My Blog About Racing: REV says EVs will "store more total energy than the U.S. grid presently produces" in 2020

Sunday, August 7, 2011

REV says EVs will "store more total energy than the U.S. grid presently produces" in 2020

REV Ford Escape - Click above for high-res image gallery

For the past three years, Canada-based Rapid Electric Vehicles (REV) has focused on developing technologies that allow for the two-way exchange of electricity with the power grid, enabling electric vehicles to become renewable energy storage devices. Why? Well, as REV looks into the future, it sees the need, especially in the aviation, military and aerospace industries, to "unlock energy reservoirs" as these organizations seek solutions to green their vehicle fleets.

REVTech Engineering, a division of REV that focuses on electric vehicle powertrain and energy storage engineering services, aims to enable the next generation of electric vehicles to act as high-output energy endpoints that improve reliability of the grid. REVTech envisions a future where the power of the wind and of the sun is harnessed to charge electric vehicles and says that these mobile energy storage devices will act as "power stations at home, work and play." REVTech even has a name for its vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system: AutoGrid.

Part of the Canadian company's future relies on the success of electric vehicles, which may explain why it is so gung-ho about the technology's future. In fact, REV expects that by 2020, "electric cars will store more total energy than the U.S. grid presently produces." Of course, that depends on the number of electric vehicles out on the roads. To that end, REV submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Defense on June 16, 2011 to support The Autogrid. The company now awaits a response.

Gallery: REV's Converted Ford Escape