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Automakers are exploring the electric garage as a way to generate utilities and save consumers money, turning an expensive component into a business asset.
By Jack Ewing
Report from Munich and New York
Electric cars are more expensive than gasoline models, largely because batteries are so expensive. But the new generation can simply turn those beloved gadgets into an asset, offering owners benefits like lower application bills, lower rents, or free parking.
Ford Motor, General Motors, BMW, and other automakers are learning how electric car batteries can be used simply to buy excess renewable energy so utilities can cope with fluctuations in the source and demand of electric power. Automakers would make money by acting as intermediaries between car owners and electric power providers.
Millions of cars could simply be thought of as a massive force formula that, for the first time, would be connected to a massive force formula, the force network, said Matthias Preindl, associate professor of electronic force formulas at Columbia University.
“We’re just at the starting point,” Dr. Preindl said. “In the long term they will interact more and can potentially tighten with each other. “
A giant flat-screen TV on the wall of the Munich offices of Mobility House, a company whose investors include Mercedes-Benz and Renault, illustrates how car brands can gain advantages while helping to stabilize the grid.
Graphs and figures on the screen generate a real-time picture of a European energy market where investors and utilities buy and sell electricity. The value changes minute by minute as a source and requires increase or decrease.
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