting
to market first; its HCCI program seemed to be the leader.
Good article. Please continue to write about advanced ICEs.
Bob Naylor
Columbus, OH
In the "ICE Breaker" article (October 2017), a key piece of
data of interest to all AE readers about Mazda's CCI engine is
the practical efficiency measurement. In the reporting of the
manual transmission it appears the data is accurately reported, but for the automatic the numbers appear to be listed
backwards for mpg and impossible for the L/100 km. It should
read: 35.1 U.S. mpg vs. 29.9; 6.7 L/100 km vs. 7.9 L/100 km.
Dan Ely
Pottstown, PA
Dan is correct; thanks for reading.-Ed.
READERS: Let us know what you think about Automotive
Engineering magazine. Email the Editor at Lindsay.Brooke@
sae.org. We appreciate your comments and reserve the
right to edit for brevity.

AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING

Automotive Engineering - November 2017

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