Electric Cars Are Coming, and Fast. Is the Nation’s Grid Up to It?

 Major automakers are increasingly betting that millions of new cars and trucks over the next decade will be plugged into electrical outlets, not fueled up at gas stations. That raises a question: Is the nation’s power grid ready to handle this surge of new electric vehicles?

Today, fewer than 1 percent of cars on America’s roads are electric. But a seismic shift is underway.

General Motors said Thursday that it aims to stop selling new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks by 2035 and will pivot to battery-powered vehicles. California’s governor has set a goal of phasing out sales of new combustion engines statewide in just 15 years. Automakers like Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen plan to introduce dozens of new electric models in the years ahead, spurred on by plummeting battery prices and concerns about climate change.

That shift will have sweeping implications for the companies that produce and sell electricity and manage the grid. Analysts generally agree that it is entirely feasible to power many millions of new cars with electricity, but it will take careful planning.

For electric vehicles to go mainstream, charging will need to be widely accessible and convenient.

For now, most electric car owners plug in their vehicles at home and charge overnight, though this can require installing equipment that can cost up to $2,000. Many states and electric utilities already offer incentives to help defray the cost. And some groups have sought to update building codes to make new homes “charger ready,” though homebuilders have pushed back.

But there are also big challenges ahead.

While it’s fairly easy for anyone with a single-family home and a garage to install a charger, it can be far more difficult for people who live in large apartments or who rely on street parking to find a suitable outlet.

Some utilities, keen on selling more electricity, are looking to expand public charging options, and President Biden has set a goal of building 500,000 new public chargers by 2030. But financing this infrastructure is complicated, and will likely require public spending and coordination from governments.

One recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used detailed modeling to see where it might make most sense to build all this infrastructure. New chargers on residential streets, as well as high-speed charging stations along highways, would go a long way to supporting an electric-vehicle boom.