Public Power - November/December 2007 - (Page 38)

Plug-In Partners BY COURTNEY BARRY Get Plugged In plugging them into a standard wall outlet, which is done typically at night when the car is not used. Plug-ins get some of their energy from the grid (enough for the first 30-40 miles per day) and the rest from gasoline. Today’s hybrids get all their energy from gasoline. The national electricity grid is congested, Woolsey said. Increased hybrid use monthly electric bill is about $8. The average nightly cost for a residential kilowatt-hour here in Seattle is eight cents. The commercial rate is four cents a kilowatt-hour. Each night I probably need a three to five kilowatt-hour charge and a three to four kilowatt-hour charge during the day. So the building where I park will see about a $4 (22 days of work each Describing the to alternative fuels” “a plug-in hybrid as pretty good friend at the Clean Energy Venture Summit in Austin, Texas, last May, James Woolsey, former director of the CIA and now with Booz, Allen, Hamilton, spoke emphatically about the need for innovative technology methods that would not only enhance national security, but also contribute to positive climate change. Woolsey is part of a growing partnership that favors widespread development of what’s now referred to as PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles), asserting that their use can reduce global warming. In January 2006, representatives from Austin Energy, with help from Austin’s City Council and other interested parties, formed a grass roots effort now known as Plug-In Partners, and set out to meet with Detroit auto manufacturers to push for research and development for commercialized battery- powered hybrids. Supportive partners joined in, including Woolsey, American Public Power Association, city leaders, automakers, utilities and nonprofit groups. Eighteen months later, Plug-In Partners included more than 200 cities nationally, 600 utilities, and hundreds of other environmental and national security organizations, said Austan Librach, director of Emerging Transportation Technologies for Austin Energy. General Motors, Ford and Toyota have all expressed interest in hybrid technology. GM has started working on a hybrid called ‘Chevy Volt,’ and Toyota is considering a plug-in version of its popular Prius hybrid car. Last July, Toyota announced plans for road testing a new plug-in hybrid in Japan, Europe and the United States, with plans to commercially manufacture a million PHEVs after 2010. PHEVs have batteries that power an electric motor, along with an internal combustion engine for use when the batteries run low. The batteries can be recharged by 38 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 PHEVs have batteries that power an electric motor, along with an internal combustion engine for use when the batteries run low. The batteries can be recharged by plugging them into a standard wall outlet. would help balance load on the grid by tapping into power at odd hours, instead of primarily during the day. “Normally, you would use your vehicle during the day and plug it in at night to fuel it from the grid, when the grid is at its lowest level of usage,” said Librach. “So it does some load leveling; it fills the valley when utilities have idle generating capacity at night, creating a more level usage of the grid.” Most utilities would find that beneficial, he said. Research has shown that it would take nearly two million plug-in hybrids before the load would increase to the point where new power plants would be needed. From an individual standpoint the benefits are obvious, starting with savings on gasoline expenses. David Moore, a technology director in Seattle, owns a 2007 Toyota Prius that was converted to a plug-in by a company called Hybrids Plus of Boulder, Colo. Moore commutes roughly 60 miles a day. “I charge the car at home each night and at work during the day,” he says. “At work they have spaces reserved for electric cars…. I estimate that (the) increase in my month times four kilowatt-hours of charging times $0.04 =$3.52 a month) increase in its monthly electrical bill. I have told them this and they said they would unplug a light bulb someplace to cover the added cost…they may have been joking. My monthly cost would be close to $20 if I wasn’t able to get a free refresh charge at work every day.” Moore adds, “When I found out that I could buy a PHEV conversion, I went for it. The Prius is a great car. It’s a great commuter car and, with the PHEV conversion, it is an awesome commuter car. I am getting 123 mpg without even trying hard. The car has plenty of room, good performance, lots of storage space. I gave a ride to four other people in downtown Seattle. They were all able to get in the car and we drove around Seattle completely on electric mode. I didn’t burn a single molecule of gas the entire drive.” Felix Kramer, of Silicon Valley, Calif., acquired a plug-in hybrid in April 2006. “It drives exactly like a regular Prius, same acceleration, same maximum speed, same everything—except at low speeds it’s comPUBLIC POWER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November/December 2007

Public Power - November/December 2007 Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Connecting with the Customer Through Automation AMR or AMI? The High Court’s Antitrust Thunderbolts California’s Push for Demand-Response Plug-In Partners Get Plugged In Wiring Up for Double-Digit Growth For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards DEED Customer Service Hometown Connections Index to Advertisers Parting shot

Public Power - November/December 2007

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