“What are the electric utilities doing to support this?”
Great question. While I don’t really know, I’ve been told by others that at least around my area, the local grid can literally not handle more than 3-4 of these vehicles recharging at the same time. And I’ve been told that many homes are not wired to provide the electrical current required to recharge, without hiring an electrician and installing upgraded wiring.
On average, there is one secondary pole-mounted transformer per city block which serves roughly 10 homes. The transformers come in different sizes ranging from 10 kVA to 100 kVA with the most common being 50kVA. A typical 50–70 kVA transformer, which can deliver around 200 - 300 Amperes is sufficient for ten homes with 200 A panels.A Level One home charger (120 VAC) requires 15-20 amps and will replenish 3-4 miles of driving distance per hour of charge.
A Level Two home charger (240 VAC) requires 80 amps. This translates to 9-52 miles of driving distance per hour of charge.
A Level Three charger (commercial buildings and charging stations, 480 VAC) Level 3 charger draws 300 amps and provides 170 miles of driving distance per hour of charge.
So, it doesn't take many of those homes to charge EVs on a single secondary transformer to significantly increase the load on the transformer. Three or four EVs will start to cause problems.
Undersized distribution transformers that are overloaded will have shortened lives. Guess what happens when all the commuters in your neighborhood arrive home from work and plug in their EVs? Voltage sag. A new Secondary Distribution System design is required that considers the presence of EV chargers by sizing its components in the way that considers the normal behavior of the EV drivers (normal charging patterns) and avoiding the control of the EV charging.