https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/25/electric-vehicles-could-lower-electricity-prices/
[links in online article]
Electric Vehicles Can Lower Electricity Prices
February 25th, 2019 by Guest Contributor
By Charles Morris
Regular readers of this column are well aware of the wonderful benefits
of EV ownership. However, electric vehicles can also have a positive
impact on the electric grid, serving as the perfect complement to
renewable energy sources. Jeff McMahon, writing in Forbes, notes that a
growing body of evidence supports the idea that the spread of EVs is
good news for electric ratepayers.
“These vehicles plug into our electricity system, and a number of
cost-benefit studies are showing that this can be really beneficial to
all ratepayers, not just the drivers of the vehicles,” said Matt
Stanberry of the trade group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE). “As you
increase electricity sales for charging the vehicles, it has the effect
of driving down rates for all ratepayers because it spreads the fixed
cost of the system out across a larger volume of sales.”
McMahon cites a 2017 study by M.J. Bradley & Associates, which analyzed
the impact of EVs in five US states, and found that the benefits flow
not only to EV owners in saved fuel and maintenance costs, and to
society in reduced carbon emissions, but also to electric ratepayers in
the form of reduced fixed costs. In fact, the study found that in some
cases utility ratepayers benefited more than the EV owners themselves.
For example, in New York the study found $265 in annual benefits from a
plug-in vehicle: $18 for the owner, $166 for the utility customer, and
$81 for society in reduced emissions.
Siemens, which manufactures EV charging equipment, has obvious reasons
to take an interest in the issue. “We have heard the complaint come up
that the utility-funded programs for EV charging infrastructure are a
subsidy to EV owners, who tend to be well off in the first place and are
driving their Teslas,” said Chris King, Chief Policy Officer at Siemens
Digital Grid. “That couldn’t be more wrong.”
“California, which has close to half a million [EVs], is looking at net
benefits already exceeding $1 billion. And this is to non-participating
ratepayers,” King said during a recent webinar. King estimates that an
EV can produce $2,000 to $2,500 in benefits over its 10-year lifespan.
From this standpoint, investments in charging infrastructure benefit
all ratepayers, not just EV owners. “It’s not a subsidy in any way to
those EV drivers,” he says.
The benefits to utility customers should only increase as more drivers
go electric. E3 has developed a model that can be used to estimate the
benefits at different levels of EV penetration. However, for the maximum
positive impact on the grid, EV drivers need to charge their vehicles at
off-peak times, when there is spare capacity on the electric grid.
McMahon writes that state regulators should not only encourage utilities
to invest more in public charging infrastructure, but also to introduce
time-of-use (TOU) rates, which offer customers a discount for charging
during off-peak hours.
However, there’s another major obstacle to overcome. There is “a lack of
customer awareness of the availability of electric vehicles as an option
for potential buyers who go out on the market looking for a new car,”
says AEE’s Matt Stanberry. He notes that some surveys have found that 60
percent of buyers are unaware that EVs are a viable option, but other
surveys have found that up to 84 percent say they would be interested in
an EV once the benefits of driving electric are explained. “So there’s a
disconnect here.”
Could utilities play a bigger role in educating the public about EVs?
“Utilities are really well positioned to help in this education
process,” says Stanberry. “They are connected to all ratepayers, and
they can really help ratepayers understand the benefits of EVs and [the
process of] charging.”
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