Austin Energy to Plug into Electric Hybrid
By Sarah Coppola
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, December 20, 2004
Two weeks after ordering its first batch of hybrid sport-utility vehicles, the City of Austin is joining a research program to test a new model of hybrid van.
The vans, produced by DaimlerChrysler AG and the California-based Electric Power Research Institute, are the first to run on gas and electricity. The vans are designed to cut fuel needs by 40 percent.
Austin will get one of only 30 vans that Chrysler is making for corporations and government agencies nationwide, including the Army and the New York Power Authority.
The city will spend $200,000 to lease one van for three years and take part in the research. Austin Energy will use the van, which has a payload of 4,000 pounds and can be used for deliveries or carrying passengers
The van, called the Dodge Sprinter, can run only on the electric battery in urban driving and stop-and-go traffic.
"At slow speeds, the engine is off, so it doesn't produce any emissions or make much noise," said Mark Duvall of the research institute. In electric mode, it can travel about 20 miles before the gasoline engine is needed.
Other companies have produced cars that run on electric power only. But some consumers have complained that the cars don't have enough oomph or take too long to charge. The Sprinter's battery takes about three to four hours to charge.
Austin Energy officials said vans such as the Sprinter could help boost electricity use during off-peak hours.
"If we had more electricity-driven vehicles, we could produce more electricity from different fuels, including wind," said Roger Duncan of Austin Energy. "Most of our wind power comes in at night. This would allow you to charge the battery directly from the electric grid. So if you were a subscriber to wind power, you could plug in your vehicle at night and essentially have a wind-powered car."
The vans are scheduled to be out on the market by 2008.
This month, the city ordered five Ford Escapes but there's no guarantee they'll arrive because the hybrid SUVs are in such high demand
Council Approves Plug In
Austin Chronicle
December 16, 2004
Austin Energy’s Plug-In
The City Council today will vote to authorize the lease of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and related participation with the Electric Power Research Institute in an alliance project to test the potential of the new technology. The item follows a September council resolution supporting the city's exploration of the plug-ins' use in conjunction with Austin Energy's GreenChoice renewable-energy program.
By plugging the vehicles into the
GreenChoice grid at night, off-peak power usage can effectively be increased, utilizing wind energy when it's most abundant and hypothetically creating a fleet of wind-powered city vehicles. The Sprinter vans, manufactured by DaimlerChrysler, are intended for commercial and delivery fleet operations and can travel up to 60 miles on a single charge, using 40% less fuel than non-plug-in hybrids.
Austin Energy will test the vans for three years as part of a 30-vehicle alliance with other organizations such as New York Power Authority, Southern California Edison, and the U.S. Army. "Energy security and reduced emissions are critical to the long-term economic health of our community. Participation in the plug-in hybrid vehicle analysis is a small but important step to achieve these objectives," say AE staff. – Daniel Mottola
Austin City Council Gives Go-Ahead
On July 29th, the
Austin City Council passed Resolution #040729-78, authorizing the City Manager to investigate the feasibility of the future integration of the electric and transportation sectors, and its impact on Austin Energy.
THE INTEGRATION OF THE ELECTRIC AND TRANSPORTATION SECTORS AND THE IMPACT ON AUSTIN ENERGY
WHEREAS, The City of Austin wishes to become a leader in clean energy development and technology, and to be known as the Clean Energy Capital of the World; and
WHEREAS, the transportation sector will ultimately move away from the use of petroleum and will transition to sustainable and non-polluting alternatives; and
WHEREAS, there is a great opportunity for electrifying the transportation sector through the use of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and other non–polluting transportation alternatives; and
WHEREAS, there may be substantial economic and environmental benefits for the community from the unification of the stationary electric sector with the transportation sector; and
WHEREAS, the transition to a hydrogen economy will create an opportunity for the integration of all of the energy sectors; and
WHEREAS, Austin Energy can maximize its benefits to the Citizens of Austin by providing clean transportation fuels; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN:
That the City Manager is directed to investigate the feasibility of the future integration of the electric and transportation sectors, and its impact on Austin Energy.
