Will Smart Prices Induce Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles?
Published by The Brattle Group, Inc.
In his State of the Union speech on January 25, 2011, President Obama recognized the societal benefits of plug-in electric vehicles and set a national goal of putting one million PEVs on the road by the year 2015. Most of the benefits of PEVs arise from reduced dependence on imported oil and lower carbon emissions in areas where marginal power generation comes from combined cycle natural gas or renewable energy power sources. Additional benefits arise from the ability of PEVs to act as a bridge toward greater use of renewables, such as wind, by building load during periods of high renewable generation output. We have previously estimated the present value of these gross societal benefits at $340 billion over the next four decades for the United States as a whole.
