Whenever utilities talk about charging electric cars, they invariably invoke the smart grid as an essential ally in their case. Indeed, for a number of reasons it’s hard to imagine EVs having a smooth landing on the roads of America with the clueless and dumb power grid we have today. That’s why a visit to EPB, the municipal utility for Chattanooga, Tenn., — which gets its power from the Tennessee Valley Authority — was both disturbing and enlightening. EPB will have synergy between EVs and its smart grid, but most other places probably won’t.

via EVs and the Smart Grid Go Together in Chattanooga, but Few Other Places | BNET Auto Blog | BNET.

The next chapter in the electric car revolution is quickly unfolding. Hot on the heels of opening reservations for the Leaf, the first all-electric vehicle, Nissan has announced a partnership with General Electric (GE). The two companies have agreed on a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to explore new electric vehicle (EV) technologies.

According to Kicking Tires, the partnership “will focus on how to develop the smart-charging infrastructure that will allow consumers to charge EVs and plug-ins both at home and on the road.”

via Nissan and GE Join Forces to Research Electric Vehicle Technologies – U.S. News Rankings and Reviews.

Dating back over a century, the concept of the electric vehicle (EV) is nothing new. Until now, however, the technology has struggled to keep pace with the internal combustion engine, so its uptake has been small.

Except for a few notable applications, such as the humble milk delivery trucks seen on UK roads, it has been unusual to see an EV. However, with both escalating environmental pressures and fuel costs, governments, manufacturers and consumers are now forced to contemplate a battery-based future.

via Electric vehicles outlook positive but challenges remain.

Just two months ago, Ford Motor launched a trial of a software system meant to enable communication between its plug-in vehicles and the power grid, by way of smart meters and a Zigbee wireless connection. At the time, Ford’s Nancy Gioia, recently named director of Ford Global Electrification, told us Ford would consider developing a production version of the system. While it won’t be ready for the first generation of plug-in vehicles, Gioia said today at an event in San Francisco, that “by 2013-2015, this ought to be rolling out.”

via Ford Aims to Connect Its Plug-In Cars with Smart Meters by 2015.

It’s understatement to say that battery and plug-in hybrid cars are not straining the electric grid today. Tesla has sold 700 cars, and there are a few thousand homemade conversions and stranded corporate leftovers (Solectria, U.S. Electricar, Taylor-Dunn, Toyota RAV4) scattered around the country.

But with more than 30 companies poised to produce cars with plugs attached in the next few years, that picture will change rapidly. To their credit, the automakers recognize that their success or failure in the marketplace depends on a grid ready to supply them with electricity.

via Aligning EVs and the Smart Grid: Synergy and Progress | BNET Auto Blog | BNET.

Imagine directing traffic in Manhattan when the power is out, no one knows how to find the bridges or tunnels, and most of the drivers are speaking different languages. That scenario is similar to what smart grid company Gridpoint is up against in building software than will enable electric vehicles, charging equipment, utilities and grid operators to all get along.

Gridpoint is developing version 3 of its Smart Charging software (due to ship to customers in September) that will schedule and monitor vehicle charging while keeping track of the grid’s health. The software includes tools that enable utilities to understand how vehicles individually and in aggregate are impacting power demand. Utilities can compare recent vehicle demand on the grid with what would have happened with no control over vehicle charging to see how well their attempts at shifting the load are doing. The Smart Charging software also provides day-ahead demand projections based on previous charging data.

By connecting to the grid applications that control the power flow via the Open Automated Demand Response Communication Standards, Gridpoint can slow down or stop vehicle charging during times of peak demand.

Gridpoint has been busy lining up partnerships with many of the largest utilities during their ongoing EV trials, and this week added CabAire, eVco, Plug Smart Intelligent Energy Solutions and eTec as charging equipment partners. The eTec relationship encompasses more than 12,000 charging stations that are being set up in cities across the U.S., which are partially funded by the DOE.

Gridpoint’s John Clark says his company’s role in electric vehicle charging is to “make it invisible.” The company works with utilities to integrate vehicle charging into their existing IT infrastructure at a cost of often more than $1 million.

