Tesla Supercharger Network to Triple This Summer & Charge Rate Kicked Up to 120 kW

The Much-Anticipated Announcement Has Arrived



Tesla Motors is planning “a dramatic acceleration of the Supercharging network,” says CEO Elon Musk.

Supercharger Tripling Map (End of June Umm Summer)

“It’ll be tripled,” commented Musk.

“We’ll put the map live tomorrow,” remarked Musk yesterday.

Well, now it’s live. So, what’s the big Supercharger news?

Exactly what Musk sort of revealed to the world yesterday. He even remarked yesterday that he “let the cat out of the bag,” so to say.

Tesla’s Supercharger network will triple in size by the end of June or Summer as Tesla now says.. Yes, that’s this June Summer. So, it’ll expand from today’s 8 Supercharger stations to somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-ish by June 30, 2013.


Supercharger Network in 6 Months

Beyond that, Musk says the Supercharger network will be expanded to allow for Los Angeles to New York (City, we assume) trips to be entirely doable in a Model S by year’s end. That’s a distance of 2,789.3 miles, in case you were wondering.

As Musk remarked:
“It is very important to address this issue of long-distance travel. When people buy a car, they’re also buying a sense of freedom, the ability to go anywhere they want and not feel fettered.”

Beyond expansion though is word of more juice flowing soon. Here’s what Tesla had to say of that:

Far-Off Future Supercharger Network…Think End of 2015-ish


“In addition to the expansion of the Tesla Supercharger network itself, Tesla is improving the technology behind the Tesla Supercharger to dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes to charge Model S, cutting charging time in half relative to early trials of the system. The new technology, which is in beta test mode now and will be fully rolled out to customers this summer, will allow Model S to be charged at 120 kW, replenishing three hours of driving in just over 20 minutes.”


Supercharger Graphic

Here are a few highlights, focused mainly on upcoming locations, from Tesla’s Supercharger announcement:
Triple the number of Tesla Supercharger stations by the end of next month, including additional stations in California, coverage of the northwest region from Vancouver to Seattle to Portland, Austin to Dallas in Texas, Illinois and Colorado. There will also be four additional eastern seaboard stations, expanding the density of the network to provide for more convenient stopping points.
Within six months the Tesla Supercharger network will connect most of the major metro areas in the US and Canada, including expansion into Arizona, additional stations in Texas, Florida, and the Midwest, stations connecting Ottawa to Montreal, and across North and South Carolina into Georgia. It will also be possible to travel diagonally across the country from Los Angeles to New York using only the Tesla Supercharger network.
A year from now, the Tesla Supercharger network will stretch across the continent, covering almost the entire population of the US and Canada. The expansion of the network will mean that Model S drivers can take the ultimate road trip — whether that’s LA to New York, Vancouver to San Diego, or Montreal to Miami – without spending a cent on fuel.


Editor’s Note: See the various graphics below for existing Supercharger locations, as well as proposed sites for future expansion of the charging network. Further down below you’ll find Tesla’s entire press release.


Tesla’s Proposed by 2015 Supercharger Sites



Current SuperCharger locations 


TESLA DRAMATICALLY EXPANDS SUPERCHARGER NETWORK, DELIVERING CONVENIENT, FREE LONG DISTANCE DRIVING THROUGHOUT U.S. AND CANADA


Source: InsideEVs

How to manage risk in energy storage

Understanding the uncertainty associated with operating variable generation systems helps manage the level of risk associated with delivering services.


Moreover, appropriate selection of the rating and charge/ discharge characteristics of an energy storage device, coupled with appropriate operational management, can improve the ability of a variable generation system to participate in certain markets.

This article explores the use of simulation and optimisation techniques for investigating the characteristics that a variable generation system with energy storage should have for given operational profiles. Two examples are considered in this article.

In the first, optimisation techniques are used to determine the rating and charge/discharge characteristics of a variable generation system to maximise revenue on the spot market.

A study of this type is based on historical data of power output and market price, and does not require detailed consideration of technology selection.

In the second example, simulations are used to explore controlling the operational characteristics of a system that combines variable generation with energy storage, and to evaluate the affect that different energy storage interface configurations will have on grid response. Initially, a high level representation of the energy storage device is used in this type of study.

As the study progresses, more detailed representations of different technologies are included in the simulation framework.
Variable energy producer

Historical data of power output and market prices may be used to determine whether an energy storage device would improve the ability of a variable energy producer to participate in certain markets. In this article, spot market participation is considered, although the techniques discussed are applicable to ancillary markets.



Figure 1 shows a schematic of energy flow considered in the optimisation framework


The optimisation problem is then to determine not only the charge/discharge profile of the energy storage device over a period of time, but also to determine the most appropriate energy mix at any given time for charging the energy storage device and supplying energy to the grid.

