MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. (June 18, 2007) -- Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc announced that it’s awarded $1 million in grants and is making an additional $10 million available to fund development, adoption and commercialization of plug-in hybrid cars, fully electric cars and related technology that will allow cars to tap into the electric grid and even feed power back to the utilities.
During a press conference at the company's Mountain View, Calif. Headquarters, they switched on a 1.6 megawatts solar panel installation (enough electricity to power approximately 1,000 average California homes) to show that plug-in hybrid cars can be powered by solar energy and return the excess power to the grid at a profit.
Google teamed with PG&E to demonstrate this bi-directional flow of electricity between plug-ins and the electric grid. "Clean energy technology can dramatically shift how we make and use energy for our cars and homes by charging cars through an electric grid powered by solar or other renewable energy sources, and selling power back to the electric grid when it's needed most. This approach can quadruple the fuel efficiency of cars on the road today and improve grid stability," said the aptly-named Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org.
To determine the potential of this new technology, Google partnered with A123Systems/Hymotion to convert a number of Toyota Prius hybrid cars into a fleet of plug-in hybrids. So far, these cars have averaged 74 mpg after conversion, compared to 41 mpg for their non-plug-in Prius hybrid counterparts.
This conversion program will eventually expand to include 100 plug-ins that will be used to support alternative commuting through a free car-sharing program that will be offered to Google employees in conjunction with Enterprise Rental Cars.
"Google is committed to using its resources to help solve the global climate challenge," said Brilliant.
Google hopes its vehicle-to-grid initiative, that it’s calling RechargeIT, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil dependence by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Later this summer Google.org will publish a formal request for proposals (RFP) on its website, focused on investment opportunities in companies and projects accelerating the commercialization of alternative transportation that reduces vehicle fossil fuel use and climate emissions. They want to invest approximately $10 million in technologies and companies featuring plug-in hybrids, fully electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid capabilities, batteries and other storage technologies, and the application of renewable energy and fuels to green vehicles. “We believe that our investments in green vehicle technology commercialization, coupled with additional R&D and policy grants, will help accelerate progress in addressing the climate and energy challenges of today's transportation sector,” said Brilliant.
To kick start these efforts Google.org announced grants it’s already made to several organizations.
Brookings Institution (
http://www.brookings.edu ): $200,000 to support a spring 2008 conference on federal policy to promote plug-ins;
CalCars (
http://www.calcars.org ): $200,000 to support its work to educate the public about plug-ins;
Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) (
http://www.epri.org ): $200,000 to support its plug-in research and development program;
Plug-In America (
www.pluginamerica.org ): $100,000 to raise public awareness and advocate for plug-in transportation;
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) (
http://www.RMI.org ): $200,000 to enable RMI to launch the design of a practical plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, with additional support and collaboration by Alcoa, Johnson Controls, and the Turner Foundation;
Dr. Willett Kempton, University of Delaware (
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/cms/wkempton ): $150,000 for megawatt scale vehicle-to-grid research and implementation planning.
For more information: RechargeIT initiative (
http://www.rechargeit.org )
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