Toyota joins iZEUS smart grid/smart traffic project, contributes four Prius plug-in hybrids
13 July 2013
Toyota has joined the iZEUS (Intelligent Zero Emission Urban System) project in Germany as an associated partner, and is contributing four Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicles to Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung, ISI); Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme, ISE); and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, KIT).
iZEUS examines how traffic and infrastructure can benefit from Information and Communications Technology (ICT). In this context, especially with regard to the rising percentage of renewable energy sources in the electricity grid, electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) are starting to gain importance.
The project is being funded with about €20 million (US$26 million) by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie) under the initiative Information and Communication Technologies for Electric Mobility II. The project was launched in January 2012 and will be completed in mid-2014.
With the Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicles, ISI, ISE and KIT will examine driving and charging behavior.
The data will serve as a basis for the integration of vehicles into future households, where decentralized energy production is projected to play an important role. The data will also give information on the necessity of charging infrastructure and the sustainability of EVs and PHVs in the traffic system.
iZEUS is a consortium consisting of the following partners: Adam Opel AG; ads-tec GmbH; Daimler AG; EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG; Fraunhofer Gesellschaft; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie; PTV Group; SAP AG; and TWT GmbH Science & Innovation.
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