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NC Cooperative Demonstration of Vehicle-to-Grid Smart Charger Concludes with Positive Results

As electric vehicles (EVs) build market share across the United States, it will be increasingly important to balance the rising demand for charging services at times when the grid has excess capacity, reducing the total costs for grid services instead of increasing them. Bidirectional charging through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology has the capability to deploy demand-response actions to ease concerns, however, and add resilience benefits while decarbonizing emergency generation.

Findings from a two-year demonstration of a V2G technology in North Carolina show the positive economic potential for using bidirectional charging technologies to feed energy stored in electric vehicle batteries back to charging sites, especially when the grid is experiencing high demand. The NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) along with Advanced Energy, Enpira, Clean Energy Works, and the Environmental Defense Fund observed this powerful demonstration of a bidirectional charger and software platform from Fermata Energy.

Roanoke Electric Cooperative’s (REC) headquarters in the rural town of Ahoskie, North Carolina, served as the test site for Fermata Energy’s FE-15 bidirectional charger along with the cooperative’s two Nissan LEAF Plus cars. The Nissan LEAF has led the way in the fully electric passenger vehicle market that is capable of vehicle-to-grid technologies in the United States. The market has since grown with the vehicle-to-building capable F-150 Lightning, the Hyundai IONIQ, and the Kia EV6 expanding the development of V2X technologies.

NCCETC Clean Transportation Specialist, John Bonitz said, “We’re honored to be involved in pilot programs like this demonstration at Roanoke Electric Cooperative that can help make fleet electrification more economically viable by proving the value of integrating V2B and V2G technology to shave peaks, improve grid optimization and increase resilience — all while helping the cooperative and its members save money.”

Quantifying the potential value streams from bidirectional charging allows utilities to begin considering incentive payments and other EV program options for customers and members. By demonstrating significant positive value, this study encourages utilities in similar market conditions to help customers overcome the financial barriers to purchasing an EV, particularly in low- and moderate-income areas where these costs may restrict EV adoption. Roanoke is also considering a demand response program to incentivize EV growth and use the storage capacity to reduce peak demand and other charges while at the same time helping to make the transition to EVs more affordable for customers.

A bidirectional EV can receive energy (charge) from electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) such as the FE-15 and provide energy to an external load (discharge) when it is paired with a similarly capable EVSE. “Bidirectional chargers, simply put, can unlock new value streams by enabling energy to go into the car’s batteries or, when needed, can discharge energy back into the grid, a building, a house, or any electrical load,” explained John Bonitz. EV owners can use bidirectional charging to save money with their local electric utility, thus reducing the total cost of ownership of the vehicle.

With only vehicle-to-building use cases, REC demonstrated monthly gross savings that exceed the monthly lease cost for its EVs. Use of the bidirectional EVs as mobile battery storage reduced behind-the-meter electricity costs through three use cases: peak load reduction and load following, backup generator support while the building was islanded from the grid, and coincident peak demand reduction.

Peak load reduction shrinks the cooperative’s building’s monthly demand from the electrical grid, which can generally decrease the facility’s electric bill; load following adjusts the power output from an EV’s batteries as the building’s load increases and decreases; and coincident peak demand is when the cooperative’s peak coincides with the overall grid-system’s peak, thus helping both the electric cooperative, the local region and its customers by minimizing pollution generating sources while reducing electric service costs for all member-owners.

Smart charging and discharging solutions with V2X can be programmed to meet the fleet operator’s needs. V2G systems can schedule responses to system-wide peak demand events in advance, so a fleet manager can choose to reserve the vehicle for the grid (or building) at that time while leaving the vehicle plugged in. After the bidirectional event, the V2G system allows scheduled recharging to be programmed to meet fleet needs while providing transparency on the monetary value the vehicle can provide at different times for grid operations. Alternatively, the fleet manager or vehicle operator can choose a program to prioritize the readiness of the vehicle for transportation first, and grid-support services second.

Fermata Energy’s FE-15 can provide 15 kilowatts (kW) of power to the car and back to the site served by the grid. REC schedules dispatch of the onboard battery in response to predicted peaks, which usually last two to three hours. Using only one of REC’s Nissan LEAFs, the bidirectional charging system has been able to reduce the cooperative’s load and lower system-wide peak demand charges in 11 out of 22 months – every time the peak window was successfully predicted and communicated by the energy suppliers.

