Siemens Energy has partnered with Duke Energy and Ford for the pilot demonstration of an 18-month research results to develop electric vehicle charging technologies at minimum cost that assure grid reliability with greater customer awareness.
The demonstration was done at Duke Energy Envision Center using a Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid.
Siemens has provided residential Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) for this project, approved by the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for the demonstration of monitor status ability from an OpenADR server and report energy use.
OpenADR is an open standard for Automated Demand Response that lets utilities to automatically manage grid load resources remotely. By using OpenADR or by accessing the Siemens Cloud, utilities can offer rate programs to EV owners.
The EVSE provided by Siemens is accessible by web-connected computers, smart phones and tablets which helps EV owner to better monitor the status of the EV charging, schedule future charge events and determine the total distance consumed and the cost of charging.
By adapting this EVSE technology, an EV owner can get a clear idea of the EV charging cost and accordingly schedule the charging process during lowest rates.
Besides, utilities can offer programs that help manage the time and level of EV charging, increasing the grid efficiency at minimum peak demand by implementing this technology.
The utilities can potentially reduce the peak demand on the grid by shifting each EV charging event slightly in time that helps to reduce the total amount of generation needed.
Eventually, the demonstration has proved that EV charging stations can reduce the cost of charging up to 60 percent by automatically charging during low energy rate periods while utilities can shift loads off critical peak periods to avoid the need for new generation sources.
In March of 2012, the US Department of Energy awarded Siemens a grant to develop a low cost Smart Grid Capable EVSE, to support transportation electrification.
The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) supported this project.
The Siemens EV charging station with Wi-Fi connectivity and smart phone application used in this demonstration will be available to the general public in 2015.
Sabeena Wahid
[email protected]