When you buy a new car after January 1, 2025, it should be zero-emissions – no matter how you live. Previously, housing associations could refuse to install chargers in public garage facilities. Now residents have a legal right to charge a fee. This often means that the electric current must be strengthened. But a new type of computer system, developed with housing societies, parking lots and large charging stations in mind, now provides a nice edge effect.
Jacqueline Flush (Photo: Picasa)
New systems are fed a rich mix of data. Tips for charging time are issued to users of popular charging systems.
Karen Peskov Lindbergh (Photo: Ann Cecil Holth)
The advice benefits the community as it will reduce the need for costly amplification of the power grid. It benefits the individual because users can charge the car in the cheapest way possible. In addition, this type of technology will pave the way for increased use of new renewable energy.
Sture Portvik (Photo: Halvor Bjørngård)
With the housing association Røverkollen in Oslo as a guinea pig, such a system has now been developed by international research projectWith Centf as coordinator. All as part of the European Union’s giant Horizon 2020 programme.
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The background is a fear that after finishing work everyone will cook and charge the car at the same time. Then the energy consumption will increase significantly. As a countermeasure, “smart charging systems” have already been developed for large charging systems. But in the day we all drive electric cars, this technology will likely be insufficient.
Before 2025, smarter than “smart” solutions are needed. It is precisely this technology, which in addition makes it easy to use the energy of locally produced solar cells, that we created in our project.
Today’s smart charging systems for housing associations distribute available charging capacity there and beyond. “Logical management of current needs”, this is called in technical parlance. Such regulations reduce the need to boost the authority’s intake for housing associations already today.
Our Technology for “Smart Energy Management”» It goes a few steps further. It recommends charging time by finding time periods when the housing consortium’s total energy consumption is low, as well as periods of time when locally produced energy can be accessed. For example, electricity from solar panels if the housing association owns them.
The system then adds other information, such as the outside temperature and the spot price of electricity. Based on that, it calculates the charging plan.
If the plan is followed, it will make charging an electric vehicle cheaper than it could be, for the following reasons:
- The peak will be when the housing association’s electricity consumption is at its highest. Combined with innovative business models, as a reward for drivers who are late in charging, our technology will reduce the need to further enhance the power grid. It provides lower rent to the grid in the long run than it would be without smart energy management.
- In addition to paying for the electricity they use, large electricity customers – including housing associations and co-owners – pay so-called energy tariffs, which depend on how high electricity consumption is at its highest. As our system shrinks in height at precisely this peak, the “energy tariff” will also be lower than it would otherwise be.
- The charging plan “knows” when new, locally produced renewable energy is available. This allows for cheap power charging, because the solar cell power from the nearest roof may not have other potential users as the electric vehicle moves towards the charger.
The system, which is on display at housing association Røverkollen, was supplied by Halden eSmart Systems together with German company ZET. Sintef participated in the development of the general concept and architecture of the system.
The municipality of Oslo is also a partner in the project. The municipality wants to gain experience in developing a sustainable urban development plan, especially on the eastern edge.
To achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent by 2030, Oslo needs at least
240,000 electric vehicles and more than 40,000 electric vans and service vehicles by 2025. This makes the development of charging infrastructure extremely important. It is equally important to make charging available to all residents, at home or close to home.
Thus, the experiences gained from Røverkollen are relevant to other housing associations as well as large parking garages and charging stations, such as Festningen and Vulkan in Oslo.
Smart solutions for charging electric cars are like textbook pieces of what we should live in post-oil Norway. These are products of the kind that all countries will demand, thanks to the green shift. At the same time, these are products with high cognitive content. Exactly what a country like ours should focus on, at its high cost level.(Conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
Smart solutions for charging electric cars are like textbook pieces of what we should live in post-oil Norway.
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