Electric Cars

Smart Cars At Loose on the Smart Grid

in , ,

I have written before of the challenges of software for electric cars at home (Smart Cars at Home on the Grid). Today I want to expand the domain of those cars into the wider world. The minimal car software will have some way to make electronic purchases as it drives across the town and the country. The better car software will do much more.

The electric car may recharge while on the road. It can also re-sell power when on the road. How it decides...

Read More

Smart Cars at Home on the Smart Grid

in , ,

Too many of the scenarios for electric cars on the smart grid talk only about the relationship between the single car in the home and the grid. These relationships are not the most important ones, and will not determine the successful integration of millions of electric vehicles into the grid. The relationships that matter are those between the cars and their drivers, their family plans, and the other cars in the household. Car software will be even more important than car performance...

Read More

She never wants an Electric Car

in , ,
My daughter explained to me yesterday why she never wants an electric car. She has been reading about Shai Agassi’s and Idan Ofer’s efforts to build an electric car while building up an electric car infrastructure. She resents the “Gillette” (or Polaroid) model: sell them the handle cheap and sell them blades forever. She does not want to be even more dependent upon the power grid. She also mistrusts giving a single player access to her driving information. Many of today’s twenty-somethings have deep doubts about our information society and its long-term stability. Cultural messengers from...
Read More

Ontological requirements of the service oriented grid

in , ,
We will be unable to scale out the integration of the power grid on a continental scale, to support the diversity of systems currently installed using process oriented integration. We must support even more diversity, from technological innovation as well as from business innovation to achieve the new markets in energy today’s challenges require. While simple demand-response capable systems provide great aggregate value to the grid, the small-scale benefits they offer seldom make a compelling interest to the home or commercial building occupant. This limits new energy scenarios to small advantages that can be achieved by static regulation. If we enforce participation through regulation, we will only
Read More