Clean Fleet Reporthybrid & electric cars smart charged with renewable energy
Coulomb Announces New Home Charger for Electric Cars
Coulomb announced a new CT500 Level II ChargePoint® Networked Charging Stations are designed for home and light commercial use. The announcement expands Coulomb’s spectrum of products for EVs from home to Level III fast charging stations. The ChargePoint Network is based on an open interface, standards-based architecture that provides station owners with a complete set of business applications to market and bill for electric transportation fueling services, and provides drivers with EV charging applications to make fueling easy. The home charging announcement is timely. Nissan has received over 16,000 deposits for the LEAF, including one from me. We are getting recommendations to have Aerovironment inspect our garages and plan on average installation costs of $2,000 including electrical work. GE recently entered the smart charging competition with the GE WattStation and will soon announce its home charger.
GE Bets 10 Billion on Digital Energy including Electric Car Charging
GE intends to be the leader in smart grid charging of electric vehicles. GE’s Watt Station EV Charger was personally unveiled today by CEO Jeff Immelt. Globally, GE already helps thousands of electric utilities be more efficient in generating power and in distributing power. With a growing family of smart grid solutions including smart charging of vehicles, GE will help utilities with Digital Energy. The GE Watt Station is the first product in a family of vehicle smart charging products and services from GE.
Will Google Charge your Electric Cars?
Google finally won FERC approval to be an electric utility. Now that they are making billions delivering web ads, do they want to make added billions selling electricity? Quite possibly. The U.S. total grid load is about 417 GW. If all U.S. cars will converted to V2G plug-ins with an average of 15 kWh per vehicle, they would provide 2,865 GW. A U.S. fleet of electric vehicles could provide 7X entire electricity needed in U.S.
100 Vehicle-to-Grid Electric Cars
100 Electric Cars will use V2G in 2010 – advancing smart grid charging and storage. The University of Delaware has signed the first license for its vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with AutoPort. The licensing agreement launches the first large-scale demonstration of the UD-developed V2G technology, which enables electric car owners to plug in their vehicles and send electricity back to electrical utilities. The system is designed to generate cash for the driver, while strengthening the nation’s power supply and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
President Obama Awards $2.3 Billion Tax Credits for Cleantech Jobs
President Obama announced this January 8 the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States. 183 electric car, smart grid, renewable energy projects in 43 states. “Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” said President Obama. “The Recovery Act awards I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.”
$620 Million for Smart Grid and Energy Storage Projects will spur Renewables
DOE awards $620 million for projects around the country to demonstrate advanced Smart Grid technologies and integrated systems that will help build a smarter, more efficient, more resilient electrical grid. Electric cars will be smart charged and lithium batteries reused in grid demonstrations. These 32 projects include large-scale energy storage which will enable wind and solar power to be delivered when needed. Projects include most states and over 50 utilities serving over 100 million Americans.
Electric Cars Facilitate Smart Grid 2.0
The electric car will help make the smart grid relevant to consumers. Right now most cars use inefficient engines fueled with gasoline or diesel. In the coming decades, many cars will use electricity. With a smart grid, renewable energy will do much of the charging. New electric cars from Nissan, Toyota, GM, Ford and others will use a charging standard J1772. The new charging units at home and work will include a smart meter chip. When a driver plugs-in, charging will follow preferences pre-established by the car owner. Many will prefer to save money and charge at night when rates are cheaper.
Duke Energy’s Electric Vehicle Future
Duke Energy and FPL Group committed to buy 10,000 plug-in vehicles in the coming decade, as they upgrade their fleets. The energy storage in these vehicles could eliminate the need for peaking plants and enable the expanded use of renewable energy. Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers shared a few minutes with me before he spoke at the Society for Environmental Journalist conference. At first his commitments to clean fleets, energy efficiency, and renewable energy seem surprising, given that he is CEO of the nation’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The emissions are largely the result of being the nation’s third biggest consumer of coal.
Al Gore Prioritizes Energy Innovation
At the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference I asked Vice President Al Gore about energy innovation. He answered with a surprisingly optimistic discussion of energy efficiency; renewable energy innovation in wind, solar, enhanced geothermal, and use of waste heat; and a transformative super grid. He also had some predictions for the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
Intelligent Electric Vehicles and Smart Grids
The smart electric vehicle is symbiotic with the smart grid. The new freeway-speed electric vehicles will also be smart electric vehicles (SEV). They will be smart about using energy inside the vehicle so that it can go 100 miles between charges. The SEV will be smart about navigation options that consider your preferences. The smart gird will be used to encourage cost-effective off-peak charging.
