A Review of Plug-in Vehicles and

Vehicle-to-Grid Capability

Bill Kramer, Sudipta Chakraborty, Benjamin Kroposki
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, USA
Bill_Kramer, Sudipta_Chakraborty, Benjamin_Kroposki @nrel.gov


Abstract- As hybrid vehicles gain popularity among the
consumers, current research initiatives are focused towards
developing plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles that can exploit
utility power to charge vehicle batteries and therefore less
dependent on the gasoline usage. Power electronic systems are
being developed to allow plug-in vehicles to be vehicle-to-grid
(V2G) capable where the vehicles can work as distributed
resources and power can be sent back to the utility. In this paper
a review of different plug-in and V2G capable vehicles are given
along with their power electronics topologies. The economic
implication of charging the vehicle or sending power back to the
utility is described in brief. Finally, all vehicles with V2G
capability must meet the IEEE Standard 1547 for connecting to
the utility. Brief descriptions of the requirements and testing that
must be followed for V2G vehicles to conform the IEEE 1547
standards are also discussed.

I. INTRODUCTION
The continuous rise in gasoline prices along with the
increased concerns about the pollutions produced by fossil fuel
engines are forcing the current vehicle market to find new
alternatives to reduce the fossil fuel usage. Along with the
research on bio-fuel driven engines; different electric vehicles
and hybrid electric vehicles are evolving as viable alternatives
to replace, or at least reduce, the current fleet of fossil fuel
driven vehicles. Although current manufactured electric/hybrid
vehicles are being marketed as a way to reduce fossil fuel
usage, several promising technologies are being demonstrated
that can utilize power electronics to charge the battery from the
utility using plug-in vehicles or act as a distributed resource to
send power back to the utility with vehicle-to-grid capabilities.
In this paper, different plug-in vehicle topologies are
described to review the power electronics required for them.
The newly evolving V2G technology is also discussed along
with economics and compliance requirements to allow the
vehicle to be connected to the grid.
Before going into the details of power electronics required
for the electric/hybrid vehicles, the common forms of these
vehicles are described next to get accustomed with the
terminologies.
A. Electric Vehicles
A typical electric vehicle (EV) has a battery pack connected
to an electric motor and provides traction power through the
use of a transmission. The batteries are charged primarily by a
battery charger that receives its power from an external source
such as the electrical utility. Also during regenerative braking,
the motor acts as a generator which provides power back to the
batteries and in the process slows down the vehicle. The
primary advantage of an EV is that the design is simple and has
a low part count. The primary disadvantage is that the driving
range of the vehicle is limited to the size of the battery and the
time to re-charge the battery can be from 15 minutes to 8 hours
depending on how far the vehicle was last driven, the battery
type and battery charging method.
B. Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The components that make up a typical hybrid electric
vehicle (HEV) include a battery pack, motor controller,
motor/generator, internal combustion engine, transmission and
driveline components. The batteries are charged through the
use of the on-board internal combustion engine and generator.
In a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the batteries can
also be charged through the use of a battery charger that
receives its power from the utility. The best PHEV design will
allow the vehicle to operate on electric power only reducing
the amount of time that the engine runs. When the vehicle is
not operating, the battery can be charged through the use of a
battery charger that is plugged in to the electrical utility or
other energy sources. A PHEV normally has a larger battery
pack than a HEV. The advantage of a PHEV over an HEV is
that due to external battery charging, the vehicle can run longer
on electric power which in-turn reduces engine fuel
consumption.
C. Fuel Cell Vehicles
The prototype fuel cell vehicles (FCV) that are currently
under development mostly utilize an on-board tank to store
pressurized hydrogen. Hydrogen and conditioned air are fed to
a proton exchange membrane (PEM) stack to develop DC
power. The configuration is very similar to the electric vehicle
configuration in which a electric motor/generator provides the
mechanical power for traction. The on-board batteries allow
the energy to be stored during regenerative braking and provide
peak power to the motor controller during vehicle acceleration.
A plug-in fuel cell vehicle (PFCV) has a battery pack and a
fuel cell that is connected to an electric motor that provides
traction power to the wheels through a transmission. The
batteries can be charged by the use of a battery charger that
receives its power from the utility but can also be charged by
using the fuel cell.
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D. Vehicle-to-Grid Capability
A plug-in vehicle can also be designed to provide power for
standby power applications, such as back-up power to a home,
through its vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability. For EVs and
PHEVs, the amount of energy (watt-hours) that can be
provided is limited to the size of the on-board energy storage
device. For PFCVs, it is limited to not only the battery pack
size, but also the amount of fuel that is on-board. The unique
aspect of power flow in V2G vehicles is that it is bi-directional,
meaning the vehicle should be able to take power (during
charging) and provide power (during discharge) from/to the
grid. V2G capability is a promising technology for increasing
the amount of distributed generation that can be used during
peak hours. On-going demonstrations are being conducted by
utilities and customers to evaluate this new technology [1].

