At West Coast Green, PG&E featured the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a vehicle that could premiere in the United States as early as next year. Since West Coast Green is an expo focused specifically on the built environment, Eco Factory turned to PG&E Spokesman Kory Raftery to get a glimpse of the potential future of Northern California's roadways and how utilities and the smart grid system could be crucial for zero-carbon vehicles. Below is the question and answer format produced by our interview with Kory Raftery.
Eco Factory: PG&E was the platinum sponsor of West Coast Green, and featured the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV in their display area, which may be considered out of place at a green building show. What does the electrification of consumer transportation mean for the built environment, and how does PG&E fit into this transition?
Kory Raftery: PG&E believes that electric vehicles will benefit our customers, the environment, and the electric grid. Our company has actively researched electric vehicles since the 1990’s. In 2007, PG&E was the first utility to demonstrate the ability of electric vehicles to supply power to homes and businesses. PG&E is also working to investigate and demonstrate advanced vehicle communications that link an advanced meter to a smart charging system. In addition, we are researching the development of “Home Area Networks” that could possibly communicate with future smart appliances. When that communication occurs, electric vehicles could even be used as an emergency supply of power during an outage.
Eco Factory: Some consumers, and some attendees at West Coast Green, were vocally concerned about the strains created by electric vehicles. One woman at the Smart Grid panel with PG&E, IBM, and Google said that current electric vehicles would have electricity demands rivaling that of the typical household. Is this true?
Kory Raftery: To accommodate an electric vehicle boom in California, we will have to reinforce our distribution network. Electric cars can use as much power as a home, so utilities may need to run more lines into particular neighborhoods, even when there are just three or four cars. The transformers, which adjust the voltage downward and normally cool down at night, might need to be reinforced if they are being used more in the off hours.
Eco Factory: What challenges does PG&E have in the face of widespread vehicle electrification, and how does PG&E plan to address them?
Kory Raftery: As electric vehicle technology becomes more readily available to consumers, homes will need to adapt. For instance, electric car owners will likely need a plug in their garages to charge their vehicles. To work efficiently, that plug would have to be capable of handling a different voltage than most other household plugs. To charge quickly, garage plugs will need to carry 220 volts. Whereas most plugs (with the exception of the electric dryer) carry 110 volts. With the higher voltage, cars can charge in four or five hours, rather than as much as 10 hours.
Eco Factory: How will the Smart Grid benefit infrastructure stability and efficiency as electric vehicles become popular?
Kory Raftery: As electric vehicle technology becomes more readily available to consumers, homes will need to adapt. For instance, electric car owners will likely need a plug in their garages to charge their vehicles. To work efficiently, that plug would have to be capable of handling a different voltage than most other household plugs. To charge quickly, garage plugs will need to carry 220 volts. Whereas most plugs (with the exception of the electric dryer) carry 110 volts. With the higher voltage, cars can charge in four or five hours, rather than as much as 10 hours.
The advanced meters that can interface with car chargers will be able to limit how much electricity that vehicle can draw, leaving grid operators to choose the best time to charge the vehicle while still having it available to use in the morning when the owner needs it. Electric vehicles using power during times of low demand have the potential to bring electricity costs down because energy assets would be used more effectively, transmitting more electricity with the same infrastructure. PG&E is doing research with Tesla Motors on developing a charger that could provide frequency regulation services by constantly varying how much power the car draws. The California Independent System Operator usually pays for these services, so electric vehicle owners could potentially get paid to provide these services.
Eco Factory: How do you plan to allay consumer fears that without a change in behavior (reducing peak use), the Smart Grid will increase electricity costs?
Kory Raftery: PG&E understands our customers are concerned with energy costs. We are committed to working with them on becoming more energy efficient during all periods of the day. "Smart Grid" is a vision of a future electrical system that uses advanced communications, computing and automated control technology to make the electric grid more efficient, reliable and friendly to renewable energy. For example, a Smart Grid would automatically and flexibly manage energy storage and customer demand to balance changes in available generation, particularly wind and solar power that fluctuate widely.
Eco Factory: Matt Golden, a presenter at West Coast Green, talked at length about Technology Neutrality. He cited a PG&E program that subsidized CFL bulbs, while alternatives in LED and high-efficiency incandescent lighting received no benefit. He also cited federal and state programs that provide heavy subsidization for solar installations, and practically no stimulus for energy efficiency (which cuts more carbon per dollar invested). What benefits are PG&E planning to spur the growth of electric vehicles, and how does this stack up when compared to alternative investments, such as hydrogen separation and natural gas powered vehicles?
Kory Raftery: PG&E offers a special, discounted rate for our electric vehicle customers, known as the Experimental Time-of-Use Low Emission Vehicle rate. PG&E offers electricity to these customers at different prices based on the time of day when the electricity is actually used. The different rates offer customers a significant incentive to charge their vehicles during the off-peak time (at night) when the demand for electricity is lower.
Our company also supports a holistic approach to researching alternative fuel technologies. We have a Clean Air Transportation group that is committed to researching not only electric vehicles, but also liquid and compressed natural gas and diesel-electric hybrids, among others. We believe this research can result in innovation in clean air transportation technology, ultimately driving down prices and making these vehicles a viable option for our customers.
In regards to CFL’s, we believe they are the most common starting point in offering our customers energy efficient solutions. Right now, the easiest thing for someone to do is to replace an incandescent with a CFL at the most basic level and build on that experience to explore their options. PG&E has incented manufacturers to bring other types of CFL's to the marketplace such as globes, a-lamps and reflectors. More and more of these will come in future. Rest assured, we will continue to work with retailers and manufacturers to bring more CFL models to our customers to help them save even more energy in their homes and businesses.
Eco Factory: Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy told us that the first low-cost electric vehicles would be sold only in "EV microclimates:" areas where infrastructure, consumer behavior, and environmental attitudes would be conducive to the fledgling electric car industry. Could the Bay Area be one of those microclimates?
Kory Raftery: The Bay Area certainly is a hot spot when it comes to environmentally friendly cars so if a vehicle manufacturer has a limited number of vehicles or a small dealer network they may choose to concentrate their efforts in that region due to demand. As technology improves and demand increases, the price of driving an electric vehicle is likely to decline and electric cars may become more attractive to drivers throughout the state who may wish to install chargers in their garages.
Our sincere thanks to Kory Raftery and PG&E for giving us an inside look.
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