Imagine... By cutting the cost of Li-ion batteries in half, Tesla can play in the grid-scale storage industry by performing peak power substitution. Li-ion batteries are already used for frequency regulation, and Tesla can do that too. But the market for storage-based peak power substitution is at least twenty times larger and can carry Tesla into the heart of the utility power generation industry. Tesla’s most recent SEC filings seem to support that possibility. While early attention related to using electric vehicles (EVs) for grid energy balancing purposes has been focused on V2G, a variation of that concept is vehicle-to-building (V2B). The term refers to aggregating and controlling multiple EVs and using their combined energy storage to deliver energy balancing and demand limiting services to nearby buildings. V2B creates another option for Tesla to enter an industry, in this case, the building energy management space. This industry is currently the province of companies like Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Siemens and Trane/Ingersoll Rand. Here’s how Tesla could intrude on the market of these global giants. Imagine a 150,000-square-foot office building with occupants that account for 300 cars in the parking lot. Assume that one-third own EVs. Properly controlled, the fleet of EVs sitting idle in the parking lot could offset most or all of the daily peak demand of the office building and still have enough energy to safely drive home. Savings on reduced demand charges could exceed $1 million per year in several of states, including California and New York. It’s easy to see how Tesla could structure a service offering that creates a win-win for the EV owner, building owner, and of course Tesla. Is this an overall greener option than everyone riding bicycles and public transport while the city has to fire up gas power stations just to cover peak demand in electricity? Someone should do the math.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 14:13:24 +0000