While the traditional fossil fuel vehicle is pretty much a dead weight when it’s not in use, electric cars offer promise of increased utility. Automakers have been on a roll finding – and implementing – novel ways of integrating the electric car into our lives. Ford’s foray into sustainable energy partnership with SunPower is one just positive step forward. On August 2nd, Nissan took a similarly bold step forward in increasing the utility of electric cars in our lives with the introduction of the “Leaf to Home” system.

The process uses the Leaf’s 24kWh (killowatt hour) battery to power a house. Through the system, the Leaf battery connects to the home power distribution panel using a special connector linked to the Leaf’s standard charging port. The power control system is a two way design that can be used to charge the Leaf conventionally, but in the advent of a brown or blackout, the Leaf’s battery returns electricity to the home. Designed for Japanese homes, which use an average of 12kWh of electricity a day, the Leaf to Home system would barely supply an energy voracious American home for a day (typical American homes suck down 30kWh of juice daily).

Nissan is working with commercial partners to produce the system, and expect production by the end of the year. With the recent disruption in electricity production in Japan as a result of the Tohuku Earthquake, and ensuing shutting down of nuclear power stations, Japanese households have been subjected to brownouts and blackouts with increasing frequency. Nissan hopes the Leaf to Home system can help alleviate the effect of these occurrences. Nissan also believes this two way system could also be beneficial in reducing overall household electricity consumption, providing energy back to the grid during peak demand during the day (if the car isn’t being used) and recharging the battery at night when demand is low. In conjunction with sustainable energy production methods such as solar, it could reduce a household’s demand to zero in certain circumstances.

Hopefully other manufacturers take heed of Nissan’s system and partner with other household energy providers to bring out more systems like this. By making the car become an integral part of the energy usage composition of a home, households can take a major step forward in reducing their energy consumption. Considering the number of households with cars, the impact could be significant. The downside to this system is how starkly consumptive American households are with electricity. Reducing our home consumption, adding renewable energy sources such as solar – and cleverly making our vehicles do more work than just burn energy could radically reshape domestic energy concerns. Of course the installation and construction of these systems means more jobs too. In this difficult economic climate, that’s something everyone can agree on.

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One of the great hopes behind electrified vehicles is reduced dependence of not only foreign oil, but all polluting energy sources. In a step towards that greater goal, Ford announced that they have teamed up with solar energy panel manufacturer SunPower. While not the first domestic manufacturer to team up with a solar energy provider (GM recently announced a $7.5million investment in Sunlogics), they are the first to provide a customer-centric solution towards decreased grid-dependence.

The fruit of the team up is a rooftop solar system designed to provide Focus Electric owners enough renewable energy to offset the electricity used for charging. The 2.5Kw SunPower system is projected to provide 3000 kilowatt hours of energy annually.

“Under the ‘Drive Green for Life’ program, Focus Electric owners can reduce their total cost of ownership by generating enough energy from their high efficiency SunPower rooftop solar system to offset the electricity required to charge the vehicle at night,” said Mike Tinskey, Ford director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure. “It’s an eco-friendly solution that perfectly complements our plug-in products and other green initiatives.”

The panels are sized to provide approximately 1000 miles of driving for an average customer. Ford and SunPower intend the system to be an offset to customer’s charging needs, and would provide renewable energy back to the grid when they are charging during the day.

The SunPower E18 panel at the heart of the system is touted by the company as being 50% more efficient than competitive systems. The total panel conversion by the E18 panel is 18.5%, which makes it a competitive solution to most of its current competitors in the home solar market.

The complete SunPower solar system is offered at a base price of less than $10,000, after federal tax credits. Local and state rebates, along with other incentives, may drive the system cost down even more, depending on a customer’s location. Included in the purchase is a residential monitoring system, which includes the ability to track the performance of their solar system on the web or through an iPhone application.

