NASHVILLE, Tenn. - With more electric cars about to be purchased, there are concerns that power companies won't be able to keep up with demand which could lead to power outages, and electric bills going up.
As more people buy electric cars, the simplicity is touted.
"It's not that complicated, it's pretty simple, if you have plugged in a device at your house, like a cell phone charger, people are going to be able to handle this," electric car owner Josh Womack said.
Charging an electric car takes as much energy as powering a small house. Several electric cars in a neighborhood could easily overload a transformer, creating a power outage.
"A lot of it has just been research and us just doing our homework here to make sure we can meet the demand," said Tim Hill, with power company NES.
For two years, NES, TVA, Nissan, and other agencies have been meeting to prepare for the power surge electric cars will bring.
Public charging stations will offset some of the demand. Charging stations at home for electric cars will be registered with NES, so they'll know how many are in each neighborhood.
"If we have a situation if there's two homes on a transformer, then we would look to make an upgrade to make sure they can handle the capacity," Hill said.
To re-charge their electric cars, it will cost drivers about three cents a mile. The power companies are probably happy not everyone will start driving them at once.
"This is a startup, so not everybody is going to be doing this immediately, so we're confident we can provide the power that's needed without jeopardizing the reliability of the system," Hill said.
NES also doesn't believe rates will increase with more electric cars on the road.
20,000 people reserved a Nissan Leaf, exceeding expectations. Nissan will begin accepting new reservations next year, after current orders are processed. Along with the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt is also hitting the market too.
Drivers can expect to see more public charging stations pop up as well. They are a big initiative in Franklin, Rutherford County, and Cracker Barrel is installing them in 24 locations throughout Tennessee.
