A while back we told you Excel energy was to conduct a study with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and others to asses what would happen if, using vehicle to grid (V2G) technology, you plugged thousands of PHEVs and different energy sources, such as solar and wind, into the grid and made them work together. They must have been happy with the results because today it was announced that they, along with a whole consortium of partners, are ready to begin the implementation phase. America will soon receive its first Smart Grid City: Boulder, Colorado is the guinea pig.

Why Boulder? Well, not only is it home to the University of Colorado but also the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is already involved in the project, and several other federal agencies, according to the news release on the Xcel Energy web site. Residents of the city should notice some improvements to their local grid over the next few years including, "transformation of existing metering infrastructure to a robust, dynamic electric system communications network, providing real-time, high-speed, two-way communication throughout the distribution grid" and "integration of infrastructure to support easily dispatched distributed generation technologies (such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with vehicle-to-grid technology; battery systems; wind turbines; and solar panels)" among others.

To read the press release for yourself, make the jump.

CNET's Green Enterprise video series (see video below) took a look at PG&E's hybrid electric service trucks and their vehicle-to-grid (V2G) plug-in hybrid cars. One cool clip shows PG&E's V2G hybrid putting energy back into the grid and turning the power meter backwards. The diesel electric service trucks don't need to idle to use the bucket and can save up to sixty percent of the annual fuel cost of a standard truck (that's $5,000 in potential savings per truck per year). The video below also includes other green technology like solar panels on the sides of buildings and buoys that generate energy from ocean waves.

[Source: CNET]

Xcel Energy announced a plug-in hybrid test program today that will use six Ford Escape Hybrids converted to PHEV capability for a six-month period, starting before the year is out. The Escape PHEVs will be part of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology demonstration in or near Denver (at least, that's where the press release, available after the break, is datelined. The release itself says " Xcel Energy will study how the vehicles perform in varied geographic regions and climates"). Three will be used by Xcel fleet drivers and three in "typical home settings." As you heard in the Santa Monica Alt Car hydrogen fuel cell panel, it's those home users that give a company the best data in test like this.

Related:

• Xcel Energy and NREL announce wind powered hydrogen production
• Hybrids Plus, Inc. to build PHEV Escape for New York State

[Source: Xcel]

For AutoblogGreen's latest video round up we give you three interesting videos from AlwaysOn GoingGreen 2007. The video above is part of a panel discussion about electric cars with "Jessie Deeter, Producer, 'Who Killed the Electric Car?', Tom Gage, CEO, AC Propulsion, Gary Starr, Chairman, ZAP, Ian Clifford, CEO, ZENN Motor Company and Dennis Hogan, CFO, Phoenix Motorcars." Someone on the panel says a vehicle-to-grid system could earn electric car owners from $100 to $500 a month.

Below the fold are two more videos. The first is all about batteries with "Eric Wesoff, Greentech Media, David Vieau, CEO, A123 Systems, Saroj Sahu, CTO & Founder, Deeya Energy and Alan Gotcher, CEO, Altair Nanotechnologies." The second is about bio-fuels with "Peter Hanschen, Partner, Morrison & Foerster, Robert Walsh, President, LS9, Inc., Jonathan Wolfson, President & COO, Solazyme, Inc., John Melo, CEO, Amyris Biotechnologies and Steven Perricone, CEO & Co-Founder, BioFuelBox, Inc." Each video is between three and six minutes long.

[Source: YouTube]

Tesla and PG&E have announced a partnership to research and develop vehicle to grid (V2G) technology. The focus of the research will be on Smart Charging. What's smart charging? If you don't know, let JB Straubel, Tesla's Chief Technology Officer explain:

"Smart charging is a form of V2G in which the vehicle does not provide power back to the grid. Instead, the vehicle charging rate is controlled remotely in order to support the operation of the grid or to best match load to the availability of intermittent renewable energy resources such as wind and solar. Tesla Motors' goal in developing V2G is to eventually provide our customers with an option that could reduce their cost of electricity for vehicle charging while supporting greater penetration of renewable energy on the grid."

This sounds a lot like a solution I posted in a comment to my interview with Daniel Kammen on the operating costs of electric vehicles. There is enough capacity for electric cars to use the energy grid but there are small things to work out like how much it will cost and how people will charge their cars. PG&E has worked with many companies in the past (see links below) and will soon demonstrate intelligent charging with Tesla.