II. PLUG-IN VEHICLES
According to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
more than 40% of U.S. generating capacity operates overnight
at a reduced load overnight, and it is during these off-peak
hours that most PHEVs could be recharged. Recent studies
show that if PHEVs replace one-half of all vehicles on the road
by 2050, only an 8% increase in electricity generation (4%
increase in capacity) will be required [2].
Most of the electric vehicles that are of plug-in type, utilize
on-board battery chargers to recharge the batteries using utility
power. The simplest form of a plug-in electric vehicle is shown
in Fig. 1. This configuration consists of a battery system and a
motor controller that provides power to the motor, which in-
turn supplies power to the wheels for traction. Many of todays
EVs use a permanent magnet electric motor that can also act as
a generator to recharge the batteries when the brakes are
applied. During regenerative braking, the motor acts as a
generator that provides power back to the batteries and in the
process slows down the vehicle. Friction brakes are used when
the vehicle must be stopped quickly or if the batteries are at
full charge.
Fig. 1. Typical EV configuration
The components that make up a typical HEV include a
battery pack, motor controller, motor/generator, internal
combustion engine, transmission and driveline components.
The primary power electronics include a DC-AC motor
controller which provides three-phase power to a permanent
magnet motor. The Toyota Prius HEV configuration is given
in Fig. 2 (a). The Prius design uses two permanent magnet
motors/generator, one of 10kW and the other of 50kW. The
battery is connected to a booster and inverter before feeding to
the motor/generators. The power electronics are bidirectional
and used for both charging the battery and powering the
motors. The motor/generators and gasoline engine feed into a
planetary gear set. The system operates in a continuously
variable transmission (CVT) mode where the gear ratio is
determined by the power transfer between the battery,
motor/generators and gasoline engine [3], [4]. The batteries can
also be charged using regenerative braking of the large
motor/generators. There is no provision to charge the batteries
externally.
For plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, batteries are charged
when they are not being driven. This is normally accomplished
through a utility connected AC-DC converter to obtain DC
power from the grid. The batteries can also be charged directly
from a solar resource using a DC-DC converter or from a wind
source using an AC-DC converter. Energy flow is
unidirectional as power is taken from the utility to charge the
battery pack. A Toyota Prius configuration with PHEV
conversion is shown in Fig. 2 (b).
The battery voltage for most converted PHEVs are
maintained at the same level as the original design (typically
200-500 VDC) and battery modules are added in parallel to
increase the energy capacity of the battery pack, thus allowing
the electric motor to run more often than the original HEV
design. Some of the PHEV conversion companies include:
CalCars, Energy CS, Hymotion, Electrovaya, and Hybrids
Plus, and most of them use lithium batteries.
Fig. 2. Toyota Prius configurations (a) HEV, (b) converted PHEV
(a)
IC Engine
Fuel
Tank
Battery
Battery
Wheel
Wheel
10 kW
Planetary
Gear Set
M/G
M/G
50 kW
Reduction
Gear
Booster Inverter
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A typical FCV configuration is shown in Fig. 3 (a).
Prototype fuel cell vehicles that are currently under
development mostly utilize an on-board tank to store hydrogen
pressurized at 5,000 to 10,000 psi. Hydrogen and conditioned
air are fed to a PEM stack. As the fuel flow increases, the DC
output current increases. The DC output from the stack is fed
into a DC-DC converter to a DC power bus. Connected to the
DC bus is a battery pack and motor controller. The
configuration is very similar to the electric vehicle
configuration in which a motor/generator provides the
mechanical power for traction. The on-board batteries allow
the energy to be stored during regenerative braking and provide
peak power to the motor controller during vehicle acceleration.
In field tests, more than 800,000 miles have been placed on a
fleet of various fuel cell vehicles. The demonstration showed
that the vehicles were performing between 52%-58%
efficiency with distances ranged between 100 to 190 miles [4].
In the PFCV configuration, the batteries are primarily
charged using an on-board utility-connected battery charger.
This configuration typically uses a larger battery pack than a
FCV to give the vehicle a longer driving range under electric
power. The configuration shown in Fig. 3(b) uses a PEM fuel
cell stack that produces DC power which is then boosted to a
higher voltage using a DC-DC converter. Batteries are
connected to a DC bus and are used to allow the fuel cell stack
to operate at more constant operating conditions. The motor
controller draws it power from the DC bus and provides three-
phase power to the motor/generators. Regenerative braking is
also used to store power to the battery pack. An on-board
battery charger is connected to the utility to allow the batteries
to be recharged when the vehicle is parked.
Fig. 3. Fuel cell vehicle configuration (a) FCV, (b) PFCV