For the coin consumers won’t be saving money in a direct comparison with just buying a gasoline powered Focus, but that isn’t the point. The goal of the project is to spur interest in home solar initiatives as being directly related to plug in driving. As the cost of solar systems continue to drop more of these home systems would make plug in motoring a truly green alternative.

SunPower has worked with other automakers in the past, putting the largest rooftop solar installation in North America on Toyota’s North American Part Center California.

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The American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as H.R. 2354, was opened up for amendments and debate today in Congress.  The legislation is meant to introduce  measures that increase energy efficiency, deploy green technology, and transition the country away from fossil-fuel dependence.

The Bill mandates utilities to begin development of plans that support electric vehicle infrastructure and standards for incorporating their integration with a smart power grid.   It also authorizes the Secretary of Energy to provide financial assistance for the deployment of plug-in vehicles throughout the country.   This assistance includes, but is not limited to, providing funds to offset the costs of purchasing electric cars, funding the construction of charging stations and battery-exchange stations, and promoting the integration of plug-in vehicles with the grid.  It also states that the Secretary of Energy may financially assist automakers with the retooling of factories and the purchase of batteries for first-production models.

H.R. 2454 further directs the President, the Department of Transportation, the EPA, and various state regulatory agencies to establish regulations for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards.

With the private and public sectors collaborating to ensure wholesale upgrades to the energy infrastructure, it is increasingly becoming a question of when as opposed to if plug-in vehicles will have a major impact internationally.

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The startup entity behind this model is called Better Place, and the man at the helm is Shai Agassi.    Agassi’s ambitious propsal includes installing a network of charging stations where customers can swap the old batteries from their cars with new batteries.  Sophisticated software will allow the company to determine when electricity prices are at their lowest, at which point the old batteries will be recharged.  At peak hours when demand is high, they will be able to sell excess power back into the grid.  The third party to this electricity arbitrage will be the buyer, who according to Better Place will benefit from the low cost of electricity when compared with gasoline.   Additionally, the waiting time to switch batteries will be minimal, as Better Place has engineered a robot capable of performing the task in under a minute.

The whole scheme, and especially the prospect of having a hassle-free battery swap, will require massive standardization.  This is where Better Place’s partners come into play.  Agassi has formed an agreement with Renault-Nissan, who will be spending about $600 million to build electric versions of its existing vehicles.   The expected deployment date is 2011, and in the meantime Better Place, along with several energy companies, will be constructing the electric infrastructure.   Stations are already spring up in Japan and Israel, and investors plan on raising $1 billion (Australian) to construct a similar network in Australia.

We are so used to thinking of our cars as necessary capital expenditures with maintenance costs and a fixed life.  Our mobile phones, on the other hand, are largely subsidized by telecom companies who offer contracts or pay-as-you-go deals.   In the latter scenario, more of the driver’s costs are deferred, and they vary according to his or her needs.

This business model, however, does seem to have its drawbacks.  Consumers will have to adopt the mindset of their car becoming a standarized accessory, rather than a symbol of self-expression.  Additionally, the prospect of having to visit a charging station each time you want to “refuel” is daunting and might be hard to accept — Designing the vehicles with the ability to plug-in at home will go a long way to solving this.   Another problem is basing the pricing model off the distance that the driver travels:  this might create an incentive for customers to “steal” power from their batteries, transferring it out to another battery perhaps, and simply swapping at a station for free.  However, if Better Place were to switch to pricing for the charge in their batteries instead of mileage, it would make it difficult to implement charge-at-home functionality (unless a tamper-proof “meter” were placed in the car).  And finally, the cost of building the infrastructure will be extremely high, yet without plenty of swapping stations available, it would be hard for a driver to justify signing up.

Mr. Agassi and his company already have a lot of believers despite the large hurdles facing them.  Whether his model succeeds or fails, it will have lasting implications for the auto industry.   We will continue to keep an eye out here for the latest related developments.

