The same place the money to build the current system came from, bonds, grants, loans, cash on hand, etc.
It how things work, you build the infrastructure, maintain it, decommission it, and replace it. Entropy guarantees the eventual failure of any man-made ordered device.
I was not clear. The electrical energy that powers the grid, new infrastructure comes from what source?
Coal? Gas? Geo? Solar? Wind? Hydro? Nuclear? Or?
The sun… A total of 173,000 terawatts (trillions of watts) of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That’s more than 10,000 times the world’s total energy use.
Fossil fuels are simply stored energy from the sun, other forms of stored solar energy are wind, hydro and ocean currents. Direct energy from the sun is probably the most technically challenging to harness but is certainly within our current capability.
A 10-mile by 10-mile solar array would provide enough electricity to meet the needs of our country. We just have to get serious about taking on the problem. I’m too old to worry about it, but I have faith that the simple motivation of self-preservation will make it happen within the near (like 50-75 years) future.
I’m glad my kid is a EE in electrical power systems. She picked a good degree and good field.
Never heard an array that small would power the county.
Of course, solar is the future, but we need some kind of source [backup] when that pesky sun does not shine.
Can’t agree on that one. It’s the same miscalculation made about them horseless carriages, and horseless carriages that even fly.
With the development of structural batteries well underway, we’ll probably see EVs lighter than today’s ICE vehicles within 25 years.
Batteries can (and should) store the power generated by solar when it isn’t shining…
I suspect off-grid electric power will become much more common in areas where solar is very efficient.
Those would have to be humungous batts!
Not if we’re talking individual homes. I assume you’d be using some sort of array if it was a utility.
Keep in mind that while the infrastructure and plants are built, we are paying for that AND gasoline. People will not buy all those eletric cars until there is sufficient infrastructure.
As far as highway charging infrastructure goes, it will grow with demand. Those EV charging stations will tank up overnight when the grid is at it’s lowest demand level. They will store the electricity using large banks of second-life EV batteries. But for now, it’s a non issue.
59% of American families own two or more cars. 78% of EV owners also own an ICE vehicle. 80% of current EV charging happens at the EV owner’s home, much, if not most, is scheduled during low-demand off-peak hours.
Today it’s a simple choice, use the EV for around town and use the ICE car for long trips. The average American drives 39 miles a day, about 16% of the range of today’s average EV range. You would probably charge your EV every two or three days at that rate.
To charge your EV, you pull your car into your garage, get out of the car, take four or five steps, grab the charger cable and plug it in. Trust me, it’s easier than stopping at the filling station and pumping gas.
Also… gasoline requires an ICE truck to get it to your filling station. Transportation, storage & marketing amounts to about 4.5% to 8% of the retail cost of the gasoline you put in you car. Electricity?.. not so much. 
How do we invest in this EV revolution? Just buy an exchange traded fund like VDE and sit back? Or buy an XT fund?
EVs are problematical for apartment dwellers as I see it, or city people who have to park on the street like we had to in Chicago IL 60614 even though we owned our own brownstone (great neighborhood though).
I don’t know what the interim personal transportation solution(s) might look like for folks living in densely populated communities. But I think the ultimate solution will be autonomous EVs, probably on an as-needed basis.
Better public transit !
I agree and the EV’s are not going to appear overnight.
The expansion curve for both is likely to be codependent.
The challenge we face today is the fact we have to phase out the major energy source, fossil fuels, while at the same time, cope with diminishing hydro power. All of this has to be considered while sorting out and fine-tuning suitable eco-friendly replacements.
I don’t think that’s gonna be a slam-dunk. We are in for some daunting challenges if we are to continue our comfortable ways of life.