By sending current back to the grid, electric cars could serve as a backup to wind and solar

Charles J. Murray, senior technical editor — Design News, November 9, 2009

In the quest to supply electricity for millions of future electric cars, engineers have stumbled upon the most unlikely of energy prospects – the car itself.

If that sounds like a bit of tangled logic to you, then you’re not alone. The very idea leaves most intelligent people scratching their heads.

Still, the concept is being examined by auto companies, utilities, universities and industry consultants. And many believe the electric car battery could turn out to be one of the most important sources of current for … well, the electric car battery.

“This is very doable,” says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research and one of the industry’s most respected consultants. “We’re still in the early stages because we don’t have high-volume battery production yet. But when that occurs, everything will change.”

Indeed, if it happens, it could be a game-changer. Proponents of the idea foresee it happening a little bit at a time. In the beginning, they say, electric cars will “talk” to the grid and determine the best times for charging. That way, they’ll grab the energy when the utilities have surpluses. Later on, though, monumental changes will kick in. Car batteries will dump energy back onto the grid when utilities need help. People who need energy – possibly even for their electric cars – will draw it through the grid, from cars that don’t need it. Ultimately, experts even foresee a day when retired electric car batteries, connected in long strings inside giant warehouses, will supply energy back to the grid when renewable sources aren’t producing.

To be sure, not everyone believes in the vision. Some automakers and utility engineers describe the concept as “interesting,” but aren’t willing to pencil it into their plans. Those engineers want to know if the concept poses a risk to consumers, or to electrical linemen working nearby. They want to know if repeated, two-way cycling would damage the battery and, if it did, who would be responsible for the damage.

“The business case looks good,” says Mark Duvall, director of electric transportation for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). “But it’s not clear whether we can provide that service from millions of vehicles intended for transportation. This is not a simple problem.”

Talking to the Grid

Simple or not, the idea has trickled into the technological mainstream, and it appears to be gaining momentum. Searching the term “vehicle-to-grid” on Google yields about 20 million hits, an extraordinary number by any measure. Moreover, automakers such as Ford Motor Co. are considering the lowest levels of the concept. And utilities have begun to take on vehicle-to-grid investigations, too.

The concept has built favor over the past few years as several market forces have coalesced. The stampede to electric vehicles and hybrids has highlighted the need for more electrical capacity, while a separate move toward renewable energy has left some utility engineers wondering where the power will come from.

The crux of the problem is simple but unappreciated:  Wind turbines make energy only when the wind blows; solar cells generate current only when the sun shines brightly. Moreover, the electrical current created by those sources must be used immediately. With only a few minor exceptions, utilities don’t have a way of storing that energy for later use.

“It’s a problem,” says Cole of CAR. “You have to figure out what you’re going to do if the wind isn’t blowing and the sun’s not shining.”

That’s where the electric car battery comes in. One simple solution involves charging electric cars and plug-in hybrids at a time of day when demand is low. Utilities want to “incentivize” such consumer behavior by dropping the price-per-kilowatt-hour at night, and then working with automakers to enable vehicles to make such decisions on their own. The vehicles would do that by incorporating an ability to “talk” to the electrical grid, via a wireless or wired connection. Doing so, a vehicle could decide to re-charge at 3 a.m., when rates are lower.

Ford has already demonstrated the concept on a 20-vehicle fleet, using the cars’ navigation screens as an interface to communicate with a smart electrical meter. The automaker accomplished that in wireless and wired fashions, using a ZigBee communications protocol for wireless and a SAE J1772 connector for the hard-wired version.

“The idea is to acquire information from the vehicle and transmit it outside,” says Greg Frenette, manager of Ford’s battery electric vehicle applications. “For example, if you want to communicate the battery’s state of charge, there are a number of ways to transmit that signal to the charging source. But to do that, we need an open-architecture solution that crosses all the industries involved. We have to develop common codes, standards and protocols that ensure the customer in Maine has the same seamless experience as the customer in California.”

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has already formed a committee to create such codes and standards. SAE J2293 is establishing requirements for transfer of electrical energy to EVs, Frenette says.

For automakers, the hardware for such transfers is likely to look like the HomePlug, a well-known product designed for standards-based home powerline networks. A digital signal will be piggybacked onto the powerline of a charging cable, enabling the exchange of information in a “smart energy profile.” That way, the car communicates its needs to the grid, and the grid understands them.

