ITS Seminar
Clean Transportation As the Path to a Clean Grid by Eliminating EV Range Anxiety and Enabling Vehicle-Grid Integration
Samveg Saxena
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Friday, January 23, 2015
4:00 pm -5:00 pm
(Cookies and Coffee at 3:30 pm)
290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building
UC Berkeley
Dr. Saxena is a Research Scientist at Berkeley Lab where he leads a vehicle powertrain research program. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2011 with a focus on the development of low-temperature combustion engine technology. Upon joining Berkeley Lab in early 2012, Dr. Saxena established research in modeling of advanced vehicle powertrain systems specifically for the developing world. As part of Berkeley Lab’s powertrain research program, Dr. Saxena leads the development of V2G-Sim and MyGreenCar, and also leads research to apply supercomputers and targeted experimental studies to develop the next generation of engine technology. Prior to beginning his PhD, Dr. Saxena worked in industry on vehicle powertrain research at the Toronto-based companies Magna Powertrain Engine Technologies Group and Multimatic Technical Center. Dr. Saxena has been recognized in the Canadian House of Commons for his leadership excellence.
ABSTRACT: Vehicles account for nearly 23% of global energy consumption, and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles will increase significantly by 2050. Transportation electrification is needed soon and at significant scale to meet climate targets, and through the deployment of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), a unique opportunity exists to transform two major energy sectors: transportation and the grid. If 25% of light-duty vehicles in the U.S. were plug-in hybrids, nearly 1,000 GWh of grid storage would be available – an unprecedented scale. This grid storage can enable integration of substantial amounts of renewable generation and in this manner, clean transportation becomes the enabler for a clean grid. Realizing this vision requires solutions to two major challenges: First, deployment of PEVs must accelerate substantially. Second, technical solutions are needed to enable vehicles to predictably and reliably offer grid services without interfering with the travel needs of drivers. This seminar will introduce activities in the vehicle powertrain research program at Berkeley Lab that are leveraging big data, and high-fidelity physics-based models of vehicles and grid interactions to develop solutions for these challenges.