The optimisation aims to maximise revenue while ensuring that physical constraints associated with operating the energy storage device are not violated.



Figure 2 shows an example of results from an optimisation for a two day period.


In line with expectation, these results show that the energy storage device is charged during periods of lower market price and discharged during periods of higher market price.

Note that compared to a real-world scenario, this example is relatively simplistic for illustrative purposes.


Figure 3 shows the operation of the energy storage device.


In this example, storage capacity was limited to 1200 kWhr and the charge/discharge rate was limited to 200 kW.

As the amount of historic data used in the optimisation formulation increases, the risk associated with the optimisation outcome decreases. The optimisation may be formulated using linear programming, which is beneficial for reducing the computational time of larger-scale problems.

Once the rating of the energy storage device has been determined, a simulation study may be conducted to inform technology selection and the development of appropriate feedback control and supervisory control subsystems for the combined energy storage / variable energy system.

Development of the feedback control and supervisory control systems may proceed on a lower fidelity model of the energy storage device. Lower fidelity models execute faster because they omit detailed representations of power electronic devices, enabling faster simulations and faster iterations during design.

This approach works well because the bandwidth of the feedback control and supervisory control systems will be sufficiently lower than that of the power-electronic switching algorithms, meaning that inclusion of power electronics will have little effect on the RMS operation in the system simulation.


Figure 4 shows the response of a system designed to provide firm power at the grid point-of-connection (POC).


If the energy stored is greater than 10% of capacity, then the feedback control system regulates active power at the grid POC to 0.6 per-unit.

Once the energy stored drops below 10% of capacity, then the energy storage system is charged to capacity at a fixed rate, before the POC regulation is re-engaged.


Figure 5 shows active and reactive power output for a simulation study that compares a standard 6-device insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) bridge with a 6-cell and 24-cell (per-phase) IGBT modal multilevel converter (MMC) as an interface to an energy storage system.


The system is commanded to move from 0.3 per-unit active power to 1.0 per-unit active power at 0.4 seconds, while regulating reactive power to zero.

The reference tracking capability of the feedback system is not impaired by the inclusion of different power-electronic architectures.


Figure 6 shows the THD of the voltage waveform.


As expected, the THD decreases as the number of power electronic devices in the bridge architecture increases.

Detailed studies help determine the power-electronic architecture, filtering architecture, or combination of the two that is required to meet harmonic distortion requirements.


Graham Dudgeon, Energy Industry Manager, MathWorks


Source : Pace / IICA

LiFePO4 ESS - Last night testing with 2 Wattson Monitors

Last night I was testing my LiFePO4 ESS as usual, after a full day of charge, and this time I brought the 2nd Wattson downstairs in my bedroom to display Usage, Generation, or Net Power

Instead of turning the ESS off when the low rate TOU comes in at 22:26 (10:26 PM), I decided to leave it on and see how it bahaves, poushing all it can for a full hour

At the end of this hour, the new 35mm2 longer cables were just luke warm, nothing was over-heating at all

Power graph (iPhone)

Power graph (iPad)

Energy graph

Energy Analysis

LiFePO4 DIY ESS - Morning & Forced Charge Mode

My LiFePO4 ESS this morning, and at the end, the Forced Charge Mode switched on (for testing purposes during the day, soon my PV system should do that) and adjusted to 300W (charger by charger, I can switch one off with the unique pushbutton to get the desired charge regime) before I leave to work

USA New Energy Storage Bill : Home owners can install their own ESS and get 30% off in tax credit !

US senators introduce energy storage bill

U.S. Senators have introduced a Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy Act for 2013. This Act, also known as the STORAGE Act, will promote the deployment of energy storage technologies in the U.S. All storage technologies are supported by the bill.

I read in this article that Home Owners could get a 30% tax credit building their own DIY ESS, which I think is great :-)

"Home owners can also install their own storage solutions. The Act will provide for 30% tax credit for homeowners for on-site energy storage to store off-peak electricity from solar panels for use when needed during peak hours."

Maybe some americans could be interested in my DIY ESS since they could pay only 70% of its cost ... which should be close to 3,000 USD after incentive (maybe less since many components can be found in the US). Pretty cool, things are starting to move...


