# How does a power plant work? (Question is related to electric vehicles) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-power-plant-work-question-is-related-to-electric-vehicles/966439 "2022-06-18T23:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 93
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-power-plant-work-question-is-related-to-electric-vehicles/966439/93 "2022-06-21T20:08:54Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@md-2000](#): > > > > Doh! I mean 100A (240V) service. So a charger using 40A (80% of a 50A circuit for steady load, per code) is using a significant part of the house’s maximum capabilities. 26A - less so. > > Here in Arizona new homes have 200A service if only because of the heat pumps everybody uses for heating and cooling. When we bought into our current home, built in the 1950s, it had 100A service but we paid to get it bumped to 200A. It involved a new breaker box and further dividing the branches in the house, not very expensive. Then your area/state/region is more forward-thinking (and the demands on AC are obviously higher). When people start talking about carbon footprint, I think that my peak month natural gas use to heat my home was over 400cubic meters - probably my major contribution to global warming. That’s 10.5kWh in each cubic meter, so in a cold month, I’d use 4,000 kWh. Could I replace this with electricity? That’s 130kWh a day, just over 5 kWh per hour. At 240V that’s 20A. Allowing for on-off cycles, say 80% on, that’s an extra 25A. It might be do-able on a 100A service, 10.5kWh equivalent of natural gas currently costs about 30¢ or less, while the equivalent electricity is about 95¢ so there would have to be a serious rise in a basic commodity price for electricity to be a reasonable alternative. How likely is it that energy prices would go through the roof? (ha ha) But that’s using the same power around the clock, not at off-peak like charging a car. I do think the electrical grid would need upgrading when everyone does that. It would certainly raise the risk that charging the car would pop the main breaker. I suspect if I added that load to my house, the people issuing construction permits would require an upgrade to my electrical service too. The main issue with some neighbourhoods, especially older ones, is the need to pull a new cable from the street. In my newer subdivision, the wiring is buried. I’m not sure how easy it would be to pull new cable, I suspect it would involve trenching and possibly drilling under a few driveways to reach the nearest electrical box. As the Far Side said about early plumbing, “this not be cheap.” > **[Original plumber | Far side cartoons, The far side, Funny cartoons](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/98375573080114888/)** > > Jan 6, 2012 - This Pin was discovered by Stephen Wells. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-power-plant-work-question-is-related-to-electric-vehicles/966439)._