The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $32 million to six selected pilot projects that will support new load growth through grid-edge innovations and the ability of energy providers to right-size grid investments for future load growth. These Connected Communities projects in eight states will also provide new strategies... Read more →

The UK Government has published an Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Action Plan. The plan sets out steps being taken to seize on the significant potential of smart charging and make it the preferred method of long duration charging by 2025. Smart charging harnesses the potential of energy use data and... Read more →

GM is expanding its existing collaboration with EVgo to add a new Plug and Charge service to the Ultium Charge 360 ecosystem. GM is the first OEM to introduce a Plug and Charge feature to the company’s existing and future EVs that is designed to work on multiple, public networks... Read more →

Elli, a brand of the Volkswagen Group, and MITNETZ STROM have launched a nationwide pilot project for smart grid integration of electric vehicles. In the joint pilot project supported by E-Bridge, optimized charging strategies will be tested taking into account both regional electricity generation from renewable energies and the available... Read more →

A realistic pilot test conducted by Porsche, the grid operator TransnetBW and consulting firm Intelligent Energy System Services (IE2S), has demonstrated that electrical balancing power can be stored in the high-voltage batteries of an intelligent swarm of electric cars. Five series-production Taycan were connected to the power grid via the... Read more →

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Ford Motor Company announced a collaboration exploring how Ford’s new F-150 Lightning electric vehicle (EV)—the first commercially available light-duty truck with bidirectional charging technology (earlier post)—can interact with the electric grid and provide electric reliability benefits to PG&E customers. One in five EVs... Read more →

A new report from RMI has found that optimized charging of electric vehicles, which involves automatically and strategically shifting when an EV charges, could significantly reduce transportation sector emissions, and could potentially result in an average of 800 pounds of CO₂ saved per vehicle annually. This is equivalent to avoiding... Read more →

A team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has completed a literature review on the potential value of EV managed charging. Their findings, published in Energy & Environmental Science, provide a comprehensive look at how EVs and the grid could work together as the electric and transportation sectors become... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE), issued a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0002528) seeking feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to integrating electric vehicles (EVs) with the grid.... Read more →

SAE International announced revisions to SAE J3072 Standard: Interconnection Requirements for Onboard, Utility-Interactive Inverter Systems and SAE J2847/3 Recommended Practice: Communication for Plug-in Vehicles as a Distributed Energy Source. The updated electrical vehicle charging documents will play a major role in advancing automotive requirements for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) projects.... Read more →

The BMW Group and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced an expanded partnership that further leverages renewable energy to sustainably power electric vehicles (EVs). ChargeForward is the first smart charging program to offer customers incentives for maximizing the integration of renewable energy while optimizing their EV charging. This advanced... Read more →

Ocean View School District in Oxnard, California, has selected The Mobility House for its extensive fleet energy management expertise around the world to provide smart charging for the district’s new electric bus fleet project, construction for which is now complete. The pioneering project consists of four electric buses and four... Read more →

Nuvve Corporation, a leader in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, and IoTecha Corp., a provider of electric vehicle (EV) smart charging technology, are joining forces to deploy and commercialize a bidirectional charging solution for electric vehicles with the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) plugs supporting the ISO/IEC15118 protocol. This approach allows automotive OEMs... Read more →

Electrify America’s ultra-fast charging network now offers Plug&Charge payment technology, which allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to begin a charge without reaching for their wallet, smartphone or bank card. After a brief online registration, drivers can automatically pay for charging by simply plugging in their EV. The charger communicates with... Read more →

UK distribution and transmission network operator SP Energy Networks (SPEN) is seeking participants to take part in a major trial of an innovative electric vehicle (EV) charging solution across Cheshire, Merseyside, North Shropshire, and North and Mid-Wales. The trial will evaluate the performance of smart charging connections, which can intelligently... Read more →

Royal HaskoningDHV’s office in the city of Amersfoort, the Netherlands, is the first location in the world where electric vehicles are smart charged using machine learning. The charging stations are managed by the charging point operator Eneco eMobility, with smart charging technology provided by the GreenFlux platform. With the number... Read more →

Nuvve Corporation, a San Diego-based vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology company, is participating in a program to deliver resource adequacy to local utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and California’s electrical grid using a large stationary battery located on the University of California San Diego’s (UC San Diego’s) campus microgrid. Nuvve... Read more →