My DIY ESS is doing exactly this, automatically: http://diyesskit.blogspot.com




Source: PV Magazine

LiFePO4 DIY ESS - The effect of TV on Home Usage & ESS Generation

Check out the effect of TV making my Home Usage go up and down, along with the screen brightness, and see how my LiFePO4 ESS is reacting to this generating more or less Power to cover this

Go Motorboard 2000X at the park / Broken throttle spring

Last sunday, after charging my Go Motorboard 2000X, I took it to the park for the kids who enjoyeda lot and taking turns withfriends who were discovering it (parents too since it was the first time I brought it there)

After an hour or so, my son came to me saying that the throttle was loose, and for the first time, I realized that the spring might have broke or detach itself, so they continued with two fingers on it, one for accelarting, the other one for pushing it back to stop acceleration

Once home, I opened the throttle assembly to try fix this spring

This is what it looks like inside: a PCB and a big potentiometer

These LEDs are showing the state of charge

Bottom line: the spring was broken in two, and after trying for a little hour extending it, I could not make this work; So a quick fix was to put a thick rubber band externally that will do the exact same thing ...

Go Motorboard 2000X next to the ESS (One day I will convert it to LiFePO4 ... with small cells)

After some testing and curling, it works fine !

Germany : The commercial sector discovers “own consumption”

The figures for ownership of renewables in Germany indicate a shift from private citizens, who still make up about half of investments, to the commercial sector. Craig Morris says some people saw this coming.

Photovoltaic power station in Lower Saxony

In my last post, I compared ownership statistics from 2011 and 2012 for renewables in Germany. One of the major energy policy changes in 2012 was the expiration of feed-in tariffs for new solar arrays larger than 10 megawatts. To give you an idea of how big that is, the average homeowner probably has space for 3 to 5 kilowatts – 10 megawatts is 10,000 kilowatts.

There was therefore a rush in 2012 to finish up the last systems larger than 10 megawatts, which may account for the two percent uptick in ownership among funds & banks, a likely group to own such systems. But the largest shift – five percent – went from private citizens to the commercial sector. Here, the German policy of “own consumption” (Eigenverbrauch) is probably at work.

Essentially, own consumption is a bit like net-metering with a time factor added to it. In net metering, your power meter simply runs backwards if you produce more solar power than you purchase from the grid. But in Germany’s “own consumption,” the meter never runs backwards – if you produce more than you consume at some point, you are required to store it on your side of the grid connection for later consumption.

The problem for most homeowners is that solar roofs produce most of their power in the afternoon, when most people are at work, not at home. A lot of power therefore has to be stored, and bigger battery packs make the approach less profitable. But the situation is fundamentally different for businesses, which generally have quite a large roof area and consume power during business hours. As I wrote back in 2010, this policy was thus bound to be popular among businesses.

Your average mom-and-pop shop that pays retail rates (around 27 cents) can thus benefit greatly from a solar roof, with feed-in tariffs for new systems installed in June dropping to 15 cents. But even midsize and large industry – which pays wholesale, not retail rates – is discovering the benefits of direct consumption, even of wind power. Last year, BMW put up four wind turbines at one of its plants in Germany. You see, it’s not just a question of the price of a kilowatt-hour, but also of maximum load. Power companies may charge extra if a firm consumes more than a certain amount at any time. Renewables can help keep the maximum load from the grid down.

The tradeshow halls in Freiburg are covered with photovoltaics, but the system still only has a capacity of 245 kilowatts. (Photo by Craig Morris)

This trend will continue. Indeed, it is hard to see how it could be stopped. And because commercial roofs are so much bigger than residential ones, the commercial sector may continue to take up a larger piece of the pie.

Likewise, the losers are also clear to see: the Big Four. They are sitting on a large fleet of conventional power plants designed to run for decades, and there is less and less demand for this power. Their strategy will therefore not be to increase their already small investments in renewables (which would only speed up the process), but to increasingly export power to Germany’s neighbors.


Craig Morris (@PPchef) is the lead author of German Energy Transition. He directs Petite Planète and writes every workday for Renewables International.

Source : German Energy Transition

LiFePO4 DIY ESS - Sunday all day testing -> better and better :-)

Yesterday, I spent again almost all day testing my LiFePO4 ESS after modifying a little piece of the program that is running in the Arduino board, and I think it is better and better

Take a look at the Wattson Anywhere screenshots below showing an overview of the day and zooms on peridos where the ESS was working. In between I charged, while outside the house

Sunday overview

First ESS run

2nd ESS run

3rd ESS run

4th ESS run

Wattson Anywhere Energy graph



Wattson Anywhere Analysis

When my PV system will be producing, I imagine this is going to be even better ... :-)

German " Going Electric " Forum talks about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS :-)

German " Going Electric " Forum talks about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS :

http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/ladeequipment/ladestrom-abhaengig-von-pv-anlagen-leistung-t78-190.html

...

