Industry paper on PHEVs

[kristopher]

Controlling the Charge: Exploring the Promise of PHEVs

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) hold the potential for huge environmental and financial gain. Wide-scale
adoption of PHEVs offers the possibility of reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while
simultaneously delivering greater energy independence and improving the economics of the electricity industry.

Numerous assessments by the nation’s leading research institutions, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), have supported this optimistic outlook for the impact of
PHEVs. In fact, NREL concludes that “no additional capacity would be required for even a massive penetration of PHEVs”
and PNNL asserts that “84 percent of the cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) could be supported by the
existing infrastructure, suggesting a gasoline displacement potential of 52 percent of the nation’s oil imports.”

To date, PHEV studies have all made the critical, yet under-emphasized, assumption that the charging behavior of these
vehicles, and thus their impact on the existing grid, will somehow be controlled. NREL suggests charging will occur
overnight, PNNL assumes the entire PHEV load will be “managed to fit perfectly into the valleys of load demand without
setting new peaks” and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) asserts that PHEVs will significantly reduce
greenhouse gas emissions given the existence of “programs to actively manage the charging load.”

Until recently, the ability to control the timing and pace of PHEV charging and discharging had remained a tacit
assumption – undefined, yet essential, to realizing the potential of plug-in vehicles. Now, with the launch of Xcel Energy’s
PHEV demonstration project, vehicle charging control has become a reality. Seattle-based V2Green is providing the
technology to implement Smart Charging and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) strategies and Xcel Energy has become the first utility
to explore the full potential of plug-in vehicles under real-world conditions. This project is part of the utility’s larger
strategy to design a smart grid, which will more easily allow customers and energy providers to work together to balance
and stabilize the power grid....

More at:
http://utilityproducts.com/display_article/317207/129/none/none/Featu/Controlling-the-Charge:-Exploring-the-Promise-of-PHEVs