Safety features are built into BEVs and charging equipment. The charging cable is live only when it is connected to a vehicle. The charger senses that the connection is properly made before the electric current is turned on. Also, the charger has a ground-fault interrupter (GFI). To prevent shocks, charging stops immediately if even a few milliamps of current leak.
If a lot of people plug in to charge their electric vehicles, will this drain the electric grid?
Charging BEVs will not drain the grid. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that the grid has enough excess capacity to support about 150 million electric vehicles without having to add new power plants. With under 2 million electric vehicles on the road today in the U.S. (this includes both BEVs and plug-in hybrids), there is much opportunity for growth. Furthermore, electric vehicles are a flexible load, meaning they can be managed to charge during times of low demand for electricity, putting limited strain on the grid.