Payback time for the motorist
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Drivers of electric cars may be able to recover some of their running costs by selling surplus battery power back into the national grid when the vehicles are parked.
A report in this week's New Scientist suggests that if a substantial proportion of the United States' 146 million cars were powered by electricity, they could, in theory at least, provide the American national grid with 16 times its capacity. Electric cars could charge during the night, when electricity is plentiful, and then be plugged into the grid when parked in the day, helping the generating companies cover so-called "spikes" in demand.
The cars could be programmed to retain enough power to get their owners back home, and fuel cell or turbine-electric vehicles, which make their own electricity, could generate a healthy income for their owners.
Willet Kempton, of the University of Delaware, says that his study, originally published in Transportation Research, shows that electric vehicles could replace dozens of conventional power stations.
A prototype system, which allows drivers to feed back power into the grid, has already been developed by Wavedriver, a British company based in Hertfordshire.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments