Warning: electric cars could overload our power network

If you are an electric car driver, chances are you suffer from a touch of “range anxiety”. A fear that your electric car will run out of spark at an inconvenient moment. The cure for range anxiety is to make sure you keep your battery topped up – normally by plugging it in when you get home every evening.

But now power companies are being hit by vicarious range anxiety. The fear that increasing numbers of electric vehicles being recharged at home will compete with households cooking dinner, turning on the heater, and powering up their devices. This will create additional load on existing electricity networks during already high usage times. And heaven forbid, say two new reports on the issue, it might force change to the way power is priced.