Plug-in electric vehicles will become available commercially next year and there may be as many as 2.7 million of them plugged into the global grid by 2015, according to two studies by Framingham-based IDC Energy Insights.
Of the 2.7 million forecasted by IDC to be on the road by 2015, 885,000 of them may be in North America and the remainder would be in use in Europe.
IDC said the relatively sudden use of the vehicles could “cause havoc on the distribution grid if they start appearing without any preparation by grid managers.”
Utilities will likely need to make upgrades to distribution equipment and use a separate metering system for electric cars, IDC said.
