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Vehicle-to-grid

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Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology is a bi-directional grid interface for gridable Electric vehicles such as Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). It's a version of Battery-to-grid, but applied to vehicles. There are three different versions of the vehicle to grid concept:

  • A hybrid or fuel-cell vehicle, which generates power from storable fuel, uses its generator to produce power for a utility at peak electricity usage times. Here the vehicles serve as a distributed generation system, producing power from conventional fossil fuels.
  • A battery-powered or hybrid vehicle uses its excess rechargeable battery capacity to provide power to the electric grid during peak load times. These vehicles can then be recharged during off-peak hours at cheaper rates while helping to absorb excess night time generation. Here the vehicles serve as a distributed battery storage system to buffer power.
  • A solar vehicle uses its excess charging capacity to provide power to the electric grid when the battery is fully charged. Here the vehicle effectively becomes a small renewable energy power station. Such systems have been in use since the 1990s and are routinely used in the case of large vehicles, especially solar-powered boats.
  • An aircraft carrier or nuclear submarine, when not in use, could theoretically supply electricity to a power grid.

In either case, the concept allows such vehicles to provide power to help load balance (valley fill and peak shave) localized grid segments during peak load periods, when the selling price of electricity can be very high and to buffer electricity, including in power outages. In future development, it has been proposed that such use of electric vehicles could buffer renewable power sources such as wind power, for example, by storing excess energy produced during windy periods and providing it back to the grid during high load periods, thus effectively stabilizing the unreliable nature of wind power. Hence, vehicle to grid technology is seen by some as a route to the penetration of renewable energy technologies into the baseline electric market.

Peak load leveling

Using V2G, public utilities do not have to build as many planet-warming natural gas-fired power plants to meet peak demand or as an insurance policy against blackouts[1] Since demand can be measured locally by a simple frequency measurement, dynamic load levelling can be provided as needed.[2]

Utilized as a backup power solution

Many electric vehicle conversion owners, whose battery of choice is still lead acid which have limited cycle lives and capacity, would prefer using their battery investment to driving their cars rather than help load balance the grid. Future battery developments[3] could change the economics making it advantageous to use high capacity and cycle life batteries in BEV/PHEV's for grid load balancing and as a large energy cache for renewable grid resources. Even if cycled daily such batteries would only require recycling every 55 years or so. Since BEV's can have up to 50 kWh worth of battery storage they represent somewhat more than the average homes daily energy demand. Even without a PHEVs gas generation capabilities such a vehicle could be utilized for emergency power for several days. As such they may be seen as a complementary technology for intermittent renewable power resources such as wind or solar electric.

Used electric vehicles´ batteries are employed also at electrical substations. If one can put in $5,000 worth of batteries and then avoid putting in a $50,000 transformer and upgrading the lines, then everyone is a winner.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Woody, Todd. "PG&E's Battery Power Plans Could Jump Start Electric Car Market." (Blog). Green Wombat, 2007-06-12. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  2. ^ Frequency adaptive, power-energy re-scheduler (Patent)
  3. ^ "Toshiba's New Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Recharges in Only One Minute." (Press release). Toshiba Corporation, 2005-03-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  • Motavalli, Jim (September 2, 2007). "Power to the People: Run Your House on a Prius". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
  • "Reports, Papers, and Presentations", AC Propulsion Inc.
  • U. Delaware page V2G: Vehicle to Grid Power, University of Delaware research program
  • Sustainable Ballard non-profit organization promoting sustainability in Seattle's community of Ballard
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