Related:

• PG&E demonstrates first ever vehicle-to-grid charging
• How PG&E will help Google with that 100+ PHEV, make computing greener and build the smart grid
• PG&E adds four Phoenix SUTs to their EV fleet

[Source: PG&E press release]

The video above is all about the Rocky Mountain Institute's Hypercar broadcast as part of the Science Channel's Eco-tech series. The Hypercar is a 100 MPG SUV concept that achieves such high a MPG number by reducing waste. RMI designed the SUV to be built with light carbon fiber for example. Amory Lovins "re-invented" carbon fiber with FiberForge which aims to be the "highest volume composite process in the world."

The potential of V2G or vehicle to grid is also explored in the video. Michael Brylawski of RMI says cars have 7 times more energy than the power grid. He mentioned the same idea in our in-depth interview with him January. He says "if all cars were efficient (with 35-50 kilowatts of fuel cell power) and propelled by fuel cells, we'd have roughly around 5 terawatts of electricity generation capacity in our cars. This is six times the electric generation capacity of all U.S. stationary powerplants - coal, oil, nuclear, hydro."

Below the fold is another video of Amory from Discovery Times Channel's Addicted to Oil. The video includes a visit by New York Times' Thomas Friedman to FiberForge. He tries to break a carbon fiber car part with a hammer and lifts a carbon fiber car door with just one hand. Also below the fold is a video of a lecture on transportation by Amory. There is also a great video of Amory on Charlie Rose online.

Related:

• How long until we get one? A short history of the ultralight RMI Hypercar
• Amory Lovins: Suck it up and Live!
• Interview with Michael Brylawski of RMI, part one - History of the Hypercar
• Interview with Michael Brylawski of RMI part two - Hypercars and cold beers
• Interview with Michael Brylawski of RMI part three - Hypercars and Vehicle To Grid theory

[Source: Youtube]

The Sunday New York Times writes about the Prius powering someone's house and the future potential of V2G or vehicle to grid. A Honda (shouldn't that be Toyota?) spokesperson shot down plans for hybrids powering homes responding; "We would not like to see stresses on the battery pack caused by putting it through cycles it wasn't designed for." "Instead, they should buy a Honda generator that was made for that purpose."

The article also has opposing view points on V2G. They range from "pie in the sky" and at the "science project stage" to a technology that's "underutilized" and "win-win" for power companies and car owners. The costs for making your car into a back-up generator were quoted at $2,000 to $4,000 with simple ones built for just $200. Couldn't you just plug in your house in the cigarette lighter?

Related:

• DOE, FERC fight over V2G on blog
• V2G? PHEV? Just another green car day in Colorado
• PG&E demonstrates first ever vehicle-to-grid charging
• How PG&E will help Google with that 100+ PHEV, make computing greener and build the smart grid

[Source: New York Times]

The first comment to Toyota's blog entry about the plugin hybrid tests was by... THE FERC! Jon Wellinghoff the commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC. He wanted to know about V2G (vehicle-to-grid) considerations in the tests. Toyota was "VERY INTERESTED" In Jon's question, (I'm guessing because, you know, he's head of the FERC and all) so they did a follow up post all about V2G.

So why is Jon posting to Toyota's blog? Don't you think the head of the FERC could get someone at Toyota on the phone if they liked? I did a bit of digging and found it might have something to do with what DOE thinks of V2G. Check out this pdf. It includes comments by Jon and Willett Kempton, a professor University of Delaware, that says "the DOE PHEV R&D Plan explicitly chooses to ignore the CashBack hybrid and dismisses V2G technology." Also: "By ignoring the demonstrated economics of CashBack hybrid and V2G technology, DOE comes to an incorrect conclusion." Ouch! Dems fighting words!

So the blog post was probably just another way for Jon to push V2G because the DOE is dragging its feet. I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty cool. You would think he would write an Op Ed in a newspaper or something. Instead he replies to a blog post. You gotta love the web. I wonder if Jon is reading this? Feel free to post a comment, Jon :D

[Source: Green Wombat]

And you thought your car was cool because you can plug a DVD player into it. Hybrids Plus unveiled a Toyota Prius hybrid yesterday at Colorado State University that has been modified with plug-in technology. While current plug-in hybrids (PHEV, which are all after-market mods) can get amazing mileage numbers – Hybrid Plus' Prius gets 125 mpg – what's really cool about the Hybrids Plus plan is the possibility of Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology.

V2G means that the car can draw power from the grid when needed and it can feed power to the grid when it has energy stored up. Hybrids Plus is working on V2G along with the Colorado Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation, A123Systems, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy and NREL will soon conduct a study to assess the collective effects of thousands of PHEVs on the power grid.

[Source: State of Colorado]