I think it is actually the person who left sevreal commentaries on the DIY ESS blog (at the end), a certain Nico who apparently had the same kind of project going on but left it on the side until he stumbled on my blog"

Here is a the German to English translation:

Re: Charging current depends on PV systems performance

of smarted »Sun 12 , 2013, 08:41

Hello, the idea of the project is not mine and mine also still waiting on completion, which until next winter which is probably because I'm still on charge KEBA project off the adaptive PV. Here the foundations are also equal mitgelegt for the ESS. A central service then regulates the PV charge control of the car and the ESS. while ago I stumbled by chance on the Christophe Hubert and his ESS page. http://myelifenow.blogspot .fr / search / label / DIY% 20ESS Before that, I expected a lot and tested and it was then more expensive. So I have all rejected. But Christophe has then directed me on the right track. I know its a very good project and if anyone has any questions, I will answer gladly. My project but I have a little modified to be more powerful and efficient loading and also not use the Wattson to detect the excess power or the necessary reference power. I refer of ZRZ via IR adapter. Ultimately, the operation of the memory can be explained as follows: An Arduino Borad queries the TST and then controls via relay outputs (there are ready-16x boards) a certain number of inverters or chargers.These are always on or off the network side only. All inverter and charger add up Parallelbetreib. The battery is disconnected via a safety relay (normally). With a Four Range Digital Control voltmeter is limited and controls the charge and discharge.So no more BMS is necessary. before I had a BMS in use, but sold again. On page I have Charger with 90W 2x instead of 8x chargers charging devices with adjustable max. 900W each. The scheme takes the Arduino board before. afford the WR about 220W. Christophe was the first WR converted to 70W to the 0 to get close to and even set a current controller before (rc model sport). But I will refrain. 220W requirement under my system runs at all. before I used the cascading WR, was the smallest in SMA inverters are in the experimental setup. The left is also good control via RS485, but totally uneconomical.The small SUN GT250 are optimally utilized and have an efficiency of about 90%. exactly We is the total efficiency, I can not say no idea. Losses are in each case. The project is economically despite its low price in any case. From the Save comercial I do not want to talk. components and costs:

Re: Charging current depends on PV systems performance

of MoLab »Sun 12 , 2013, 12:49

This is a very ingenious concept! The stage adaptation of the feed power completely enough. Likewise, the single-phase design;. ZRZ the net so all phases 
Do you know how long it takes the GTI to be aufzusynchronisieren after switching? Must See times ... my 
Such a system would also be interested to know real, the 1700W rich indeed to a time delay to load the Smart at night from solar power, and in winter, the CHP still helps. And the facility is nice scalable.

....... And it goes on and on .....

Well, I am happy that some people find my project of interest and will learn that LiFePO4 is READY to be use for Energy Storage and is NOT THAT EXPENSIVE: My LiFePO4 5kWh pack is 1,700 EUR and are GREAT Cells (CALB CA180FI)

Just added the List of major Components to the LiFePO4 DIY ESS Blog and why I chose them

More about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS here

I chose the BEST components to create this ESS:

- Energy Monitor: Created in 2006, Wattson is for me the best: it displays clearly in real time your home Usage, Production & Net usage with large visible digits and colors; Using RF, it can travel in your home since it is also battery powered; Easy to install and it looks like a design object 

- LiFePO4 Batteries : CALB CA Series Cells are simply the best Li-ion Cells avaibale today: safety, stability, cycle life, power, and energy density at a reasonable price; Read Jack Rickard's article about these new amazing new cells

- DC Switch & Breaker : Blue Sea 187-Series Circuit Breaker - Surface Mount 150A; A reliable marine quality high current Switch and Circuit Breaker placed in the middle of the battery pack to be able to switch off completely the whole system, and a protection in case of short circuit; Product link

- Grid Tie Inverters : the SUN250G has been a very good GTI for years, is more efficient than a Power Jack (similar product); they can be used in parallel, their DC input accepts 10.8V to 30V, which is perfect for my 24V battery bank; They have a one year warranty; They are very affordable, 110-230VAC 

- Chargers : LiFePO4 24V Simple Charger, Light, Low power, Low price, used in parallel, 110-230VAC 

- Contactors : 2 Tyco Kilovac EV200AAANA : Simply a world reference for years, Made in the Santa Barbara, USA : Carries high current (500A) and provide a Very Reliable cut off

- Mother Board : Very famous widespread programming board, the Arduino is made in Italy, with a French micro-controller chip on board, small power consumption, and has been working for the last year now with no failure

- Relays : Small standalone design, with red led to indicate that it is closed/active, standard connector, low cost, have been working for the last year now with no failure; If any, each relay can be changed in 1 or 2 minutes with a small screwdriver

- Controller : The ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) used is probably the best in the world, Made in the UK, micro-controller based, does not heat and can carry high current up to 40A at 26.6V which is more than we need here;Product Link

- Voltmeter : This programmable dual relay digital voltmeter is  the key to monitoring the Battery pack charge and discharge limits, and keeps it in the safe range; It is available only in the USA, is easy to program manually, is precise enough and does the job !

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More about my LiFePO4 DIY ESS here