POWER September 2023 - S36

EMPOWERING CLEAN ENERGY
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
The Impact of EV Charging on the Grid
T
esla owners pulling up to plug in
at specific Supercharger locations
in the U.S. will soon be met
with an unfamiliar sight: electric vehicles
(EVs) from other car companies,
parked in and charging at spots previously
compatible just for a Tesla.
General Motors, Rivian, and Ford
have all recently announced partnerships
with Tesla to use the once-exclusive
Supercharger network, as well
as adopting North American Charging
Standard (NACS) ports on their vehicles.
This is a major shift from the
current industry standard of combined
charging system (CCS) ports and an
acknowledgment from the two major
Detroit automakers that there is customer
demand to have access to the
Tesla Supercharger network.
According to research from the International
Energy Agency, about 10 million
EVs were sold worldwide last year. More
than 1 million are expected to be sold
in the U.S. in 2023. CleanTechnica said
about 5.7% of U.S. car sales last year
were of fully electric vehicles. In the
next 10 years, EY predicts that EV sales
will dominate the sales of all other types
of vehicles-five years sooner than experts
previously anticipated.
Better access to public fast charging
will continue to build the momentum of
EV adoption and the accessibility of
owning one of these vehicles. A major
hurdle confronting utilities will be
infrastructure upgrades and maintenance
to keep up with the electricity
demand from EVs. Elon Musk recently
joined a utility industry meeting,
the annual Electric Edison Institute
conference, where he shared his predictions.
" I can't emphasize enough,
we need more electricity, " Musk said.
" However much you think we need; I
assure you we need more. "
The good news is that, beyond auto
manufacturers, there are utilities and
software vendors that are excited about
this major infrastructure and technology
challenge. New cars have data and
capabilities that traditional internal
combustion engine (ICE) vehicles did
not have. Rather than being viewed as a
burden to the grid, the innovators in this
space are thrilled for EVs vehicles to be
a new, smart asset that can actually improve
the grid's resiliency.
The Grid: The Backbone for
Achieving Net Zero
The power grid is amazing, comprised
of 360,000 miles of transmission lines,
enough to circle Earth's equator more
than 14 times. But that's only part of the
equation. The entire grid encompasses
an intricate network of power plants
and technological systems. Every day
as more renewable power generation is
built and load management technology
for distributed energy resources advances,
our grid becomes smarter and
more sophisticated. A modern grid will
be much more dynamic, enabling the
two-way flow of electricity and information,
empowering consumers and
commercial users, and increasing its
overall resiliency and responsiveness.
With vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology,
which enables electric vehicles (EVs)
to provide services to the power grid,
grid operators can tap into new energy
sources. EVs all have batteries large
enough to theoretically power a home
for several days. One EV, the Ford F-150
Lightning is offering what Ford is calling
" Intelligent Backup Power. " According to
Ford, the standard range version of the
Lightning has a usable battery capacity
of 98.0 kilowatt-hours-more than seven
Tesla Powerwalls, a well-regarded
home battery. With Intelligent Backup
Power, the Lightning can pump as much
as 9.6 kilowatts into a home, which is
enough to power everything needed
during a power failure.
If operators tap into a fraction of
the total of the EVs plugging into
the grid, vehicles such as the Lightning
can unlock a huge backup power
source, easing the shift from fossil
generation to renewables. V2Gs allow
utility companies to work with EV owners
to create changes, such as shifting
when they charge or discharging to
36 Supplement to POWER & RE+ 2023
serve peak loads. Although this may
seem like it will take an incredibly long
time to accomplish on an already aging
system, we can take the first steps with
what we already have: data.
EVs Support Resilient Grid
While federal funding continues to be
focused on public charging infrastructure,
it is key to remember that 88% of
EV charging happens at home. Utilities
are deploying managed charging programs
across the country to balance
the electric demand, or shifting athome
charging times to be off-peak
demand. The New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority
published a report in 2019 and found
that
well-designed
and
managed
charging programs could boost the
societal benefits of the EV transition
from $2.8 billion to $5.1 billion through
2030, money saved by reducing electricity
costs and grid upgrades.
Two types of technologies that utilities
can leverage to implement residential
managed charging programs
are Level 2 smart chargers and vehicle
telematics. Vehicle
telematics data
utilizes the EV's wireless system and
GPS to depict the vehicle's status regarding
distance traveled, the average
speed during the journey, where and
when it is charging, and for how long.
Nearly all (97%) of EVs are connected
vehicles with built-in 4G or 5G cellular
modems that enable this type of
data to be collected. The second type
of data, charger data, comes directly
from the EV charger and provides detailed,
at-home charging information.
Typical data from the charger includes
the length of the charging session and
how much energy was used during the
session to get the EV to a complete
charge. With access to this data, utilities
can gain a comprehensive understanding
of EV charging patterns and
usage, which can inform grid planning
and management decisions.
-Erin D'Amato is Director of Innovation
Solutions at Uplight.
POWER September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER September 2023
