Guest Blog by Greg Gerritt

Thanks, Greg, for sending this article along:  http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/05/electric_cars.

Here's part of it: 

Electric cars

Horsepower v cash cows

May 17th 2011, 18:30 by The Economist online

"AS IF petrolheads did not already have reasons aplenty to hate electric vehicles. With oil prices rising inexorably (the recent dip notwithstanding) drivers of these silent, soulless battery-powered contraptions are set to look smugly on as gas-guzzlers burn a hole in their owners' pockets. Now, adding insult to injury, research suggests that electric cars might actually make a profit for their owners.

At present, in order to meet sudden surges in demand, power companies have to bring additional generators online at a moment's notice, a procedure that is both expensive and inefficient. If there were enough electric vehicles around, though, a fair number would be bound to be plugged in and recharging at any given time. Why not rig this idle fleet so that, when demand for electricity spikes, they stop drawing current from the grid and instead start pumping it back..."

And:

"What the power company would be paying for is not so much the electricity itself as the availability of that electricity at zero notice. At the moment, peaks in demand have to be sated by firing up expensive rapid-response generators, such as gas turbines. Speed of availability is as important as total capacity. Battery-driven cars, if plugged in appropriately, provide power instantly—faster, even, than a stand-by power station. That is where they truly score. And, for that reason, owners would actually be paid a tariff related to when and for how long their cars were available for the power company to tap. In Delaware, this amounts to about 30 cents an hour. Add in a fixed fee payable just for being part of the system and Dr Kempton and Dr Pearre think an income of $4,000 a year per car might be possible. That is a sum far greater than the $225 that Nissan, for instance, thinks will be the average annual cost of the electricity needed to power one of its Leaf..."

As future owners of EV's (I hope I can include you in this group), can we make this kind of money selling power back to the Grid?  We'll find out on a future episode of Renewable Now.

In the meantime, log on and see the episode with Al Dahlberg from Project Get Ready.  Come take a look at the charging station Arpin installed at the Cardi's in W. Warwick.  Become part of the new industrial revolution and go electric.  Say no to 13million barrels of imported oil a day, 70% of which goes to transportation.  Read the book, Jolt, and plug in your next car at home using domestic energy.