Technology

Plug in vehicles are vehicles that are driven by electric power therefore capable of being recharged through the national grid. They are being designed as an effective means of cutting green house gas emissions since they do not produce gases like their oil based counterparts. This makes them environment friendly and very convenient for large scale adoption. Two designs exist those with gasoline engine hybrids and those that are powered totally by electricity. These vehicles have great potential in mitigating the effects of global warming and reducing reliance on oil. As car makers evaluate the possibility of producing them in bulk, consumers have been left with questions concerning the impact of such large scale utilization of electricity for recharging vehicles and its effects on the national grid.

With all the benefits these cars seem to offer, one should be concerned about their effects on electricity supply. According to Sullivan (2009, these vehicles can disrupt electricity distribution. He records that in a conference on transport advancement which was titled plug in 2009 held on August, it was noted by Ead Kjaer, the director of south California transport advancement program that mass adoption of these vehicles will  draw off the national grid  especially at local levels. The director also proposed that adoption of these vehicles would lead to overload off transformers used for distribution and since many recharge stations would crop up there will be overloading resulting in interruption of electricity supply. The director also observes that the worst that can happen is people screaming at each other for causing power outages while recharging. Sullivan (2009) also echos the recommendation of Edgar keljar that the solution to enhancing adoption of these vehicles would be to improve the power infrastructure as well as development of multiple web of charging stations.