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Study suggests electric cars could pay their owners back
Green Mountain College ^ | 2007 | Stephen Diehl

Posted on 11/11/2007 7:54:54 PM PST by T Ruth

Poultney, VT - Imagine collecting a paycheck from your utility company each month simply for plugging your electric vehicle into the power grid and making it available to supply or download power.

"There's a whole new way to look at energy supply and distribution, and our love affair with cars," said Dr. Steven Letendre, professor of management and environmental studies at Green Mountain College. "In the not-so-distant future, electric cars should be viewed both as environmentally-friendly suppliers of services to the power grid and as sources of income for owners."

An article written by Dr. Letendre and Dr. Willett Kempton of the University of Delaware, appearing in the February 15 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly suggests that this vehicle-to-grid scenario (dubbed "V2G") is not only feasible, but close to reality in some parts of the U.S.

* * *

By the end of this year, the first wave of vehicles able to supply auxiliary power to homes and contractors will hit the market, but with modest modifications, these vehicles also have the potential to "sell" their electricity back to the power grid, increasing reliability and efficiency of the power system and netting a profit for the car owner.

* * *

In the most profitable scenario, the owner charges the vehicle while rates are low and provides services to the grid operators as requested. The study estimates that a properly managed V2G car could net the owner close to $3,000 per year.

* * *

(Excerpt) Read more at greenmtn.edu ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: batteries; electricity; oil; phev
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Changes are coming.
1 posted on 11/11/2007 7:54:58 PM PST by T Ruth
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To: T Ruth
Doesn’t the excessive usage diminish the life expectancy of these rechargeable batteries, thus incurring more cost?
2 posted on 11/11/2007 7:57:25 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: T Ruth

How in the world is that going to work?


3 posted on 11/11/2007 7:58:10 PM PST by wastedyears (One Marine vs. 550 consultants. Sounds like good odds to me.)
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To: T Ruth

Wait until they have problems disposing of the lead and acid in the batteries. Something tells me the silver lining in the clouds with respect to electric cars is going to be a nightmare.


4 posted on 11/11/2007 7:58:29 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: T Ruth

Bullshit


5 posted on 11/11/2007 8:00:56 PM PST by Redbob (WWJBD - "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: vetvetdoug

> Wait until they have problems disposing of the lead and acid in the batteries.

A company that is successful in recycling/renewing these things is going to have a ton of business, if they can make it profitable. I’m betting on American ingenuity to make it so.


6 posted on 11/11/2007 8:01:54 PM PST by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: Redbob

> Bulls***

Maybe your erudite commentary was a little *too* concise. Care to clarify what the *beep* you’re talking about?


7 posted on 11/11/2007 8:03:57 PM PST by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: vetvetdoug
Wait until they have problems disposing of the lead and acid in the batteries. Something tells me the silver lining in the clouds with respect to electric cars is going to be a nightmare.

Since the best electric vehicles are going to Lithium Ion, it'll be a non-issue.
Besides, we've been recycling lead for decades now, why is that suddenly going to be a problem?

8 posted on 11/11/2007 8:05:55 PM PST by Politically Correct (A member of the rabble in good standing)
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To: Politically Correct

Expensive batteries.


9 posted on 11/11/2007 8:10:58 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: kinoxi
Doesn’t the excessive usage diminish the life expectancy of these rechargeable batteries, thus incurring more cost?

There you go again, peepeeing on our parade. We're looking for something to celebrate about and you bring physics into the discussion.

10 posted on 11/11/2007 8:11:07 PM PST by BipolarBob (Yes I backed over the vampire, but I swear I didn't see it in my rear view mirror.)
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To: wastedyears
How in the world is that going to work?

Magic. like all things liberals do, magic figures in the how.

11 posted on 11/11/2007 8:12:55 PM PST by Tarpon
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To: wastedyears
How in the world is that going to work?

That's kinda what I'm wondering.

I was under the impression that gasoline was used to maintain the vehicle's speed and to charge the battery, that the battery & electric motor took over for acceleration and the brakes aided the battery recharge. Having the car donate electricity to the grid only seems to make sense if the car is spontaneously generating power somehow.

As far as I know (I'm certainly no expert) what they're talking about is not science, but science-fiction.

Alternatively, if you want to sell electricity to the grid you could do it w/ a generator. I often wondered, on the porch of my family's beach house, how much money we're wasting by not putting a wind generator on one of the lots...

12 posted on 11/11/2007 8:13:51 PM PST by Triggerhippie (Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
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To: T Ruth

“The study estimates that a properly managed V2G car could net the owner close to $3,000 per year.”

LOL - and how much in gas will this car use to create that energy to sell back to the grid ?

or perhaps they are thinking the car will absorb electricity at night and sell it back to the grid during the day ... acting as a storage reserve ?

... That “logic” fails also as the grid would simply buy the battery themselves, lowering the excess capacity at night and evening out the power price - there are already ideas to buy back car batteries that have lost capacity to use in massive storage banks.


13 posted on 11/11/2007 8:14:05 PM PST by RS ("I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them, so I'm not weaseling.")
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To: wastedyears

Gas engines will power the car’s generators.


14 posted on 11/11/2007 8:14:58 PM PST by Nachoman (My guns and my ammo, they comfort me.)
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To: kinoxi
In my understanding, it depends on the battery chemistry being used, e.g., lead-acid vs. lithium-ion vs. numerous other possibilities. For the chemistries that right now appear the most promising, what shortens battery life is deep-discharge cycles. As I understand it, battery management software regulates the depth of discharge, the recharge rate and other factors to optimize battery life for the performance demanded.

In short, with sophisticated software, the thing can be managed to be profitable.

By the way, I understand that there is a start-up company (not publicly traded) that is developing software to manage the transfer of electricity between vehicles and the grid, as opposed to on-board software which manages only the on-board battery.

15 posted on 11/11/2007 8:15:11 PM PST by T Ruth (Islam shall be defeated.)
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To: T Ruth
Where does the initial energy source come from that is sold to the ‘grid’?
16 posted on 11/11/2007 8:17:42 PM PST by kinoxi
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To: T Ruth

skeptics of electric cars might want to look at this
article about Mitsubishi’s electric car in EV World.
http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1352

with that said, V2G is stupid.
the more important thing is to
cut the middle east out of the deal.


17 posted on 11/11/2007 8:18:30 PM PST by riored
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To: wastedyears

I wonder how in the world will it work in cold weather ?


18 posted on 11/11/2007 8:19:16 PM PST by stylin19a
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To: RS
they are thinking the car will absorb electricity at night and sell it back to the grid during the day ... acting as a storage reserve

I think this is a large part of the idea. Wouldn't it be better from the utility's point of view to have millions of car owners foot the capital cost of battery storage capacity?

19 posted on 11/11/2007 8:19:23 PM PST by T Ruth (Islam shall be defeated.)
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To: T Ruth

Why can’t I just buy a battery pack, or make my own from deep-cycle batteries, add a small fuel efficient generator, and the interface hardware, and make a couple grand a year?

Why pay for the rest of the car if this will be profitable to me?


20 posted on 11/11/2007 8:24:12 PM PST by ltc8k6
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