“The car will want answers to some basic questions,” says Duvall of EPRI. “For example, it might want to know, ‘What’s the price of electricity over the next 24 hours?’”

Technology companies are already springing up with new products to meet such needs. GridPoint Inc., for example, has rolled out smart charging software that manages the flow of electricity to plug-in vehicles and charging stations,

enabling the utilities to balance the grid conditions against the needs of drivers.

What’s more, automakers and utilities are envisioning other ways of empowering vehicles. Hybrids with electrical architectures supporting 300V, 400V, 500V and even 600V have sprung up, enabling cars to power a home during an outage or handle the electrical loads temporarily when electricity prices run high.

“Let’s say it’s really hot out and electrical prices are high,” Duvall explains. “You could use a vehicle-to-home arrangement. Instead of pulling power off the grid at 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, you pull it out of your vehicle. Then you recharge it at 3 a.m., when electricity prices drop to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.”

Two-Way Power Flow

Such concepts, however, pale by comparison to the true vehicle-to-grid vision. That vision, often credited to Willett Kempton, an associate professor and senior policy scientist at the University of Delaware, calls for vehicles to dump power back onto the grid at key times.

Kempton, who published peer-reviewed papers on the topic as far back as 1997, says he believes the two-way flow of electrical current offers far more potential than the one-way scenario. “What we are doing has 10 times more economic value,” he says.

Kempton’s vision involves a connection between the electrical grid and a centralized server, which would track all the cars under its jurisdiction.

“In a business, you would have cars that subscribe to the service,” he explains. “And when the cars are plugged in, the server would know where they are. It knows their state of charge and the size of their plug. And when the grid says, ‘I have too much electricity or not enough electricity,’ the server meets its needs.” In essence, Kempton says, the server would initiate flow of current from parked cars back to the grid, where the additional current would relieve the utility’s temporary load imbalance.

Kempton’s idea of vehicle-to-grid might use a wireless Internet connection or an SAE-approved hardware link, such as the J1772 plug. Either way, he says, the key would be the server’s ability to instantaneously allocate electrical current from thousands, or even millions, of vehicles back to the grid in a momentary time of need.

Although automakers and utilities won’t openly commit to the concept, they agree with Kempton on one critical point: The technology’s success depends largely on its ability to motivate automotive owners to unload their battery charge back onto the grid. Such motivation, they believe, would have to come in the form of cash.

“If you’re going to put equipment on a car that allows bi-directional power transfer, then you need to offer the consumer an almost-daily return,” Duvall says. “Vehicle owners will be interested in something that pays them a non-trivial amount of money. If we can convince the owners that they’d net $500 a year, then they’d be very interested.”

Designed correctly, Kempton says he believes the concept would have a “negative cost” – in other words, a gross monetary gain for the consumer of between $1,000 and $5,000 a year.

Automakers and utilities are still unsure whether the idea is workable, however. They point to a multitude of potential problems:  Can the vehicle transmit energy back onto the grid in a safe manner? Is there risk to the consumer? If a $20,000 lithium-ion battery is damaged, who’s responsible? The utility? The automaker? Most important: Will electric vehicle batteries stand up to the repeated cycling?

Kempton argues that new batteries, capable of multiple thousands of cycles, are already on the horizon. Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., for example, has produced a lithium-titanate battery that connects directly to the electrical grid and stands up to 5,000 cycles.

Still, the auto industry is withholding judgment for now. “There’s been an awful lot of hype around this topic for the past several years,” says Frenette of Ford. “But we really need detailed, data-driven information that government and industry can build a consensus around.”

Battery Backup

Even if vehicle-to-grid fails to capture industry support, many experts say they believe EV batteries will still provide storage for the electrical grid. In a separate scenario, engineers say utilities could link long strings of used lithium-ion batteries in vast battery farms that would provide balance for the grid at a moment’s notice.

“After the battery is done with its life in the car, it still has a lot of years remaining,” says Cole. “It may not have quite the capability you’d like in a car, but it can do fine in a battery farm.”

