Date: 17/10/2011

Electric cars charging contolled using mobile devices

IBM Research has teamed with EKZ, the electricity utility provider of the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland, on a new pilot project that will allow consumers to conveniently charge electric vehicles and monitor their energy costs, using mobile devices.

The electric cars are installed with a data-recording device created by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) to collect information on the vehicle's battery charge level, location and the power source. The IBM app runs on most smartphones, tablets and Web browsers, and provides an integration point between the vehicle, the utility provider and the driver. The app shows the vehicle's battery level, range of travel distance, vehicle location, charge schedule and current energy costs in real time.

The app can be programmed in such a way that battery charging can happen when rates are lowest or when a trip is planned.

"Electric vehicles can be used to buffer the irregular production of electricity from future renewable sources, which will contribute to the overall stability of the electrical network," predicts Peter Franken, head of the Energy Distribution department of EKZ and executive management member. "With this project we can show how electric vehicles can create a balance between supply and demand for smarter energy grids."

"This service will make electric vehicles more attractive to consumers by taking into consideration their preferences, while still factoring in cost and overall convenience," explains Dieter Gantenbein, leader of the Smart Grid research project at IBM Research - Zurich. "In this pilot, the real-time analysis of supply and demand together with a control algorithm will create a dynamic incentive for a sustainable way to charge an electric vehicle's battery, putting us another step closer to establishing a cleaner transport system."

The utility provider also can control the charge time based on the availability of renewable resources, such as sun and wind, allowing the utility to improve load balancing and prevent outages.

To analyze the programmed charging process of electric vehicles with renewable energy, the pilot project takes real-time production data from photovoltaic solar panels located at EKZ's facility in Dietikon, which then gets transmitted to the cloud service. In this charge mode, the electric vehicle is charged when solar electricity is being produced. If less solar energy is being generated, the charging process can adapt automatically.