To enable the smart management of charging for the first plug-in and all-electric vehicles, a small hardware module will be placed in the vehicle, according to Clark. This “brute force method” of proprietary equipment will be superseded by hardware integrated into the vehicle that will employ standards being developed for sharing data. Rather than requiring an upgrade to the vehicles, Clark says the Smart Charging software will have to remain backward compatible.

via Gridpoint to Play Traffic Cop for Vehicle Charging | Green Business | Reuters.

GridPoint, Inc., an established leader in smart grid software, and Coulomb Technologies today unveiled the first ever smart grid enabled smart charging stations for electric vehicles. The integrated solution using Coulomb’s ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations for plug-in electric vehicles and GridPoint’s smart charging software application extends municipalities and utilities ability to manage vehicle-charging load. Utilities and municipalities will now have a networked infrastructure solution that easily and rapidly adapts to critical grid events while prioritizing the need to provide fuel for electric vehicles. In times of peak demand or during critical grid events, utilities are able to utilize public charging infrastructure to manage the electricity load. Demand response events can be dispatched system-wide or targeted to specific locations within the distribution system. The first integrated solution of smart grid charging stations are now on display for demonstration at the Plug-in 2009 conference in Long Beach, California in booths 215 (Coulomb) and 409 (GridPoint).

“This announcement brings significant benefits and advances the EV infrastructure,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “Coulomb’s charging stations are first to market with a smart grid integration that is effortless for drivers and responsive to the needs of the grid. GridPoint is extending the proven smart charging capabilities of the ChargePointSM Network and this integrated solution now provides a single solution to adaptively manage the flow of energy to vehicles and charging stations.”

At the Plug-in 2009 show, Coulomb and GridPoint are demonstrating real-time smart charging activity enabled via GridPoint’s smart grid software for electric vehicles and Coulomb’s ChargePoint Network. This flexible, centralized integration allows easy implementation of smart charging strategies. The solution also provides utilities and municipalities with a charging infrastructure solution that easily adapts to the still developing electric vehicle ecosystem.

via Coulomb and GridPoint Unveil First Smart Grid Enabled Smart Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles.

When it rains, it often pours. That’s certainly the case now, as the U.S. Department of Energy, the states of Illinois and Colorado, and an Austrian utility all announced in recent days that they will invest many millions of dollars to create recharging networks for electric vehicles.

That’s wonderful news, because it brings electric-vehicle makers and potential EV makers a step closer to solving one of the two major problems they face: That being a lack of infrastructure to support pure EVs and plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.

The other problem remains development of inexpensive, safe, reliable, lightweight and energy-rich batteries to power the vehicles. Many companies and governments are working on a solution to that problem.

The Energy Department on Monday awarded $47 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to eight ongoing smart-grid demonstration projects. The $47 million investment will add to the $17 million in funds DOE had awarded these eight projects last year, thereby accelerating the timelines for the projects.

Most of the projects relate to technologies to help transmission and distribution systems operate better, but a few are directly related to clean energy. For example, the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, will research, develop and demonstrate a coordinated and integrated system of mixed clean energy technologies and distributed energy resources, allowing the city to reduce its peak electrical demand by at least 15 percent.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago will focus on implementing distributed energy resources and creating demand-responsive microgrids, which are small power networks that can operate independently of the utility power grid. In addition, the University of Hawaii will explore the management of its electrical distribution system to better accommodate wind power.

via “U.S. Energy Dept. Awards $47 Million in Recovery Act Funding for EV Smart Grids” Green Car Advisor.

by Martin LaMonica

WASHINGTON–Where you see an electric car, your utility sees a battery on wheels.

Forward-looking utilities are gearing up to tap into the stored energy that plug-in electric vehicles can provide using smart-grid technology, said industry executives at consulting firm Kema’s Utility of the Future conference here this week.

Car batteries can provide a buffer to lighten the load on the grid during peak times and potentially provide back-up power to homeowners. Down the line, old plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) batteries could be recycled as storage devices, they said.

