Join us for a discussion with Jose Torre-Bueno regarding how electric vehicles can help to reduce the grid’s transmission needs through the magic of bi-directional charging.
This topic is especially relevant because the utilities and the CPUC are assuming that transportation electrification and building electrification are additive loads and the increased electricity demand to serve these loads will have to come from remote solar and wind plants. In some cases, the planned facilities are out-of-state. The assumption that generation is remote leads to the assumption that there will need to be a great deal of new transmission and distribution infrastructure built in the near future. The estimated cost runs in the hundreds of billions of dollars, justifying expected rate increases that will almost double consumer rates by 2035.
There is an alternate future in which energy for EVs with bidirectional batteries is generated locally in solar arrays over parking lots to charge EVs during the day and the EVs carry the electricity home to power electric appliances in the evening when solar power is not available. This makes V2H (Vehicle to Home) the key to a low-cost solution to decarbonizing the grid.
