On charging equipment and batteries in plug-in vehicles: Present status

Summary form only given. In 2005 Kempton and Tomic laid out a vision for V2G which presumed that use of V2G technology could provide a high revenue stream to early plug-in electric vehicles, enabling market penetration of relatively high cost early-to-market electric drive vehicles. In their vision the high benefits of V2G would help get plug-in electric vehicles started, allowing cost reductions that would lead to widespread success, and in the long term, support for wind generation. If the vision is correct, then the question is - when can we start? Alternatively, the needs of the vision might actually distort the attributes of plug-in electric vehicles and lock in a relatively high cost approach. By examining the status of battery electric vehicles in light of the Kempton and Tomic assumptions about what early plug-in electric vehicle and charge circuit capabilities would be, we can shed some light on whether the Kempton and Tomic vision is close to its starting vision, needs some costly alterations and improvements to begin, or perhaps is somewhere in between. For the vision to be realized, (1) charging and discharging (grid feed) equipment with grid control and kW levels assumed must be available, (2) batteries must be capable of providing the kW and/or kWh required to support the grid as frequently as required and for the total duration expected, and (3) the revenues must be high enough to offset the costs of the battery services provided. In this presentation, three scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have provided information from their research relating to how close today´s technology is to the advantageous initial conditions assumed by Kempton and Tomic. The status of charging, metering and control equipment designed to work at different kW levels - a topic of Ted Bohn´s research - is reviewed. The performance of battery packs in existing plug-in electric vehicles is covered by Eric Rask´s research. Kevin Gallagher is the co-author of a battery p- ck cost model which can provide input for estimation of the V2G-induced cost of battery pack decay equations used by Kempton and Tomic, The vision of Kempton and Tomic included use of fuel operated generators in vehicles with electric drive such as plug-in hybrids or fuel cell vehicles. In their vision, such plug-in electric vehicles could use fuel to generate electricity to support the grid. This option is not considered in this presentation. Only use of batteries is considered.