Getting electric vehicles recharged

By Greg Whiting

Where's the electricity for electric vehicles going to come from? Why has California recently asked people to stop charging electric cars and, at the same time, changed regulations so that only electric cars will be sold there in 2035?

As EVs grow to a larger fraction of the vehicle population, they can be expected to help, not hurt, both power availability and grid stability.

Most electricity for EVs can be produced simply by running existing power plants more. During non-peak hours, generation capacity is available, but not used. For example, in the northwest, about 200 "peak...