In a study conducted by Parks et al. [5], the researchers
concluded that the actual electricity demands associated with
PHEV charging are quite modest compared to normal
electricity demands. Replacing 30% of the vehicles currently in
the Xcel Energy service territory with PHEVs (with a 20-mile
all-electric range and deriving 39% of their miles from
electricity) would increase total load by less than 3%. A very
large penetration of PHEVs would place increased pressure on
peaking units if charging is completely uncontrolled. There is a
natural coincidence between normal system peaks and when
significant charging would occur during both the summer and
winter seasons. At todays electrical rates, the incremental cost
of charging a PHEV fleet overnight will range from $90 to
$140 per vehicle per year. This translates to an equivalent
production cost of gasoline of about 60 cents to 90 cents per
gallon [5]. Further study is needed to determine the effects of
battery life, state of charge control, driving range, life, and any
associated replacement costs. The details of current PHEV
research can be found in a DOE milestone report [6].

III. VEHICLE-TO-GRID CAPABILITY
A plug-in vehicle can only charge its batteries using AC
power typically provided by utility grid. EVs, PHEVs and
PFCVs can also be designed so that power can be sent back to
the grid. A vehicle with this type of technology is defined as
being V2G capable. All of the topologies, as discussed in the
previous section, utilize a battery pack to store DC power that
must be converted to AC power to connect to the utility for
V2G applications. The individual battery cells are generally
connected in different series and/or parallel configurations to
achieve the required voltage and current outputs. The power
conditioning systems include inverters and motor controllers.
The unique aspect of power electronics for V2G vehicles is
that they must be bi-directional, that is capable of both taking
power (during charging) and providing power (during
discharge) from/to the grid.
The V2G vehicles for distributed energy applications can
provide voltage and frequency regulation, spinning reserves,
and electrical demand side management. If used in large
numbers, V2G vehicles have the potential to absorb excess
electricity produced by renewable sources, such as wind
power, when the grid is operated at low load conditions.
Studies show that V2G vehicles could be a significant enabling
factor for increased penetration of wind energy [7]. Controls
can be developed that would allow an operator to dispatch
these renewable resources through the use of the vehicles
battery when they are needed by the utility. During periods of
low demand, excess generation can be used to charge the on-
board batteries which can then be used by the driver to run an
electric motor and offset fuel consumption. A set of fleet
vehicles that are parked at a companys facility could
potentially be used to provide electricity during periods of high
demand to offset the facilitys electrical demand charges.

