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EVs = Energy Storage?

EV owners are accustomed to plugging into charging stations and filling up their batteries from the power grid. Soon, cars will have the ability to reverse that flow. An MIT team explored how EVs could serve almost like energy storage on wheels, the value of V2G applications to the entire energy system, and if EVs could reduce the cost of decarbonizing the power system. Watch this video to see the surprising results.

“At scale, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) can boost renewable energy growth, displacing the need for stationary energy storage and decreasing reliance on firm [always-on] generators, such as natural gas, that are traditionally used to balance wind and solar intermittency,” says Jim Owens  , lead author and a doctoral student in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering.

Topics:
Automotive Electrification Energy Power

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    Transcript

    00:00:03 the MIT energy initiative presents reversing the charge battery power from electric vehicles to the grid could open a fast lane to a net zero future written by Lita Zimmerman owners of electric vehicles EVS are accustomed to plugging into charging stations at home and at work and filling up their batteries with electricity from the power grid

    00:00:25 but someday soon when these drivers plug in their cars will also have the capacity to reverse the flow and send electrons back to the grid as the number of EVS climbs the fleet's batteries could serve as a cost-effective large-scale energy source with potentially dramatic impacts on the energy transition according to a new paper published by an MIT team in the

    00:00:48 journal energy advances at scale vehicle to grid v2g can boost renewable energy growth displacing the need for stationary energy storage and decreasing Reliance on firm always on generators such as natural gas that are traditionally used to balance wind and solar intermittency says Jim Owens lead author and a doctoral student in the MIT Department of chemical engineering

    00:01:11 additional authors include Emery gentzer a principal research scientist at the MIT energy initiative Mighty and Ian Miller a research specialist for Mighty at the time of the study the group's work is the first comprehensive systems-based analysis of future Power Systems drawing on a novel mix of computational models integrating such factors as carbon emission goals

    00:01:34 variable renewable energy VRE generation and costs of building energy storage production and transmission infrastructure we explored not just how EVS could provide service back to the grid thinking of these vehicles almost like energy storage on Wheels but also the value of v2g applications to the entire Energy System and if EVS could reduce the cost of decarbonizing the

    00:01:58 power system says genser the results were surprising I personally didn't believe we'd have so much potential here displacing new infrastructure as the United States and other nations pursue stringent goals to limit carbon emissions electrification of transportation is taken off with a rate of EV adoption rapidly accelerating some projections show EV supplanting internal

    00:02:22 combustion Vehicles over the next 30 Years with the rise of emission-free driving though there will be increased demand for energy the challenge is ensuring both that there's enough electricity to charge the vehicles and that this electricity is coming from renewable sources says cancer but solar and wind energy is intermittent without adequate backup for

    00:02:42 these sources such as stationary energy storage facilities using Lithium-ion batteries for instance or large-scale natural gas or hydrogen-fueled power plants achieving clean energy goals will prove elusive more vexing costs for building the necessary new energy infrastructure runs to the hundreds of billions this is precisely where v2g can play a

    00:03:03 critical and welcome role the researchers reported in their case study of a theoretical New England power system meaning straight to carbon constraints for instance the team found that participation from just 13.9 percent of the Region's 8 million light-duty passenger EVS just placed 14.7 gigawatts of stationary energy storage this added up to 700 million

    00:03:26 dollars in savings the anticipated cost of building new storage capacity their paper also described the role EV batteries could play at times of peak demand such as hot summer days v2g technology has the ability to inject electricity back into the system to cover these episodes so we don't need to install or invest in additional natural gas turbines as Owens

    00:03:48 the way that EVs and v2g can influence the future of our Power Systems is one of the most exciting and novel aspects of our study modeling power to investigate the impacts of v2g on their hypothetical New England power system the researchers integrated their EV travel in v2g service models with two of mighty's existing modeling tools

    00:04:12 the sustainable energy system analysis modeling environment Sesame to project vehicle Fleet and electricity demand growth and Gen X Which models the investment and operation costs of electricity generation storage and transmission systems they Incorporated such inputs as different EV participation rates costs of generation for conventional and

    00:04:33 Renewable Power suppliers charging infrastructure upgrades travel demand for vehicles changes in electricity demand and EV battery costs their analysis found benefits from v2g applications and Power Systems in terms of displacing energy storage and firm generation at all levels of carbon emission restrictions including one with no emissions caps at all however their

    00:04:56 model suggests that v2g delivers the greatest value to the power system when carbon constraints are most aggressive at 10 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour load total system savings from v2g range from 184 million dollars to 1 326 million dollars reflecting EV participation rates between 5 and 80 percent our study has begun to uncover the

    00:05:20 inherent value of v2g has for a future power system demonstrating that there is a lot of money we can save that would otherwise be spent on storage and firm Generations as Owens harnessing v2g for scientists seeking ways to decarbonize the economy the vision of millions of EVS parked in garages or in office spaces and plugged into the grid

    00:05:42 for 90 percent of their operating lives proves an irresistible provocation there is all this storage sitting right there a huge available capacity that will only grow and it is wasted unless we take full advantage of it says genser this is not a distant Prospect startup companies are currently testing software that would allow two-way communication between EVs and grid operators or other

    00:06:05 entities with the right algorithms EVS would charge from and dispatch energy to the grid according to profiles tailored to each car owner's needs never depleting the battery and endangering a commute we don't assume all vehicles will be available to send energy back to the Grid at the same time at 6 PM for instance when most commuters return home

    00:06:25 in the early evening since cancer he believes that the vastly varied schedules of EV drivers will make enough battery power available to cover spikes in electricity use over an average 24-hour period and there are other potential sources of battery power down the road such as electric school buses that are employed only for short stints during the day and

    00:06:45 then sit idle the MIT team acknowledges the challenges of v2g consumer buy-in while EV owners relish a clean Green Drive they may not be as enthusiastic handing over access to their car's battery to a utility or an aggregator working with power system operators policies and incentives would help since you're providing a service to the

    00:07:05 grid which is solar panel users do you could be paid for your participation and paid at a premium when electricity prices are very high says cancer people may not be willing to participate around the clock but if we have blackout scenarios like in Texas last year or hot day congestion on transmission lines maybe we can turn on these vehicles for 24 to 48 hours sending energy back to

    00:07:28 the system adds Owens if there's a power outage and people wave a bunch of money at you you might be willing to talk basically I think this comes back to all of us being in this together right says again sir as you contribute to society by giving this service to the grid you will get the full benefit of reducing system costs and also help to decarbonize the system faster and to a

    00:07:49 greater extent actionable insights Owens who is building his dissertation on v2g Research is now investigating the potential impact of heavy-duty electric vehicles and decarbonizing the power system the last mile delivery trucks of companies like Amazon and FedEx are likely to be the earliest adopters of

    00:08:10 EVS Owen says they are appealing because they have regularly scheduled routes during the day and go back to the depot at night which makes them very useful for providing electricity and balancing services and the power system Owens is committed to providing insights that are actionable by System planners operators and to a certain extent

    00:08:28 investors he says his work might come into play in determining what kind of charging infrastructure should be built and where our analysis is really timely because the EV Market has not yet been developed since cancer this means we can share our insights with vehicle manufacturers and system operators potentially influencing them

    00:08:47 to invest in v2g Technologies avoiding the costs of building utility skill storage and enabling the transition to a cleaner future it's a huge win within our grasp the research for the study was funded by mighty's Future Energy Systems Center