Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
Open Access

Abstract

What power do you charge your electric vehicle with? How you can say no to coal in your EV?

Per Ribbing

In the old outdated way of regarding the Product Electricity and the Electric Grid as a system of water pipes carrying water, the claim “All power mixes on the grid!” was true. But from a market and consumer power point of view, from the economic view of a product that we consume daily (i.e. the Product Electricity), this is a false statement. Electricity that has an audit being made; Consumption vs Production, doesn’t mix at all. Only electricity without an audit being made does mix. The anonymous agents which are the carriers of the purchased Product Electricity, i.e. the kWh:s, they are mixed. But the product itself (the electricity) is not mixed.

This new paradigm is regrettably not easy to grasp, especially not for engineers in the power sector or anyone working with electricity. Nevertheless, it is the scientifically published correct way to understand the new situation with deregulated electricity markets offering different “colours” of power, i.e. electricity with different environmental loads.

In this new situation the new perspective on the product electricity shows that there exists a possible choice of not consuming any coal power.

However, the power industry itself has obvious problems in accepting this new way of understanding the product they are selling. For instance, major power utilities do not know what Product Electricity they are supplying their electric charging stations with. When questioned they fall back to the “All power mixes on the grid” reply and that is just plain wrong.

Especially when charging your Electric Vehicle you do not want coal power to charge your batteries. That is an assumption I can assert very well after driving EVs since 1997.