The Car of the Future
From a July 2004 report prepared for the National Commission of Energy Policy by Joe Romm and the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions:
"Plug-in or grid-connectable hybrids could be the most promising Alt-Fuel Vehicle pathway if further cost reductions in vehicle component and integration costs can be achieved. These hybrids can be plugged into the electric grid and run in an all-electric mode for a limited range between recharging. Plug-in hybrids will likely travel three to four times as far on a kilowatt-hour of renewable electricity as fuel cell vehicles.
Unlike most AFVs, plug-ins hold the potential of being cost-competive at current gasoline prices. Given the urgent need to achieve broad market-readiness for technologies capable of major oil substitution, plug-in hybrids should be given substantially higher visibility, priority, support and level of effort on an immediate basis.
We believe that the most plausible vehicle of the future is a plug-in
hybrid running on a combination of low carbon electricity and a low carbon
liquid fuel.
Thus, government policies to push hybrids into the marketplace now will not merely deliver major energy environmental benefits by 2025, but could be critical to enabling even larger benefits by 2050."
The author believes that plug-in hybrids and biofuels deserve at least as much funding and policy attention as hydrogen is currently receiving.
Laptop Batteries to the Rescue?
Besides the excitement over the Plug-in Hybrid, the all-electric car world is undergoing a major change as computer batteries using lithium ion begin to be employed in lieu of car battery technology using sealed lead acid batteries.
These lithium ion batteries have the potential to completely change the standard beliefs commonly held of all-electric vehicles. Instead of ranges in the 40 to 60 mile range with standard batteries, 200 mile ranges are predicted with lithium ion. Where the standard lead acid battery can be charged perhaps 400 to 600 hundred times, giving it a 2 or 3 year life, the lithium ion battery can be charged up to 2000 times, giving it a 7 to 10 year life.
And perhaps most importantly, energy density in the lithium ion battery is four times greater than in the standard lead acid battery. Therefore, a
lithium ion all-electric car can store its electric gasoline in an area just slightly larger than the area dedicated to the gasoline tank in the standard gasoline vehicle. This means that an all-electric car with a driving range of 200 miles will look and weigh in at an equal or less weight to the gasoline car.
A local manufacturer of electric cars is currently taking a standard American car and converting it to a lithium ion electric car. Because all of the batteries are located in the area where the gas tank was located and in the front former engine compartment area, there are no batteries in the trunk or passenger areas. Thus, such a lithium ion all-electric car is able to pass standard safety requirements that other electric vehicles fail.
These high energy density batteries will make other kinds of other electric transportation devices more usable and acceptable. Powerful electric motorcycles, small Vesta-like electric scooters, Lee Iacocca electric bikes, and innovative products like the Segway will be more appealing to the public with the lithium ion battery. (the Segway employs Lithium ion now)
These same characteristics will make the plug-in hybrid conversion of a standard Toyota platform hybrid car even more likely and a possible candidate for local job creation.
The Electric Utility of the Future
by Michael J. Osborne
I came to Austin Energy to write a long-term comprehensive energy plan for the City of Austin over two years ago. That plan, now published as Silver in the Mine, is available on the
Denver DOE Web site. The book is available at
Amazon.com. The opinions in that book and this article do not represent the formal policies of the City of Austin, The State of Texas, DOE, or Austin Energy.
As part of a joint agreement with the DOE, the State of Texas Energy Conservation Office, and the City of Austin, called the “Community of the Future Initiative”, I was tasked with writing a comprehensive energy plan that minimized the negative impacts of energy use. I was to include all of the sectors- buildings, electric, and transportation
Obviously, to minimize the negative impact of energy use, you must use an energy source that doesn’t pollute, is available somewhat locally or regionally, and does not need to be protected by a large military investment. Ideally, it should be sustainable. Given that Texas is number one or two in almost every renewable energy category, the answer for Texans is easy.
