The Tailpipe Endgame: Charging of Electric Vehicles with Secure,

Domestic, Renewable Energy Resources

The goal of the University of California, San Diego’s Zero Emission Vehicle Project is to eliminate greenhouse gases and local air pollutants from the tailpipes of the transportation sector by using secure, domestic, renewable energy resources to charge a variety of new models of electric vehicles from twelve international manufacturers. The Tailpipe Endgame project was announced on January 31, 2011 as one of five key electric vehicle initiatives by a bold, new Smart City San Diego Collaborative among the City of San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), GE, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego.

Electric vehicles (EV) achieve four-times the efficiency of internal-combustion engines, but the long term goals of an 80% reduction in green house gas emissions will not be met due to the carbon intensity of the generating sources of the electricity that supplies California’s and our nation’s grids. The international implication of the zero tailpipe emissions concept utilizing renewable resources was strengthened when LBL’s China Energy Group published ”China’s Energy and Carbon Emissions Outlook to 2050” which emphasized that decarbonization has important effects on the CO2 emissions mitigation potential of switching to electric vehicle technology, but in the absence of any concurrent decarbonization of the power sector, EVs will actually increase CO2 emissions. China’s largest EV manufacturer, BYD, announced a similar strategic goal of utilizing Renewable Energy for charging of EVs in October 2010. The CA South Coast Air Quality Management District

identified as one of the priority projects in 2011 to incentivize five megawatts of in-basin renewable distributed electricity generation and storage to support electric technology applications such as plug-in hybrid vehicles. This priority goal was highlighted as particularly important in achieving AQMD’s mission and goals. A Request For Proposals was released in May 2011 for 5+ Megawatts with a budget of $30+M. The Agency also state that the use of renewable feedstocks for energy production is a necessary transition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide for domestic energy diversity. Renewable distributed generation and time-shifting of electricity purchases benefit the environment by conserving fossil fuel, reducing emissions from power plants and reducing operation of power plants during peak demand periods when air pollutants are at highest levels.

Above: On September 22, 2010 the Executive Team from the State Grid China Corporation, the world’s largest utility, visited UC San Diego’s initial site for the renewable energy charging of electric vehicles.

Uniquely, UC San Diego serves its population of 45,000 with an internationally acclaimed microgrid that has a growing portfolio of 1.2 MW of solar Photovolatics, 2.8MW of fuel cells utilizing renewable waste methane gas, and 27 MW of an EPA Energy Star Award combined cooling, heating and natural gas power plant. UCSD currently self generates 82% of its needs and will achieve 90% by the end of 2011. A recognized prototype to the Smart Grid of the future, UCSD proposes to divert a portion of its solar and biogas resources to charging a fleet of approximately fifty new electric automobiles that will be road tested by a control group of students, faculty and staff with a diversity of demographics, driving ranges and patterns.

This quantum advancement will establish the technical feasibility of using renewable energy to electrify the transportation sectors while inciting the global competitive forces to leapfrog to the one solution that provides the greatest sustainable, secure supply of energy and reduces the largest global source of greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollutants.

The Project Director is UCSD’s Director of Strategic Energy Initiatives, Byron Washom who held the world’s efficiency record for sunlight to grid electricity for 24 years, received R&D magazine’s award for one of the most innovative products in 1984 and was named in 2010 to Fast Company magazine’s 100 Most Creative

People in Business for his pioneering research and leadership at UCSD. Mr. Washom is the principal investigator on the top ranked research proposal funded by the US Department of Energy and the CA Energy Commission for $2.5M for modeling techniques to mitigate negative impacts from high penetrations of solar systems on a distribution grid. In 2010, the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment Group awarded UCSD the 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Institutional Excellence, and UCSD in May, 2011 was the first CA university and 10th in the nation to receive a Gold STARS Rating from AASHE.

The university is a pillar in the dynamic CleanTech San Diego region which is one of five awarded by the US Department of Energy to deploy 1000 all-electric Nissan Leafs and a companion 2300 charging infrastructure in SDG&E’s service territory through 2011. Collaborative partner GE recently made the largest single purchase commitment of 25,000 EVs worldwide by 2015. The region won 19% of the total, or $154M, of the US Treasury’s 2009 Allotments of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds. The City of San Diego is a Solar American City and host to numerous economic incubators including CleanTech San Diego, rated the 7th Best CleanTech cluster in the world and the CA Center for Sustainable Energy. In June 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger named the San Diego region as the California iHub for bio-algae fuels and solar energy storage. The CA Energy Commission has designated UCSD as the co-lead of the CA Solar Collaborative, and the local utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, was rated the #1 Intelligent Utility in the US for the second year in a row.

The blue ribbon Electrification Coalition published in November its Fleet Electrification Roadmap. UCSD’s planned fleet deployment, moreover, has already initiated unprecedented partnerships and coordination among regulators, vehicle manufacturers, electric utilities, research organizations, government planners, and consumer advocacy groups. UCSD with its installed or funded infrastructure is poised at the leading edge to demonstrate ultra clean vehicle electrification by the utilization of a diversity of secure, distributed and renewable energy resources.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), TVA and Oakridge National Laboratory are currently testing a solar assisted EV charging station which utilizes a battery storage system to assess the impact on reliability, analyze electric vehicle supply equipment, and test advance metering infrastructure.

The CEC on May 18, 2011 approved approximately $200,000 towards the project, and DOE is amending its High PV Penetration CY2011 grant by ~$50,000 to include the Tailpipe Endgame Project. The required new funding is

only for the incremental cost of the leasing and integration of the EVs and charging stations since the preexisting or under contract renewable solar and biogas energy resources have been funded by other private, state and federal sources. The CEC 2011‐2012 Investment Plan for the 2012 Investment Plan for the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle

Technology Program Committee Draft Report recently recommended, “… encourage workplace and fleet charging, the Energy Commission will consider grants to support charging infrastructure (with emphasis on battery storage and renewable charging) and outreach to business and fleet owners.”

The schedule would be to complete the scoping studies based upon the EPRI Base Design Report and conclude the global competitive solicitation within 15 months after the receipt of the initial grant funding. The 24 month test plan for each charging station and EV deployed at UCSD will produce widely circulated reports and lead to hosting numerous international visitors and conferences.