Not-for-profit organisation Energy Web has partnered with automotive giant Volkswagen to develop a new smart charging solution enabling EV owners to power their cars using renewable electricity whenever possible.
The charger - which is matched directly with the vehicle's real-time electricity consumption - relies on a round-the-clock algorithm which optimises charging to maximise the use of clean, locally sourced electricity.
Energy Web says the solution provides users with “an unprecedented level of control over EV charging”.
Using the charger, EV owners can dictate the date and time of charging, how much they want to charge their car and the renewable energy facility the electricity comes from.
Volkswagen recently tested the smart charging solution in Wolfsburg, Germany and relied upon nearby clean energy solar and wind farms for power.
Several Volkswagen ID 4s were successfully charged using local clean energy over a three-month period. A number of charging sessions were tested, running from several hours to multiple days.
For each charge, Energy Web says that the platform optimised the charging schedule for maximum clean electricity usage.
“This is the first time ever that an electric vehicle has been charged using a verified 24/7-matched clean energy strategy – coming at a time when EV adoption is gathering speed and charging is placing larger demands on electricity grids than ever before”, said Jesse Morris, CEO at Energy Web.
“The purpose of this project has been to showcase that advanced EV charging solutions can empower EV owners to set their own preferences for when and where they get their energy.”
Volkswagen Group Innovation is currently exploring how the solution can be rolled out and developed further in a bid to allow as many EV owners as possible to access to it.
The Smart Charging App features Energy Web’s new, so-called 24/7 toolkit - an open-source piece of software which enables companies to build applications based on its technology. For instance, this has already been integrated into charging prover Elli’s green charging application which provides users with access to over 300,000 public charging points across Europe.
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