As I began to look at realistic de-carbonization transition scenarios, one thing became clear. There is entirely too much duplication of investment in the stationary generation sector and the transportation sectors. When the University of Texas plays football, there is more generation potential sitting idle in the parking lot than in all the generation we have at Austin Energy. (approximately 3.1 GW)
And, there is entirely too much range between our electric peak on a hot summer afternoon and our electric load valley on a pleasant winter evening.
The Unified Energy System
This led me to the conclusion that the Electric Utility of the Future must be part of a Unified Energy System. This conclusion is more born of necessity than ideology. Here is one example. If Austin Energy contracts with wind developers, increasing its wind fraction substantially and thus taking advantage of the good value that wind provides, we will be faced with having to back off base load coal and nuclear generation during our wintertime load valleys.
To avoid this scheduling dilemma, we must either sell our wind power at night at a substantial discount, or we must back down on our base load units. Neither choice makes economic sense.
So we must come up with another strategy. We could increase the nighttime load and/or we could store the energy as compressed air or pumped hydro.
We can increase that nighttime load with a broad portfolio of electrical appliances and schemes. Freezers might freeze ice for cooling the next day; timers might heat water at three in the morning for morning showers. However, the largest potential market to penetrate is the transportation sector.
Simply put then, if an electric utility intends to increase its share of renewable energy using wind energy, it may very well need to charge a large fleet of electric vehicles and other transportation devices. In Austin, the transportation fuel market and the electric KWh market are roughly equal in size. If we could penetrate 20% of the transportation market, we could increase our wind fraction by perhaps 20%. Given that our prices for this wind energy are better than any other generation option, this makes good economic sense. The environmental appeal is obvious and these KWhs would be sold at our green rate.
But what kind of transportation appliance do we want?
The answer is, all kinds of appliances. We want electric bikes, Segways, small neighborhood vehicles, all-electric sports cars, all-electric mini SUVs, and ultimately, a broad catalogue of plug in hybrids.
The cost of electric fuel is seemingly expensive. At 3400 BTUs/KWh and at 8 cents KWh, a gallon of electric gas (120,000 BTUs) is $2.80. But, the electric motor drive is perhaps 80% efficient. A standard internal combustion engine may be 15 % efficient over its driving ranges. Comparing a $2.00 gallon of gas in a 15 % efficient system to $2.80 electric gallon of gas in an 80% efficient system yields another cost figure altogether. Now, the electric gallon of gas is more like ¼ the cost or about 50 cents when compared to $2.00 gasoline.
This comports well with the experience of an Austin Energy executive. He drives an all- electric Geo that gets about four miles to the KWh. That is about 2 cents a mile at 8 cents/KWh. A small standard car that gets 25 miles to the gallon costs about 8 cents a mile.(at $2.00/gallon). However, when you add battery replacement costs, driving costs jump to more than 8 cents a mile and the electric gallon of gas is now roughly equal to the real gallon of gas. (Obviously, taxes are not in this analysis nor is the maintenance on the ICE drive chain).
Even if we sell our KWhs at a deep discount (2 cents/KWh) to our transportation customers to maximize our nighttime off peak load, the storage cost is still the lion’s share of the driving cost.
So, unless battery costs are substantially reduced, it is clear that smaller electric vehicles and other transportation devices, which reduce these battery component costs, enjoy a cost advantage over gasoline powered vehicles of equal size.
Another way to store the energy would be in the form of hydrogen. We can take our nighttime wind energy and run electrolyzers which produce hydrogen and oxygen.
It takes about 50 KWhs to produce a gallon of gasoline equivalent of hydrogen. At a night time deep discount rate of 2 cents/KWh, that produces $1.00 gasoline. When you amortize the costs of the electrolysis equipment, the number jumps another 40 cents. Stuart Energy’s numbers, which include compression, are closer to $2.00. So, 2 cent wind can produce $2.00 gallon of gasoline equivalent hydrogen.
