As electric cars move towards the smart grid, there&'s been a lot of worry about the cars overstraining the grid. But at least for now, GM and PG&'E are united on the answer: Not a problem, guys.
GM is making the upcoming Chevrolet Volt, an electric plug-in of sorts that runs on a combination of gas and electric power. The company&'s general manager of advanced technology Byron Shaw spoke at GreenBeat 2010 today, alongside Saul Zambrano, director at PG&'E. The key to a smooth transition of plugging increasing numbers of electric cars to the grid, they said, are smart grid communications. (The Volt and the all-electric Nissan Leaf will begin selling this December.)
You just need a car charger that can communicate back to the utility, which can then manage load, Shaw said.
&''If there&'s a brownout situation impending we can stagger-charge all the Volts, so you won&'t get a secondary evening peak. The Volts are not going to bring down the grid,&'' Shaw said.
The company predicts charging a Volt from empty to full will cost around $1.20 a night, Shaw said.あZambrano added that dynamic pricing &8212' where customers can read from home what the price to charge at various times are.
What&'s more, most car charging will happen in off-peak hours, Shaw said. People will charge at night or while they&'re at work.
&''Cars they&'re like cats. They sleep 22 hours a day,&'' あShaw said. &''It will be all off-peak and pretty much zero lifestyle impact.&''
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Companies: Chevrolet, Nissan, PG&'E
People: Byron Shaw, Saul Zambrano
Companies: Chevrolet, Nissan, PG&'E
People: Byron Shaw, Saul Zambrano
Iris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you pronounce her last name).
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