Grid Impact and Capacity Planning

An average US household consumes about 30 kWh per day. A single EV driven 40 miles daily adds approximately 12 kWh of daily demand—a 40 percent increase in household electricity consumption. If all vehicles on a residential distribution transformer (typically serving 5-10 homes) were EVs charging simultaneously at Level 2, the transformer could be overloaded by 200-300 percent. However, this worst-case scenario rarely materializes because charging is distributed across hours. The real grid challenge is coincident demand—what percentage of EVs begin charging at the same hour, typically 6-8 PM when drivers arrive home and residential demand is already peaking.