Get Ready, Grid - First Wave of Volts Being Born

Lovingly hand-assembled one at a time like a Phantom?  Uhhh, no.  The Volt manufacturing process seems to draw more from Tron than from Rolls Royce. Check it great video HERE.

So GM has invested big time in being able to create a large number of Volts fast. Good thing, because GE recently committed to buying 12,000 Volts next year, and sales are just beginning in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Michigan.

I've always felt that the huge efforts to accelerate the arrival of the Smart Grid at residences was a case of too much spending for too little benefit, and that the prospect of trimming 5-15% off their home electric bill would not be a sufficient motivator for the majority of Americans to change their behaviors

But electric vehicles (EVs) like the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Chevy Volt, depending on their rate of adoption, may have me revising that opinion. You see, while they are charging, each of these cars draws the electricity of another entire house (or more). That's enough electricity use to make savings more desirable, and enough additional demand to prompt utilities to closely monitor which neighborhoods are adding EVs the fastest, so as to avoid overloading local transformers through preemptive, targeted upgrades.

Let the good times roll. Oh, and this just in via a sharp-eyed colleague and worth your time: Why Electric Cars will Drive the Smart Grid.

Photo credit: Betsy Weber on Flickr.com

An Early Glimpse of V2G in Texas ... and a Volt Test Track

State fairs are big. Texas is big. So the Texas state fair is a monster (see BigTex.com). This year's version has something big in the electric vehicles/V2G space, with an Electric Vehicle Showcase (EVS) on Thurs and Friday, Sep 23 & 24. Here are a few of the details from the site:

Auto Show: Witness the evolution into the next generation vehicle. Visit with companies, agencies, and municipalities involved in the development of the electric vehicle and infrastructure grid in North Texas in the adjacent exhibit area.

Exhibitors: DFW Clean Cities, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Oncor, TXU Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Chevy, Electric Vehicle North Texas, US Green Building Council North Texas Chapter, and others.

Chevy Ride and Drive Test Track: A unique opportunity to drive an Chevy Volt, activate the charging cycle, and learn how electric vehicles will not only be high performance, cost effective and convenient, but will also help air quality in North Texas.

Oncor Mobile Experience Center (MEC): The MEC will be on-site to demonstrate smart meter technology and give attendees a real-time look at managing electric usage that includes electric vehicle charging at home.

Location: Chevy Ride and Drive Test Track Pennsylvania Ave. Entrance - Gate 1

Sponsors: GM, Texas electric utility Oncor, IBM ...

You can mingle with executives from these and other companies at a VIP Reception Thursday evening. Tickets available HERE. And for more info on the EVS, click HERE.  I'll be there and hope you can make it too.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars?

Q: I'll repeat the question - Do androids dream of electric cars?

A: I don't know, but I do.

With apologies to the Philip K Dick novel that inspired Blade Runner's spinners (air cars), while they may not fly, the propulsion systems of mainstream automobiles are about to undergo a major transformation. Over the next few years our everyday vehicles are poised to make the leap from Popular Science to Car and Driver. But the implications for critical electrical infrastructure go far beyond quiet motors and cleaner air; the grid itself will transform to accommodate the new loads, and grid IT systems will be upgraded to take advantage of some exciting new grid management capabilities Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) will enable.

To whit, see the North American ISOs and RTO's "Assessment of Plug-in Electric Vehicle Integration with ISO/RTO Systems." Below are a couple of security related snippets from this report, but the whole thing makes exciting reading for anyone interested in building and/or using the energy future.

Recommended standard communication interfaces:

• DNP3
• ICCP or IEC 60870-6/TASE.2
• XML/HTTPS

Recommended encryption standards:

• Secure ICCP
• Secure DNP3; compliant with IEC 62351-5 for Secure Authentication
• HTTPS with digital certificates

The authors make it plain that there's a ton of work to be done and that these are just a few baby steps when they note:

In addition to the identified communication interfaces and security requirements (including standards in development for smart grid and the NERC CIP 002-009 Standards), there are other integration requirements either not covered or partially covered by existing standards or developing standards.

Jack and I will be beating a drum ... and watching ... to make sure software security requirements get prioritized. But from complex systems and business process engineering perspectives, not to mention the attention paid to interstate coordination and market signals:

Because PEVs are mobile loads, and because aggregators will serve as liaisons between PEVs and ISO/RTOs, consistency across ISO/RTOs is a concern. As such, standard processes, including validation and settlement processes, and common communication protocols, including security requirements and communication interfaces, are desirable. Therefore, the project team recommends continued participation by the IRC in ongoing standards development, such as with SAE, NIST, NAESB, IEC and IEEE. The project team also recommends ISO/RTO investments in IT and communications infrastructure to meet the unique needs of PEV resources and aggregators and ultimately to enhance system reliability and enable participation of PEV resources in ISO/RTO markets.

It may not be a moon shot, but the scale of this project, especially when as we go from hundreds, to hundreds of thousands, to many millions of electric cars, sometimes seems similar. Suffice it to say, keeping it all secure, while getting all the other parts right, will be a grand challenge.

Photo Credit: Tesla Model S at Industry.Bnet.com