V2G = Power to the people
The concept of V2G is a concept of supplementing power to the electrical grid from your vehicle (whole parking lots) to reduce demand on the power grid. "One typical electric-drive vehicle can put out over 10kW, the average draw of 10 houses. The key to realizing economic value from V2G is precise timing of its grid power production to fit within driving requirments while meeting the time-critical power "dispatch" of the electric distribution system." udel.edu/V2G/
The cap on consumer costs for electricity are about to fly off in Pennsylvania. As the final remnants of the days of regulation looms, the experiments of a few inventive nerds with a cord from their Toyota Prius (priups.com) to power their homes starts to make sense.
While the concept is far from viable with current technology, using a car or some other power producing device yet to be invented to power your house breaks the established evolution of the energy industry and the trend for business in general. Small business > consolidation > monopoly = total control of price.
It is the inventive spirit of a 19th century waterwheel powering consumer independence.
The flow of energy into our cars and the flow of energy into our homes have something in common. A large monopoly controls the energy source, sets the price and controls the flow of dollars out of our wallets. We are conditioned to think that energy must flow into our cars and our homes and we have been stripped of the ability to provide an alternative.
Goodenergy.com (now defunct website; have to love Google cache) a “management consulting group focused on saving customers money” states, “Retail choice in Michigan is here - and competition will bring savings to electricity users in Detroit Edison.”
Ironically, after rate freezes in Illinois expired in January, bills soared up to 55% for Ameren customers and 26% for those of Commonwealth Edison. Electric rates for Baltimore-area customers surged 50% in June after a 15% jump last year as rate caps came off. There have been similar surges in Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Meanwhile, little, if any, retail competition has materialized for consumers. Usatoday.com (8/9)
In Pennsylvania, PPL Electric Utility may raise its rates 29 percent for residential customers in 2010, and 18 to 37 percent for businesses, according to figures certified by state regulators last month. mcall.com (8/29)
You have one wire coming into your house, a few people own all the supply lines that have taken decades to build (and monopolize) and a hand-full of people own the energy supply (that is monopolized). Deregulation, better defined as profit cap-removal, is a dream of CEOs as they fatten their profit margin at the expense of people who no longer have the resources to do anything about it. A Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) report says BG&E conceded in hearings it "has no direct financial incentive to keep generation rates low for its customers." At Constellation, a fortune 200 energy company based in Baltimore, profit rose 50% last year to a record $936 million. usatoday.com
V2G doesn’t seem to make much sense when you are voiding the warranty of your car, shortening the life of your hybrid batteries and burning gasoline, but apply the model to a yet undiscovered technology where consumers harness energy unable to be controlled like the sun.
The beauty of this little acronym, V2G, is that a few people have reversed the flow of power. An inventive spirit found to empower oneself.
Bill Dale · September 7, 2007 7:42 PM
Maybe Mr Kuehnel thinks that all EV batteries are as problematical as old-style NiCads, and will never be appropriate to use for V2G, but neither is true.
A decade ago Toyota began using NiMH batteries in the RAV-4 EV, and the original batteries installed in those cars continue to be used without any reduction in their capacity or performance more than 100,000 miles later. Those batteries have already been out of warranty for several years, and would work just fine in V2G vehicles.
The Altair NanoSafe battery used in the Phoenix Motorcar EV are expected to last for decades without deterioration. They are so rugged and resistant to abuse that it would not surprise me if Altair approved their use with V2G without jeopardizing their warranty.
The A123 Systems battery likewise is expected to work without problems for a decade or more, is relatively inexpensive, and like all EV batteries its price is bound to drop with economies of scale.
Batteries are not the only devices capable of powering EVs or of being used to ease energy loads with V2G.
Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that can be used in combination with, or in lieu of, standard batteries. The ability of supercaps to be charged and discharged very rapidly, and their known ability to work through millions of charge/ discharge cycles makes them perfect for V2G use.
If Detroit wants to pretend that they are so incompetent that they don't know how to build an acceptable EV, we can convert our cars ourselves, or hire someone to do so, and we can contribute to the implementation of V2G.
Cities seeking alternatives to expensive new power plants will find that EV owners are eager to be part of the solution.
paul kuehnel · September 8, 2007 11:52 PM
My comments about battery warranties reflect the response of manufactures like Toyota and Honda in that people should know that they will violate the warranty of the vehicle if they experiment from it's intended purpose.
You use the phrases, "are expected"..."Those batteries have already been out of warranty for several years, and would work just fine in V2G vehicles." These are not proven certainties in VG2 applications.
The intended charging cycle of current hybrid batteries is within a very narrow band and that is why they last so long within the current application.
The very nature of a supercapacitor is a quick zap, great for quick surges and so so great for storing power.
That all being said, technology evolves every day as does the cost/risk/and pay-off for a specific application. I like your zest for taking on those who choose not to address the problem and instead feed their own machine.
People like you will take the risk and change the way things are done.