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MyGreenCar featured in Popular Science article

posted Jun 22, 2016, 8:24 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Jun 22, 2016, 8:24 AM ]

Popular Science recently released a feature story on MyGreenCar. Read the article here!

MyGreenCar featured in Berkeley Lab's Science at the Theater event

posted Jun 22, 2016, 8:23 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Jun 22, 2016, 8:23 AM ]

MyGreenCar was a featured presentation at Berkeley Lab's recent Science at the Theater event. Presenters had 8 minutes to convince an audience of ~600 people how their technology has the potential to lead to a cleaner energy future. Watch a short video of the talk here.

Exciting updates, and more to follow

posted Apr 6, 2016, 9:39 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Apr 6, 2016, 9:39 AM ]

After a long time of not updating this news section, there are many exciting updates to share:
  1. V2G-Sim was a recipient of a 2015 R&D 100 Award. See here for more info about all of Berkeley Lab's 2015 R&D 100 awards.
  2. The V2G-Sim team was successful in a large proposal in simulations for vehicle-grid integration to the U.S. Department of Energy.
  3. A new study is underway to quantify the impact of vehicle-grid services on vehicle battery degradation. Stay tuned for upcoming publications.
  4. A new study is underway to quantify that impact that plug-in vehicles can have to mitigate the challenges introduced for grid systems by large amounts of intermittent renewables generation, namely in mitigating sharp up-ramps, sharp down-ramps, valleys, and peaks in the load profiles. Stay tuned for upcoming publications.
The new DOE vehicle-grid integration project (#2 above) has the following central objectives:
  1. Determining the feasibility of VGI by quantifying the potential value, cost, complexity, and risks in different VGI implementations 
  2. Allocating available value among stakeholders and determining pathways for electrification of transportation to enable beneficial grid services such as mitigating renewables intermittency
Within this project, the vehicle-grid simulations will be applied towards several targeted case studies to assess VGI feasility:
  1. Quantifying the feasibility (i.e. cost, value, complexity, risk, etc.) for VGI with collections of vehicles offering many available grid services.
  2. Determining how value is distributed amongst stakeholders, including drivers, aggregators, utility shareholders and ratepayers, etc.
  3. Quantifying the ability for PEVs to mitigate the variability and costs of renewables intermittency at various temporal and spatial scales.
  4. Quantifying the magnitude and costs from battery degradation for several VGI services.
Finally, the VGI simulation tools will be applied towards developing strategies to aggregate and control large collections of vehicles by:
  1. Assess real-time scheduling and control strategies for dispatching capacity from aggregate collections of vehicles (e.g. EDF, LLF, model-predictive, etc.)
  2. Development of virtual battery models for integrating capacity from aggregate collections of vehicles into ISO, RTO, and Utility operations
The project will last three years.

New V2G-Sim study demonstrates that EV charging loads can be reduced by over 75% during a demand response event without adversely affecting driver mobility needs

posted Mar 25, 2015, 4:01 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Mar 25, 2015, 4:02 AM ]

A new peer reviewed study published in the Society of Automotive Engineers 2015 World Congress quantifies the flexibility for electric vehicles (EVs) to respond to demand response (DR) events. Within this study, a smart charging controller was developed and integrated into V2G-Sim to explore the flexibility for EVs to respond to DR signals. The smart charging controller considers the individual mobility needs of each driver/vehicle to decide whether the vehicle can respond to demand response events.

Using the new controller algorithm, different DR events were simulated for a collection of over 3,000 vehicles to explore the magnitude of EV charging loads that could be reduced without adversely affecting the mobility needs of drivers. DR events were simulated to occur at a variety of different times during the day, and with duration spanning 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours. It was found that EVs can reduce over 75% of their charging loads during a DR event without adversely affecting the mobility needs of any driver. Further, the study explored how the results may change if the travel itineraries for individual drivers were highly uncertainty. Even with substantial levels of uncertainty in travel needs, it was found that over 65% of EV charging loads could be removed during a DR event.

V2G-Sim to be applied in Berkeley Lab project to forecast the impact of PEVs on California's energy future

posted Mar 25, 2015, 4:00 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Mar 25, 2015, 4:02 AM ]

The California Energy Commission recently announced an award to Berkeley Lab for an analysis project that seeks to build a healthier and more robust future for California, by identifying low carbon energy scenarios for California through to the year 2050. V2G-Sim will be used alongside other simulation tools within the project. In particular, V2G-Sim will be applied to provide temporally and spatially resolved grid charging demand profiles from growing numbers of plug-in electric vehicles throughout California. The project was formulated as part of a proposal from Berkeley Lab in response to CEC PON-14-309.

V2G-Sim provides foundation for new vehicle-grid integration research award from California Energy Commission

posted Mar 25, 2015, 4:00 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Mar 25, 2015, 4:00 AM ]

The California Energy Commission recently announced an award to Berkeley Lab for a pilot project to demonstrate smart charging of plug-in electric vehicles at Alameda County's publicly accessible charging locations. The project, which was proposed in response to a proposal submitted for CEC PON-14-301, will leverage V2G-Sim to forecast the flexibility for vehicles to deliver smart charging services to building facilities and the grid without compromising the mobility needs of drivers.

Recent presentations on V2G-Sim and MyGreenCar

posted Dec 15, 2014, 7:28 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Dec 15, 2014, 7:28 AM ]

V2G-Sim and MyGreenCar were featured in recent invited presentations for 1) the California vehicle-grid integration multi-agency research exchange, 2) DOE's Grid Integration Tech Team, 3) the California Energy Commission, 4) US EPA and DOE, and more...

Los Angeles Air Force Base Demonstrates First Working Vehicle-to-Grid Interconnection in the U.S.

posted Nov 18, 2014, 11:04 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Nov 18, 2014, 11:05 AM ]

At a recent launch event at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, the vehicle-to-grid integration project led by Berkeley Lab with funding from DOD and CEC was announced. 42 plug-in vehicles are being integrated to the grid to offer ancillary services in the CAISO wholesale market.

A press release is available here.

V2G-Sim and MyGreenCar presentation at the BERC Energy Summit

posted Oct 28, 2014, 7:59 AM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Oct 28, 2014, 7:59 AM ]

V2G-Sim and MyGreenCar were the featured topics at a presentation by Dr. Samveg Saxena at the BERC Energy Summit on Thursday October 16. The presentation, entitled "Charging Ahead on Clean Transportation by Eliminating EV Range Anxiety and Predicting Personalized Fuel Economy" was attended by an audience of nearly 150 people including students, faculty, researchers, entrepreneurs, and energy enthusiasts. The presentation described how today's EVs meet the vast majority of the needs of US drivers, and how V2G-Sim and its end-use application (called MyGreenCar) can be used to eliminate EV range anxiety and provide personalized fuel economy estimates for any driver in any vehicle (analogous to a personalized fuel economy label).

V2G-Sim website launched

posted Sep 24, 2014, 4:46 PM by Samveg Saxena   [ updated Sep 24, 2014, 4:46 PM ]

A new website has been launched dedicated to V2G-Sim. The site includes detailed descriptions of V2G-Sim's models, several case studies demonstrating applications of V2G-Sim, and information on how prospective users can license and use V2G-Sim in their own RD&D efforts.

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