General Motors and Pacific Gas and Electric are running a deal to give new EV buyers a free charger, get paid to charge, and save the grid all at the same time. What’s not to love?

Much has been said about the strain on the grid that could be produced by EVs. If we suddenly put all the energy use that cars represent onto a grid that’s already overloaded, won’t that be an issue?

In a naive view perhaps… but in fact, electric cars can help to save the grid by smoothing out peaks and valleys in demand, making it more consistent throughout the day.

Currently, electric grids fluctuate throughout the day, usually somewhat predictably. People use more electricity when it’s hot or cold out (to run HVAC), and more electricity in the evening hours when doing chores like cooking and laundry. And typically people use the least electricity at night, when they’re asleep.

But it’s harder to run power plants for just a couple hours every day, which means electricity is expensive in those hours of peaks in demand, and cheaper in the troughs in demand.

The beauty of electric cars, though, is that they have large batteries and therefore can be charged at whenever is the most opportune time throughout the day. This is usually nighttime, but not always (for example, in Australia, they have so much solar they’re literally giving it away during the day).

This is why utilities often offer “time of use” rates, giving cheaper electricity at off-peak times.

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