eTec to Evaluate PHEV Fast-Charging and Smart Grid Interactions for the U.S. Department of Energy

[kristopher]

eTec to Evaluate PHEV Fast-Charging and Smart Grid Interactions for the U.S. Department of Energy

eTec Will Work with V2Green and the USDOE to Demonstrate and Evaluate the Value of Bi-Directional Fast-Charging for PHEVs and Smart Grid Technologies

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a wholly owned subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. (OTCBB: ETLY), a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, today announced it has launched a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) Grid Interaction Project to demonstrate and evaluate bi-directional fast-charging operations for PHEVs in conjunction with smart grid technologies for facility energy management. Funded by the USDOE through Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and supported by project partner V2Green, the project will demonstrate eTec’s ability to fast-charge a PHEV in 10 minutes and will analyze the benefits and costs of using the energy storage capability of PHEVs to provide energy back to a smart metered electric grid system.

“By evaluating the benefits and costs of bi-directional fast-charging for PHEV owners, recharging facilities and electric utilities, this project lays the foundation for the development of a public fast-charging infrastructure for on-road electric vehicles,” said Don Karner, President and CEO, eTec. “Not only does this project demonstrate the ability to fast-charge a PHEV in 10 minutes, but it also highlights the additional benefit of fast-charging systems for managing facility energy consumption.”

Pairing the eTec Minit-Charger fast-charge system with utility smart meter interconnections, the PHEV Grid Interaction Project will demonstrate and evaluate a bi-directional fast-charge system capable of both fast-charging a PHEV in 10 minutes and supplying the stored energy of a PHEV back to a smart grid. The project will utilize V2Green’s smart grid technology to enable charging facilities (home or business) to communicate and adaptively control the flow of energy between the fast-charged PHEVs and the grid. Better energy consumption management results from vehicles recharging during off-peak periods and providing stored energy back to the grid during periods of peak-demand. The project will also evaluate the impact of bi-directional fast-charging on PHEV battery life and performance as PHEVs involved in the project will be subject to strenuous charge-discharge cycles as each vehicle will be operated for a total of 5,440 miles.

“This project combines leading fast-charge and smart grid technologies to quantify the public value and benefit of intelligently controlled, bi-directional fast-charging,” said John Clark, president and CEO, V2Green. “In addition to reducing consumer energy costs by allowing more efficient energy consumption, fast, smart charging capabilities can reduce our oil dependence and allow us to diversify our energy portfolio with more renewable and sustainable energy sources.” ...

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