Capital Public Radio: Politifact California Podcast

By Sasha Hupka If your time is short: The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the operations of the state’s power grid, issued a Flex Alert last week amid the first heat wave of the summer. The alert asked Californians to conserve electricity when possible. It included several tips, including a suggestion to avoid charging electric cars during peak power usage hours. Most electric car drivers top off their battery regularly rather than charging it from empty to full. Therefore, many cars are equipped with charging timers and only require a few hours of charging each day, so Californians can easily avoid charging vehicles during peak hours. Experts say California’s power grid can comfortably support up to 5 million electric cars on the road. Currently, there are roughly 635,000 electric vehicles registered in the state, according to the California Energy Commission. As Californians grapple with the increasing impacts of climate change, few things have come to be dreaded more than summer