Making Every Day Electric: Revel Becomes First Electric Mobility Company to Engage in Grid Services
By: Paul Suhey, Revel Co-Founder & Head of EV Infrastructure and Electric Rideshare
Energy
The electric grid is in a defining transitional period as power generation shifts from fossil-fueled sources toward clean renewable energy. While this is essential to meeting a zero-carbon future, it also creates major challenges for entities tasked with maintaining grid stability.
Electricity is the only commodity on the planet that is produced and consumed instantaneously — supply must always match demand. If supply and demand get out of balance, major issues like blackouts will occur. Traditionally, fossil fuel generators have held the responsibility of balancing supply and demand. These resources are “dispatchable,” meaning they can quickly ramp up or down depending on demand.
However, unlike fossil fuel power plants, renewable generation cannot be turned on and off at a moment’s notice. To increase renewable energy’s share of generation on the grid, we’ll need to flip the idea of a dispatchable energy resource on its head — instead of dispatching supply, we’ll need to dispatch demand.
“Demand response,” the industry term for this responsive load reduction, proved its importance during recent heat waves across the country. As power use increased with temperature, generators were unable to meet demand and consumers were asked to reduce usage. Demand response and emergency conservation calls prevented blackouts in California (June 17) and New York (June 29, 30).
Mobility
The transition to renewable energy is a massive change in and of itself — but it’s only part of the story. If we’re going to make real progress towards a zero-carbon future, electrification of the transport sector needs to happen simultaneously with the decarbonization of the grid. According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), transportation accounts for 26% of energy consumption and is the largest carbon-emitting sector. Transferring that energy to the grid will be an enormous challenge.
Currently, electric vehicles (EVs) make up a tiny fraction of the 276 million vehicles registered in the United States, but their electricity consumption is already causing issues in places with higher uptake, like California. During last month’s power crisis, the California grid operator, CAISO, urged owners to charge their EVs during off-peak hours. In addition to supporting grid reliability, charging EVs during off-peak hours has major environmental benefits. The power generation activated at times of highest demand, known as a “peaker plant,” emits twice as much carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than regular power plants and 20 times as much nitrogen oxide. To realize a clean and reliable electricity grid, EV charging must be coordinated with energy supply and demand.
Integrating Mobility and Energy to Lead Cities to a Zero Carbon Future
During New York City’s recent heat wave on June 29 and 30, Revel became the first electric mobility company to participate in demand response. To power our large electric moped fleet, batteries are charged in our centralized warehouses. Generally, our most power-intensive charging sessions occur in the evening. After speaking with Con Edison, NYC’s grid operator, we shifted the timing of our charging sessions to reduce our electricity demand during the period of time when the local grid was most stressed (from 7–11 p.m.). In doing so, our actions helped stabilize the grid and were equal to powering 100 homes with carbon-free energy.
This is just the beginning for Revel. On June 29, we opened our first EV fast charging Superhub in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. This Superhub is the largest universal fast charging station in the country with 25 DC fast chargers and a 7 MW grid connection (20x our moped peak electricity demand). We plan to open more Superhubs across New York City, and as we add large loads to the grid, our goal is to be an asset rather than a problem. We will be enrolling all of our Superhubs in demand response programs, and we’re also investigating installing batteries and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers in future sites. In doing so, our Superhubs would be able to transfer power back to the grid or dynamically reduce demand during times of need — all with the purpose of helping the grid transition into a clean and reliable energy future.
Looking back, we hope that piloting grid services with our electric moped fleet will be a watershed moment for the merging of mobility and energy. EVs and renewables are central to a zero-carbon future, but unless mobility is fully integrated with energy, that future may remain out of reach.
