Neighborhoods need new electrical transformers before electric cars can roll in

Electric cars are considered by many to be the future. They will reduce our dependence on oil and save us a great deal of money and annoyance at dirty gas stations. But what many people don't realize is that this car of the future is actually over 100 years in the making.

The first electric car was invented just before the year 1900. However, that design was eventually beat out in popularity by the combustible fuel engine vehicles we still drive around in today. High cost and low horsepower were just a few of the reasons that this car fizzled in the market.

While high cost and low horsepower still remain relatively true for the electric vehicles of today, the public's interest in them has been reignited in recent decades as a result of concern over pollution, high gas prices and foreign fuel-related conflicts. Major automobile manufacturers have responded with newer form models, but experts believe we have to change elsewhere before we will be ready to support this kind of vehicle.

These kinds of vehicles can be charged through a normal household outlet. This poses no inconvenience to most homeowners, considering most people have at least one outlet on the outside of their home or in the garage. It is also estimated that the spike in energy bills that accompanies charging an entire vehicle at home will still be lower than the amount we currently spend on the equivalent amount of gasoline.

The problem lies within the power grids in each of our neighborhoods. As you may or may not know, energy is generated at a power plant and then distributed to different areas around the city. In each of these areas, the power is distributed by electrical transformers. Electrical transformers adjust the high voltage electricity from the power plant into a lower voltage before distributing the usable lower voltage electricity to each house via power lines.

Each neighborhood has a custom power grid that accounts for the number of houses and the estimated amount of power each house will need. In order to fully charge one electric car, one house would have to use the amount of power and energy of nearly two more full households. Two people charging two of these cars in the same neighborhood at the same time would almost certainly cause a blackout.

The solution to this problem is to replace the electrical transformers in each neighborhood with more powerful ones. Neighborhoods of 12 houses on one power grid would need electrical transformers that are equipped for at 36 houses if everyone in the neighborhood purchases one of these kinds of cars. The only other solution would be to mandate each person schedule a different time at which they will be allowed to charge his or her car.

It is probably not as daunting of a task as it may seem. We've previously equipped the country with millions of gas stations to cater to our cars' needs. It shouldn't be half as difficult to replace electrical transformers to support our new ones.