Swiss non-profit organization Energy Web has joined forces with Volkswagen Group Innovation and energy and charging solutions provider Elli to develop a smart charging solution that gives electric vehicle owners real-time access to renewable electricity.
The smart charging solution is powered by a “24/7” matching algorithm that factors in the EV’s real-time electricity consumption and optimizes charging to maximize the use of clean, locally sourced electricity.
The smart charging platform is built by integrating Energy Web’s open-source 24/7 toolkit into Elli’s green charging app, which provides users with access to more than 300,000 public charging points across Europe.
The charging platform gives users an unprecedented level of control over their vehicle’s charging, right from setting the date and time of the charging, to determining the desired level of charge by the end of their session, and also the ability to choose the type and location of the renewable energy facility from where the electricity is being sourced.
“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,” Jesse Morris, CEO at Energy Web said. “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. For instance, they can select to charge using wind and solar resources, from energy assets within a 10 km radius, and target 80% charge by 5pm – all from within a user-friendly application, with an accurate breakdown of their session’s carbon footprint.”
Volkswagen tested several ID.4 SUVs on the charging platform under different scenarios. Majority of the tests were conducted near the German city of Wolfsburg which has a wide range of wind and solar farms nearby.
The smart charging application also allows users to access their renewable energy transaction records available via Energy Web Chain – a feature that could help corporate EV fleets to track granular energy usage for carbon accounting, in the future.
The German carmaker is now looking to enhance further the smart charging platform and it roll it out at production scale in order to bring the smart charging capability to a wider population of EV drivers.
