The plug-in hybrid vehicle, which will enable folks to drive around town for just pennies per mile without emitting greenhouse gases, is one of the most anticipated innovations in automotive history. Consumers are salivating at the prospect of being able to skip the trip to the gas station (and its rising prices) for weeks, or even months, by charging their batteries at home or at public charging stations.

The automotive and power industries have similar high expectations. If the introduction of plug-in hybrids onto the grid goes well, it could reignite the sagging auto industry and provide additional revenue and stability for utilities that are straining to meet demand and control costs. If done poorly, the grid's vulnerabilities could be further exposed, and consumers could reject the new vehicles and send carmakers into more of a tailspin.

Recognizing the potential benefit to the environment, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable wealth and job creation, decided to bring the two industries and other interested parties together to tackle the myriad of challenges now, well in advance of the first plug-in hybrid rollout.

From Oct. 8 to 10 in Portland, Oregon, executives from more than 20 organizations – among them Ford, Tesla Motors, GM, Duke Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric, Austin Energy Wal-Mart, IBM, EDS/Hewlett-Packard, and ZipCar – will deliberate the technical and financial obstacles and develop solutions during a "charrette" workshop. RMI organized the "Smart Garage" charrette (a collaborative, problem-solving meeting) because the two industries – transportation and power generation – are major consumers of energy and big contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, according to RMI consultant Laura Schewel.

(Matter Network will be providing exclusive online coverage as a participant in the charrette. Stay tuned for continuing coverage.)

Shifting everyday driving from relying on petroleum to more energy-efficient electricity presents an "enormous opportunity to coordinate efforts in the goal of reducing climate change and dependence on foreign oil," says Schewel.

Both industries are under pressure from state and federal governments to reduce emissions; therefore working together can yield greater efficiency, Schewel says. "By segregating environmental solutions, you are taking a risk of not achieving common goal of addressing climate change."

RMI calls the interaction of vehicles with the power grid at homes and offices the Smart Garage, which will create a more reliable, cleaner and cheaper power resource for consumers. But preparing the infrastructure so that energy can be optimally transmitted between the grid and vehicle batteries presents "not one but 15 enormous challenges," according to Schewel. For example, how do you ensure that vehicles do not add load when the grid is under stress, and how can vehicle batteries be tapped by the grid to complement intermittent power resources such as wind or solar?

To allay industry and investor fears about the game-changing innovation, the charrette aims to "make sure that smart garage model will make money," Schewel says. Since utilities and automotive companies have not worked together previously, education is necessary. Because of their myriad of regulations and complex revenue model, utilities are unique, so other industries will have to understand their perspective.

Schewel believes that the major technical hurdles for plug-in hybrid vehicles have been largely overcome "now that lithium ion batteries seem to be on their pathway to success." The remaining challenges mostly center on getting agreement on communications protocols between vehicles and the grid, which organizations such as the Society of Automotive Engineers are now addressing.

The reliability of the power grid provides its own challenges that can require other industries to change their practices, Schewel says. Because the readiness of the grid for the smart technologies that control power usage can vary widely -- even within neighborhoods of a city -- plug-in hybrids and charging stations must be rolled out over time. "Changing the car industry is not like changing IT, and those differences have to be recognized," Schewel says.

The goal of the charrette is to produce between three to six concrete projects, ranging from new businesses to pilot programs to policy documents, according to Schewel. The projects will be part of "a coordinated 5-, 10-, and 20-year vision for integrating vehicles and the grid that optimizes the environmental and economic benefits."

Another objective is to agree on what local, state and national policies -- such as regulations and incentives -- are needed to enable the Smart Garage concept to succeed, Schewel says. Utilities, smart grid startup companies and the automotive industry will then have a common message to deliver to lawmakers and regulators.

RMI will also post a financial model online showing the costs and revenues that plug-in hybrids will create across industries. On Nov. 1, RMI will produce a document with input from all charrette participants that will outline agreed-upon objectives. The document will be made public so that other interested parties, including environmental groups, can comment. The charrette will include 80 participants, including representatives from startup and blue chip companies, Oregon politicians, and observers. Schewel expects some clashes as organizations may have made assumptions based on their own objectives that others may not share. It will require "getting the big guys to listen to [the startups], and getting startups to respect the entrenched knowledge of the big guys," she says. For example, utilities and appliance makers may differ on how much control in optimizing energy usage is divided between consumers and utilities. The charrette will be "confronting serious disjoints in visions of the future," she says.

Schewel says the charrette will lead to a better understanding of the vehicle to grid interaction to the individual industries, the economy and consumers. "It's new and interesting and will change the way American citizens will understand energy.... That's good because time after time we see that impact of the choices they make, they tend to make better choices.”

Related articles:

PHEVs: Will the Grid Be Ready?
Upgrading the Grid: The Key to New Energy Tech
Balancing PHEV Power Demand
Plug-Ins Race to Revolutionize Transportation
Driving Toward a PHEV Future with CalCars.org's Felix Kramer