Integrating Electric Mobility Systems with the Grid Infrastructure

On November 6-7, 2019, the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISE) and the BU Center for Information & Systems Engineering (CISE) jointly held a workshop on “Integrating Electric Mobility Systems with the Grid Infrastructure” at Boston University under the sponsorship of the Sloan Foundation.

The workshop brought together more than 30 leaders from industry, academia, and government to set a research agenda regarding the future of mobility and the capacity of electric utilities to power highway transportation systems primarily dependent on electricity. The report from the workshop provides insights from presentations and discussions at the workshop.

We learned that electric vehicles (EVs) could provide enough storage to power the entire U.S. grid for 11 hours if half of all cars were electric. There was general consensus among speakers that analysis of EV-Grid operations must consider rapid changes underway in electric utilities that are influencing both electricity generation and consumption. EV adoption over the next couple decades could lead to a $3.1 trillion investment in new equipment.

The recommended high-priority research agenda included:

• Exploring uncertainty through scenarios that include innovation in electric utilities and mobility
• Data ownership and management to ensure access, privacy, and security
• Electric vehicles in ex-urban and rural areas
• Financing and electric rates, economics, and policy