Plug-in Hybrids Selling Power Back to the Grid
Posted in Environment by George
From the New York Times (via my dad):
Google and Pacific Gas & Electrichave unveiled their vision of a future in which cars and trucks are partly powered by the country’s electric grids, and vice versa.
The companies displayed on Monday six Toyota Prius and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles modified to run partly on electricity from the power grid, allowing the vehicles to go up to 75 miles on a gallon of gas, nearly double the number of miles of a regular hybrid. They also modified one vehicle to give electricity back to the power company.
The highly unusual test takes the hybrid, which is now familiar on American roads, a step further by using extra batteries to hold energy made and distributed by a power company. The technology is eagerly awaited by energy experts and environmentalists, but is not yet ready to go commercial because the additional batteries are not yet durable enough.
I read about something like this during my sustainable transportation research. The idea is that the car could charge during night when electricity is cheap and sell back any excess electricity during peak hours (leaving enough to drive to work and back and wherever else is needed).
This would be beneficial in two ways. First, it would save the driver money. Secondly, because it is hard to store power, power plants are consistently left running on standby all the time, making power that is basically going to waste. This power can be captured in plug-in hybirds, thus making use of lots of wasteful power.
Of course, for this to go mainstream, battery improvements need to be made…
June 20th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Question for an economics guy: If this technology were to go mainstream and many Americans started using these new hybrids and charging its batteries at night and selling back extra electricity, would the electric companies shift how much electricity cost at night? Do the companies lose anything when a customer sells energy back to the company, or is it just as profitable for them as producing energy and selling it? If the technology becomes widespread enough, do you think the peak hours for electricity use would change a little bit, or would the impact be too small in comparison with electricity use during the day peak hours?
June 20th, 2007 at 6:21 am
I also wanted to say that it seems like technology for cars is developing just fine, but producing clean electricity has not had so many rapid advances. Maybe it’s more difficult to replace huge electricity plants, whereas it’s easier to change a car design. Regardless, if emissions are going to be cut by significant portions I think we need to put cleaner ways of producing electricity into practice.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Steve,
1) I definitely agree that cleaner electricity production is a must, be it through nuclear, wind, solar, or other types of power generation.
2) I do believe, if electric/plug-in vehicles became widespread enough, that peak-hour electricity times would change, or at least day power would be utilized as heavily as night power. Granted, it will take a long time before these vehicles are so widespread that they will cause this change, and because the vehicles will be charged overnight (8-12 hours), they can be charged slowly so they won’t demand a ton of power from the grid at once.
There are two positive factors to consider. One, the energy at night that will be used was previously going to waste, so in a societal sense we’re getting “free energy.” (even though consumers have to pay for it). Secondly, because a shift to electric / plug-in vehicles will happen over time, so new power plants can be built gradually to adjust for any increase in demand the current power plants can’t handle.