Utilities are already employing such battery farms. Golden Valley Electric Authority in Fairbanks, AK uses a nickel-cadmium Battery Energy Storage System capable of producing 27 MW of electricity for 15 minutes. Similarly, a lead-acid battery farm in Sabano Llana, Puerto Rico provides 20 MW for 15 minutes.

Ultimately, the use of such storage could depend on the spread of renewable energy. As wind and solar gain momentum, utilities are likely to reach for alternative means, and the most thoroughly understood solutions are likely to appear first. That’s why most industry engineers believe simple grid communication and one-way current flow are likely. In a few years, they say, vehicles with grid-ready interfaces could start to reach production.

Whether two-way, vehicle-to-grid energy transfer will be adopted in the next few years is another matter. “There are still a lot of open questions,” Frenette says. “People will consider it more seriously when we understand the implications from a vehicle standpoint and from a consumer standpoint.”

Still, automotive experts say they’re optimistic over the long term. “The technology is here; no invention is necessary,” Cole says. “Don’t bet against it.”

SYNOPSIS: The companies range from small niche firms to giants such as Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls.

WASHINGTON – The Energy Department is getting ready to hand out about $2 billion in grants to create a domestic industry for electric-car batteries, and 122 companies are scrambling to get pieces.

The companies range from small niche firms to giants such as Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls. All are promising a combination of innovation and ability to deliver new products on a commercial scale to prevent the United States from trading dependence on foreign oil or reliance on foreign-made batteries.

“We’ve had 20 years of bad behavior in the United States in terms of developing ideas into products,” said Mary Ann Wright, chief executive of Johnson Controls’s joint venture developing hybrid battery systems.

Now policy-makers hope that helping domestic battery manufacturers will produce economic savings that often come with large-scale production and which are needed to make electric cars affordable. With funds provided by the stimulus bill in February, the Energy Department can cover up to half the cost of a battery-related project.

“This investment will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it will put Americans back to work,” President Obama said in March. “It positions American manufacturers on the cutting edge of innovation and solving our energy challenges.”

The federally funded battery effort has its skeptics. Grants are expected to focus on lightweight lithium-ion batteries similar to those found in laptops. They are the newest thing in a business that had not changed much since lead-acid batteries were invented a century and a half ago.

But U.S. hopefuls face stiff competition from foreign firms such as Japan’s Panasonic and Sony, and South Korea’s LG Chem, which already dominate the lithium-ion battery market in power tools, laptops and cellphones. Some domestic firms have recruited foreign companies as partners in new U.S.-based manufacturing facilities.

Moreover, some economists warn of the perils of government subsidies. “To the extent that this is part of a broader industrial policy scheme, I’m against it for all the reasons I’ve always been against it,” said Charles Schultze, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. “If you’re not heavy-handed about screening (applications), you’re going to get a lot of the equivalent of political pork.”

Some industry experts also note that lithium-ion batteries may not be ready for tough road conditions, that they generate a lot of heat and that there is no infrastructure for recycling them. For the moment, it is easier to recycle lead-acid batteries, like those in regular cars, or nickel-metal hydride batteries, like those in hybrid vehicles.

Nonetheless, Obama has set a goal of having 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015 and the Energy Department is trying to make sure a large share of them are powered by U.S.-made batteries. In addition to the $2 billion in grants it is expected to announce soon, the Energy Department can also lend from a separate $25 billion program. It has already announced a $1.6 billion loan to help Nissan develop an electric car, including the construction of a new battery plant, and a $465 million loan for Tesla Motors.

Johnson Controls, the world’s largest maker of lead-acid batteries, is applying with Ford Motor to make lithium-ion batteries at a Michigan plant that once made automobile interiors. The Wisconsin-based company says the project would be up and running within 15 months, creating 4,700 jobs for Michigan.

“Some people won’t lose their jobs and some people who’ve lost theirs will get new ones,” said Alex Molinaroli, president of power solutions at Johnson Controls.

The company touts its experience. “It’s a natural extension of what we do,” Molinaroli said of the battery business. Last year, Johnson Controls made 112 million conventional car

Report from the Ninth International Advanced Automotive Battery and EC Capacitor Conference

Premium Feature Article Originally Published: June 16, 2009

The 9th International Advanced Automotive Battery and EC Capacitor Conference was held in Long Beach, California, June 8-12, in the Long Beach Convention Center. For those seeking the latest information on energy storage for hybrids and electric vehicles, this was the conference of the year. The content of the conference was comprehensive, in depth and somewhat daunting. The presentations started at 08:00 AM and went to 5:00 PM everyday with several days devoted to a dual track of batteries and capacitors. Attendance was close to 900 and all the sessions I attended were packed.

