Siemens, Duke Demonstrate Lower-Cost Smart EV Charging

Siemens Energy Management Division has teamed with Duke Energy to demonstrate the results of an 18-month effort to reduce the cost and expand electric vehicle charging technologies.

Held at the Duke Energy Envision Center in Erlanger, Kentucky, and utilizing a Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid, Siemens provided the first Underwriters Laboratories approved residential electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to demonstrate the ability to monitor status, report energy use, and be controlled locally from the local area network and from the cloud.

Siemens’ EVSE was shown to be accessible by web-connected computers, smart phones and tablets, allowing the EV owner to better monitor the status of the EV charging, schedule future charge events, as well as determine the total kilowatt hours consumed and the cost of charging.

Utilities can also take advantage of the technology to offer programs that help manage the time and level of EV charging across the grid to increase grid reliability and efficiency while minimizing peak demand.

Also demonstrated was the ability to monitor and control the EVSE from an OpenADR server. OpenADR is an open standard for Automated Demand Response, allowing utilities to manage grid load resources remotely and automatically. By using OpenADR or by directly accessing the Siemens Cloud, utilities can offer rate programs to EV owners to allow the consumer to charge at highly attractive rates while simultaneously allowing the utility to manage the loads on the grid. By shifting each EV charging event slightly in time, utilities can potentially reduce the peak demand on the grid, which in turn helps to reduce the total amount of generation needed.

The Siemens EV charging station presented at the Envision Center also demonstrated a unique, new industry standard interface designed to allow appliances to work with utility demand response programs. The connection is based on the CEA-2045 modular communications interface standard, introduced in February 2013 by the Consumer Electronics Association. Electric Power Research Institute is assessing the CEA-2045 interface to determine its ability to provide smart grid connectivity standard for water heaters, AC units and other large home energy loads.

In addition to the CEA-2045 connector in the EVSE, Siemens also demonstrated a CEA-2045 communication module that provides Wi-Fi communications for any CEA-2045 enabled appliance.

The demonstration was funded as part of a grant received from the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

GlobalData research published earlier this year forecast the US electric vehicle level two charging station market will grow from $67 million to $947 million by 2020, fueled by President Obama’s target of 1 million EVs on the road by 2015.