Our CEO, Ryan Pritchard sat down with our VP of Infrastructure and Utilities, John Lanham, to have a conversation with EPRI’s Director of Transportation Britta Gross. You can think of EPRI as the research arm of the utility industry.
They talk about some of EPRI’s tools, why they are helpful, and some of the challenges that are faced when it comes to the grid. EPRI’s tools are uniquely designed to help utilities be ready for future demand on the grid and plan that growth now.
Changes to Timeline
Many people talk about how the grid will not be able to handle the coming large scale vehicle electrification. And while that might be the case, it’s not because the power needed is too much. It’s because of the way we’ve been thinking about upgrading the grid.
Britta discusses how the grid was created for buildings, and many building projects had time-lines that were years out. This meant the utilities had time to get funding and make upgrades to the grid so the power would be available where it was needed.
But with vehicle electrification, vehicle sales can be weeks to a month out. And those vehicles can be anywhere. We’re not just talking about a building that is static. But something that moves and will potentially need to be charged in multiple locations. It’s much harder to plan out this kind of electrical grid usage.
EPRI’s GridFAST helps utilities see where infrastructure might be in the future. Fleets can input future projects to help utilities understand where upgrades might need to be on the system.
Right Sizing Charging
Another thing that can be a problem is right sizing charging. We’ve talked about this before, there is a big push to use DC fast chargers even when they are not necessary. Everyone thinks charging faster is better and will eliminate range anxiety.
But DC fast chargers are significantly more expensive for fleets and more taxing on the utilities. We’ve highlighted the cost difference between level 2 and DC fast chargers before. And how right sizing charging can lower your costs.
It’s also really important on the utility side too. Britta discusses how customers upgrades are sometimes rejected because the power needed is too great in too short of a time period.
This could be eliminated by giving utilities a larger notice, like when you first start thinking about the upgrade. Or scaling up instead of needing all the power at one time. And also by right sizing charging, not getting the biggest sized charger, but rather getting the size that will best fit your needs.
There is a place for DC fast charging, namely a John said, for Class 7 or 8 vehicles with large batteries. But if your vehicle is sitting for multiple hours, level 2 charging is the way to go. It’s cheaper for you and places less strain on the grid.
Utilities are Not Standardized
One of the biggest challenges for fleets, especially large fleets, is that utilities are not standardized across the country. There are over 3,000 utilities in the United States. Each one with a different process and procedure for requesting power.
This is difficult if you only have one location to upgrade. But it becomes so time consuming if you have multiple locations to upgrade. Britta mentioned it took Amazon 6 months just to find all the utilities and contacts for the 400 sites they wanted to upgrade.
This is a huge barrier that smaller fleets do not have the time or energy to complete. EPRI’s GridFAST can help fleets find utilities and utility contacts. It also helps fleets with filling out the service request forms and understanding the different terms utilities use.
Fleets can also use EPRI’s eRoadMap to find the utility that serves their address. You can also find load capacity, EV charging stations and a few other things. Both of these tools work together to help make electrification deployment easier for fleets and also easier for the utility.
Recap
This conversation was really enlightening to see what some of the challenges are when planning infrastructure in this new age of vehicle electrification. And EPRI is really taking the reigns in trying to ensure that future planning the grid is possible.
Hopefully this conversation highlights some of the reasons why we are so adamant that the utility is the first person you should contact when thinking about vehicle electrification and how EPRI can help you on your electrification journey.
