Nissan Leaf, Picture by Nick Zart
13 groups are banding to pressure the U.S. government to adopt measures for the quick adoption of electric vehicles, EV. (more…)
November 16, 2009
June 21, 2009
The electric car infrastructure
While the rush continues for profitable, yet economic electric vehicles, EV the race toward the infrastructure continues.
June 6, 2009
The Electric Car Is On Its Way
Whether we talk about hybrids, HEV, plug-in hybrids, PHEV, fuel cell vehicles, FCV or pure electric vehicles, EV, one way or another, all car makers are looking into one option or another. Some are tackling more than one option at a time. It’s the wildest gambling bet the auto industry has seen since its inception.
October 27, 2008
Dealing With The Grid
Cheering for electric vehicles, EV and hybrids, HEV is one thing. Having the infrastructure to handle their electric demands during peak time, is another. Much work needs to be done so that the infrastructure can handle the load during peak time.
The gist, at the third TechKnow forum in Ann Arbor’s Power Center last Thursday, senior engineers and automotive strategists carried on discussions on how to tackle “recharging Michigan”, according to WWJ.
John DiCecco from Environmental Defense Fund, EDF pointed out the thorny issue of cost related to plug-in hybrids, PHEV plugging into the grid. Most speakers noted the main developments needed were, mostly on lowering cost but also, batteries that are still too large and heavy, long recharge times, and vehicle performance related to a battery’s state of charge. All the usual culprit, all of which need to have a concerted effort in order to improve all aspect of EV and PHEV technology.
On an interesting note, most speakers agreed that the overall cost savings of driving a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle outweigh the initial cost for consumers, which is something that has been debated and use against by naysayers. According to John J. Lauckner, vice president of global program management at GM, PHEV drivers could see cost savings of $1,200 to $1,700 per year because the cost per mile to drive a standard car is about 12 cents where driving a PHEV is about 2 cents per mile,”. And if you live in states where the price of gas is higher than in Michigan, those numbers jump up even more.
As far as the grid and local utilities are concerned, the drain from EVs and PHEVs during off-peak hours would handle the increase in power usage without any upgrades. However, much work needs to be done during peak hours we would need a substantial investment to be able to withstand the surge.
It seems an awareness campaign and smart recharge strategies are needed if we are to make EVs and PHEVs a more viable reality sooner.
September 25, 2008
Green Merger
Remember a while back when we spoke of V2G and smart grids?
The gist, GridPoint announced it is flush with an extra $120 million in equity funding and acquired V2Green, a start-up with software to charge electric cars, according to CNET News. It came from existing investors Goldman Sachs, New Enterprise Associates, Robeco, Susquehanna International Group, and Quercus Trust. This means the infrastructure for electric vehicles, EV has taken a big step forward. In order to have a feasible system that can support the electric flow to and from our EVs and plug-in hybrids, PHEVs, the cars should be able to charge smartly, via an on-board program that can charge at the right time, as much as possible charge for how much you will need and also acts as sub-station when the grid needs extra electricity. The question then becomes, how to manage that.
V2G, is a term used for smart grids, grids that can accept electricity from other sources and use sub-station either in the form or static electric storing stations or mobile, as in the case of cars.
Practically, what will happen? By purchasing V2Green’s technology, GridPoint will offer extra capacity for utilities to manage EVs electricity demand and pull on the grid. With software for utilities that integrates distributed generation units (think collaborative resources), solar panels, home devices, etc, could plug into the power grid which is also available for home consumers to track their energy usage.
What will it look like? By bringing in more alternative energy sources, right down to the consumer’s, V2Green’s software helps utilities manage their resources so that charging can take place at night at off-peak times. It could also let utilities draw power from EVs’ batteries, which would ease the load on the grid.
This is very big news with far reaching applications. It’s a stepping stone int how will our aging grid infrastructure meet the demand of EVs and PHEVs. By intelligently managing the charge and load, utilities can handle and shuffle resource to function at a somewhat peak point.