Electric vehicles (EVs) are more than just a means of transportation: they’re mobile batteries that store large amounts of power on the road. Because EV batteries are often underutilized by drivers, some of the energy stored in these batteries can be pushed back into the electrical grid through a process known as vehicle-to-grid integration. Vehicle-to-grid integration involves creating EV batteries that are capable of bidirectional charging, meaning they can both receive electricity from and return electricity to the power grid. If electric vehicles were to be adopted on a large scale, they could help supply renewable energy to buildings and homes. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/ev-charging-vehicle-to-grid-integration-with-scott-moura/
For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/ev-charging-vehicle-to-grid-integration-with-scott-moura/
Ethan: How can electric vehicle charging become smarter? This is Ethan Elkind of Climate Break. I spoke to UC Berkeley engineering professor Scott Moura. He’s working on a new EV charger that lets drivers choose immediate charging, or schedule a charge that favors renewable energy use. Immediate charging is what we are used to. It’s done when your vehicle tops off or you leave.
Prof. Moura: The slightly more interesting one is scheduled. Scheduled, you indicate when you plan to depart and how much added miles you want. That now gives us flexibility to optimize how we charge the vehicle. And it optimizes the charge schedules such that you're guaranteed to have those added miles when you plan to depart. We can do so in a way that lowers cost for the consumer, lowers energy emissions, and that’s essentially the experience, these two differentiating charging options.
Ethan: Moura’s installing charging boxes on the UC Berkeley campus, and he plans to test the system as soon as construction’s complete.
Prof. Moura: We're going to present these randomized prices in the charging options and see how people react to them.
Ethan: For more on Moura’s work, and for more climate solutions, go to climatebreak.org or wherever you get your podcasts.