Total Charge Management: Advanced Charge Management for Renewable Integration
Evaluating the grid benefits of Total Charge Management - managed charging for EVs
BMW of North America, LLC
Recipient
Mountain View, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
24th
Assembly District
$3,771,576
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
This project was completed in March 2020. This project demonstrated an average $46 annual charging cost savings per vehicle at a single charging point from shifting charging to the lowest practical time period while still maintaining driver mobility needs. The average annual savings increases to $56 per vehicle when charging is allowed at multiple locations. Shifting charging across multiple locations and time also resulted in a 300 metric tons of GHG annual savings per vehicle and integration of an additional 1,200 kilowatt-hours annually per vehicle. BMW is currently developing a larger pilot with another California IOU to expand the TCM project, and also applying for additional grants through the CEC and U.S. DOE that advance innovative vehicle charging solutions for the local built environment and specific use cases.
The Issue
Smart charging is a means of managing charging within a particular charging or parking event, usually at work during the day or at home during the night. The future electricity grid will face new balancing needs that change throughout the day and night as utilities and grid operators attempt to align renewable generation with customer load. As the grid becomes more dynamic, optimizing vehicle charging will require moving charging from night to day, from hour to hour, or from one grid location to another. California's steadily increasing electric vehicle deployment with larger capacity batteries combined with the mandates for more renewables require more means for managed vehicle charging.
Project Innovation
This project explores the benefits and opportunities of Total Charge Management (TCM), where electric vehicle charging is managed across multiple charging events to maximize vehicle load flexibility. The project tests how flexible electric vehicle load can be if managed across a driver's daily or weekly charge events. This flexibility utilizes several pricing mechanisms to estimate the benefits of the Total Charge Management approach. The research develops and evaluates advanced vehicle telematics for utilities and grid operators to align vehicle battery status, driver mobility needs, and grid conditions. Collaboration between the grid and the driver can yield a charging load profile that minimizes energy costs by aligning daily and weekly charging events to best meet grid needs.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project helps the state advance the flexibility of electric vehicle charging as a flexible grid resource and vehicle charging cost savings to the driver. Optimal charging load patterns will be identified that can capture ratepayer and grid benefits using a variety of grid price signals. The project pioneers demand response and smart charging technology advancement of not only the temporal benefits of controlled charging, but also the possible benefits that can be derived from being able to influence the location of charging.
Affordability
The cost of Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) ownership is estimated to fall by $300 per year through grid service payments and reduced electricity bills for PEV drivers through managed charging. In total, this would provide $2,400
Environmental Sustainability
Aligning vehicle charging with renewable energy generation has the potential to reduce carbon emissions associated with vehicle charging by as much as 660,000 metric tons per year, at a scale of 1.5 million vehicles.
Reliability
Total Charge Management would represent a resource of over 10,000 MWh per day. If 40 percent of that load could be flexibly managed, the following benefits would be realized every day: 3,000 MWh of solar-following load (enough to
Energy Security
Greater energy security comes from having more diverse distributed resources able to respond to grid needs. The Total Charge Management approach helps utilities and CAISO get more functionality out of electric vehicle load as a g
Key Project Members
Adam Langton
Alissa Harrington
Subrecipients
Growing Energy Labs, Inc.
The Regents of the University of California, Berkeley Campus
Olivine, Inc.
Kevala, Inc.
Bertrandt Consulting
Sulzer US, LLC
Pixida
DocuSign
Surge IT Services
EVGrid
Octagon
Insight Softmax Consulting
Match Partners
BMW of North America, LLC
Kevala, Inc.
Bertrandt Consulting
Sulzer US, LLC
