A stroll down Stockholm’s longest street that takes its name from the mythical Valhalla, where Norse gods feast and fight until doomsday, gives a hint of the battle today’s power grids face to keep pace with government goals to electrify transport.
Early this month, a man selling Christmas trees looked on as workers installed 10 public vehicle charging stations with two power outlets each in Valhallavägen, which is around 2.17 miles long. It’s progress, but not enough.
Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles during the first nine months of 2020 rose by 122% in the European Union, accounting for about 8% of new car sales, industry figures show.
In Sweden, electric vehicles (EVs) made up nearly 28% of the market for the first three quarters of the year, with 56,559 fully-electric or plug-in hybrids sold.
Sales of petrol and diesel cars will be banned in Sweden from 2030, so many more of the nearly 5 million passenger cars registered today will gradually be replaced by zero-emission EVs.
For the rest of this article: https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2020/1216/Electric-cars-are-on-the-rise-in-cities.-Can-power-grids-cope