“Some have suggested that if all the cars were electric, we could have used those collective batteries to supply power back to the grid.
Of course I am not sure I know of anyone who would having willingly drained their car battery just to keep the lights on in a distant town.”
As it was pointed out in the article Texas has its own grid unhooked from any outside grid. If it was tied to the rest of the country’s grids, the problem would have been much milder. Maybe they’ll rethink that.
As for using the charge left in car’s batteries, I’m not sure many would have done it without a gun to their heads. Given human nature, the opposite would have happened.
Yes, Texans like their independence. I don’t think there will be much support for us tying into the other interconnection grids.
We certainly don’t want to supply power to support CA blackouts when CA activity pushes generation out of state. The eastern grid has its own problems as well.
The reality is that truly market-based energy could not be offered in Texas without ERCOT being a stand-alone entity.
The power from the car would feed the home. Any backup system has too isolate from the grid when it powers up. It is still an expensive proposition. A quick napkin calculation suggests a 15KWH Tesla Powerall installation comes in around ~$10K for all costs and subsidies. Tesla would have to redesign their cars to act like another Powerwall battery.