Elon Musk – CEO of Tesla, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electric vehicles – has recently made headlines after declaring doom and gloom for the US electric industry. According to Musk, US electrical consumption is slated to over triple by 2045, with the electrical grid starting to feel the effect of a shortage within the next two years due to adoption of electric vehicles and advancements in AI technology.
After appearing at a conference held by PG&E, one of the US’s largest utility providers, experts in the area were receptive to, yet skeptical of Musk’s predictions. PG&E themselves predict a much smaller 70% increase over the next 20 years, while McKinsey predicts a doubling in demand by 2050.
Traditionally, the US energy industry has grown at a rate of approximately 1% per year, in line with various government regulations and keeping up with public demands. However, in recent years, the United States has experienced multiple blackouts due to a combination of mass heat waves and the massive increase in strain from electric vehicles, heat pumps, data centers, AI development, new consumer electronics and more.
While expert predictions may not spell an electrical armageddon like Musk would imply, they don’t take into account Musk’s own vision for the future. During a conference with Edison International, Musk stated that energy consumption was going to increase by far more than others were predicting, stating that “It’s jus, everything is going to be electric.” Indeed, by Musk’s predictions over half of all new vehicles sold worldwide will be electric by no later than 2030. And there’s precident to back up his claims, too. Over a decade ago, experts were skeptical of Musk’s claims that EVs were the future of cars. In 2019, Evs made up about 5.2% of all newly registered cars in California alone. Just 4 years later, that number has jumped to 21% – and that’s only in the first half of the year.
While some may disagree on what is both a practical and realistic expansion of our electric grid, one thing is for certain. One of the biggest reasons that expansion has been so historically low is due to government regulations that kept the costs of electricity down for consumers nationwide. With the increasing need for a rapidly expanding electrical grid, electric costs are certain to rise. In order to protect against rising energy costs, consumers may wish to lock in there energy rates now with a home solar installation.