In addition to system-wide peak demand response, bidirectional charging can be used for demand charge management for building peak load reduction and load following. Despite having relatively modest demand charges of $9.50/kW, Fermata Energy’s software and charger strategically dispatched the Nissan LEAF battery to reduce REC’s headquarters’ building demand charges, resulting in savings in 16 out of 24 months.

“The combined value streams produced gross savings for REC of more than $3,200 per year, per charger – that’s greater than the lease cost of the EV,” Bonitz said. “The value of this single unit hints at the broader potential for much greater savings when multiplied by many units, serving multiple EVs or even integrated across an entire fleet of EVs.” He further clarified these savings would be in addition to the lower operating costs and fuel savings that have long been demonstrated by electric fleet vehicles.

Both public and private fleets in the United States are looking into viable strategies to transition away from internal-combustion engine vehicles and replace them with EVs. V2G technology can ensure that EVs are charged and ready for driving, secure on-time departure, and reduce total costs of ownership by generating additional revenue for owners.

Vehicle-to-building (V2B) technology could also keep the power on for critical services, such as hospitals and shelters, during extreme weather conditions and other emergency outages, reducing or even eliminating the cumulative number of hours these essential systems have to use backup diesel generators.

The Electrification Coalition’s new guide, “V2X Implementation Guide and Mutual Aid Agreement Template for Using Vehicle-to-Everything-Enabled Electric School Buses as Mobile Power Units to Enhance Resilience During Emergencies” describes the potential to use V2X-enabled electric school buses (ESBs) as alternative emergency backup power sources during outages. The adoption of ESBs is rising as school districts and fleet operators become aware of the significant benefits: clear air for student passengers, savings on bus fuel and maintenance costs, and reduced carbon emissions. ESBs are also gaining attention for their potential to enhance critical electric infrastructure resilience and reliability. Click here to learn more about this resource and how utilizing ESBs to power critical facilities in emergencies can enhance infrastructure resilience, save lives, and strengthen our energy and national security.

On a residential scale, EV owners could use vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology to power their homes during lengthy blackouts. With a bidirectional charging system, homeowners could pull power from their vehicle’s batteries to keep fridges, lights, and heating and cooling systems on in their homes.

Bonitz said, “We’re honored to be involved in pilot programs like this demonstration at Roanoke Electric Cooperative that can help make fleet electrification more economically viable by proving the value of integrating V2G technology to shave peaks, improve grid optimization and increase resilience – all while helping the cooperative and its members save money.”

Quantifying the potential value streams from bidirectional charging allows utilities to begin considering incentive payments and other EV program options for customers and members. By demonstrating significant positive value, this study encourages utilities in similar market conditions to help customers overcome the financial barriers to purchasing an EV, particularly in low- and moderate-income areas where higher EV costs slow their adoption. As the pilot program continues at Roanoke Electric, management is considering a demand response program to expand numbers of EVs by using these bidirectional value streams to help make the transition to EVs more affordable for their member-owners.

NCCETC and Advanced Energy are now sharing these lessons learned with interested parties across NC and beyond.  Other cooperative utilities are intrigued to learn of ways that these EV charging infrastructure investments can help pay for themselves while reducing overall costs for their member-owners.

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Stream All 13 Sessions from the 2022 Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series Online Now

Last month the 2022 Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series concluded after bringing together industry experts and top performing fleet managers for 13 webinar sessions over the course of the year. The Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series (SFTWS), now in its 8th year, is offered through a collaborative partnership between the NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) and NAFA Fleet Management Association (NAFA).

The series focuses on sharing real-world use cases and success stories of sustainable fleet operations and strategies. Each webinar session featured in-depth presentations from nationally recognized fleets describing their experience with integrating applications of sustainable fleet technologies and strategies into their fleet as well as the lessons they learned along the way.

“The webinar series showcases the gold standard of fleet sustainability to help others see how clean transportation technologies and practices can fit into their own fleets,” said Heather Brutz, Director of the NCCETC Clean Transportation Program.

Driving Fleet Sustainability and Efficiency

Fleet management is dynamic with constant change, so integration of new strategies and technologies is imperative to stay competitive and meet growing demands of customers. The key to successful deployment of these new strategies and technologies is change management and fostering buy-in on all levels of an organization.

