FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EV GRID SUPPLIES 30 MINI ES FOR GRID ON WHEELS UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE HOSTS GROUND-BREAKING V2G PROJECT IN A WORLD FIRST, ELECTRIC VEHICLES GET PAID FOR PLUGGING IN
— Four years after launch, MINI Es, still going strong, add V2G to their resume —
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NEWARK, DE (April 26, 2013) “EV Grid, Inc., the Palo Alto, CA-based developer of grid integration technology for electric vehicles, today announced the successful fulfillment of, and payment for hour-ahead bids into PJM’s grid regulation ancillary services market.
The grid regulation was provided by specially equipped, EV Grid-owned, MINI E electric vehicles aggregated as a 100kW dispatchable power resource. In a major milestone for V2G, or vehicle-to-grid, this is the first time that batteries in road-going cars have been used to provide revenue generating ancillary services for the power grid.
Tom Gage, EV Grid founder and CEO explained – “Basically, our cars got paid for plugging in because they were able and available to respond to the commands of the grid operator. PJM Interconnection controls a large grid region that stretches from the east coast to Illinois. When they needed more juice the cars gave it up. When PJM had too much juice, the cars took it in. We’ve been working on V2G for years, but the big question was always “how much money do you get?”. Now we know because we got a check from PJM. For the month of March, with the first 15 cars, we got about $5 per day per car. Just as important, the cars that we provided were aggregated, so that together, they could offer and deliver 100 kW into PJM’s market.”
EV Grid’s EVs are participating in the Grid on Wheels Project, a collaboration operated out of the University of Delaware in Newark, DE where, since 1997, Professor Willett Kempton has conducted original and innovative research and development on integration of electric vehicles with the power grid. In 2011, the University of Delaware and NRG Energy, Princeton, NJ, formed a joint venture to explore the commercial potential of V2G.. At about the same time, Gage started EV Grid to pursue V2G development opportunities. BMW was interested and offered EV Grid 90 off-lease MINI Es. The MINI E is readily adaptable for V2G because it is equipped with an 18 kW-rated bi-directional charger from AC Propulsion.
“With BMW’s help, we set up a service hub in Delaware at AutoPort, Inc. near Wilmington so we could upfit and maintain the cars near the University” Gage said. “The V2G upfit was pretty simple, we added a high-current J1772 charge connector and the V2G system developed by Professor Kempton and his crew of dedicated students. I’d like to say we just plugged them in and started counting the money, but of course it wasn’t that easy. The institutional and transactional issues are as much of a challenge as the technical issues.”, Gage observed.
Over the next six months EV Grid will provide additional MINI Es to Grid on Wheels, and in collaboration with AutoPort, will introduce the eVan, an all-electric Ford E250 commercial van re-powered with a V2G-capable power system. The additional vehicles along with increases in the operating power levels will allow the Grid on Wheels project to bid up to 300 kW of ancillary services into the PJM market in the coming months.
“The path to integrating the EV fleet, as to grows toward its multi-gigawatt potential, with the slowly evolving power grid is full of barriers, challenges, and technical problemsÂÂÂ, Gage noted, adding that, “As I see it, it is the only path we can take. Today we took a very big step along that path.”
About EV Grid
EV Grid creates innovative products that integrate electric vehicle fleets and battery storage systems with the power grid. We help electric vehicle operators achieve more reliable and cost effective solutions to their transportation and energy needs.
EV Grid is based in Palo Alto, CA with operations in San Dimas, CA and Wilmington DE. Please visit our website www.evgrid.com for more information.