Will Plug-in Hybrids Cause Blackouts?

By Kennedy Maize

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Device Could Help Prevent Grid Collapse

The grid impacts are important, notes PNNL engineer Michael Kintner-Meyer. “If a million owners plug in their vehicles to recharge after work, it could cause a major strain on the grid,” he said. “The Smart Charger Controller could prevent those peaks in demand from plug-in vehicles and enable our existing grid to be used more evenly.” He said the device could potentially save a plug-in driver up to $150/year in electricity costs.

PNNL asserts that “electric vehicles will become widely available starting in 2011, and the current administration supports a goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.” However, many analysts regard those numbers as inflated.

The most widely touted plug-in is the General Motors Chevy Volt, which is designed to travel 40 miles on battery power before the need for a gasoline engine kicks in. The small, four-seat Volt is likely to cost at least $30,000 after generous federal subsidies, suggesting it won’t be a big seller if gasoline prices remain around $2/gallon. GM says the Volt will be available for sale in 2010.

In an April 2009 Washington Post op-ed column, editorial page staff writer Charles Lane said, “Unless and until gas prices shoot up, you'd be crazy to buy one of these much-ballyhooed vehicles, which will run 40 miles on a single charge if GM can overcome difficult battery-engineering issues.”

Promoters of electric cars of all descriptions—conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric models (such as the highly touted and less-delivered Tesla Roadster)—justify their market plans on appeals to reduce U.S. imports of petroleum (substituting them with U.S. coal-fired electricity). Lane observes, “The electric car is hostage to the oil-price cycle. Indeed, to the extent that we use more electric cars, we reduce the demand for petroleum, which drives down the price of petroleum, which makes electric cars less competitive with gas-burning ones—and so on.”

The PNNL research also highlights another conundrum: Plug-ins need to be plugged in in such a way as to not overload the currently fragile U.S. electric transmission and distribution system. In its news release, the national lab said, “A previous PNNL study showed that America’s existing power grid could meet the needs of about 70% of all U.S. light-duty vehicles if battery charging was managed to avoid new peaks in electricity demand.” If not, what then?

—Kennedy Maize is executive editor of MANAGING POWER.

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