Electricnick, The EV Revolution

We met with Ed Kjaer, Director of the Electric Transportation Advancement who got his start working in the car industry and was then enticed to join Edison’s electric vehicle, EV’s program, a small entrepreneurial start up working on building the charging infrastructure for California and Arizona. 

SCE’s Electric Transportation Program.  SCE has had a continuous Electric Transportation program since 1988, which currently employs 30 people just on plug-in vehicle, PEV integration with the grid.  This is more than any other utility in the country.  SCE’s focus in the near term is to work with auto makers and stakeholders on vehicle to grid, V2G and effective electric charging load control.  SCE is also conducting extensive analysis to evaluate the potential of distribution system in order to make early adopter PEV a reality.  The company is now looking into bidirectional energy communication from vehicles and advanced stationary battery storage.

Ford Fusion Hybrid testing at SCE

A Bright Future.  At this stage of the game, SCE is well ahead of other utilities, already producing 16% alternative electricity, of which 21% is generated by wind, 62% through geothermal, and 6% through solar.  Efficiency plays a major role for Ed’s team.  The idea is not to create more energy but to better manage it.  The team feels public education is crucial as people learn to turn down their AC units in the summer and simply enough, turn off lights when no one is around.  Work on efficiency alone has so far given 8,000 homes worth of extra energy.

SCE state of the art laboratory

Ed Kjaer in the Garage of the Future

The Lab.  For those not convinced with lithium batteries and EVs, Ed’s team has been running a state of the art lab that tests the life cycle of advanced lithium batteries.  The results are impressive, according to one test, they have achieved the equivalent of over 200,000 vehicle miles with little noticeable performance deterioration.

The Garage Of The Future.  Another impressive part of the facility is the Garage of the Future which is used as an evaluation platform.  Tomorrow’s garage will work with Edison SmartConnect™ advanced metering replacing today’s meters with advanced technology to improve customer service and empower clients to manage their energy use.  The Garage of the Future will use solar panels on its roof and other alternative energy sources.  Lithium batteries will be used to store energy for use around the house and vehicles.  Whatever is left can be sold back to the grid.

The Garage of the Future, SCE

What was impressive about Ed’s team and the Electric Transportation Advancement center was their unique vision of the future.  Far from gloomy Hollywood movies that predict dire consequences, this future was about empowerment and working together for a healthier tomorrow to better allocate cleaner energy.  The smart grid is about to become a reality.  The trick now is to get the infrastructure to communicate both ways between homes, vehicles and utilities.  In many ways, utilities are making a transition from energy producers to energy transportation management.  SCE has become a leader in the alternative energy and smart grid fields.

Plug-in Smart!