The webinar Creating a Culture for Change & Gaining Buy-In explains the basics of change management and features speakers from top fleets that have created a culture that embraces technology, change and continuous improvement. Panelists included Patti Early, Fleet Fuel Operations Manager at Florida Power & Light; Erin Osterroth, Fleet Services Manager for the City of Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada; Mark Swackhamer, formerly Director of Transportation for Alvin Independent School District in Texas; and Al Curtis, Fleet Services Director for Cobb County, Georgia.

According to Patti Earley, the objective of change management is not to eliminate resistance to change, but to minimize the impact on achieving the desired goal. “Change management is a structured, planned process at both the individual and organizational levels,” Earley explained.

Among the fastest growing and most promising developments in fleet management is video telematics. Cameras coupled with other sensors and technologies give fleets the potential to achieve improved safety, driver performance and efficiency. This emerging technology and results from real-world fleet applications were explored in Video Telematics Applications & Benefits.

At the 2022 Sustainable Fleet Technology Conference, NAFA announced the winners of the 2022 Green Fleet Awards to honor fleets who have enhanced practices to make a positive impact on the environment. Several of the winners joined NCCETC for a SFTWS session – The Best Practices of the Top Green Fleets 2022 – following the announcement.

Rick Sapienza of NCCETC and NAFA’s Chief Executive Officer Bill Schankel joined three of the top five Green Fleets to share their best practices for successful fleet sustainability. “In terms of sustainability, my advice is just to get started,” said Sapienza. “And in terms of applying for the awards, it’s a good exercise- you will certainly learn something new.”

NCCETC is a proud sponsor of the Green Fleet Awards, now in its 15th year of recognizing peak-performing fleet sustainability efforts. The Green Fleet Awards is free to enter and is open to both government and commercial fleets in North America.

Avoiding Potholes On the Road to Fleet Electrification

Public and private fleets across the United States are taking steps to transition away from conventional fuel vehicles, but electrification is a complex and multi-aspect process for fleets with thousands of vehicles or diverse needs. The 2022 SFTWS had several sessions focused on integrating electric vehicle (EV) deployment into long-term fleet planning along with funding opportunities to finance these efforts.

The webinar series kicked off with Integrating Electrification into Fleet Replacement Planning & Right-Sizing. This session covers the basics for identifying candidate vehicles for replacement with a right-sizing analysis to ensure fleets have the optimal number of properly specific vehicles to fulfill their mission.

A fleet right-sizing analysis helps identify when vehicles need to be replaced and how to get the maximum value out of their current assets before replacing them. NCCETC’s Clean Transportation staff is able to provide fleet utilization analyses to help fleets understand utilization across their fleet as a first step in fleet right-sizing.

Several EV deployment cases from fleets leading the way in electrification were presented in Avoiding the Potholes in the Road to Fleet Electrification. Philip Saunders from the City of Seattle spoke of the lessons learned from the city’s transition to EVs so far and their plans for the future. Saunders was joined by Robert Gordon, Deputy Director of Fleet Management at Dekalb County, Georgia. Dekalb’s fleet has over 3600 vehicles – 437 of which are alternative fuel vehicles, according to Gordon.

Another key component of fleet electrification is the charging infrastructure and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) needed to keep EVs running and in service. The Charging Strategies & EVSE Readiness Planning webinar provides an overview of the critical planning required for properly meeting charging needs today, as well as planning for future additions of EVs.

Anne Blair, Policy Director at the Electrification Coalition, shared some of the resources and reflections from the organization’s work on charging deployment throughout the country. Blair discussed challenges and barriers fleets face when electrifying before highlighting how leading fleets have created opportunities to address these obstacles and find solutions.

One example of what worked came from San Antonio where Blink and the city formed a partnership to help alleviate some of the cost hurdles to installing charging stations. “They deployed more than 200 Level 2 charging stations, and 3 DC Fast charging stations throughout the city,” Blair noted. She said that these examples speak to how these partnerships mitigate the high cost of deploying charging infrastructure while also meeting the needs of the communities these chargers are installed in.

SFTWS 2022 also highlighted the use case scenarios where the energy storage capacity of electric vehicle assets could be used for cost avoidance or even a potential revenue stream. Those interested can learn more in The Economic Value Propositions to Make the Business Case for Bi-Directional Charging.

