Group items tagged

The paper discusses the use of a dual energy storage system based on batteries and supercapacitors in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). The battery has a large energy density, enabling an all-electric driving range of 100 km, while the supercapacitor has a large power density and provides peak power during acceleration and regenerative breaking. The paper discusses the benefits and drawbacks of both storage systems and the specific requirements imposed by the hybrid drive train. Coupling such a HEV to the grid allows interaction between grid and HEV, providing the grid with a controllable load. Depending on the communication between the hybrid fleet and the grid, this load can be controlled by adjusting the electricity price in order to allow a higher penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind parks in the grid and if the communication allows the transmission system operator to reduce the load imposed on the grid by the hybrid fleet, the hybrid fleet can become part of the secondary frequency control reserve. In case of sudden demand or supply fluctuations, the hybrid fleet can assist in primary control of the grid. Due to the dual energy storage system the HEVs can also provide fast load tracking to keep the voltage in microgrids at the desired set point. An experimental setup with a battery, grid coupling and induction machine proves the feasibility of the concept.

Electrified transportation is the use of electrical power to run transportation vehicles and related facilities. Electricity has long been used to power transportation in the Seattle area where 150 King County Metro electric trolley buses serve 14 routes covering 115 miles. Now electrical power options are spreading to port facilities, medium-duty trucks, school buses and truck stops. Most importantly, electricity is emerging to power cars and light-duty vehicles in the form of gasoline-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) which can use grid power and run longer on batteries than regular hybrids. These options are explored in the FAQ below. These questions and answers are derived from a 2007 ETWG Briefing Report written by Rich Feldman, Apollo Alliance and Patrick Mazza, Climate Solutions.

In the future, utilities will pay you to plug-in your vehicle. Millions will plug-in their electric vehicles (EV), plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) at night when electricity is cheap, then plug-in during the day when energy is expensive and sell those extra electrons at a profit. Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology is a bi-directional electric grid interface that allows a plug-in to take energy from the grid or put it back on the grid.

Car makers, electric car chargers, two mayors and one prime minister all made the call for more electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars and an infrastructure to support the vehicles.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2008) — The odometer of a low emission hybrid electric test vehicle recently reached 100,000 miles as the car circled a track in the UK using the power of an advanced CSIRO battery system. The UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery in a single unit, creating a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

It's called the ReCharge, a concept car from Volvo to be unveiled officially next week at the Frankfurt Auto Show, it's a plug-in hybrid with a battery-only range of 100 km before you need to have the car's four-cylinder 1.6-liter Flexfuel engine kick in to power the car and recharge the battery.

Conventional internal combustion engines waste a lot of energy in creating heat, but by applying a ‘Rankine cycle,’ a process where hot exhaust gases are used to heat up a water reservoir and create steam to spin a turbine, electricity can be generated. This electricity can then be used to charge up an array of batteries and help power a hybrid-electric powertrain.

Today there are roughly 2 million hybrids in the global car park of 820 million vehicles—or far less than 1 percent. And there are fewer than 200 plug-in hybrids. Before we start thinking about other uses for the battery packs in such vehicles, Kjaer all but begged his audience, “let's just get the batteries driving the wheels first!”

It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count. We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 startups, listed according to their release date, with additional information on fuel type, range, top speed and price. Most haven’t yet taken venture funding, but where applicable, we’ve listed financial backing.

We examine the potential economic implications of using vehicle batteries to store grid electricity generated at off-peak hours for off-vehicle use during peak hours. Hourly electricity prices in three U.S. cities were used to arrive at daily profit values, while the economic losses associated with battery degradation were calculated based on data collected from A123 Systems LiFePO4/Graphite cells tested under combined driving and off-vehicle electricity utilization. For a 16 kWh vehicle battery pack, the maximum annual profit with perfect market information and no battery degradation cost ranged from ~$140 to $250 in the three cities. If the measured battery degradation is applied, however, the maximum annual profit (if battery pack replacement costs fall to $5,000 for a 16 kWh battery) decreases to ~$10-$120. It appears unlikely that these profits alone will provide sufficient incentive to the vehicle owner to use the battery pack for electricity storage and later off-vehicle use. We also estimate grid net social welfare benefits from avoiding the construction and use of peaking generators that may accrue to the owner, finding that these are similar in magnitude to the energy arbitrage profit.

The air quality of urban areas would greatly improved if we could replace the thousands of diesel delivery trucks currently in use with zero-emission vehicles. In this vein, a company called  Smith Electric Vehicles will be introducing their electric trucks to the U.S.  Their Newton truck (pictured above) can be recharged via an regular electric socket. They have some pretty impressive features, including a range of up to 150 miles when fully charged. The battery system is rated at 120 kilowatts, and trucks have a maximum speed of 50 mph. The trucks also use regenerative braking to recover energy from the braking process.

After safety, the longevity of the batteries in a plug-in hybrid is the greatest unknown. Can a plug-in hybrid’s battery pack retain the bulk of its energy capacity over 10 years of daily use and more than 4000 full-discharge cycles? (For a deeper look at the challenges facing plug-in hybrid batteries, see “Lithium Batteries Take to the Road”.)[ LINK: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep07/5490 ] As Don Hillebrand of Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois, said tartly, “Batteries are the showstopper.” Periodic demands from the grid, even for only a small fraction of the battery’s stored energy, would clearly affect the cells’ life span—but no one has data on how much. Another open issue is the development of creative financing models for replacement battery packs costing several thousand U.S. dollars even after mass production is achieved. Third-party battery leasing could be one answer, if combined with a secondary market for batteries whose performance has fallen below automotive levels. Carmakers, electric utilities, and large consumer-financing groups are quietly batting around these notions to see if they can build a financial model that makes sense for all three parties.

"My feeling is that the kind of plug-in hybrid currently proposed by different auto makers can be best described as a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank. ... I'm not sure what kind of real advantages they [plug-ins] would have. ... I don't think that [plug-ins] will contribute to the global environment or to reducing carbon dioxide."

Hybrids, plug-ins, and extended-range electric cars are hitting the market. Use this interactive primer to learn how they work.

They calculated water usage, consumption, and withdrawal during petroleum refining and electricity generation in the United States.

Each mile driven with electricity consumes about three times more water (0.32 versus 0.07-0.14 gallons per mile) than with gasoline, the study found.