California teeters on brink of blackouts two weeks after banning gas and diesel engines

On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel-powered engines for passenger vehicles by 2035. Two weeks later, on September 6, the state teetered on the brink of blackouts.

Electric vehicles and grid reliability

California currently has a regulation called the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) rule, which requires auto manufacturers to stock a certain percentage of electric vehicles (EVs) or fuel cell cars in the state.

As a result of these regulations, EVs constituted 12 percent of the vehicles sold in California in 2021, and EVs made up 2.5 percent of all registered vehicles in the Golden State in 2021. As these regulations become more stringent in the future, the strain they place on California’s unreliable electric grid will increase.

Reuters reports that the installed capacity on the electric grid would need to double by 2050 to accommodate a world where 66 percent of cars on the road are electric. This is bad news for California, which is already on the brink of blackouts, and will ostensibly hit the 66 percent mark before the rest of us.

On the brink

California came very close to blackouts last night, with the California grid operator, the California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO), barely avoiding them by begging Golden State residents to reduce their power consumption.

California is expected to struggle to keep the lights on tonight, as well. It will be interesting to see if they can stave off the blackouts until the heat subsides.