Anatomy of an innovation: smart charging

Phil Carson | Feb 18, 2010

 

Examples are wonderful things. They provide the specificity the human mind needs to focus, yet they also open a window onto a bigger world.

Take smart charging. We talked yesterday about calculations that the mechanical energy of one-quarter of the U.S. light vehicle fleet could equal the entire output of the U.S. electric generation system. That's the "aha moment" that has sent a number of people into the lab to tinker.

Another pertinent factoid: the U.S. electrical grid could meet the needs of 70 percent of all light duty vehicles on the nation's roads if those vehicles were electric and they were charged at off-peak hours, according to a study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The "goal," if you will, which shimmers on the horizon, changing shape as we move forward, appears to call for perhaps 25 percent of the fleet to go electric.

Enter Michael Kintner-Meyer, a researcher with the PNNL in Richland, Washington. About a year ago, he finished devising a prototype smart charge controller that appears to solve a lot of potential problems. Though the laboratory has staked out intellectual property on this device, it is merely our example today and it has rivals.

Kintner-Meyer's prototype can be set to charge an electric vehicle (EV) by time of day or by price signal, for the cheapest rates. It can also sense when there's a strain on the grid, should EV uptake lead millions of drivers (someday) to plug-in and top off their batteries at the same time, and shift its charging time.

The goal, as you probably know, is to electrify the fleet, shift load to off-peak hours and, ultimately, to provide vehicle-to-grid (V2G) resources that could provide a buffer in distribution system regulation -- assuring frequency and voltage for reliability, known as "V2G half" -- as well as storage for intermittent renewable resources.

That was the situation a year ago, when Kintner-Meyer and PNNL trotted out the prototype charge controller. Developments in the year since then provide a window onto the Chinese puzzle-like fits and starts that technology innovation often goes through en route to the market. (Examples lead to the bigger picture, etc.)

Right now, Kintner-Meyer told me yesterday, he is in discussion with possible partners to launch a real-life demonstration project. He is working with the standards body of the Society of Automotive Engineers to ensure that the communications piece of smart charging can have widespread adoption.

He needs a utility that can deliver real price signals and has the home and work charging station infrastructure under development or in place. He needs a municipality, say, that owns a fleet of EVs and is willing to allow him to integrate the smart charge controller into one or more cars. And he needs an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) which would collaborate on the integration process.

"We're working on this as we speak," Kintner-Meyer said. "Sometimes it is difficult to get an OEM's attention, particularly when the auto industry is struggling. We hope to have a demonstration going by this summer."

That brings us to the Big Question in the Big Picture: hurdles to adoption?

Aside from the chicken-or-the-egg routine -- which comes first: the car, the charging dock, the smart charge controller, the consumer, the utility, etc. -- this technology has a couple particular hurdles.

"To be frank, a lot of barriers still stand," Kintner-Meyer said. "The EV auto companies are reluctant to include a V2G charging device in the battery warranty."

The single most expensive component of a pure EV is its battery, the researcher explained. Percentage estimates differ by OEM, but could be as high as 50 percent of the cost of the vehicle. And, as readers know, the charge/discharge cycle governs the life of this expensive component. Some EV OEMs have designed their batteries into the vehicle for performance, not for ease of swapping out -- one of the business models being explored due to lengthy charging times. (i.e., motorists won't stop to top off their batteries en route to a destination because charging takes too long; thus swapping batteries makes sense, at least technically.)

Further, Kintner-Meyer pointed out, no market studies have yet gauged consumers' willingness to allow battery swaps. Will the battery record charge/discharge cycles so that one is assured of getting a comparably aged battery in such a swap? Also, what will be the mechanism for compensating EV owners when the grid needs to draw power for regulation, for instance?

More complications: the communications piece of the smart charging technology currently requires $10,000 cost per "node," which could mean per vehicle, unless vehicles are aggregated and the utility can deal with that scenario.

And in the "V2G half" scenario, Kintner-Meyer pointed out, a number of other devices/appliances, such as hot water heaters, could also serve as energy storage devices that could provide grid regulation at cheaper cost.

"I'm bullish on EVs and V2G," the researcher concluded, "but you can see there are alternatives."

Phil Carson
Editor-in-chief
Intelligent Utility Daily
pcarson@energycentral.com
303-228-4757