Other session topics featured in the 2022 webinar series included:

To view all of the past webinars and sessions from NCCETC’s Clean Transportation program, Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series, as well as the Sustainable Fleet Technology Virtual Conference series and more, click here.

The NC Clean Energy Technology Center, NAFA Fleet Management Association and The 100 Best Fleets are proud to offer sponsorship opportunities for the online Sustainable Fleet Technology  Webinar Series 2023. Note that there are a limited number of sponsorship opportunities for the SFT Webinar Series.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or learning more about partnership opportunities, please contact Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu for more information.

Stay tuned for updates about the 2023 Sustainable Fleet Technology Webinar Series online at www.sustainablefleetexpo.com.

Thank you to the sponsors who made the 2022 SFTWS possible.

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NC Cooperative Demonstration of Vehicle-to-Grid Smart Charger Shows Economic Value

Electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to be more than just a means of transportation now that more automakers are selling vehicles compatible with vehicle-to-grid technology, like Nissan LEAF, Ford F150 Lightning, and the Thomas Built C2 Jouley school bus. Bidirectional capable charging stations can transform electric cars, buses, garbage trucks, fleet vehicles and more into mobile energy storage banks.

Preliminary findings from a demonstration of two-way, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology in North Carolina show the economic potential for using bidirectional charging technologies to feed energy stored in electric vehicle batteries back to charging sites, especially when the grid is experiencing high demand. 

The NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) is coordinating with Roanoke Electric Cooperative (REC) to demonstrate and evaluate the economic case for the use of a two-way charger made by Fermata Energy, maker of the first EV charger certified for the North American standard for bidirectional charging. The project also benefits from support from partners including Advanced Energy, Clean Energy Works, and Environmental Defense Fund.

REC’s headquarters in the rural town of Ahoskie, NC, is the demonstration site for the project, where technicians for the utility’s growing broadband business use the utility’s two Nissan LEAF electric vehicles. The cooperative provides electricity and broadband services to a wide variety of industrial, recreational, educational, community and other interests in addition to farms in northeast North Carolina.

The two-way “smart” charger provides power to Roanoke Electric’s two EV cars, and it is one of the first chargers delivered from Fermata’s manufacturing site in Danville, Virginia. This charger not only curtails a vehicle’s charging in response to peak system demand, but also, it can discharge the energy stored in a connected EV to meet some of the demand at the site when demand on the grid is high. 

The V2G charging technology was thoroughly tested by Underwriters Laboratory to meet the North American standard for bidirectional charging. The purpose of this current demonstration has been to illuminate the value potential of V2G for fleet managers, energy professionals and utility companies— and the project is well on its way to accomplishing that goal.

Initial Results

A common question from fleet managers is, “how can I be sure the vehicle will be fully charged when I need it?”  In summary, the intelligence of the bidirectional system’s software enables it to be programmed to meet the fleet owners’ needs.

When the V2G system is responding to system-wide peak demand events, they are scheduled in advance, so a fleet manager can choose to reserve the vehicle for the grid (or the building) at that time as if it were reserved for another driver, while simply leaving the vehicle plugged in.  The impetus for this decision is knowing how much it would be worth to leave the vehicle plugged-in for grid operations at that time.  After the bidirectional event, the system allows scheduled recharging to be programmed in a way that meets the fleet operator’s needs while providing transparency about the monetary value the vehicle can provide at different times for grid operations.

Fermata Energy’s FE-15 is capable of providing 15 kilowatts of power both to the car and back to the site served by the grid. REC schedules dispatch of the on-board battery in response to predicted peaks, which usually lasts two to three hours. Using only one of REC’s Nissan LEAFs, the V2G system has been able to reduce the utility’s load, on average, by 14.14 kW during the entirety of the 85 event hours to date, across a variety of operating conditions. 

As an example, during a window of recent events, the two-way EV charger discharged the EV battery at 14 kW on average, and it saved the cooperative nearly $440.

The results from this small window suggest savings of over $2,660 a year per two-way charger. The value of this single unit hints at the potential for much bigger savings when multiplied by many units, serving multiple EVs or integrated with entire fleets of EVs. While some chargers may not have an EV connected during every peak period, utilities will develop experience over time with a minimum fraction of availability across thousands of EVs and two-way charging stations, accessing hundreds of MWh of energy storage on-board local EVs.