Virtual Peaker and Fermata Energy are partnering to integrate Fermata Energy’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with Virtual Peaker’s cloud-based residential energy demand response platform used by utilities across the country. Fermata Energy V2X bi-directional charger The joint venture will make it easier for utilities and their customers to combat climate change... Read more →

A new study of the impact of high EV adoption on the Western US power grid by a team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has found that 2028 grid resource adequacy—from generation through transmission—is likely to be sufficient for high EV penetration. Under a high-penetration scenario with national electric... Read more →

Audi and the Hager Group, a supplier of solutions and services for electrical installations in residential, commercial and industrial buildings Increasing network stability, lowering electricity costs, and contributing to climate protection, are researching bi-directional charging to integrate electric vehicles into the domestic power grid to reduce electricity costs and increase... Read more →

Commercial fast-charging stations subject electric car batteries to high temperatures and high resistance that can cause them to crack, leak, and lose their storage capacity, according to researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in a new open-access study published in the journal Energy Storage. To remedy this, the... Read more →

Electrify America is investing $1.3 million in the Energy StorageShares program developed by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). The investment will help Electrify America reduce its overall energy-related costs and lower the company’s impact on Sacramento’s electrical grid. This first-of-a-kind program will help address peak energy demands, minimize impacts... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office published a notice of intent to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Fiscal Year 2020 Advanced Vehicle Technologies Research FOA.” This FOA may include the following topics: Lithium-ion batteries using silicon-based anode. The objective of this potential area of interest is... Read more →

Northvolt and Mälarenergi are partnering to establish a battery energy storage system at an electric vehicle charging station in Västerås, Sweden. The battery system will provide power output up to 220 kW and a usable energy capacity of 320 kWh. The Northvolt battery system is intended to reduce peaks in... Read more →

The newly launched Bidirectional Charging Management (BCM) research project is bringing together companies and institutions from the automotive, energy and scientific sectors to develop technology to interlink vehicles, charging infrastructure and power grids in a way that facilitates the widest possible use of renewable energy and at the same time... Read more →

Enel X, the Enel Group’s advanced energy services business line, launched its new electric mobility unit in North America by integrating the company’s US-based electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions subsidiary, formerly known as eMotorWerks, into the Enel X brand. With the launch of this new unit, the company will add... Read more →

A white paper by AMPLY Power, a company providing fleet charging as a service, finds that 25 of America’s largest metropolitan areas could save an average of 37% on fuel costs by electrifying their bus and light-duty vehicle fleets. Additionally, well-managed electric fleets that optimize electricity charging for off-peak hours... Read more →

A researcher at the University of San Diego has used energy meter-level data from the San Diego region to analyze the energy load profiles of residential customers under the time-of-use (TOU) rate with and without EV charging requirements. Unlike previous forecasts on the effects of EV charging loads, the energy... Read more →

Electrify America and Hubject, a recognized leader in electric vehicle (EV) charging interoperability and “Plug&Charge” technology capabilities, announced a strategic agreement that will allow people to pay for their electric vehicle charging simply by plugging in their vehicles. Hubject will provide its expertise to Electrify America in a variety of... Read more →

At CES 2019 in January, Honda will debut its Wireless Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) system, co-developed with WiTricity—a bi-directional energy management system that has the potential to reduce CO2 and create new value for customers. Honda’s V2G solution leverages WiTricity’s DRIVE 11 wireless charging platform, which creates a seamless and efficient two-way... Read more →

WiTricity announced an intellectual property licensing agreement with Anjie Wireless, a China-based automotive Tier 1 supplier. Under the terms of the agreement, Anjie Wireless will license WiTricity’s patented magnetic resonance technology and industry-leading designs to develop and commercialize highly efficient wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging systems for sale to leading... Read more →

Delta, a global provider of power and thermal management solutions, has commenced work on a research program, with 50% cost-share by the US Department of Energy (DOE), to develop a solid-state transformer (SST)-based extreme fast EV charger (XFC) with industry-leading capacity up to 400 kW to provide capable EVs a... Read more →

CHAdeMO Association and the China Electricity Council (CEC) will jointly develop a next generation Ultra-Fast charging standard. CEC is China’s official association of utilities in charge of their national regulations and standards related to electricity. The two entities will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on 28 August in Beijing to... Read more →

New research from Idaho National Laboratory suggests that electric vehicle drivers could face longer fast charging times when temperatures drop. The reason: cold temperatures impact the electrochemical reactions within the cell, and onboard battery management systems limit the charging rate to avoid damage to the battery. The study, published in... Read more →

