The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Industry News

Up to $35.8 Billion investments into smart grids by 2013 predicts Pike Research, before the smart grid market will decline at steady pace. For EV drivers, the smart grid and the role their electric vehicles are supposed to play in the greater scheme could translate into gaining a new source of income.

Smart grids are the new favourites in getting funding around the world. Many see their implementation as condition sine qua non for making broad EV uptake work. Industry and government money is invested into enhancing the reliability of the electrical grid, improvement of operating efficiencies, preparations for future extensive integration of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles.

Estimated $10.5 billion have been invested in 2009 into such initiatives, but according to a recent report by Pike Research this number is to more than triple in the next three years to peak at $35.8 billion in 2013. However, the frenzy is not going to last.

"What we now call 'Smart Grid' has actually been a substantial global utility automation industry for years," says senior analyst Bob Gohn. "The current surge in Smart Grid activity has been primarily driven by government initiatives, and naturally this adrenaline boost will wear off in the next few years. We forecast that the Smart Grid market will decline at an average rate of 6% per year after 2013, but it will still be a huge business compared to what we have seen in the past."

The slowdown will vary significantly between world regions. Market value of and investments in smart grids in countries with outdated grid infrastructure such as the United States will only decline at a rate of 1% after the peak in 2013, while the Smart Grid market in Europe will only peak in 2014 and then also decline at a slow pace.

Money making EVs

“Vehicle to grid” or V2E is the magic word. In this system the electric car communicates with the power grid to provide demand response services. Demand response allows the electric grid operators to cooperatively, with customers, control the load on the grid. When demand peaks, the grid operator sends signals out to devices owned by cooperating organizations to reduce electric load. These connect to the households and reduce the power to air conditioners and lights for example.

One of the major concerns for electric vehicle adoption is the additional load on the grid in peak times. Will the grid support the additional load? The answer is that electric cars could actually help in the demand response, because wide adoption of electric cars would offer several hundreds of gigawatt-hours of electric storage capacity available on call, leveling out power offer-demand discrepancies.

As part of the smart grid, EVs could:

• on demand inject power into the grid from the battery pack;
• contribute to frequency stabilisation to maintain power quality (60 Hz sine wave);
• shift cheap night-time power to expensive day-time;

Typically the grid operators have standby turbines they spin up for high demand moments. The wholesale price for electricity fluctuates all day long and when demand is high, such as hot summer afternoons, electricity prices can be very high. Electrical storage systems such as EV battery packs could provide power to the grid, taking part in this system.

As some power plants cannot be effectively turned down at night (when demand is low) and instead run all night long, electricity prices can in extreme cases become negative, meaning electricity providers actually pay customers to take the electricity. This is were EVs can generate money for their owners. Currently, electricity storage capacities are very limited and much of cheap night-time electricity is wasted. EV batteries seem the perfect solution: they charge at night, store the energy and refeed the surplus during peak times - benefiting in a best case scenario from the negative price at night where utilities pay to get rid of the overcapacity and the high electricity price they can reap for refeeding energy into the grid during peaks demand times.

Isn't that alone reason enough to get an EV into your garage?