Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Improving Air Quality
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Another important option is the reusing or repurposing of EV batteries.
Many manufacturers are already exploring reuse options. Nissan has
powered streetlights using old batteries in Japan, Renault is using batteries
to back up elevators in Paris, and GM is using old Chevy Volt batteries
to back up its data center in Michigan (Gibson, 2018). Electric and hybrid
batteries can also be useful in a household when paired with solar panels to
store excess electricity produced during the day (‘Battery Recycling’, 2015).
Reused batteries can also be useful as electric bike batteries, which is a technology that Powervault and Aceleron have created (Gibson, 2018). Nissan
has also created the Nissan x OPUS – an inflatable camping trailer that runs
using old Nissan Leaf batteries (Evarts, 2019b).
6.6 Batteries and the Power Grid
As the number of EVs on the road increases, it also means an increase in
total demand for electricity. An important part of the EV infrastructure
is making sure the grid can support the charging of EVs in use. Many
different methods are being used and tested to make EV integration with
the grid go as smoothly as possible. One of these methods is known as
“time- of- use rates” or “time- of- use prices”. The idea is to incentivize
drivers to charge their vehicles at times when the least stress is put on
the grid. For instance, Portland General Electric implemented a timeof- use rate plan in its territory in Oregon: On- peak charging costs 19.9
cents/ kWh, midpeak costs 14.5 cents/ kWh and off- peak is 4.2 cents/
kWh (Cohn, 2018). Residential users of Pacific Gas & Electric could save
up to $70 annually by running their dishwasher at 9pm instead of 6pm
(assuming they run a 1.5- kW dishwasher 20 times a month on PG&E’s E- 6
TOU rate) (Fields, 2018).
EVs can also be used as “mobile storage”. According to Gretchen Bakke,
using EVs as storage would allow the energy demand to move around as
people do (Bakke, 2017; Davar, 2017). This may be particularly useful in offgrid environments. If an EV owner’s workplace offers charging during the
day and the EV contains a significant battery, the vehicle could be charged
while at work and then later hooked up to the off- grid home. This would
then serve as a power supply for cooking, appliances, or to do laundry
(Erickson, 2019). This could also be useful for helping energy supply to be
more in line with demand. Davar summarized this situation by noting that
“the sun clocks out for the day when everyone gets home and turns on all
sorts of energy- consuming devices”, which is why using stored energy in an
EV battery would be valuable (Davar, 2017).
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Another important option is the reusing or repurposing of EV batteries.
Many manufacturers are already exploring reuse options. Nissan has
powered streetlights using old batteries in Japan, Renault is using batteries
to back up elevators in Paris, and GM is using old Chevy Volt batteries
to back up its data center in Michigan (Gibson, 2018). Electric and hybrid
batteries can also be useful in a household when paired with solar panels to
store excess electricity produced during the day (‘Battery Recycling’, 2015).
Reused batteries can also be useful as electric bike batteries, which is a technology that Powervault and Aceleron have created (Gibson, 2018). Nissan
has also created the Nissan x OPUS – an inflatable camping trailer that runs
using old Nissan Leaf batteries (Evarts, 2019b).
6.6 Batteries and the Power Grid
As the number of EVs on the road increases, it also means an increase in
total demand for electricity. An important part of the EV infrastructure
is making sure the grid can support the charging of EVs in use. Many
different methods are being used and tested to make EV integration with
the grid go as smoothly as possible. One of these methods is known as
“time- of- use rates” or “time- of- use prices”. The idea is to incentivize
drivers to charge their vehicles at times when the least stress is put on
the grid. For instance, Portland General Electric implemented a timeof- use rate plan in its territory in Oregon: On- peak charging costs 19.9
cents/ kWh, midpeak costs 14.5 cents/ kWh and off- peak is 4.2 cents/
kWh (Cohn, 2018). Residential users of Pacific Gas & Electric could save
up to $70 annually by running their dishwasher at 9pm instead of 6pm
(assuming they run a 1.5- kW dishwasher 20 times a month on PG&E’s E- 6
TOU rate) (Fields, 2018).
EVs can also be used as “mobile storage”. According to Gretchen Bakke,
using EVs as storage would allow the energy demand to move around as
people do (Bakke, 2017; Davar, 2017). This may be particularly useful in offgrid environments. If an EV owner’s workplace offers charging during the
day and the EV contains a significant battery, the vehicle could be charged
while at work and then later hooked up to the off- grid home. This would
then serve as a power supply for cooking, appliances, or to do laundry
(Erickson, 2019). This could also be useful for helping energy supply to be
more in line with demand. Davar summarized this situation by noting that
“the sun clocks out for the day when everyone gets home and turns on all
sorts of energy- consuming devices”, which is why using stored energy in an
EV battery would be valuable (Davar, 2017).