Utilities will need to transmit more power as more people replace their internal combustion engine powered cars with electric cars.

Nationwide, utilities are adopting smart grid technologies—sensors and other feedback mechanisms that allow for real time models of demand.

“If every customer starts buying electric vehicles, obviously that would cause a big impact on utilities,” says Mohammed Beshir, a professor of electrical engineering at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.

Read the article at Wired.