A virtual semi-centralized electrical storage network

The biggest problem with electrical power is its expensive to store. The most “practical” way to store electricity is in massive batteries banks. However, this battery storage networks are expensive to build and maintain, which makes them impractical for large scale peak shaving.
However, that might change since a perk of having lots of plugin hybrids (or electric only cars) is that if enough people had them and had them on the grid at the same time (like if people charged them during the day when they were at work) they would form a massive virtual semi-centralized electrical storage network. This massive virtual battery could then be used for peak shaving either by the company or the utilities. Most cars would start charging in the morning, by the heat of the afternoon they would be fully charged and power could be drawn off to meet demand. As I said in the past this isn’t a perfect solution since people tend to leave for home at peak times. However, with enough plugin hybrids the virtual electrical storage network, could get large enough to make a difference. People could charge mostly at home during off peak hours and in the early morning, them “sell” mostly likely trade, the power back to the utilities during peak times. If the cars have enough charge left when the people got home (see the previous post), the owner could draw power from the battery to met some of their peak demands (the massive surge in power use when they get home and turn on the lights, AC, TV, computer, etc, etc). Then the car could charge during off peak hours.
The beauty of this virtual semi-centralized electrical storage network, is that it would put the power into regions where the people are, so there would be conversion losses but almost no transmission losses. (The conversion losses will happen on the customer’s side of the meter so that will likely be acceptable for the utility companies. The price differences between selling and buying just have to make it appear to be a win for the customer too.) The part the utilities will love the best is that this network won’t cost them very much to build or maintain, but will allow them to convert the over-generation capacity of their base generators to help the amount of peak generation capacity they need.
If this comes to pass the green car people will get a powerful new ally. The utility companies will lobby the government and automakers to make these cars available and cheap, not since it reduces the amount of oil we import or cuts emission, but because they want billions dollars in free batteries, and massive savings in fuel costs from not using inefficient plants for peaking.

I enjoy ironic possibility of TXU or Reliant Energy and Greenpeace supporting the same bill.