Motor
Controller
Wheel
Wheel
Battery
Battery
Battery
M/G
Fuel Cell Stack
Pressurized
Hydrogen
Fuel Tank
DC-DC
Converter
(a)
(b)
Motor
Controller
Wheel
Wheel
M/G
Fuel Cell Stack
Pressurized
Hydrogen
Fuel Tank
DC-DC
Converter
Battery
Battery
Battery
Battery
Battery
Battery
Battery
Charger
Utility
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Fig. 4. Schematic of an ISO controlled V2G topology
A proposed wireless configuration for independent system
operator (ISO) to control charging and discharge of a V2G
battery is shown in Fig. 4. Each V2G capable vehicle must
have three required elements: a power connection to the grid
for electrical energy flow, control or logical connection
necessary for communication with grid operators, and on-board
precision metering [8]. The configuration depicted in Fig. 4
shows that the power electronics being controlled using a
wireless cell connection to communicate with the V2G capable
vehicles. While V2G capable cars could provide peak power
demand-response resource, their economic values do not
generally justify the expense. These services are needed for
just a few hours each year, thus the potential revenue from
providing these services is limited. It is suggested by the
researchers that the most promising markets for V2G are for
those services that the electric industry refers to as ancillary
services such as voltage and frequency regulation [9], [10].
A V2G vehicle can be designed to provide frequency
regulation services by absorbing or providing power back to
the utility to match generation with the load. A grid operator
could provide commands to the V2G capable vehicle to allow
the vehicle to absorb or produce power in order to keep the
utilities Area Control Error (ACE) low. ACE is a measure that
indicates the deviation of the generation in a power system area
from the load. The ACE is generally controlled to by
controlling individual generators within that control area so
that it complies with the National Electric Reliability Council
(NERC) and the areas electricity governing council prescribed
acceptable limits [9], [10].
At todays U.S. gas prices, a vehicle that can provide
regulation services is expected to provide the highest return to
the V2G owner [8], [11]. An annual revenue estimate for a
10kW V2G capable vehicle could yearly provide between $920
to $1,117 for spinning reserves and $2,497 to $3,285 for
regulation for the PJM and ERCOT territories [11]. State-of-
charge regulation, battery life, power capacity, energy
capacity, and available power connection will be critical
factors in the design of these vehicles. The number of battery
discharges, charges and state-of-charge control directly effects
battery life. It is expected that with todays battery technology,
designing a vehicle that can provide spinning reserve capability
will be easier than a vehicle that provides regulation. The
number of charges and discharges, energy capacity, and range
of state-of-charge control will be less for spinning reserve over
regulation that will require deeper discharges and more
frequent operations.
V2G vehicles typically use a high power, high energy
battery pack and a bi-directional inverter and controller. An
electronic control module controls the power electronics to
operate in charge, discharge, or standby modes. Typical V2G
vehicles utilize either a Nickel Metal Hydride or Lithium Ion
battery pack.
Fig. 5. EV power electronics configuration with V2G

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Fig. 6. AC Propulsion V2G model AC-150 (a) electrical schematic, (b) picture of the package
A promising V2G configuration for supplying battery energy
to the grid is the integrated motor controller/inverter shown in
Fig. 5. This configuration shows a utility connection using the
same power electronics that are used for the motor controller,
thus eliminating the need for a separate battery charger.
An example of V2G power electronics topology that is
available commercially from AC Propulsion is shown in Fig.
6 (a). The unique feature of this system is that the same power
electronics switching stage can be used for both motor control,
battery charging, and for providing power to the utility. A
photograph of the system is given in Fig. 6 (b) [12].
The AC Propulsions AC-150 drive system is rated at 150
kW (200 HP). The system uses a 20 kW bi-directional grid
power interface. The integrated grid interface allows the drive
to be used for distributed generation, selling grid ancillary
services, and using vehicles to provide uninterruptible backup
power to homes or businesses. The system includes a digital
interface for instrumentation and recharge control and an
integrated DC bus power port for connection of other DC
power sources. The system is designed to operate as an
induction motor controller with traction control and
regeneration. The power electronics allow it to operate as a
battery charger or V2G interface to the utility grid [12], [13].
The system re-uses the power switches of the propulsion
inverter (which drives the traction motor) as the power
switches for a grid-tied inverter and uses the motor windings as
the inductors needed for the grid-tied inverter. This provides a
bi-directional high-power interface to the electric power grid
with no extra power components over what are needed for
propelling the vehicle. The AC power from the vehicle can be
used to power stand-alone loads or it can be fed to the grid.
Safety systems, such as anti-islanding protection, prevent the
vehicle from feeding power into the grid when grid power is
not available [13].

