A smart way to charge up (electric cars)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2010/04/smart-charge-up.jsp

A smart way to charge up

Research News April 2010

Electromobility makes sense only if car batteries are charged using electricity from renewable energy sources. But the supply of green electricity is not always adequate. An intelligent charging station can help, by adapting the recharging times to suit energy supply and network capacity.

Germany aims to have one million electric vehicles – powered by energy from renewable sources –on the road by 2020. And, within ten years, the German environment ministry expects »green electricity« to make up 30 percent of all power consumed. Arithmetically speaking, it would be possible to achieve CO2-neutral electromobility. But, in reality, it is a difficult goal to attain. As more and more solar and wind energy is incorporated in the power grid, the proportion of electricity that cannot be controlled by simply pressing a button is on the increase. In addition, there is a growing risk that the rising number of electric vehicles will trigger extreme surges in demand during rush hour.

»What we need is a smart grid that carries information in addition to power,« says Dominik Noeren of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The structure of the grid has to change from a push system based on energy demand to a pull system based on production output. In Noeren's opinion, »electric cars are best equipped to meet this challenge.« Introduced in large numbers, they have the capacity to store a lot of energy. On average, a car is parked for at least 20 hours out of 24. That is more than enough time to recharge them when the wind picks up or the demand for electricity is low.

Developed by Fraunhofer researchers, the »smart« charging station is a device that enables electric vehicles to recharge when the system load is low and the share of energy from renewable resources is high. In this way, load peaks can be avoided and the contribution of solar and wind power fully exploited. »For us, it is important that end consumers are completely free to decide when they want to recharge. We do not want them to suffer any disadvantages from the controlled recharging of their vehicles' batteries,« Noeren emphasizes. That's why he favors electricity rates that adapt to the prevailing situation in the power grid – ones that are more expensive in periods of peak demand and particularly cheap when there is a surfeit of renewable energy. The person using the »smart« charging station could then choose between recharging immediately or opting for a cheaper, possibly longer, recharging time. If they go for the second option, all they need to do is enter the time when their vehicle has to be ready to drive again. The charging station takes care of everything else, calculating the costs and controlling the recharging process. Via the display the user can track the progress of recharging and also see the costs incurred and the amount of energy used. The experts will be presenting their charging device at the Hannover Messe from April 19 through 23 (Hall 27, Stand K55).

* http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/Images/rn4_FERTIG_tcm63-48552.pdf">Research News April 2010 ( PDF 511KB )

[madokie]

1. It's kind of hard reading further when they make a statement like this

Electromobility makes sense only if car batteries are charged using electricity from renewable energy sources. bolding mine

An electric vehicle would do us for 95 + percent of our driving and charging it from the power companies mix is better than burning gasoline as we are today. Having said that I agree we need a smart grid, even V2G on an optional basis. Why couldn't they include a monitor with the charger for the grid with the vehicle so it would know when to actually do the charging. Easy enough to put the logic in so the ev would be charged up by the time one needed it due to input from the owner and or by the history of it's use and or a combination of the two. Its pretty easy to know when the load is low on the grid because the voltage goes up a tad in fact from my observations the voltage varies directly with the load. I used to work at a foundry that used induction furnaces (big load) and the power plant that was supplying the current for that furnace went to a system where the plant loads the furnace and puts in a request and then when GRDA, (provider) deemed it the best time, this is on an hourly basis, would notify the foundry and if it was still a go they would power up the furnaces, the system worked pretty good but it took a little getting used to at first but they did and they still do it that way today. Anyways knowing when the furnaces were coming on allowed one to monitor the line voltage and when the furnaces came on the voltage dropped, been too long ago now to remember how much but it was enough to design a circuit to take advantage of that. I can see a voltage change as the day goes on here at my home. During the summer during the afternoons when the air conditioners are all going there will be a 2 or 3 volt drop over what it is during the night time. My voltage here is varying between 116.9 and 118 as I type here now. my 2 cents

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Yeah, I hear you

How about if I rewrite it:

"Electromobility makes the most sense only if car batteries are charged using electricity from renewable energy sources."

Now will you keep reading?

[madokie]

3. I kept reading anyway, just bitchin on my part

sorry 'bout that. I'm on pins and needles waiting for a call from the doctor to fill me in on whats going on with the biopsy of my left lung taken last week.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. No need to apologize, I had the same reaction

And I haven't been waiting for the results of a biopsy for a week.