Electric Vehicles 101

Every driver knows what it costs to fill up the tank – it’s right there on the sign at every gas station. But for EV drivers, most of whom charge their car at home, there isn’t a similar measurement to determine the cost of driving an electric car. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created the eGallon.

Simply put, the eGallon represents the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared to a similar vehicle that runs on gasoline. For example, if gasoline costs $2.60 a gallon in your state and the eGallon price for your state is $1.10 you could drive the same distance for $1.10 of electricity as you would for $2.60 worth of gasoline.

The DOE calculates how much electricity EVs require to travel the same distance as comparable models of gasoline-fueled vehicles would travel on a gallon of gasoline. That amount of electricity is then multiplied by the average cost of electricity for the state, giving consumers an apples-to-apples way to compare the cost of driving an EV vs. a comparably sized car that runs on gasoline.

Virtually all of the major automakers, along with several start-up companies, have developed one or more plug-in vehicle. Ford, GM and Toyota all have long invested and produced plug-in electric vehicles models. All told, there are over 30 plug‐in vehicles for sale in the U.S.

According to a new analysis of the electric-vehicle market by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, battery prices fell 35 percent last year and are on a trajectory to make unsubsidized electric vehicles as affordable as their gasoline counterparts in the next six years. That could trigger a real mass-market liftoff for electric cars.

The most popular electric and plug-in cars are sticker priced at $26,000 to $32,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. In many locations, leases are available for as little as $170 a month (after you sign the tax credit over to the leasing company). Plug-in hybrids list at between $30,000 and $75,000, and some are advertised with lease deals as low as $170 a month. Many states have incentive programs for light duty passenger and fleet vehicles to help offset the expense of these clean, advanced vehicles. The innovative Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, administered by The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, manages a number of grant programs for Texans resulting in the reduction of harmful mobile source air emissions.

Cities throughout the U.S., including several in Texas, are installing public chargers. In addition, an increasing number of retail outlets are providing free EV charging to their customers.

The global EV charging market has entered a transitional phase in expectation of the introduction of several new lines of plug-in electric vehicles from. Automakers are actively involved in infrastructure deployment, which is altering dynamics of the marketplace, and utilities are starting to play a significant role in the charging infrastructure landscape. For example, signs indicate a greater focus on the installation of charging units in multi-unit dwellings and workplaces.

In response, the global market for EV supply equipment is projected to grow from 425,000 units in 2016 to 2.5 million in 2025. For more on EV charging services, read a new report from Navigant Research.

Yet another new and exciting development is research into wireless EV charging. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Hyundai are working to demonstrate wireless charging on a variety of vehicles. The technology centers around a connection between a transmitting pad on the ground (such as in a garage) and a receiving pad on the bottom of the EV. The transmitting pad is connected to a 240-volt outlet, which generates a magnetic field. When the coil in the receiving pad is tuned to oscillate at the same frequency, the magnetic field generates a current in the receiving coil, charging the vehicle’s battery.

Through smart grids technology that allows utilities to more effectively monitor transmission and distribution networks and digitally communicate with customers, plug-in vehicles have the potential to deliver energy stored in batteries back to the power grid. In turn, this would provide grid operators another important tool in balancing supply and demand for electricity, and maintaining system stability.

For example, a car with a 30 kWh battery stores as much electricity as the average U.S. residence consumes in a day.

Through the use of two-way advanced meters, vehicle-to-grid power flows would give utilities the ability to flexibly manage charging while still meeting customer requirements, in effect creating a new kind of distributed resource.

As a pooled resource, electric vehicle batteries in aggregate could provide a wide range of valuable grid services, from demand response and voltage regulation to distribution-level services, without compromising the customer’s driving experience or vehicle performance.

While only in its nascent stages, preliminary studies show strong potential for electric utility companies to use new communications and control technologies, together with innovative tariffs and incentive structures from utility regulators, to tap the value of smart electric-vehicle charging to wide range of stakeholders, from electricity customers, shareholders, EV owners, and society at large.