IV. V2G CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS
The power electronics enable plug-in vehicles to send power
back to the grid so that the vehicle itself can work as a
distributed resource to the utility. It is therefore important that
the V2G enabling power electronics inverters should follow the
interconnection requirements and testing as described in the
IEEE Standard 1547.1 [14].
A. DC Current Injection
The inverter that connects to the utility must comply with the
DC current injection limit specified in IEEE 1547 [15]. This
test is conducted on inverters that are connected to the utility
without the use of dc-isolation output transformers.
B. Harmonics
The purpose of this test is to measure the individual current
harmonics and total rated-current distortion of the inverter
under normal operating conditions. The results shall comply
with the requirements of IEEE 1547.
C. Utility Synchronization and Seamless Transfer Capability
To properly interconnect with the utility, inverters must
properly synchronize causing minimal system transients. If the
unit also supplies a load independent of the utility status, the
load must also be free of significant transients during the
transfer process, regardless of the inverters initial conditions
and power exporting status prior to the shift.
D. Response to Abnormal Voltages
This series of tests are used to ensure the inverter
disconnects from the utility whenever voltage levels go out of
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the ranges specified in IEEE 1547. The inverter must not only
disconnect from the utility when a voltage threshold is reached,
but also in a specified amount of time.
E. Response to Abnormal Frequencies
This series of tests are used to ensure the inverter
disconnects from the utility whenever frequency go out of the
ranges specified in IEEE 1547. Again, the inverter must not
only disconnect from the utility when a frequency threshold is
reached, but also in a specified amount of time.
F. Unintentional Islanding
When one or more distributed resources become isolated
from the rest of the power system and inadvertently continue to
serve loads separately from the utility system, the condition is
known as "unintentional islanding." Utility engineers are
seriously concerned about unintentional island formations
because the utility looses control of the voltage and the
frequency during the islanding condition.
The purpose of this test is to verify that the inverter ceases to
energize the utility as specified in IEEE 1547 when an
unintentional island condition is present. This test determines
the trip time for the test conditions specified in IEEE 1547.
This test procedure is designed to be universally applicable to
all distributed resources, regardless of output power factor.
Any reactive power compensation by the inverter should
remain on during the test.
G. Short Circuit Test
The purpose of this test is to characterize the inverters
response when subjected to an output fault condition. The
time-current fault characteristic for the inverter should follow
requirements mentioned in UL1741 [16].

V. CONCLUSIONS
Use of power electronics can convert electric and hybrid
vehicles into plug-in or even V2G capable. With adequate
power conversion, a plug-in vehicle can be charged from utility
or a V2G capable vehicle can send power back to the utility.
With ever rising gas prices and with energy policy thrust
towards distributed resources, electric and hybrid vehicle with
plug-in and V2G capability will surely get increased consumer
and commercial attention in near future.
Currently, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) is reviewing various plug-in and V2G capable
vehicles and performing tests to verify utility connection
standards for these vehicles. The test results will be published
in future papers as soon as the testing is complete.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy
under Contract No. DE-AC36-99GO10337 with the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The authors like to thank California Energy Commission for
the research funding
a
.
a
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is a national laboratory of
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) managed by Midwest Research Institute
for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract Number DE-AC26-
99GO10337. This report was prepared as an account of the work sponsored by
the California Energy Commission and pursuant to the M&O Contract with the
United States Department of Energy (DOE). Neither Midwest Research
Institute, nor the DOE, nor the California Energy Commission, nor any of their
employees, contractors or subcontractors, makes any warranty, express or
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy,
completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process
disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by
trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise does not necessarily
constitute or imply is endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Midwest
Research Institute, or the DOE, or the California Energy Commission. The
views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or
reflect those of Midwest Research Institute, the DOE, or the California energy
Commission, or any of their employees, or the United States Government, or
any agency thereof, or the State of California. This report has not been
approved or disapproved by Midwest Research Institute, the DOE, or the
California Energy Commission, nor has Midwest Research Institute, the DOE,
or the California Energy Commission passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of
the information in this report.

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