Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was the featured closer for the day-long PHEV Summit sponsored by PJM and Ohio State’s School of Engineering, but a wealth of material and lively questions created a need to juggle the schedule which added a postscript to the governor’s short remarks.

Strickland praised the gathering and said it showed a commitment in action “to dream big find solutions and anticipate the future,” even though change, including the way we think, can be difficult, he added.

“To think 130 years after Edison invested in the first commercial incandescent light bulb that now we are talking about commercially viable solutions that rely on electricity for motor vehicles,” he said.

Strickland recounted how recently businessmen from California and Colorado approached him about setting up shop in Ohio to produce busses with batteries that could be recharged in six minutes. Later they said they wanted to attend the Sept. 12 matchup of OSU and USC, but couldn’t find a hotel room.

“I asked if they wanted to stay at the governor’s residence,” Strickland said. “‘Whatever it takes’ ought to be our slogan.”

Ohio and the Midwest should continue to be the focus for the type of industry and work that will emerge from the development of smart grid-smart car technology, the governor said.

“My administration is dedicated to creating opportunities,” he said. “Plug-in vehicles are linked to Ohio’s future. Ohio is committed to investing in these new technologies.”

Ramteen Sioshansi, an Ohio State professor of Integrated Systems Engineering and
Giorgio Rizzoni, CAR’s director and a mechanical engineering professor, provided the conference postscript with a discussion of ongoing research projects.

In the big picture, the projects include an examination of controlled charging, uncontrolled charging and partially controlled charging.

“Charging decisions will have a big influence on net emissions on PHEV use and where stations are located,” Sioshani said.

But all the research only “skims the surface of market issues,” he added.

Future projects will include:

• Emission and costs in different power systems
• Added costs of placing emission caps on PHEV charging
• How consumers would respond to real-time price
• Fleet sizes that can be accommodated with current generator fleets
• Effects of PHEV charging load on future generation and transmission expansion