A Seattle-based non-profit organization, Sustainable Ballard, is organizing a two half-day forum on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems. The first afternoon session on 6 June is a technical symposium on V2G; the second on 7 June explores V2G possibilities in the Seattle area.

As it sounds, the V2G concept is that battery, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles all can send power to the electric grid, power that all three already generate internally. For battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles, the power connection is already there. For fuel cell and fuel-only hybrids, an electrical connection must be added. Red arrows in the diagram to the right indicate the electric flow from vehicles to the grid.

The group has invited key players in the V2G area, including:

• Dr. Willett Kempton, University of Delaware. Dr. Kempton (who is organizing the technical symposium element of the program) developed the electric vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept. His two current research, speaking, and publishing foci are V2G and offshore wind power.

• Dr. Mark Duvall, EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute).  Dr. Duvall conducts research and technology development efforts in advanced transportation, including hybrid system design, advanced energy storage, vehicle efficiency, systems modeling, and environmental analysis.  His primary focus is plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and he oversees a number of EPRI research partnerships and collaborations with the automotive industry, state and federal agencies, national laboratories, and academic research institutions.  He currently heads up EPRI’s Grid-Connected Hybrid Electric Vehicle Working Group (HEVWG) and is EPRI'’s technical lead for the Daimler Chrysler-EPRI Plug-in Hybrid Electric Sprinter Van Program.

• Tom Gage, AC Propulsion. AC Propulsion (manufactures electric vehicle propulsion systems and develops vehicle-to-grid technology.  AC propulsion electric vehicles can source or sink grid power at up to 20 kW.

Others invited include Steve Nicholas, Director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment; Jorge Carrasco, Superintendent of Seattle City Light; and Patrick Mazza, research director at Climate Solutions.

V2G clearly is of potential interest to hydrogen fuel cell manufacturers. In light of that, Hydrogenics has been awarded a US patent related to the system and method of buying and selling electricity generated by fuel cell powered vehicles in a V2G scenario.

This patent complements our light mobility initiatives, as future deployments of our technology will utilize fuel cell vehicles to provide emergency and peak-shaving back-up power, off-board electricity for tools, as well as V2G power. We believe that changing the utility function of vehicles may accelerate the adoption rate of fuel cell technology and facilitate a convergence of transportation and stationary power technologies.

—Pierre Rivard, President and CEO, Hydrogenics

The current program is available here.

Space at the event is limited to 275 each day.  To attend, you must RSVP and receive confirmation.  Please email your name, company or organization, phone number, address and which day(s) you will attend to [email protected] by May 31st.

Resources:

• V2G: Vehicle to Grid Power. University of Delaware program site with numerous links to papers, articles and other resources.