Will government want your electricity back?

Wow. I’m shocked for two reasons: that the government would commandeer our personal energy without permission, and that I didn’t think of this myself.

The idea is simple: to mandate that all electric vehicles and charging stations be capable of bidirectional charging. This means that not only can you put energy into your car, but that the government can suck it back out of your car back into the grid — presumably whenever they want to for whatever reason they decide. Look up California Senate Bill 233, then wonder if Colorado is next.

What a great idea. The government will be able to use your battery and its energy, which you paid for, for their own purposes. As a nerd engineer, I kind of like the idea since your car could power your house during temporary power outages instead of running a back-up generator. But the analogy is giving the government the right to siphon gasoline out of your regular car whenever they want, with the promise to pay you back — by some amount that they determine, at some time they determine.

These batteries have a finite life, and each discharging cycle shortens that life. Will the government pay for that damage?

Also, how will the government determine when to discharge your battery and by how much, possibly leaving you without any or not enough transportation distance? These are troubling questions.

Be assured that once the government commandeers your personal property rights, they won’t give them back. That’s why the Founding Fathers wrote the Four Amendment. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”

I’m hoping that our kilowatthours fall under the constitutional definition of “effects.”

— Donald Cage, Longmont