This is a very critical time in the future of Electric Vehicles. There appears to be widespread support for a transition from the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to hybrids and pure electric vehicles. We thought this was going to happen twenty years ago when California passed a mandate requiring electric vehicles be developed and sold. This mandate was rescinded and the California electric vehicle market collapsed. The Big Seven (then) automakers said the market should drive the demand for alternative transportation, not mandates. Today it appears the market conditions can support a significant launch of hybrids and electrics.

Engineers and scientists around the world have invested their time and talent in developing the components and systems for hybrids and electric vehicles. Progress has been dynamic in terms of design of lightweight chassis, powerful and efficient drive trains, aerodynamic shapes, and sophisticated computer controllers. However, the same statement can not be made for battery technology. We have progressed from the era of Lead Acid into a dominant Nickel-Metal-Hydride chemistry into the promise of Lithium based batteries. This conference focused on the status of developments in lithium based batteries and capacitors for automotive use.

Trying to condense more than 50 hours of presentations into a single article is difficult; however, there were three main themes I came away with:

• There is enough lithium in the world to support a major launch of lithium battery hybrids and electric vehicles.
• There is no single lithium based battery chemistry.
• Timing of the electric vehicle launch with lithium batteries is problematic.

In the recent past there have been questions raised about the availability of lithium to support a significant market for electric batteries. Several past surveys claimed that the quantity of lithium required would outstrip the supply and the commodity price would rise to a point beyond affordability. Recent analysis presented at the conference gave a different picture. With the world known reserves quantified, lithium reserves appear to be in sufficient quantity to support a modestly aggressive hybrid and electric vehicle launch. A key to large scale use of hybrids and electric vehicles is the development of a robust recycling industry for lithium on the order of the current lead acid recycling industry.

One of the major OEM’s at the conference shared their experience in selecting a lithium based battery for use in a hybrid due out in 2010. They reported they had identified 160 different lithium based battery chemistries offered by 130 different companies. Using a comprehensive selection process they reduced the number down to a manageable test size and conducted demanding in house testing to settle on a single formulation. It is the right one? That was part of the debate at the conference. It is clear that the demands of a hybrid are significantly different enough from a pure electric vehicle (e.g. power vs. depth of discharge) that it likely will result in different formulations. Coming from the lead acid days of the early 1990’s, I was very impressed with the projected performance of lithium in the future.

As with any conference of this type some of the most valuable information comes from the informal meetings away from the presentations. Over the five days I was able to meet a significant number of people from various elements of the industry. These included material suppliers through battery system engineers. One common concern dealt with the issue of market timing. This is an issue that affects most new technology launches. The question is: Do I believe the hybrid and electric vehicle market will develop fast enough to justify the capital investment required to build the factories required to produce the batteries? If I build a plant and the market is slow to develop, then I have to amortize the cost over a smaller production run causing the unit price to be high. On the other hand if I don’t have the capacity to meet a higher than planned demand, the market could be seriously damaged by the lack of product. What is the right answer? The investment community would certainly like to know.

This conference went a long way to address these issues. The consensus appears to be that now is the time to pick a battery chemistry and launch the vehicles. The history of technology development has shown us that “Better is the enemy of good enough”, now is the time to recognize we can phase in the improvements in later models. We can field a large number of hybrids and electric vehicles that will meet the majority of customer demands now.

Finally a word for the sponsor: This conference was run by Advanced Automotive Batteries, Inc. The organization and execution they provided was superb. The venue was outstanding with all the amenities expected for a major conference. When I viewed the original agenda I doubted their ability to get that much content out in the time allotted. The management and staff that ran the conference accomplished it in a very professional manner. If you want to stay up to date on what is happening in the automotive energy storage world – this is the conference for you!

Sam Smith is the managing partner for EV World & Associates, LLC, a professional consulting group dedicated to paving the way to the ‘Future in Motion.’

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