Many people believe that when they bring their EV home from the dealership simply plugging their vehicle into an outlet will suffice. Some issues remain. For example, if you have a Tesla Roadster with a dead battery and you charge it at home by plugging it into a household electric outlet, it will take three days to charge.
The Chevy Volt will take nine to 10 hours to charge at 110 Volts. For most people that’s too slow and they will want to charge at higher power. In the US, that will mean having a J1772™ connector-equipped charging station at home. That station will provide for higher power charging, and will charge as much as 20 times faster than what you can from household electricity.
The basic home charging station will do just that, provide a higher power charging interface for the car.
Coulomb believes that home charging should be “smart” and that the benefits of smart home charging are important to the car owner, and the homeowner. Smart home charging is designed to save time, energy and money.
The major aspects of smart home charging are:
- A standardized SAE J1772 connector for 240V charging
- A utility grade meter to measure energy flow/consumed by the vehicle
- The ability to communicate back to the grid and participate in:
- Time Of Use (TOU) rates – for example, the PUC Schedule E-9 cites about 5 cents / kWh rate for EV charging at late at night versus higher daytime charging rates
- The ability to participate in Demand Response programs. This allows utilities to shed grid load and incentivize consumers by providing cheaper electricity rates. Today, this is done often with air conditioning units (called SmartAC programs).
- A communication interface that ensures very high reliability and availability through remote monitoring and control
- Notification services that tell a driver when a car is fully charged, reminds the driver to plug in, and tells the driver when anything comes up that might prevent a car from being fully charged when the driver needs it
- Audit services that tell the driver and homeowner how much it costs to fuel their car and how they can manage that cost
As electric vehicles rollout in the coming months, we will be hearing much more about the need for smart charging infrastructure for both home and public use. Coulomb is here today with solutions for these needs.
Photos Courtesy of Richard Lowenthal.
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