Electric Vehicle Charging

Managed electric vehicle charging is a strategy for optimizing vehicle charging schedules by shifting demand for power when the distribution system is most congested and prices are at their highest onto hours when grid conditions are better and more renewable energy is available to serve load.

The size of the opportunity and complexity of the solution varies varies by user characteristics and project ambition. School buses will have different operational schedules than Amazon delivery trucks, even though both are managed as fleets and are normally charged at a central depot. Likewise, motorized equipment such as forklifts or port drayage are deployed differently, and neither has much in common with vehicle charging in shopping center parking lots.

Demonstration projects are being undertaken to examine use cases to test their potential. One is vehicle-to-grid (V2G) in which school bus batteries are equipped with bi-directional capabilities to enable discharge to the grid when it is at maximum stress. This use case is feasible during the summer months when the buses are not in use and grid demand is at its highest.

Another example is the strategic co-location of charging ports with a external grid-scale battery storage to replenish vehicle batteries when grid power is less expensive and and exports when power is most valuable to the grid. A related use case is interconnected solar generation that replenishes vehicle batteries when plentiful co-located solar generation is available. Later in the day when the solar is waning and system demand is at its highest the vehicle exports power to the grid.

    • Served as a subject matter expert on a large-scale evaluation project to assess the performance of the California statewide EV charging programs administered by the three major IOUs that represented over $1 billion in charging station investment that incuded V2G and numerous other use cases and scenarios.

    • Helped the Union of Concerned Scientists organize a forum on EV charging and moderated a session on ISO/RTO frequency regulation and reserve markets.

    • Assisted a utility client by preparing testimony to the Maryland PSC on the advisability of developing a V2G program.

    • Conducted research with Southern California Edison on the use of dynamic electric rates in supporting managed EV charging; this was subsequently presented at an industry conference.

    • Helped an EV charging station vendor identify regions with favorable regulations and opportunities to bid into ISO/RTO ancillary services markets.

    • Prepared an evaluation plan for one of San Diego’s EV charging programs that focused on charging habits in apartment building parking lots.

    • Assisted the nation’s largest school bus company in identifying favorable markets for investment in bi-directional buses that could push power onto the grid.

    • “California EV Infrastructure Programs and the Evolving Role of Dynamic Rates.” EUEC Charge Expo. Oct. 2022.

    • “Demand Response and Ancillary Services Opportunities for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations”, ACI New Generation Demand Response and Ancillary Services conference.

    • “Workshop on Smart Electric Vehicle Charging”, Helped organize a conference and served as moderator for a session on ISO/RTO frequency regulation and reserves markets, Union of Concerned Scientists.

    • “Ancillary Services Market Opportunities”, Peak Load Management Alliance conference.

    • “Energy Storage and the Integration of Renewables and Distributed Energy Resources”, Panel moderator, Grid Modernization Forum.

    • “Market Transformation and the Distribution System Grid”, ACEEE National Symposium on Market Transformation, co-author.

    • “Policy and Regulatory Change for Advancing the Smart Grid”, Grid Modernization Forum, overall conference chair and panel moderator.

    • “Role of Demand Response Baselines in Estimating Participant Impacts”, Energy, Utility and Environment Conference.

    • “How Evolving State Policies are Fostering New Technology Investment for Control of Distribution System Loads and Advancing Grid Modernization”, Grid Modernization Forum, co-author.

    • “New Generation of Demand Response; Faster Response with

    • Targeted Load Control – Utility Interface Business Models”, ACI New Generation Demand Response and Ancillary Services conference and co-led workshop.

    • “NAESB Standards for Measurement and Verification of Demand Response”, Association of Energy Services Professionals Webinar.

    • “Market Transformation and the Distribution System Grid”, ACEEE National Symposium on Market Transformation, co-author.

    • “Evaluation, Measurement and Verification Variations Across Jurisdictions”, Energy, Utility and Environment Conference.

    • “Integration of Distributed Energy Resources on the Grid: East versus West Coast”, Peak Load Management Alliance, co-presenter.

    • “Renewable-Centric Grid of the Future”, Internet of Energy, Virtual Summit, Smart Grid Observer.

    • “Demand Response Gets Smarter: Realizing the Potential of DR on the Distribution System”, session moderator, ACEEE National Symposium on Market Transformation.