Electric cars are more expensive than gasoline models, largely because batteries are so expensive. But new technology could turn these expensive devices into an asset, offering homeowners perks like lower utility bills, lower rent or free parking.
Ford Motor, General Motors, BMW and other automakers are studying how electric car batteries could be used to store excess renewable energy to help utilities cope with fluctuations in supply and electricity demand. Automakers would make money by serving as middlemen between car owners and electricity providers.
Millions of cars could be seen as a huge energy system that, for the first time, would be connected to another huge energy system, the power grid, said Matthias Preindl, associate professor of power electronic systems at Columbia University. .
“We are only at the starting point,” said Dr. Preindl. “They will interact more in the future and potentially support each other or stress each other out.”
A large flat screen hanging on the wall of the Munich offices of Mobility House, a company that counts Mercedes-Benz and Renault among its investors, illustrates one way automakers could profit while helping to stabilize the grid.
On-screen graphs and figures provide a real-time picture of a European energy market where investors and utilities buy and sell electricity. The price changes from minute to minute as supply and demand increase or decrease.
The Mobility House buys electricity when solar and wind energy is plentiful and cheap, storing it in electric vehicles that are part of its system and plugged in across Europe. When demand and prices increase, the company resells the electricity. It’s a classic game: buy low, sell high.
Those in the automotive and energy industries have been talking about using car batteries for on-grid storage for years. As the number of electric cars on the roads increases, these ideas become more and more tangible.
Renault, the French automaker, is offering Mobility House technology to buyers of its R5 electric compact car, for which the company began taking orders last month. The car, which Renault will begin delivering in December, starts at 29,490 euros (about $32,000) in France.
Buyers who sign up will receive a free home charger and sign a contract allowing Renault to draw power from vehicles when they are plugged in. R5 owners will be able to control how much energy they put back into the grid and when. In exchange, they will benefit from a reduction on their electricity bills.
“The more they plug in, the more they earn,” said Ziad Dagher, program manager at Renault. Renault estimates that participants could reduce their home energy bills by 50 percent.
Renault, which will offer the technology in France before rolling it out in Germany, Britain and other countries, will share in the profits generated by the Mobility House through energy trading.
If these services prove effective, the financial case for electric vehicles, an important tool against climate change, will become stronger.
“It would really drive the adoption of electric vehicles,” said Adam Langton, a BMW executive who works on energy issues.
BMW already offers software that allows owners to charge their electric cars when renewable energy is most abundant. This allows the company to earn carbon credits and pay customers who participate in the program.
A new generation of electric vehicles that BMW will start selling next year, known as Neue Klasse, will have so-called bidirectional capability, meaning the cars will be able to take electricity from the grid and return it in addition to use energy. to power their engines.
Ford pioneered two-way charging with the F-150 Lightning pickup, which can power a home during a power outage. General Motors, Hyundai and Volkswagen also offer or plan to offer bi-directional charging cars. As these vehicles become more common, the storage potential could be enormous.
By the end of the decade, about 30 million electric vehicles could be on U.S. roads, up from about three million currently. All these cars could store as much energy as the daily output of dozens of nuclear power plants.
But of course, those millions of cars can also strain the grid, which is already seeing growing demand for electricity from heat pumps and data centers, said Aseem Kapur, chief revenue officer at GM Energy, a unit of General Motors that provides services to customers. owners of electric vehicles. By helping to smooth demand, “electric vehicles can be an important resource,” he said.
But a few issues need to be resolved before this vision can come to fruition.
Owners may not be eager to have their car serve the grid because they fear that constant charging and discharging will wear out their batteries more quickly.
Some energy experts said the degradation would be insignificant, especially if utilities used only a small fraction of a battery’s capacity. Renault solves this problem by offering participants in its energy storage program the same eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty that non-participants receive.
Another challenge is that some U.S. utilities and the state regulators that oversee them prefer to operate centralized grids in which energy flows almost entirely in one direction — from power plants to homes and businesses.
To overcome resistance from utilities, Maryland passed a law last month that requires them to adapt to two-way pricing systems and provide financial incentives.
It is increasingly recognized that electric vehicle batteries are a valuable investment that most owners will only actively use for a few hours per day.
“We want to unlock the full value of electric vehicle batteries,” said Gregor Hintler, Mobility House general manager for North America.
If all of New York City’s electric cars were used for storage, said Dr. Preindl, the Columbia professor, “these vehicles would be by far the most valuable power plant in New York.”
Consolidated Edison, the utility that serves New York City and some of its suburbs, is studying how managing charging times and using electric vehicles for storage could help it cope with the rapid growth of cars powered by battery.
Contrary to popular fears, “the grid is not going to collapse” because of electric cars, said Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud, director of electric mobility at Con Ed. “The biggest concern is that if we don’t plan differently for this load which increases very quickly, the network will not be ready in time to support the transition.”
Con Ed powers a Bronx depot for New York City’s electric school buses, where Mobility House software allows more vehicles to use the facility.
Fleets of electric vehicles owned by companies or governments are a particularly promising form of backup energy storage. Vans or trucks have large batteries and tend to have predictable routes and schedules.
Ford Pro, the commercial vehicle division of Ford Motor, has started offering free chargers to customers that allow them to be turned off during peak electricity demand. Homeowners also save on their electricity bills.
Ford provides the software to manage chargers and meet customers’ driving needs, and manages the relationship with utilities. Ford is testing the service in Massachusetts before expanding it to other states. The next step will be a bi-directional system allowing vehicles to send power to the grid.
“What smart charging can do is reduce costs,” said Jim Gawron, director of charging strategy at Ford’s electric vehicle division. “This has been a major barrier for customers.”