- OnStar, General Motors' telematics subsidiary, will work with regional utility companies to connect leased Chevrolet Volts to the smart grid.
- The pilot program aims to monitor and manage battery charging.
- One goal is to reduce charging costs to utility customers.
DETROIT — General Motors and its telematics subsidiary OnStar are launching a pilot program with regional utility companies that will link leased Chevrolet Volts to the smart grid, in order to monitor and manage battery charging. One goal of the program is to reduce charging costs to utility customers.
GM said hundreds of utility employees, driving leased Volts, will participate in the pilot program. The automaker said it wants to see "how intelligent energy management can maximize EV charging efficiency and minimize the electric bill for EV drivers."
The Volt is a plug-in hybrid that uses both an electric motor and a gasoline engine. Its battery pack can be recharged from the gasoline engine, which normally acts as a generator, or by plugging into an electrical outlet.
OnStar has developed software that can help a utility company monitor and manage the electricity used to charge the Volt's battery pack when it is plugged into the grid.
GM said the data provided by OnStar "will give the utility deep insight into where and when EVs are charged and demand response, which allows the utility to reduce peak demand by shifting EV charging to non-peak hours."
Inside Line says: Although OnStar will enable such smart-grid services as data gathering and demand response, its software doesn't appear to be capable yet of supporting the smart grid's Holy Grail — enabling owners of battery-powered vehicles to sell stored electricity back to the grid operator in order to lower their energy bills.
Add A Comment »
bbranham says:
07:18 PM, 12/24/2011
EV batteries offer electricity storage potential that could provide enormous benefits to the nation's power system. By charging primarily at night, they would help to accelerate the incorporation of intermittent renewables like wind into the grid, because wind tends to be most potent at night, when demand for electricity is low. EV batteries could also be tapped by grid operators to store power and to send it back into the grid, thereby helping to regulate electricity's flow along transmission and distribution lines or to provide emergency generation at times when unexpected power-plant outages occur. They could, in addition, reduce strain at times of greatest demand by supplying supplementary generating power to the grid or to the owner's home.
bbranham says:
07:17 PM, 12/24/2011
EV batteries offer electricity storage potential that could provide enormous benefits to the nation's power system. By charging primarily at night, they would help to accelerate the incorporation of intermittent renewables like wind into the grid, because wind tends to be most potent at night, when demand for electricity is low. EV batteries could also be tapped by grid operators to store power and to send it back into the grid, thereby helping to regulate electricity's flow along transmission and distribution lines or to provide emergency generation at times when unexpected power-plant outages occur. They could, in addition, reduce strain at times of greatest demand by supplying supplementary generating power to the grid or to the owner's home.
bbranham says:
03:49 PM, 12/20/2011
Georgia's grass roots Regional Solar Market Transformation Initiative is positioned to lead the nation in the development of Smart Grid both in terms of demonstrated benefits of Smart Grid deployment and development, manufacturing and sale of the technology and systems that will make the Smart Grid a reality. We are proposing UGA/GA Tech-21st Century Telecom, Inc. HBCUs, and others form a public private partnership to create a 2013 Regional Solar Decathlon event and GA Tech Engineering School in Hahira, GA. It will be similar to other GA Tech-ATDC locations including STEM, ICAPP, and Quick Start programs at our proposed (Hahira) Lowndes County Zero Energy International Corporate Headquarters facility. We feel a South Georgia/North Florida 2013-2015 Regional Solar Decathlon event would be the "ideal display area" for a "renewal energy, transportation, telecommunication, manufacturing and R&D renaissance" including OMVC, OnStar, Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Ford, Toyota and others. We have connected with Dr. Patrick Pinhero and Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi.
greenpony says:
09:27 AM, 07/20/2011
Um. rexall, I'm as anti-big-government as almost any other nut job out there... but I don't see how a private telematics company, working with private electric companies, constitutes an expansion of big government.
rexall says:
08:52 AM, 07/20/2011
Wow! This reeks of big government involvement. What happens when they use the Smart Grid to shut off electricity to the users' homes? Looks like we can't use the car today kids.