Prediction: three million electric vehicles by 2015

A study from IDC Energy Insights predicts that plug-in electric vehicles will be hitting the market within the year, and 540,000 will be sold globally by 2012. There will be more than 2.7 million of the vehicles on roads across the globe within five years. IDC predicts there will be 885,000 electric cars in North America and more than 780,000 in Europe by the year 2015. The report’s authors warn, however, that the electric grid won’t be ready for this surge. “Unfortunately, these vehicles will cause havoc on the distribution grid if they start appearing without any preparation by grid managers. The utilities that prepare today for this new reality will be the ones that will win in the long term.” Challenges utilities will face include “significant upgrades in distribution equipment, from the addition of separate metering apparatus to the installation of advanced transformers that can handle the increased load on a particular line. Utilities will also need to address the creation of novel rate structures that allow the utility to control how and when the vehicles are charged.”