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With an electric car plug standard about to be finalized, and charging stations beginning to pop up in the U.S. and Europe, an important question to ask is: How long will it take to fill up a car battery? And like most matters, the answer is, “It depends!“

Automobile batteries, whether they are nickel-metal hydride or lithium-ion, can be made up of many cells, with larger cell quantities capable of a larger storage capacity. The tradeoff, however, is that cars with more capacity are more expensive, heavier, produce more heat and take longer to charge. Battery life is also influenced by how “deeply” the battery charges and discharges. For example, the Toyota Prius only allows its battery to be charged to 80% of full capacity, as going beyond this point can lead to overheating (thermal runaway) and excessive gassing, resulting in a decline in battery life. All this means that the type of car you own will play a factor.

The other major factor in charge times is the type of charging system being used. The standard wall socket in most U.S. garages outputs 120 Volts at 20 Amps of current. Multiplying these units together provides the Watts, or energy per unit of time. With this amount of power, it could take a whole night (8+ hours) to get the full electrical storage into a car battery. Typical European outlets produce 230 Volts at around 16 Amps, perhaps shaving a couple hours off charging times.

For car owners wanting to drive far distances without the impossible hassle of waiting 8 hours between charges, there are a couple options available. In the U.S., plug-in charging stations will provide thick power cables that make it possible to deliver the 240 Volts at 70 Amps that the plug standard is designed to handle – this would make it possible to fully charge a vehicle in an hour or two. In Europe, the plug specifications provide for 400 Volts at 63 Amps. Theoretically, this can allow a waiting time measured in only minutes! However, with that sort of power, there is a risk of battery damage.

Home owners also have the option of using the high powered connections in their houses that are reserved for equipment such as air conditioners. They may also buy personal charging stations –  at a steep price. Unfortunately, residents who live in apartment buildings will not have access to many of these options.

For individuals who only drive short distances each day, simply charging their car overnight shoud be practical and simple. Other prospective buyers will have to take into account the charging options available to them, as well as the vehicle itself.   And in the not-so-distant future, advancements in battery technology can be expected to further change the equation.

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EDF, along with its subsidiary, Electricité de Strasbourg, will also be setting up hundreds of charging stations in parking lots, partner locations, public roads, and users’ homes.  A major goal of the Toyota-EDF partnership is to promote awareness and acceptance of a broad roll-out of electric vehicles in the minds of consumers.

Similar projects in Japan, the UK, and the United States are also in the works by the car company.

To read more about the recent announcement at Gizmag, click here.

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The major boon that a surge of plug-ins bring to utilities is as follows:  Their “surplus” power, which is all those electrons that their power sources produce and send through their wires, will now be sucked out of the grid, rather than being wasted.  This is especially beneficial at night, when most owners will be recharging their vehicles and utilities typically have excess power-generating capacity.  Some forward thinking individuals are also considering the storage capabilities of plug-in batteries as a way to power individual businesses and homes, temporarily disconnecting the need for the power grid.

On the flip-side of the coin, utilities are also planning for the infrastructure improvements and potential hurdles in the future.  Southern California Edison, a utility based in Los Angeles, is spending more than $5 million a year purchasing a fleet of plug-ins, which they are testing and researching the underlying battery technologies.   As of now, they have partnered with Ford to test its upcoming hybrid, Mitsubishi for a subcompact, Daimler for an experimental hybrid plug-in van, and GM on its Chevy Volt.  It’s also one of many utilities looking to upgrade the more than 1,000 public charging stations in California at the moment.

If clusters of car owners living in the same geographic location charge their vehicles at the same time, this will put a load on the local power grids, and might require them to upgrade their transformers.  If plug-in cars really catch on, power companies are going to be forced to adjust their rates, in effect encouraging consumers to charge their vehicles at off-peak hours.

Fortunately for the utility companies, the shift to electric vehicles is going to be gradual.   Even if we do have 1 million plug-ins on the road by 2015, that is a small fraction of the total stock of automobiles, and the drive to improve the power network has already begun.

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