The report - Bucks for balancing: can plug-in vehicles of the future extract cash - and carbon - from the power grid? - is based on a research collaboration between a team of engineers from Ricardo and National Grid, the operator of the high voltage electricity transmission system within Great Britain (GB).
Key findings of the research include:
A copy of the report may be downloaded from the link below.
Faced with dwindling energy resources and the imperative of mitigating the impacts of climate change, the auto industry, and to a large extent society at large, frequently seems to seek solace in the illusory next ‘silver bullet' game-changing technology that will deliver us a utopian sustainable future.
Around ten years ago fuel cells and hydrogen were being seized upon by many as just such a ‘next big thing' - to the extent that one leading international business and economic research organization (I'll not name them here to preserve their blushes) predicted in all seriousness the very imminent demise of the internal combustion engine. As the hype cycle inevitably runs its course in such cases and a more rational view prevails, we can start to apply each new technology in a more appropriate way, that is realistically and practically aligned to the benefits it offers and to the economic case for it.
Looking at the very impressive range of electric vehicles - both plug-in hybrids and full EVs - presented at Paris this year, I wonder whether we are collectively at risk of overstating their potential benefits while simultaneously ignoring some very impressive advances in sustainable liquid fuel technology which are inherently nearer-market and more practical in nature. Please don't get me wrong on this. I am a keen supporter of EVs in general and of range extended platforms in particular, and believe they will play a significant role in a sustainable future transport system at least within the urban city environment. But let's face it - and notwithstanding any considerations of the future availability of rare earth metals - in comparison with current vehicle technology, EVs are likely to be prohibitively expensive for the mass market unless and until we can crack the challenge of making batteries sustainably and much more cheaply.
All of this is in stark contrast to the position that biofuels currently seem to hold in the collective imagination; the very process of growing crops to make road fuel is often portrayed as verging on the morally repugnant, leading to deforestation, rising food prices, and starving the poor. But does this really have to be the case - and are there technologies that can be applied to create biofuels in a truly sustainable manner?
A few months ago I was fortunate in being invited to see some of the latest work being carried out by POET, one of the largest producers of ethanol in the US and something of a pioneer in commercialized production based on the use of cellulosic biomass wastes. The company's CEO Jeff Broin is the son of a farming family who still raise corn in the mid-west. A true technological innovator, Broin has focused his company on optimizing every aspect of the process of production. Equipped with labs that - albeit to my non-expert eye - would easily rival those of many of the world's leading universities, POET has developed, piloted, and is preparing for the world's first full-scale production implementation of cellulosic ethanol production, due to go live at the company's plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, in 2012.
POET's approach seems to balance the very practical pragmatism of the farmer with the leading edge of scientific research and technological process innovation. Rather than seeking to develop a stand-alone cellulosic capability from day one, the company has instead developed a potentially world-beating symbiosis between grain and biomass based streams. By sizing the cellulosic plant at around 50 percent of the capacity of the grain plant with which it is co-located, both can use the crops from exactly the same acreage of farmland. More than this, the biomass waste left over following conversion to ethanol is then fed into a bio-digester from which sufficient bio-gas is liberated to fulfil the entire energy needs of both process streams.
Every effort is put into the extraction of by-products from the production process; nothing seems to be wasted. These range from bio-polymers used in the pharmaceutical industry to high protein animal feeds. Even in the grain based production stream, only the starch is used to make ethanol while 30 percent by weight of the product goes back into the market as co-products such as high-protein food, oils and micro-nutrients. POET even sequesters the carbon dioxide liberated by ethanol production and sells this to the beverage and chemicals industries.
In parallel with this manufacturing development, improvements in farming processes and biotechnology have doubled corn yields per cultivated acre in recent decades and look set to continue their increase over the coming years. Against all of this it is perhaps understandable that the US seems to be inching in the direction of favouring ethanol production as a means of increasing sustainability and fuel independence. In October the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally began a regulatory process that could pave the way towards the commercialization of a 15 percent blend of ethanol (E15) in standard pump grade gasoline - raising the blend wall that has stood in place at 10 percent since 1979. In the same month a US Department of Energy supported analysis was published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory which concluded that in the years 2001-2008, feedstock for US ethanol expansion was mainly derived from domestic reallocation and increased yields and that there was no evidence found of any impact upon US commodity exports or other crops or cropland expansion in the US. With much of the argument surrounding indirect land use change apparently debunked at the highest level, ethanol production in the US is surely set to increase dramatically.
Should this be such a complete surprise? Hardly - the US has some of the world's most efficient agricultural land and advanced skills in biotechnology. With the growing realization that its developing ethanol industry could provide a genuinely sustainable alternative to at least part of the nation's gasoline addiction while providing additional food rather than less, it is surely inevitable that the political mood music will change in favour of this home grown technology and energy resource. The UK's Channel 4 screened a TV documentary in early November focused on a number of diehard greens who are now advocating radical solutions to climate change, including GM crops and nuclear energy. Who knows, perhaps they'll soon be adding sustainable bio-fuels to the list?
So while I hope there will be an electric future for many urban transportation applications, I believe the growth of ethanol use may well be the more significant reducer of fossil fuel consumption by motor transport over the decade ahead, at least in the US if not - for the time being - on this side of the Atlantic.
Anthony Smith's interview with Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, is published in the December/January issue of Biofuels International and the Q4 issue of Ricardo's RQ magazine.
Anthony is one of very few automotive marketing and communications specialists worldwide who is both a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Marketer, as well as being MBA qualified.
In his new part-time role for APR, Anthony will use his unique background and expertise to help the consultancy's existing clients communicate their technology-focused products and services in the most effective and persuasive manner. Anthony will also support APR in winning new business both in the UK and further afield.
Anthony will also continue to run his successful independent consulting firm, MediaTechnical Ltd and will explore further opportunities for the company's existing as well as new clients to benefit from the collaboration with APR.
Marco Ferrari, Managing Director of APR, said: "Anthony has a unique combination of skills. He is not only a highly qualified automotive engineer but he also has extensive marketing and PR experience and is well known within the UK, European and North American automotive, clean energy and business media. As such we are delighted to have him onboard as we believe he will have much to offer both existing and future clients."
Anthony Smith commented: "I have known and worked with APR over many years and regard them as being leaders in the field of global automotive communications. I'm really pleased to have joined the team and I'm looking forward to working with them."
Bucks For Balancing Can Plug In Vehicles Of The Future Extract Cash And Carbon From The Power Grid