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Conference kicked off today at MotorCity Casino

Detroit is hosting the first ever conference on plug-in electric vehicles, which started today. The conference is being held in Detroit at the MotorCity Casino and was sold out reports The Detroit News.

The event is called "The Business of Plugging In" and brings together leaders from automotive and utility industries along with researchers, venture capitalists and others to discuss how evolving plug-in hybrid technology can be brought to the mass market. Brett Smith, director of automotive analysis group at Center for Automotive Research said, "There has been a good amount of hype around plug-in electric vehicles. It's critical to really start to develop a sound economic model to make this great technology work for the consumer."

Several notable speakers are set to give keynotes at the conference include Gen. Wesley Clark who will give the keynote and speak about the importance of energy independence and a national strategy for electrifying transportation. Detroit was chosen as the location for the inaugural conference due in part to its ties with the automotive industry and because of the influx of funding to the area for new battery technology.

Some of the conference sessions will focus on the supply chain that will be needed to supply parts for the plug-in hybrid industry. The industry will breed new work for suppliers making battery parts, electric motors, and high-power electronics. The conference was funded in part by a $5 million Michigan Public Service Commission grant awarded to GM, U-M, and DTE to do advanced research on electric vehicles and the supporting infrastructure.

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Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By Wererat on 10/19/2009 5:23:27 PM , Rating: 2
Hey, it will take a little doing to get this all rolling. The grid needs updating and if we're going to plug in and not fill up, we're going to need a ----load of additional electricity.

This conference sounds like this is about to get past the "isn't this a cute idea" stage and get real.

As for Detroit, relax, just don't go out after dark in groups of less than 4-6. Think of it as a mandatory group encounter in a MMORPG. :)




RE: Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By Keeir on 10/19/2009 7:23:56 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
The grid needs updating and if we're going to plug in and not fill up, we're going to need a ----load of additional electricity.


This is one of the biggest misconceptions ever.

Lets start with the following

http://www.epa.gov/OMS/climate/420f05004.htm

Appears a per passenger vechile the average number of miles is 12,000.

The Volt claims 4 miles per kWh from the wall. Seems optomistic. Lets go with more realistic 3 miles per kWh average. So 4,000 kWh per passenger auto per year (4 MWh).
There are 128 million passenger cars on the road roughly. (BTW, it would take more than 20 years to replace them all, even if we started selling only electric today).

If all 128 x 10^6 cars converted today, we would require 512 x 10^6 MWh yearly. Last year the US generated 4,064 x 10^6 MWh

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table...

An increase of only ~12.5%. (Keep in mind, yearly gasoline consumption would go down by a factor ~61.4 Billion Gallons)Converting light trucks might increase this number to 25%.

If we assume something on the order of 10 million electric cars/trucks sold per year, thats an increased power requirement of only ~40 x 10^6 MWh, or around 1% currently produced. In 2010, there is approx 120 x 10^6 MWh of capacity comming online, which is fairly typically year to year.

How about this "fact". US currently only produces around 50% of generator nameplate capacity. Plenty of slack in the system to provide power for all light cars and trucks - IF- the grid is balanced properly, which is/will be an issue going forward regardless of the electrification of cars.


RE: Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By Alexstarfire on 10/19/2009 8:02:42 PM , Rating: 1
That's great, but averages don't mean shit really. During peak hours it's going to be hell on the grid and you know it. In many places the grid barely holds up as is. Without upgrading the grid in most places the whole system is bound to have a catastrophic failure somewhere. Just because we can generate the power to meet the total demand doesn't mean we can just make that kind of power all at once, and that's the real problem.


RE: Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By Keeir on 10/19/2009 8:29:57 PM , Rating: 2
Hahah

got anything to back up your doom and gloom?

Even California has enough capacity lying around in typical peak times to support hundreds of thosands of Electric Plug-ins. (Assuming 12 A at 120 V)

http://www.caiso.com/outlook/outlook.html

Todays min gap, ~3,500 MW, each car is ~ 1.5 kW. Err.. thats what 2.3 million cars?

Go back and look at August. Average minimum gap between Peak Demand/Generation (5 samples 8/3, 8/5, 8/11, 8,20, 8/25) is around 1,200 MW+, or around 800,000 cars?

If California can support close to 1 million cars with the current "laying" around power at peak times.....

A Car like the Volt that a user can really set 10 PM to 6 AM charging only could be rolled out to every single "car" driver in the United States without significantly needing to increase out power generator capcity. Yes, better transmission lines might be needed, but they are needed -anyway- and should be built -anyway-.

So what? Volt will sell maybe 50,000 a year. Leaf what? 100,000? If Plug-ins take fire, there will be ample time for Electric Companies to respond. We do have 5 or so years before enough could be sold to overwhelm even California's gap today.


RE: Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By The0ne on 10/20/2009 1:51:18 AM , Rating: 2
No, CA doesn't. I live her, we suffer here year after year. Nice read on your articles, but come live here and see for yourself what those greedy bastard energy aholes are doing. Better yet, find yourself a place in the most black out zones and then tell us how you think it feels.


RE: Walk on through ... electric avenue. :p
By Keeir on 10/20/2009 4:22:08 AM , Rating: 2
Got some links? When I search in google I find blackouts due to Fire, Car Accidents, Poor Maintainence, Storm Damage, etc. Not seeing anything about Blackouts due to undercapacity...


By Alexstarfire on 10/20/2009 2:54:10 PM , Rating: 2
Poor Maintenance sounds like what I was talking about. The grid isn't really looked after that well. Things get fixed and replaced only when there are problems. Push everything closer to the limits and you're going to fail somewhere. I don't have links, but I've seen plenty of shows on the science and discovery channel. I don't believe they mentioned any states in particular, but a failure can occur in another state and still affect California. Not all the power comes from within the state.

I really could go find some links for that, but I'm hoping you're educated enough to know that much already.


Some of the conference sessions....
By kattanna on 10/19/2009 3:14:40 PM , Rating: 3
Some of the conference sessions will focus on

1) how to beat the dealer in blackjack

2) making your money last while playing video poker to get those free drinks




RE: Some of the conference sessions....
By FITCamaro on 10/19/2009 4:15:46 PM , Rating: 2
3) How not to die at large public events in Detroit.


By Lord 666 on 10/19/2009 4:49:36 PM , Rating: 1
Even running half-marathons in Detroit is deadly. Scarier is the city can't even afford to bury its dead.

Time to hit the reset button and bring on Delta City.


By mydogfarted on 10/19/2009 4:28:03 PM , Rating: 2
Rumor has it there will be midnight screenings of the auto industry's favorite horror flick "Who killed the electric car".


By hsr0601 on 10/21/2009 9:36:47 AM , Rating: 2
In fact, just a few weeks ago, researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology developed the first
Nickel-Lithium battery that can hold more than 3.5 times the energy of a normal Lithium-Ion battery




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