homeCouncil investigates power-system effects of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
November 20, 2008
If you drive to work, imagine reducing the fuel cost of your daily commute from $7 to 80 cents. Not only would you save money, you also would contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and power plants throughout the western United States.
That's possible in a plug-electric vehicle, according to research by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Council is assessing the potential impacts of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the Northwest electricity supply as part of developing our next Northwest Power Plan, Council Chair Bill Booth said. While these vehicles pose a potentially large new source of demand for electricity, they also have the potential to store electricity that could be tapped to ensure the stability of the power supply during periods of high demand.
The Council's Northwest Power Plan directs the electricity generation and conservation acquisitions of the Bonneville Power Administration, the regions largest electricity supplier. The plan also provides guidance to electric utilities in assessing their own decision-making about how to meet future demand for power.
Meeting this week in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the Council reviewed research on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by its staff and also listened to a presentation by Dr. Michael Kintner-Meyer, a scientist at the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington. Dr. Kinter-Meyer said Battelle's research suggests that between 43 and 73 percent of all the cars and light trucks in the nation today could be replaced by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles without adding new power plants or transmission lines, depending on the time of day that the vehicles would be charged. If this were to happen, America's net oil imports would be reduced by 52 percent, the nation's total emissions of carbon dioxide would be reduced by 27 percent, and the batteries in all of those vehicles would provide an important source of storage capacity that could provide power-system stability, he said. The amount of carbon-dioxide reduction also depends on the time of day the vehicles are charged, as time of day determines whether more coal or cleaner natural gas is being used to generate electricity.
Public interest in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is growing in response to volatile prices for gasoline and concern over potential climate impacts from carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and power plants that burn fossil fuels. The Council's 80-cent commute estimate is based on data from last July: an average commute of 33 miles round trip (the national average), gasoline at $4 per gallon (recent gasoline prices are closer to $2.20 per gallon), and an average vehicle efficiency of 20 miles per gallon. The equivalent amount of electricity to power an electric vehicle equates to a gasoline price of about 45 cents per gallon.
The Council's primary interest in plug-in electric vehicles is not tailpipe emissions or fuel cost, but the impact of increasing number of electric vehicles on the regions electricity system. Electric vehicles likely would be recharged overnight, when the demand for power and its cost are low. Smart plugs for vehicles could be operated remotely by electric utilities to spread the charging load around the service territory to minimize the impact on the power supply. The Council's research assumes that 25 megawatts (25 million watts) of electricity would be used to recharge electric vehicles in the Northwest by the year 2020.
Spread across all power plants in the interconnected power grid of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council area — basically the United States west of the Rocky Mountains — emissions from power plants that burn coal and natural gas would increase by about 1 million tons above current levels to serve the 25-megawatt load of electric vehicles in 2020. But when combined with the reduction in exhaust emissions by replacing fuel-burning vehicles with electric vehicles, there would be a net reduction of carbon dioxide from current levels of about 6 million tons in 2020, according to the Council.
A 2006 study for the federal Department of Energy concluded that if all the cars and light trucks in the nation switched from oil-based fuels to electricity, the available, overnight generating capacity of the existing electric power system could generate most of the power needed by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. This off-peak capacity is available because demand for power overnight is low, compared to the daylight hours. By using the available generation capacity more intensively, the cost of electricity to consumers can be reduced.
The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.
Related link: (Coincidentally, today NPR's Science Friday had this program on plug-in vehicles, in which Portland is mentioned)
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