From The Auto Channel:
UPDATE: One of our nuclear engineers, Adrian Heymer, sent us the following note:
Technorati tags: Energy, Technology, Environment, Electricity, Politics, Electric Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles
RICHLAND, Wash. --– If all the cars and light trucks in the nation switched from oil to electrons, idle capacity in the existing electric power system could generate most of the electricity consumed by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. A new study for the Department of Energy finds that "off-peak" electricity production and transmission capacity could fuel 84 percent of the country's 220 million vehicles if they were plug-in hybrid electrics.More later.
Researchers at DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also evaluated the impact of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, on foreign oil imports, the environment, electric utilities and the consumer.
"This is the first review of what the impacts would be of very high market penetrations of PHEVs, said Eric Lightner, of DOE's Office of Electric Delivery and Energy Reliability. "It's important to have this baseline knowledge as consumers are looking for more efficient vehicles, automakers are evaluating the market for PHEVs and battery manufacturers are working to improve battery life and performance."
UPDATE: One of our nuclear engineers, Adrian Heymer, sent us the following note:
If the nation moves more toward a plug-in transportation system, which some London stores had in the 1950s and 1960s for delivery vehicles, we would need a lot more baseload generation.True enough. And more baseload generation means you have just two options: coal or nuclear energy. For more, visit FuturePundit and The Speculist. Thanks to Instapundit for the pointer.
Technorati tags: Energy, Technology, Environment, Electricity, Politics, Electric Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles
Comments
Now hydrogen, OTOH, would really do the trick. Decent range, quick "recharging", electric substitution, all in one package.
Wouldn't plug-in hybrids also work a lot better with flat-fee billing (which could easily be supported by a higher gas tax)?
And what about summer vs. winter gasoline blends?
Why would you use peakers in off peak hours? If there is a new steady state demand like car charging, it would make more sense to simply operate baseload plants at a higher capacity factor while you are building new ones as the loads gradually increase. That process would be rather slow since automobile replacement takes a number of years.
I find it interesting that Amory Lovins likes plug in hybrid and uses the "cheap overnight rates" as part of his economic computations that show how quick the payback can be. Of course, he fails to mention that those cheap overnight rates are available because the operating cost of nuclear plants is about 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour and most of that is not even dependent upon whether or not the plant is running. The actual marginal cost of continuing to produce power in a nuclear plant compared to shutting it down is on the order of 0.5 cents per kilowatt hour - the cost of the fuel itself.
With the average fuel cost of a coal plant is on the order of 1.2 cents per kilowatt hour, while a gas plant in a market with $8 per million BTU gas burns fuel costing about 6.4 cents per kilowatt hour (assuming a reasonable heat rate of about 8,000 BTU per kilowatt hour).
Of course, I recognize that there is a big difference between "cost" and "retail price".
Rod
MOstly consider what a torque of e-motor does w.r.to a combustion engine ;-)
>>Why would you use peakers in off peak hours? If there is a new steady state demand like car charging, it would make more sense to simply operate baseload plants at a higher capacity factor while you are building new ones as the loads gradually increase.
That's precisely my point. "Off-peak electricity production could power most of USA's vehicles"--but only if you're willing to pay ~$0.15/kWh. There's a reason why these peakers aren't already being run during off-peak hours--which sort of defeats the point of the post.
Also, most of these peakers burn oil or gas--which might as well be burned in car engines. And what happens when somebody wants to recharge their car during peak hours--say, someone comes home at 6:30 and plugs in their car, then goes inside and turns on five lights and the microwave? There's no advantage to using peakers in off-peak hours to generate electricity for plug-in hybrids.
The natural analogy here is the cellular phone market. Remember when "free" calls started at 7pm -- then 8pm -- then 9pm. I don't want to have to wake up in the middle of the night just to plug in my car.
Don't get me wrong, I love my hybrid as much as the next guy (as long as I'm not on the highway), but I also miss my V8 (first car, what can I say).
I think there's enough room in the considerable future for traditional and hybrid drivetrains to share the roads (as long as the other hybrids join me in town and stay off the highways).
As long as there is diversity in engine and drivetrain types, we may just be able to create a win-win solution in the form of reasonable gas and electric rates.
Mileage from megawatts: Study finds enough electric capacity to 'fill up' plug-in vehicles across much of the nation
http://www.physorg.com/news85067531.html