In addition to system-wide savings, V2G chargers can also create savings for non-residential customers that pay demand charges. Despite having relatively modest demand charges of $9.50/kW, Fermata’s software and charger strategically dispatched the Nissan LEAF battery to reduce REC’s headquarters building demand charges by $234 over a two month period. At larger facilities, Fermata has demonstrated the FE-15 is capable of capturing the full 15 kW in savings possible, and in parts of the country where demand charges can surpass $20/kW, customers could realize savings of over $300 a month.

For REC and its members, and any utility with demand charge and demand response programs in which V2X technology can participate, the benefits of system-wide savings as well as customer savings can be realized simultaneously. Using REC’s local and system demand charges, each FE-15 operating at maximum capacity could result in $3,500 to $4,000 of savings each year.

Roanoke Electric has also been able to demonstrate another application that V2X technology makes possible for improving energy assurance and reliability. REC’s facility has an on-site generator that allows it to isolate itself from the grid, and Fermata’s V2X charger can discharge the Nissan LEAF battery to partially power the facility either by dispatching stored energy when the site’s usage is highest, or by reacting to scheduled discharges for a set duration. The ability for smart charging to respond to an islanded load powered by the generator increases the resilience of sites that use generators as back-up power systems.

These results have important implications for the affordability of electricity, both for grid operators and for the member owners of the electric cooperative. REC’s CEO Curtis Wynn has underscored the improvements to grid utilization that the utility can attain when distributed storage is available to member-owners on the Roanoke Electric grid.

The Potential of Vehicle-to-Grid Technology

As public and private fleets in the United States replace internal-combustion engine vehicles with EVs, integration of V2G technology could enable EVs to serve as energy reservoirs to help keep the grid running smoothly during demand peaks and during system outages. 

In this demonstration at REC, the dollar savings appear to nearly offset the cost of the EVs. The cooperative’s two new Nissan LEAFs with 62kWh battery capacities are leased at less than $250 per month, and the demonstration has documented a generated value of as high as $230 a month. The implications for dropping the net cost of electric mobility to Roanoke Electric member-owners is tremendous.

On a residential scale, electric vehicle drivers could use vehicle-to-building technology to power their homes during lengthy blackouts. With a bidirectional charging system, homeowners could pull power from their electric vehicle batteries to keep fridges, lights, the internet and heating and cooling systems on in their homes, especially when jeopardized by heat waves or hypothermia as seen this year in Texas.

Vehicle-to-building technology could also keep the power on for critical services such as hospitals and shelters during extreme weather conditions and other emergency outages, reducing or even eliminating the cumulative numbers of hours these essential systems have to use backup diesel generators. 

As the demonstration continues, REC staff are exploring a pilot application of the technology with commercial customers, focusing first on locations having higher voltage service — in line with the design of the FE-15 device.

John Bonitz, a specialist for NCCETC’s Clean Transportation Program, said, “Preparing for a future where fleets of electric buses and cars will be electrified, this demonstration at Roanoke Electric Cooperative is helping prove the benefits and economic value of integrating V2G technology to shave peaks, improve grid utilization and increase resilience – all while helping the cooperative and its members save money. And we’re honored to be involved.” 

ABOUT THE TEAM

This demonstration is possible only due to a unique partnership between six organizations:  Roanoke Electric Cooperative serves about 14,000 accounts in Northeastern North Carolina out of their headquarters in Ahoskie, NC.  Fermata Energy is a company created for the dual purposes of accelerating the adoption of EVs and accelerating the transition to a renewable energy future, and it is their bi-directional EV charger and proprietary software system that allow electric vehicles to earn money while they are parked.  Clean Energy Works provides advisory services for accelerating investment in grid-edge solutions.  Advanced Energy is a nonprofit energy consulting firm that assists utilities with program design and electric transportation initiatives. Environmental Defense Fund, a leading international nonprofit organization, creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems, including supporting policies that accelerate transportation electrification to create a zero-emission future.  The NCCETC’s Clean Transportation Program is supporting the demonstration with analysis, technical assistance and facilitation. NCCETC also hosts the largest outreach and engagement events in the region on sustainable fleets, the Sustainable Fleet Technology virtual conference series.

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