Since the launch of highway legal cars such as Chevrolet’s Volt and Nissan’s Leaf in December 2010, plus a modest beginning for Tesla’s Roadster before that, and others following, the 100,000 number is being seen as a significant if not yet paradigm-changing milestone.

“Our current estimate, based on monthly sales figures from automakers, is that the 100,000th highway-capable plug-in vehicle will be sold on May 20,” said Tom Saxton, Plug In America’s chief science officer. “We are calling this the #PIA100K mark, and we are excited to see the continued growth of the market.”

Plug in America now has a PEV unit-sold-in-America counter posted on its Web site, and announced a drawing which consumers can enter online for a free vehicle charger to those who purchase a plug-in vehicle between May 15 and Jun 15.

In overview, electrified vehicle proponents see today’s boundary crossing as a sign of progress while acknowledging resistance, fundamental lack of awareness and accurate understanding, and politicized push back as well.

Plug in America board member Barry Woods blogged in anticipation of the 100,000 unit milestone that he has observed a slow changing of the tide in the face of staunch obstacles plug-in vehicles must yet overcome.

“Misinformation abounds – about the costs, range, battery resiliency, EV carbon emissions, the superiority of other alternative fuels, a “green” political pre-disposition,” wrote Woods of various sources of resistance on May 9. “Unfortunately, too often those with the biggest bullhorn shape the ‘facts.’”

Model S has been named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, Automobile magazine’s Automobile of the Year, and has garnered a number of top honors besides.

But progress is happening in spite of all this.

Based on the current average household size, Plug in America estimates a quarter million people have been exposed to the viability of daily life with all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars. He noted that in March in the Portland metro area, Nissan dealers collectively sold more Leafs than any other model, even more than the best-selling Altima.

Woods is directly involved in selling chargers, and he has noticed a shift in attitudes at dealers he visits.

“Where are we today? We have Nissan, Tesla, Chevy, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, FIAT, manufacturing PEV models with their own branding,” said Woods. “Now when I go into auto dealers, they invite me back to speak to their sales staff and discuss charging as an issue and what their customers will need to make better use of the car’s range capabilities.”

Other highlights include:

• Tesla’s Model S is outselling the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the BMW 7 series and the Audi A8
• Chevy Volt drivers alone have logged over 187-million electric miles
• The plug-in vehicle market is approaching 48 percent annual growth with both Battery Electric (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) vehicles finding growing interest
• Plug-in vehicle adoption exceeds the adoption of hybrid vehicles over the same timeframe in their market developments
• The domestic EV fleet now offers over 2,000 megawatts of battery storage, which may offer significant opportunities for the future management of our electrical grid and the increasing role of intermittent renewable energy sources
• Manufacturers making EVs now include Nissan, Tesla, GM, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and Fiat. These plug-in cars have received a wealth of consumer and industry awards

Is It Enough?

The above question is not ours, but was first posed by USA Today noting 100,000 units “is just slightly less than the sales of a single conventional model, the Ford Fusion, over the first four months of the year. And the Fusion was only the sixth most popular model in the U.S.”

Objections persist over range, charging time and costs, writes USA Today – not to mention several other objections noted by Woods above.

A More Bullish Perspective

With seemingly eyes wide open, Woods noted EV proponents were nonetheless correct about the prospects for plug-in technology and the growth on a percentage basis has been markedly more significant than hybrid market growth.

That is true, but when one starts from a base of zero units, and grows to higher levels, percentage points can appear impressive if viewed without context.

Beyond this, Woods said advocates were also correct that American car shoppers would accept choices other than gasoline if given a long haul value.

Nissan’s 2013 Leaf had its best sales month in March, and second-best in April this year. It’s now built in Tennessee and Nissan is investing billions in PEVs.

“A virtuous market – and policy-based cycle has developed to bring down prices and spur R & D,” said Wood. “We appreciate that these vehicles are not just ‘green,’ they are advanced vehicle technology creating better transportation choices and superior driving experiences. They can become the Car of the Year.”

To be sure, the 100,000 milestone is well short of being on track to hit an early goal set by President Obama for 1 million EVs and PHEVs sold in the U.S. by 2015.

At the same time, things are accelerating, and even if the goal is not hit on time, there is a sizable and growing number of PEVs on American roads leading toward a “tipping point” as Plug in America describes it, in favor of larger scale adoption.

The post 100,000 Plug-In Vehicles Sold In America appeared first on HybridCars.com.

With V2B technology – which makes the energy stored in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) batteries available to commercial and residential buildings – vehicles can compete with both traditional local generation and stationary storage for offsetting demand charges or providing peak saving services.

V2B technology has been studied for the purpose of emergency backup power since the 1990s, and is gaining new attention as PEV sales climb and building managers and homeowners seek innovative ways to manage energy costs.

“V2B technology can benefit both vehicle and building owners, by offsetting some of the cost of PEVs, by lowering the energy costs of the building, and by providing reliable emergency backup services,” says John Gartner, research director with Navigant Research. “Numerous pilot projects around the world are developing and testing V2B technologies, most of them as part of larger microgrid and smart grid projects.”

Although recent projects are becoming more ambitious with regards to the number of PEVs participating, they are still at the scale of integrating hundreds – not yet thousands – of vehicles, the study concludes.

