California's biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., is considering a plan to charge fleets of battery-powered cars overnight with wind energy and let consumers sell back some of the stored electricity during the day.
In addition to reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from standard cars, the plan could help stoke production of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and give power managers more energy capacity on the grid for hot summer afternoons, speakers said at a "clean technology" investment conference in San Francisco this week.
The utility, a subsidiary of PG&E Corp., "could recharge car batteries through electric outlets during the off-peak overnight hours and recharge the grid from the batteries during critical peak demand periods," said Hal LaFlash, director of energy policy and planning at PG&E.
In California, wind power is the biggest renewable source, with more than 2,500 megawatts. Some 4,600 megawatts of wind are projected to be added to meet the state's goal for renewable supplies, LaFlash said.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy also is studying smart-grid technologies and recharging hybrid electric vehicles and feeding excess power back to the grid.
A six-month study in Colorado found that electric cars may reduce the overall cost of owning a car, and with new grid technology, cut harmful vehicle emissions by up to 50 percent.
5-6 years away?
More studies will include plug-in electric vehicle field tests, and examine management of battery charging along with the availability of renewable energy, Xcel said.
A power grid-to-car-batteries hookup, however, is probably at least five to six years away, Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, said at the cleantech conference.
CalCars is a nonprofit group which has built about 20 plug-ins since 2004 by outfitting the Toyota Prius with new lithium-ion batteries.
Improving battery technologies to boost energy density at lower weight and cost is a hurdle, but progress on lithium ion battery packs could help develop a bigger market for plug-in cars, Kramer said.
Drivers also may have to downsize their vehicle choices. Some electric cars are likely to be small and aimed at urban dwellers who do most of their motoring in or near cities, speakers at the conference said.
Jan-Olaf Willums, chairman of Norway's TH!NK Electric Car Co., is betting he will find a market in Europe and the United States for his two-seater "city" car. The company previously had ties to Ford Motor Co.
The company raised $25 million in February and aims to double the funding amount by May, he said. It expects to begin production in Norway in September, with marketing focused first in Europe and then the United States.
Smarter meters would be key
PG&E's LaFlash said new "smart grid" technologies such as high-tech meters that measure electricity use via remote control and give customers timing and pricing options could help drivers charge their batteries at home or parking lots and also get a bill credit for putting excess electricity back on the grid.
Utilities and grid managers would limit the amount of energy uploaded from batteries, he said. Metering and billing systems would be equipped to match a car to an account.
More than 20 states have adopted measures ordering electric utilities to add more renewable cleaner energies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass to their energy supplies.
In addition to cars, connections could be made from homes and office buildings to a smart grid, storing energy at off-peak and delivering more capacity to the grid at peak periods, LaFlash said.