Honda is introducing a new Honda SmartCharge beta program that allows electric vehicle customers to reduce the environmental footprint of charging their car while earning monetary rewards. Honda is the first automaker to introduce a program of this kind, and will roll out the program to Honda Fit EV customers.... Read more →

eMotorWerks, part of the Enel Group’s new advanced energy services division Enel X, has launched the JuiceNet Enterprise solution to simplify the management of large numbers of electric vehicle charging stations across multiple sites. By deploying both smart-charging EV supply equipment (EVSE) and cloud software solutions on a commercial scale,... Read more →

At the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Bus & Paratransit Conference, electric bus manufacturer Proterra has introduced high-power charging options to make a 100% electric bus fleet more easily achievable. North American cities, counties and transit agencies are announcing zero-emission fleet goals. The development of universal technology standards will accelerate... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $19 million in funding to 12 cost-shared research projects focused on batteries and vehicle electrification technologies to enable extreme fast charging. (DE-FOA-0001808, earlier post.) Selected research projects are focused on developing electric vehicle systems that can recharge rapidly at high power levels,... Read more →

Volvo Cars aims for fully electric cars to make up 50% of its sales by 2025, the company announced in Beijing. The announcement builds on Volvo Cars’ 2017 announcement that all new models released from 2019 will be available as either a mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid or battery-electric vehicle. New Volvo... Read more →

Momentum Dynamics has commissioned the US’ first 200 kW wireless charging system for a battery-electric transit bus fleet. The wireless charging system is now operational on a BYD K9S bus at Link Transit in Wenatchee, Washington. Within five minutes, the wireless charging system automatically adds enough energy to the vehicle’s... Read more →

Electrify America will install electric vehicle fast chargers at more than 100 Walmart locations across 34 states by June 2019. This initiative will more than double the number of electric vehicle charging stations at Walmart stores across the US. The announcement is expected to make Walmart one of the leading... Read more →

Drivers of plug-in electric vehicles have needed to have the right charging card or smartphone app to gain access to public charging stations. To simplify this process, Berlin-based emobility specialist Hubject has developed a solution which enables customers to access charging stations by means of a digital certificate: Plug&Charge via... Read more →

Hitachi Europe Ltd., Mitsubishi Motors and ENGIE are partnered in a project to explore the potential for electric vehicles to act as a means of energy storage for an office building. For this demonstration, the consortium linked Hitachi’s vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charger to ENGIE’s office building in Zaandam, The Netherlands. Hitachi’s... Read more →

A UPS-led consortium has deployed new smart-grid charging technology in London that overcomes the challenge of simultaneously recharging an entire fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) without the need for the expensive upgrade to the power supply grid. Recharging a fleet of electric vehicles can be extremely expensive as it often... Read more →

An influx of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) charging without coordination could prove challenging to the nation’s electric grid, according to research conducted by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Dr. Matteo Muratori, a transportation and energy systems engineer at NREL, developed highly resolved models of residential... Read more →

Ricardo is supporting a trial run by UK Power Networks into using smart grid technology to unlock spare capacity for increased electric vehicle use—maximizing the power available from existing infrastructure while avoiding costly network reinforcement or substation replacement. The project, called Active Response, will trial a responsive, automated electricity network... Read more →

Enel S.p.A., through its US subsidiary EnerNOC, has acquired California-based eMotorWerks, a North American supplier of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, called JuiceBox, and owner and operator of JuiceNet, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for the smart management of EV charging and other distributed energy storage facilities. Through the... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has launched a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) pilot, with the first charge point already being utilized with Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV’s in-vehicle storage batteries. Using V2G-technology, peak demand on the electricity grid can be better balanced, by allowing electric vehicles to not just take power from the grid, but... Read more →

ABB is showcasing its new HVC (Heavy Vehicle Charger)-Overnight products and smart charging functionality at Busworld 2017. The system offers an intelligent and cost-effective solution for charging larger fleets during the night and ensuring zero emission transportation during the day. The global electric bus market is expected to witness a... Read more →

Following the successful launch of its eRoaming platform in Europe and Japan (earlier post), Hubject is expanding its business operations in the United States and China. Hubject GmbH was founded in 2012 by leading companies in the energy, technology, and automotive industries. The shareholders of Hubject GmbH include the BMW... Read more →