Preparing for Electric Vehicles

By Mary Reidy

Mary Reidy, Chair, IEEE P2030.1 Working Group

While the electricity grid's current generation and distribution capacity might be sufficient to service the few hundred thousand of electric vehicles (EVs) in operation today, it is simply not poised to accommodate a wide-scale, long-term transition to alternative-fuel vehicles -- a trend that experts around the world agree is inevitable.

The gathering, global shift to electric-sourced personal and mass transit demands change among vehicle and equipment manufacturers, transportation providers, infrastructure developers, utilities, regulatory and government bodies and consumers worldwide. The required changes span tremendous scope -- across varied stakeholders, industries and borders -- and they will transpire over decades. The dimensions of the transformation are so immense, in fact, that preparations for the emerging world of EVs are already intense.

Asking Questions

The new and upgraded supporting infrastructure that our global shift to EVs -- charging stations, generating capacity, transmission systems, distribution, monitoring capabilities, etc. -- will require time for development and deployment. That means planning has to be going on now, before real-world EV penetration actually requires the enhancements.

The first step is asking questions that the EV shift will present:

• What might the global landscape of charging infrastructure look like? How much of the world will utilize convenient, single-household charging systems, and how and where (apartment-building and community garages, for example) might more robust EV service equipment be needed?
• What are the complications of EV integration with the grid in terms of billing and measurement across traditional utility boundaries? How can billing systems be configured so that an EV could be purchased in one market, charged in a second and driven to the third, for example?
• Where will all the power come from? Given that many areas of the world are already experiencing power shortages, how would utilities accommodate the increase in demand presented by a substantial uptick in EV usage? Could EV operators be incentivized to do their charging on schedules that would avoid a scenario where EVs, households and businesses compete for electricity? Pilot projects in the U.S. and parts of Europe, for example, are exploring the impact of the availability of real-time data to consumers on total electricity usage and current rates. Would the introduction of smart meters and other smart-home devices such as programmable thermostats encourage consumers to program their electric devices for operation when rates are less expensive?
• What are the safety considerations of EV batteries? What safety ramifications are presented by the different, competing battery models? What must be done to ensure consumer safety with regard to battery afterlife? Can the consumer be sufficiently educated on how to properly swap out an old battery for a new one? Or is the better route for the EV industry to lease batteries to consumers or establish battery change-out services?

Evaluating Answers

The world's standards-development organizations (SDO) are one of prime places where stakeholders come together to address questions such as these. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that they are picking specific answers.

As part of its work in creating a sweeping "Guide for Electric-Sourced Transportation Infrastructure," the IEEE P2030.1 Working Group is examining the options that are emerging for swap-out of EV batteries. The guide will document multiple alternatives and their impact on integration with the electric grid so that utilities and industry are prepared to accommodate whatever technologies eventually garner market acceptance.

The IEEE P2030.1 guide is intended to establish a knowledge base addressing terminology, methods, equipment and planning requirements for road-based, electric-sourced transportation and its impacts on commercial and industrial systems (such as for generation, transmission and distribution power). Separate task forces have been formed to look at vehicle technology (such as charging systems), electric grid (from generation to consumer), road map (including privacy and roaming) and communication/cyber security; those contributions are then brought before the project's full working group for additional discussion and input. The IEEE P2030.1 Working Group is building on existing standards and research, while also identifying areas where new standards are needed.

Manufacturers require an understanding of the standardization requirements around EVs in order to develop and roll out products that are widely interoperable across global markets. Ultimately, the IEEE P2030.1 guide will illuminate methods for developing and supporting systems that allow increased utilization of electric-sourced transportation around the world.

At the same time, an end-to-end, systems approach to efficient and economic production will be necessary in order to reduce the new amounts of power generation that are required. Even with increased implementation of Smart Grid technologies and the emergence of energy-saving protocols and mandates, the capacity of electric generation is likely to be stressed by the next decades' EV growth. The options presented by the IEEE P2030.1 guide will help utilities most effectively utilize the grid's existing and emerging generation capacities to support EVs.

SDO Coordination

With the Smart Grid involving such diverse industries across the world, there has developed uncommon coordination among historical SDO competitors. Evidence of this is prevalent in the EV arena.

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) and SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) International, for example, have launched a strategic partnership in vehicular technology related to the Smart Grid, under terms of which the IEEE-SA and SAE International share certain draft standards with one another for review and input. The goal of the relationship is to foster a more efficient and collaborative standards-development environment for the two organizations' constituents, resulting in important benefits such as expanded market access, cost cuts and keener technological innovation. Similarly-toward developing a truly global IEEE P2030.1 guide-IEEE has reached out to entities such as automotive manufacturing associations in Asia and Europe, in order to draw on their country- and industry-specific expertise.

SDOs typically operate in isolation from one another-serially building on or responding to each other's output. The frontiers of development in the Smart Grid (and EVs specifically) are so broad and the pace is so rapid that boundary-blasting collaboration among SDOs is necessary to more quickly yield more beneficial standards.

Accelerating EV Adoption

Rollout and adoption of globally relevant EV standards figure to accelerate the anticipated worldwide shift to EVs. They would give consumers more flexibility to choose and operate whatever EVs they desire. They will give manufacturers more assurance that their products will find eager marketplaces around the world. And they will help utilities evolve the grid to meet the emerging wave of demand without concern of squandering investment in infrastructure that fails to interoperate with the technologies that the markets actually adopt.

There is not just one road to our electric-vehicle future; many different paths, in fact, will be heavily traveled over the upcoming decades. Consensus standards are critically necessary to help industry, government and consumers globally map the ways from here to there, choose the best routes for their given journeys and arrive more efficiently.

About the Author
Mary Reidy is a staff member of National Grid's Smart Technology Center in Liverpool, N.Y. where she is responsible for identification of appropriate university-industry collaborations. She chairs the IEEE p2030.1 working group. A licensed professional engineer in New York State, Reidy has a doctoral degree and master's degrees in business and engineering.