UCLA hosts its Smart and Grid-friendly Electric Vehicle Charging and Electric Vehicle Forum on June 10, 2013. UCLA's Smart Grid Energy Research Center or SMERC will present its technology on user friendly, grid friendly and parking friendly EV charging technology.


About the Forum   Tentative program has been posted.

About the Forum   Recent advances in information and communications systems and battery technologies, in combination with substantial importance given by society to reducing greenhouse gas and carbon emissions, have resulted in dramatic thrusts towards accelerated innovations in electric vehicles (EVs) and the smart and renewable energy infrastructure necessary to fuel and support them. Products such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and Ford Focus Electric, are in the process of creating mass markets for electric vehicles in the U.S. The utilities on their part are working towards enhancing their infrastructure through their own investments as well as those from the DOE Stimulus ARRA Grants, and this requires modernization of their distribution as well as their transmission systems. Not only does the current infrastructure need to be upgraded from a capacity standpoint, it also needs to be made more intelligent by way of loads that are responsive to changing dynamic conditions on the generation and grid control side. Adding capacity is typically more expensive than adding smart capabilities that respond dynamically to changes, and the eventual solutions will require innovative combinations of both. Certainly, adding auxiliary power sources at the edge of the power network such as residential solar PVCs to feed into the grid would help from a capacity standpoint, but using such alternative fuels so as to move the energy to where it is needed from where it is produced will require sophistication and the ability to smooth out the variations - something that EVs and distributed energy storage would be able to provide.

While EVs can help smooth out variations due to intermittency, there are additional opportunities that the aggregation of increasingly larger numbers of EVs can provide in the context of the Smart Grid. Due to the addition of batteries by way of additional EVs there is the potential to aggregate them to create an energy storage buffer which can absorb excessive power during low-load periods such as during the night, and become a source of electrical power during high-load periods such as a hot summer's afternoon in hot climate or early evening in cold climate. This ability can help substantially with Demand Management or Demand Response which is a key and yet challenging problem for the utilities. This source of energy can also provide buffer power for smoothing out frequency fluctuations resulting from mismatched demand (generation versus consumption) - and therefore could be used for Demand Dispatch and Grid Control by the utilities. All of these needs and capabilities will require the integration of sophisticated technologies including communications, wireless, sense-and-control, Internet, mobile computing, cloud computing, Lithium Ion and other battery technology, superconductors, etc.

This forum will bring together utilities, EV and automotive companies, technology providers, service providers, government and universities together to create Thought Leadership around the field of Smart Grid-Friendly electric vehicles integration. The ecosystem of participants is rapidly changing and this forum will discuss the role of technology, standards, economics of EVs, government policies, infrastructure issues, global competitiveness issues and renewable energy considerations in the context of EV adoption. In-spite of shakeouts in the EV industry, companies such as Tesla are getting strong customer adoption and current trends and market opportunities will also be discussed. In the grand scheme of things, the EV industry is still a nascent industry - perhaps akin to the 1970s Internet - and looking at the evolution of the EV and grid-friendly smart technologies for charging, the future10 or 20 years from now is perhaps not even imaginable - some visions for the future will also be presented and discussed.

The role and importance of the consumer in using the grid optimally for their EVs would be discussed. Issues and experiences by early EV customers on the availability and modality of use of charging stations would be topics for discussion. Relevant experiences from the UCLA WINSmartEV™ infrastructure research projects would be shared. Experiences from parking infrastructure/facilities perspectives, would be presented. Utilities would be able to present their perspectives on how their infrastructure is being impacted with the addition of the first set of EVs and how they perceive this impact evolving with the further addition of EVs from many other manufacturers. Standards bodies would be able to discuss how they are balancing innovation with standardization. Government organizations would be able to present their initial reactions from consumers and on policies. Overall, the next level of discussion that now needs to take place is how do we scale up from here.


Forum Topics   Topics include (but not limited to):
  • Wireless Technologies for communications and control of EV systems - using UCLA's WINSmartGrid™ as example
  • Monitoring and control of EV charging
  • Software systems, mobile computing and cloud computing for EV management
  • Smart Charging Infrastructure at UCLA using UCLA's WINSmartEV™
  • Battery for energy storage on the grid
  • EV Fleet management technologies and services
  • EVSE - making the business case, cost recovery, environmental benefits
  • Multi-unit dwellings, workplace charging, enterprise charging of EVs
  • V2G (Vehicle to Grid) and G2V (Grid to Vehicle)
  • Integration of residential solar with EVs
  • Smart charging infrastructure and scalability
  • Time/location shifting, aggregation
  • Utility Perspective - demand response, demand dispatch and relevance to Smart EV management
  • Distribution system concerns - overheating of transformers, advanced management of substations.
  • Environmental issues and benefits
  • Grid Impact
  • Distribution and Transmission considerations
  • Scaling up EVs to large urban areas such as Los Angeles
  • Infrastructure and investments in metros such as Los Angeles - installation of Level 1, 2, and 3 chargers
  • Role of renewables in EV integration, especially Solar and Wind
  • Standards and Interoperability
  • Cybsersecurity in communications, data, computing and infrastructure
  • Power quality, reliability, and, stability effects as a result of EVs
  • Customer Adoption, Customer Behavior and Customer Response
  • Pricing models for charging stations, roaming across territories, billing
  • Advanced visualization, data sharing and analysis
  • Government Role - Regulations, Public voice, pricing models, incentives for EV's and renewables
  • Government Cooperation - State, Local and Federal and how they collectively coordinate activities with local utilities
  • Research and Technology Funding - Role of DOE, NSF, DOT, EPRI, NIST in Technology Development
  • EV Manufacturer constraints - Warranties, battery integration and management, temperature management, range and range anxiety.

Forum Sponors  

©2013 UCLA - WINMEC, UCLA SMERC, 44-120 Engr. IV, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA. 90095