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The US solar-plus-storage agency Sunrun and the Ford Motor Firm have been working a “stealth” vehicle-to-home vitality storage experiment this summer season, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck. Thus far they like what they see, and a pot-sweetener of $800 per buyer ought to assist be sure that the first-of-its-kind trial good points traction amongst EV drivers across the US.
Ford F-150 Lightning & The Renewable Vitality Storage Connection
Considered from an vitality storage perspective, electrical autos are merely massive, cell batteries. They’re source-agnostic, that means they may take electrical energy from anybody, anytime, anyplace.
By way of decarbonization, getting EV drivers to recharge on 100% renewable vitality is the following step. That’s a piece in progress, however momentum is starting to select up as renewable vitality stakeholders spot a chance to promote drivers on the multi-use capabilities of an electrical car.
In the meantime, Ford is setting an excellent instance of how automotive stakeholders can promote the a number of advantages of proudly owning a big, cell vitality storage machine. Ford launched the brand new F-150 Lightning EV in 2021, shortly after a significant oil pipeline shutdown threw US gasmobile drivers into panic mode.
“F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage,” stated Ford President and CEO Jim Farley in a launch press assertion, drawing consideration to the longer-term advantages of proudly owning an EV.
The renewable vitality hookup additionally emerged in 2021. “Last night, the leading solar installer Sunrun let word slip that it is hooking up with Ford to provide two-way EV charging for Lightning F-150 owners, which could put more rooftop solar in the hands of more F-150 fans,” CleanTechnica noticed.
By 2022, the outlines of the plan had been cemented. “Sunrun is the preferred installer of F-150 Lightning home charging solutions, including the 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro and Home Integration System, which enables the F-150 Lightning to store and supply power to homes in a variety of ways,” Ford defined.
That may occur whether or not or not the house owner has entry to 100% renewable vitality, however Ford indicated that a part of the collaboration entails encouraging photo voltaic use, with Sunrun providing a rooftop photo voltaic deal to Lightning drivers in chosen areas.
Maryland Hops On The Vitality Storage Prepare
Maryland doesn’t get a lot media consideration for its decarbonization journey, however the state has quite a lot of important table-setting tasks in hand that may assist jumpstart comparable tasks across the US. Sunrun and Ford are entrance and heart within the newest enterprise, which entails a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Maryland utility and Exelon subsidiary BGE (Baltimore Fuel and Electrical Firm).
That first-of-its sort angle caught the information highlight and the story has lit the Intertubes on hearth. The thought is to enlist F-150 Lightning and Sunrun clients in a stepped-up model of the digital energy plant mannequin.
For these of you new to the subject, a digital energy plant leverages sensible grid know-how to coordinate and inspire ratepayers to scale back their electrical energy demand throughout peak hours, decreasing the necessity to construct new gasoline “peaker” energy vegetation. The digital idea can be utilized to inspire rooftop photo voltaic house owners and different small-scale renewable vitality assets to feed electrical energy again to the grid in time of want (see extra VPP background right here).
The Ford-Sunrun-BGE mashup is being billed as a brand new iteration of the identical idea, motivating complete fleets of vehicle-based vitality storage house owners to switch their residence’s grid-supplied electrical energy with their EV battery throughout peak summertime hours.
“This program is a significant proof of concept — no other market player has done this — and the goal is to expand these programs all around the country,” Sunrun CEO Mary Powell defined in a press assertion earlier this week.
“This exciting partnership lays the foundation for the power grid of the future where electric vehicle owners can contribute to grid resiliency and utility price stability for everyone,” she added.
Sharing Is Caring: First There Had been Three…
Don’t get too excited simply but. The Maryland vitality storage challenge launched in June with simply three F-150 Lightning house owners on board, who additionally take part the Ford Cost Station Professional and Residence Integration System, for which Sunrun is the unique seller. The challenge will finish on September 30 with the identical three.
Nonetheless, as Powell signifies, these three EV house owners are already being credited with launching a vehicle-based residence vitality storage revolution.
“By discharging F-150 Lightnings’ onboard batteries directly to participants’ homes, the program showcases how electric vehicles can function like stationary batteries to reduce demand on the grid and create a more resilient and reliable energy system for all BGE customers in Maryland,” Sunrun notes.
Sunrun and BGE emphasize that vehicle-to-home vitality storage methods are extra than simply a person profit. They create an energy-sharing platform that permits EV house owners to learn their complete group, by serving to the native grid keep away from brownouts and different interruptions.
“Partnering with Sunrun will allow BGE to unlock and learn the potential of how vehicle-to-grid programs will support increasing grid efficiency and reliability with distributed energy resources,” BGE VP of Regulatory Coverage Mark Case explains, including that particular person EV house owners may even profit.
As for a way a lot they will profit, that’s going to be a reasonably substantial quantity. BGE shouldn’t be counting on civic-mindedness to assist place the Maryland challenge for growth. The three contributors are anticipated to obtain $800 every for the four-month program, to compensate them for the vitality they share.
Rolling Vitality Storage Models & Telematics
As for why Ford and Sunrun picked Maryland to launch a probably game-changing new wrinkle on their relationship, that’s an excellent query.
For starters, Maryland is an EV-friendly state with substantial incentives for each EVs and EV charging stations. The state can also be amongst these making the most of new federal grants to develop its public EV charging station community.
As well as, BGE has proved itself a keen associate on vitality effectivity and electrification. Though the corporate nonetheless has a agency grip on its gasoline enterprise, BGE is an everyday on the Vitality Star Accomplice of the yr recognition program administered by the US Environmental Safety Company and the Division of Vitality.
The mashup with Sunrun and the Ford F-150 Lightning can also be not BGE’s first flip across the leading edge vehicle-based vitality storage block.
In 2022, the EV grid integration agency WeaveGrid issued a press launch describing its partnership with BGE’s “EV Smart” residential EV charging program. WeaveGrid known as it among the many first such applications to glean data on buyer charging habits via the usage of telematics, referring to long-distance transmission know-how for computerized knowledge.
WeaveGrid additionally calls it “the very first program to use telematics to support an EV time-of-use (TOU) rate without the need of a utility installed meter for EV charging.”
“The programs use the vehicle’s computer to measure EV-specific electricity usage and offer lower cost off-peak charging to participants, resulting in 96% of charging occurring during off-peak times,” WeaveGrid explains.
This system presently estimates an annual financial savings of as much as $120, providing EV house owners but one more reason to understand the vitality storage energy of the car parked of their driveway.
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Photograph (cropped): Sunrun and Ford have been working a vehicle-to-home vitality storage experiment this summer season, leveraging the highly effective battery of the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup truck (courtesy of Ford).
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