Duke Energy CTO Mohler

“I think PHEVs will be the killer application for the smart grid,” said David Mohler, the chief technology officer of Duke Energy. “They are able to both consume and provide energy like no other device can and can really change storage.”

A number of plug-in electric vehicles aimed at mainstream buyers will become available over the next two years. Although there’s no standard storage capacity, Mohler estimated that four of them could power a house, at least for a short time.

In the near term, the most promising marriage of the grid and car batteries is providing what the power industry calls “frequency regulation.” It’s an arrangement that could save utilities money, reduce pollution, and potentially save consumers money, advocates of the approach said.

Utilities routinely pay for frequency regulation services to ensure that the supply of electricity matches the demand. When an imbalance between supply and demand causes a change in signal frequency, power generators crank up to adjust the flow of electricity.

via Electric cars seen as killer app for smart grid

Some players in the market envision a Java-like platform to accelerate deployment and foster innovation

By Josie Garthwaite

A growing number of political leaders—from mayors on up to presidents and prime ministers —are taking up the electric vehicle (EV) torch, working on policies and incentives to spur widespread adoption of plug-in cars. In parts of the U.S., U.K., Japan, and elsewhere, initiatives to quickly develop networks of charging stations for the plug-in vehicles slated to roll out in 2011 and beyond are taking form—and running up against a key question on the road to a competitive green car marketplace: How do you accelerate deployment of today’s technology while remaining open to future innovations?

On some level, this question is about the familiar issue of how (and how much) government should play a role in free markets. But it’s also another example of how lessons from the history of computing can apply to cleantech innovations. According to the finance chief for London’s climate change program, Padmesh Shukla, Sun Microsystems’ Java platform—an ubiquitous system for software development for mobile devices, enterprise servers, and the Web—offers a model governments can use to craft guidelines for companies bidding on government-backed EV infrastructure projects.

via An Open Platform for Electric Car-Charging Networks

Smart has confirmed that an electric version of the Fortwo will go on sale in the UK from 2012, to coincide with the start of a £250m government initiative to promote low-carbon transport.

The Mercedes-owned carmaker has also announced that the Smart ED (electric drive) will go into limited series production and be available in the UK from 2010. It will be available to lease from £150 per month.

A Smart ED has been undergoing trials in the UK since 2007. It has been evaluated by bodies such as police forces, universities, local authorities and electricity generating companies, the cars being made available to them on four-year leases at a cost of £375 per month.

However, a new car will be fitted with lithium ion batteries, as opposed to the nickel hydride versions in the cars used for the trials. These new power sources will require a shorter charging time and improve performance. Smart hasn’t revealed what it expects the range to be, however.

London will be one of the first cities in the world to see the Smart ED on its streets: it will be joined by Rome, Milan and Paris.

via Smart EV goes into production

By: Andy Hodges

Published: Jun 2, 2009

Hybrid cars are revolutionizing the way we commute and will reduce our dependency for foreign oil. Electric hybrid cars can also use alternative and renewal energy to recharge a NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) hybrid battery. The plug in hybrids usually comes with one of these batteries which power the vehicle at slower speeds.

Conventional gasoline cars get their power from a combustion engine. Unfortunately, these automobiles rely on fossil fuels, which are harmful to the environment. They produce carbon emissions into the air and can create the greenhouse effect on Earth.

Rising gas prices are also making the electric plug in hybrids more suitable for daily commuters who drive about 40 miles per day. A battery-powered car can meet those demands by running on alternative and renewable energy, which comes from electricity. Power plants are converting to solar and wind technologies as a renewable source of energy.

There is a hybrid tax credit for those that own one of these automobiles. Ford Motor Company still offers the $1,700 tax incentive which officially expires on October 1, 2009. You should consult with your tax consultant or the IRS about these hybrid vehicle tax credits that are still available today.

2010 Hybrid plug in cars are more available now than in previous years. Automakers are determined to compete in the fuel-efficiency market which gives the consumer more options and choices than before. If you have not test-driven a hybrid car, you should visit a local dealer and check it out.

