ELECTRIC CARS 2011 -Unmanaged charging of electric cars could be costly
ELECTRIC CARS 2011 -Unmanaged charging of electric cars could be costly A new joint study by PJM Interconnection andBetter Placehas found that unmanaged charging of one million electric cars could add $750million in annual wholesale energy costs unless smart charging is adopted. It found that consumers choosing to leverage time of use pricing can see some price relief – less than 10 per cent annually – but the wholesale energy business would still be rocked by ad hoc charging. By contrast, smart charging one million electric cars would cut in half the increase in wholesale energy costs. As part of the study, an analysis was made of the impact of one million electric cars on the MidAtlantic States’ grid in three scenarios: unmanaged charging; consumer price incentivised charging; and managed charging via a Central Network Operator. The latter charges batteries based on criteria such as energy needed for the next planned trip; time until energy is known or predicted to be needed; cu...