Automotive and building companies in Japan, for example, have responded to the widespread loss of grid power after the 2011 tsunami by developing V2B programs, mostly focusing on residential buildings.

The report, “Vehicle to Building Technologies”, examines the market opportunity for V2B technologies targeted at demand charge avoidance, peak shaving, time-of-use pricing, and other utility energy pricing programs to reduce the cost of building operations and to provide emergency backup power.

The study analyzes both the technology issues and government policy factors associated with the growth of V2B, as well as key barriers to adoption. Key market participants are profiled and forecasts are provided for V2B-enabled vehicles and service revenues through 2020.

The post 200,000 Plug-In Electric Vehicles Equipped With Vehicle-to-Building Technology Will Be Sold Through 2020 appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Both parties involved said that the technology may result in lower-cost electricity for plug-in vehicle drivers due to the grid support functions provided during vehicle charging.

AeroVironment will use a portion of the licensed PNNL technology in a new prototype version of its industry-leading Level II charging systems.

“We are working to broaden the adoption of plug-in vehicles to help achieve America’s environmental, economic and energy security goals,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment senior vice president and general manager of its Efficient Energy Systems (EES) business segment. “While easily and reliably recharging PEVs, this grid-friendly charging system will also improve grid performance, turning PEVs and their chargers into a valuable solution to a broader challenge.”

The licensed PNNL technology can help stabilize the electrical grid by continuously monitoring the grid’s alternating current (AC) frequency and varying the vehicle charging rate in response.

Additionally, in the event of a rapid drop in grid frequency, the charging system stops charging, providing a grid “shock absorber.” Such rapid frequency drops, while small in overall magnitude, indicate that a fault condition has occurred somewhere on the grid and that there is an imbalance between load and electricity generation. By reducing load the system can be rebalanced.

Conventional power plants make continual power generation adjustments based on precisely measured grid frequency in order to maintain a nearly constant frequency of 60 cycles per second. As renewable generation sources such as wind and solar grow in overall share, the overall frequency-responsive generation capability provided by conventional power plants is gradually decreasing.

AeroVironment and PNNL said their frequency-responsive technology brings this same grid frequency support capability to PEV charging stations.

AeroVironment and PNNL share the vision that with millions of plug-in vehicles charging at any given time, modulating the aggregate charging rate of PEVs can help control grid frequency and support the integration of variable renewable generation sources, such as wind and solar.

“These technologies will result in a triple-win,” said Dr. Alec Brooks, chief technology officer of AeroVironment’s EES business segment. “First, reducing the cost of integrating variable renewable generation reduces electricity costs for all ratepayers. Second, plug-in cars can be powered by renewable generation that might not have been possible to add to the grid without the charging rate flexibility offered by vehicles and this technology. Third, the reduced cost of electricity to plug-in vehicle drivers will further improve on the cost advantage of driving on electricity as compared to gasoline.”

Prototypes of the new AeroVironment charging system are available immediately for beta testing. The prototypes include Bluetooth wireless connectivity for data streaming and local control functions.

The post New EV Charging Systems To Improve Electrical Grid Stability appeared first on HybridCars.com.

In 2012, approximately 50,000 PEVs were sold in the United States, and the market is expected to grow by more than 50 percent in 2013.

When primarily charged at home, these vehicles will, for many families, become the single largest power consumer of any device connected at a residence.

Many observers have suggested that variable rate plans specific to PEV owners could be a lucrative business model for utilities.

According to a new report from Pike Research data suggests that such plans may have little impact because the difference in price to the consumer may not justify the effort and risk associated with creating a new rate program for electric vehicle (EV) drivers.

“Plug-in electric vehicles are especially promising for utilities considering the tendency of electric vehicle owners to charge at night during off-peak hours, thus using capacity that is currently underutilized,” says research director John Gartner. “But specific rates for charging electric vehicles are unlikely to greatly influence consumer charging habits, especially when variable time-of-use plans are already in place.”

The growth of the PEV market brings a complex set of other challenges, as well, according to the report, titled “Best Practices for Utilities to Prepare for Electric Vehicles.”

Peak demand will spike if and when clusters of electric vehicles plug in at the same time. If their batteries are depleted, plug-in hybrid vehicle owners are likely to charge regardless of peak pricing because in most areas, electricity as a fuel will always be cheaper than gasoline.

The vehicles also create a need for utilities to engage with a new set of previously unfamiliar stakeholders, including carmakers, dealers, fleet managers and passionate EV owner groups.

Most importantly, PEVs create a set of unknowns about electricity consumption and infrastructure impacts for utilities, in addition to a temptation to respond to anticipated problems that do not necessarily pose actual risks to the grid or to a utility’s business process.

Pike Research’s report includes recommendations based on data collected thus far on PEV power consumption, and highlights the lessons learned from many of the leading utilities that have been involved in providing electricity for vehicle charging.

The research company said that the report also includes guidelines for interacting with regional EV groups, PEV dealers, and local officials, to enable utilities to create a positive experience for PEV owners while receiving the maximum benefit from this new revenue source.

The post Variable Utility Rate Plans for EV Owners Useful? appeared first on HybridCars.com.