Hybrids are more popular now than ever before. It is a smart decision which can you money at the pump while doing your part to clean the environment. Most of these vehicles are eco-friendly from its emissions to using soybean material for cloth seats.

Electric cars have made rapid advancements in recent years. The Hybrid car technology is saving gas and giving consumers more money back at the pump. No one knows when gas prices will rise again, as it did in 2008, but owning of these electric hybrid cars can save you the headaches and the worry.

via Hybrid Cars Offer Electric Plug In Solutions

• May 27th, 2009

A Swiss firm that specifically produces parts for Es has just removed the wraps off of their new all-electric roadster dubbed as Spyder.

The vehicle initially began as a university project for the Swiss school of engineering Buchs NTB, but with the assistance of BRUSA there is a great possibility that the car will be capable of competing with the likes of the Tesla Roadster and other established electric sports cars. To create the car’s body style, cues from several sources were used including some features from Porsche, which can be observed from its profile and front section. Although the car may come with styling cues that refer to its sporting objectives it does not have the fastness of the Tesla Roadster, but it can hit 62mph in six seconds and reach a maximum speed of 125mph plus. The car is powered by two synchronized electric power units with individual units generating about 127hp (95kW) through an autonomous wheel at the rear, providing the BRUSA Spyder a combined power output of 270hp (200kW).

Read Article

08:28 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

By ELIZABETH SOUDER / The Dallas Morning News
esouder@dallasnews.com

Ford Motor Co. is expected to apply for federal stimulus money on Wednesday for a test of electric vehicles that would include Dallas utility Oncor.

Oncor, a unit of Energy Future Holdings, would get about 67 Ford plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles for the utility’s fleet. The company is one of about a dozen utilities across Texas and the U.S. that would use the electric cars and trucks and report back to Ford on how they work.

The deal also allows EFH to test its theory that electric cars make sense in combination with cheap wind power at night. This requires Oncor’s new high-tech electricity meters that allow consumers to get a lower rate if they plug in at night.

“We’ve been trying to engage with some automobile manufacturer, and let’s face it, a couple have had other things on their mind,” said Don Clevenger, vice president of external affairs for Oncor.

Oncor would get many of the cars for free and must commit to invest $15 million to install high-tech meters and build recharging stations.

The company already has a program to install the new meters across its territory, so the test would end up costing Oncor about $1 million, a sliver of the utility’s annual budget.

The utility would then try to negotiate a cheaper nighttime rate with its electricity provider. (Oncor doesn’t use sister company TXU Energy; it got a lower rate from Liberty Power.)

Oncor would get to keep the electric vehicles for three years, hardly a boon to the fleet of 2,500.

Ford has committed to bring four electric vehicles to market by 2012, and chairman Bill Ford said during the Detroit Auto Show early this year that he aims to “speed the development and acceptance” of electric vehicles.

Clevenger said Ford would offer utilities four or five types of vehicles – a light commercial delivery van, a small sedan, a small sport utility vehicle and two medium-heavy trucks.

If Ford wins the stimulus grant, the utilities could get the vehicles as early as 2010, he said.

Via: Click it

By David Weinberger May 8, 2009
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Editor’s note: Robin Chase thinks a lot about transportation and the internet, and how to link them. She connected them when she founded Zipcar, and she wants to do it again by making our electric grid and our cars smarter. Time magazine recently named her one of the 100 most influential people of the year. David Weinberger sat down with Chase to discuss her idea.

Robin Chase considers the future of electricity, the future of cars and the internet three terms in a single equation, even if most of us don’t yet realize they’re on the same chalkboard. Solve the equation correctly, she says, and we create a greener future where innovation thrives. Get it wrong, and our grandchildren will curse our names.

Chase thinks big, and she’s got the cred to back it up. She created an improbable network of automobiles called Zipcar. Getting it off the ground required not only buying a fleet of cars, but convincing cities to dedicate precious parking spaces to them. It was a crazy idea, and it worked. Zipcar now has 6,000 cars and 250,000 users in 50 towns.
via http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/the-grid-our-cars-and-the-internet-one-idea-to-link-them-all/#more-5894