From our perspective then, I see the optimum vehicle for electrifying the transportation sector and increasing the renewable fraction of utilities to be a
Hydrogen Fueled Internal Combustion Plug in Hybrid. Ford’s Model U is a good first step in that direction. However, the Model U does not yet have the plug in feature. Ideally, I would like to see it have most of the advanced features envisioned in Amory Lovin’s Hypercar.
We would like a vehicle that has perhaps 5 KWhs of storage, thus giving the car an all-electric range of 20 miles. Battery and driving costs are thus minimized. Such a plug hybrid could run on hydrogen or a variety of sustainable fuels.
Once we have made substantial inroads into electrifying the transportation sector and we are using the storage in those vehicles to allow us to buy more clean wind power, we will be able to consider using these same vehicles as distributed generation devices to help us meet peak demand and intermittent resource shortfalls. Our transportation fleet then becomes a vital part of the overall system. All of those cars at Memorial Stadium would actually then be able to partially power the rest of the city, if the need were to arise.
This would complete the unification of the stationary electric generation sector with the transportation sector. Then, once photovoltaic costs come down to under a $1.00 a Watt, Zero Energy Homes will emerge that can use the solar power on the roof to not only power the house, but also the car. Conversely, the car could help provide a portion of the energy needs for the house when the solar resource is unavailable. Just like the Plug in Electric Hybrid Car reduces the amount of electric storage an electric vehicle needs, the integrated solar car/house would enjoy a similar benefit. Such homes could be built miles from power lines. Those that were built on our system would be welcome due to their capacitive features.
The Electric Utility of the Future will be a very different creature than the one of today.
It will be the unifying agency and central supplier of energy for all the energy sectors.
It will deploy and employ all kinds of distributed energy devices and strategies that will allow it to provide the maximum benefits to its customers.
It will move towards a non-carbon emitting future that integrates buildings, vehicles, and distributed energy generation into an operating whole.
And the air will be clean. And oil will become a relatively short, but historically significant transient chapter of human history.
originally published in EV World
The EPRI Plug In Project
The Electric Power Research Institute currently has a plug in hybrid research project in partnership with Daemler Chrysler. The
EPRI Plug in Hybrid program is entering an important stage as it broadens beyond the initial 5 vehicle prototype program and reaches out to fleet operators around the globe to increase the development and test program to a 30 Vehicle Fleet.
The objectives for this evaluation are:
Validate the PHEV Technology in a broad spectrum of operating environments
Enhance the energy management systems to maximize system performance in terms of fuel and emissions reduction
Establish a base of product champions
that will lead the market transformation effort
Demonstrate to public policy makers that a near term solution does exist to our energy security dilemma – electrifying transportation
Demonstrate that plugging in is a value added action
Although, Austin has made no firm commitment to join this program, there seems to be a growing sentiment that it may be appropriate.
The Austin Proposition
1. Promote plug-in hybrids through a combination of utility rebates, government fleet purchase orders, foundation grants, regulatory incentives and other means.
2. Give utility companies emission credits for emissions reduced in the transportation sector in proportion to their incentives and the source of fuel for the electrification.
Welcome
Welcome to the
Austin Energy Transportation web blog.
We will use this site to help generate interest in our efforts to begin to electrify our transportation system.
Why do we want to do this?
Because we think that it is a good idea to use some of our clean wind power in West Texas to help clean up our air right here in Central Texas.
We think that it is a good idea to try to stimulate the development of Plug in Hybrid cars.
And we want to get other cities and other utilities to join us in these efforts.
We welcome your comments as we embark upon this groundbreaking effort to unify the electric and transportation sectors into an efficient and sustainable system that will ultimately provide pollution free transportation for all of our communities.
