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California98Civic · 04-26-2013, 03:21 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/bu...ml?ref=science

"In Two-Way Charging, Electric Cars Begin to Earn Money From the Grid
Tim Shaffer for The New York Times"

By MATTHEW L. WALD
NYT April 25, 2013

WASHINGTON — Finally, payback for the plug-in.

A line of Mini Coopers, each attached to the regional power grid by a thick cable plugged in where a gasoline filler pipe used to be, no longer just draws energy. The power now flows two ways between the cars and the electric grid, as the cars inject and suck power in tiny jolts, and get paid for it.

This nascent form of electric car commerce will be announced on Friday by the University of Delaware, the regional grid operator and an electric company. They have developed a system to collect payments for work (balancing supply and demand moment to moment) that is normally the domain of power plants.

The possibilities of using electric cars for other purposes are being realized around the globe. Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet’s plug-in hybrid Volt, are generally not sold in the United States with two-way chargers that could feed back into the grid. But Nissan is offering a similar device in Japan that allows consumers to power their houses when the electric grid is down.

In the Delaware project, each car is equipped with some additional circuitry and a battery charger that operates in two directions. When the cars work with the grid, they earn about $5 a day, which comes to about $1,800 a year, according to Willett M. Kempton, a professor of electrical engineering and computing. He hopes that provides an incentive to make electric cars more attractive to consumers, and estimates that the added gadgetry would add about $400 to the cost of a car.

Granted, the scale of this project, using 15 two-passenger Mini E models, donated by BMW, is indeed minuscule compared with the task of keeping the grid system that serves two-thirds of North America in balance, making sure that supply matches demand as precisely as possible.

The frequency of electric current in the United States is supposed to be stable at 60 cycles a second, but if the supply from a wind farm or solar plant changes suddenly, or demand shifts, frequency gets out of whack.

The market that Professor Kempton is tapping into, known as frequency regulation, has become increasingly important as the mix of generators on the grid has changed.

If electric cars become more popular, proponents say that a network of thousands of plug-in cars could help stabilize the grid.

Michehl R. Gent, a former president of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the entity designated by the federal government to write and enforce grid reliability rules, called the Delaware idea “tiny but promising.”

“If we can get our electric vehicles to do more than just be electric vehicles, it will be very well received,” said Mr. Gent, who is not associated with the project.

Professor Kempton has had this “vehicle to grid” system in the works for 10 years. He plans to double the size of his fleet by the end of the year. Half the cars are permanently parked and the other half will provide service for all the hours they are plugged in, which could be as much as 20 hours a day.

The cars listen for a signal from the headquarters of the regional grid operator, the PJM Interconnection, in Norristown, Pa., that comes every four seconds. The signal could tell the batteries to charge, or to discharge, or to do neither. Alternatively, if the cars need charging, they can provide the same service by varying the amount of current they draw. For the grid, the effect is to add or subtract load in a coordinated way that aids stability.

Two-way chargers are not generally available to drivers of electric plug-ins right now. Professor Kempton said he is working with five companies that build electric cars and are interested in a two-way system that could collect revenue from the grid: BMW and four other firms he said he could not name because of confidentiality agreements.

One of those four, he said, was working on a two-way charger that was three times more powerful than the current one, vastly increasing revenue possibilities.

A Nissan spokesman, Brian Brockman, said the company is exploring such possibilities, and recognizes the benefits of moving toward helping power the grids.

04-26-2013, 03:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
California98Civic Cyborg ECU Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Coastal Southern California Posts: 6,299 Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe Team Honda 90 day: 66.42 mpg (US) Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike 90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US) Thanks: 2,373 Thanked 2,174 Times in 1,470 Posts	Two-way charging electric cars http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/bu...ml?ref=science "In Two-Way Charging, Electric Cars Begin to Earn Money From the Grid Tim Shaffer for The New York Times" By MATTHEW L. WALD NYT April 25, 2013 WASHINGTON — Finally, payback for the plug-in. A line of Mini Coopers, each attached to the regional power grid by a thick cable plugged in where a gasoline filler pipe used to be, no longer just draws energy. The power now flows two ways between the cars and the electric grid, as the cars inject and suck power in tiny jolts, and get paid for it. This nascent form of electric car commerce will be announced on Friday by the University of Delaware, the regional grid operator and an electric company. They have developed a system to collect payments for work (balancing supply and demand moment to moment) that is normally the domain of power plants. The possibilities of using electric cars for other purposes are being realized around the globe. Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet’s plug-in hybrid Volt, are generally not sold in the United States with two-way chargers that could feed back into the grid. But Nissan is offering a similar device in Japan that allows consumers to power their houses when the electric grid is down. In the Delaware project, each car is equipped with some additional circuitry and a battery charger that operates in two directions. When the cars work with the grid, they earn about $5 a day, which comes to about $1,800 a year, according to Willett M. Kempton, a professor of electrical engineering and computing. He hopes that provides an incentive to make electric cars more attractive to consumers, and estimates that the added gadgetry would add about $400 to the cost of a car. Granted, the scale of this project, using 15 two-passenger Mini E models, donated by BMW, is indeed minuscule compared with the task of keeping the grid system that serves two-thirds of North America in balance, making sure that supply matches demand as precisely as possible. The frequency of electric current in the United States is supposed to be stable at 60 cycles a second, but if the supply from a wind farm or solar plant changes suddenly, or demand shifts, frequency gets out of whack. The market that Professor Kempton is tapping into, known as frequency regulation, has become increasingly important as the mix of generators on the grid has changed. If electric cars become more popular, proponents say that a network of thousands of plug-in cars could help stabilize the grid. Michehl R. Gent, a former president of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the entity designated by the federal government to write and enforce grid reliability rules, called the Delaware idea “tiny but promising.” “If we can get our electric vehicles to do more than just be electric vehicles, it will be very well received,” said Mr. Gent, who is not associated with the project. Professor Kempton has had this “vehicle to grid” system in the works for 10 years. He plans to double the size of his fleet by the end of the year. Half the cars are permanently parked and the other half will provide service for all the hours they are plugged in, which could be as much as 20 hours a day. The cars listen for a signal from the headquarters of the regional grid operator, the PJM Interconnection, in Norristown, Pa., that comes every four seconds. The signal could tell the batteries to charge, or to discharge, or to do neither. Alternatively, if the cars need charging, they can provide the same service by varying the amount of current they draw. For the grid, the effect is to add or subtract load in a coordinated way that aids stability. Two-way chargers are not generally available to drivers of electric plug-ins right now. Professor Kempton said he is working with five companies that build electric cars and are interested in a two-way system that could collect revenue from the grid: BMW and four other firms he said he could not name because of confidentiality agreements. One of those four, he said, was working on a two-way charger that was three times more powerful than the current one, vastly increasing revenue possibilities. A Nissan spokesman, Brian Brockman, said the company is exploring such possibilities, and recognizes the benefits of moving toward helping power the grids. __________________ See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.