Ford, BMW, Honda to steer bidirectional EV charging standard
- Reference: 1694632505
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/13/ford_bmw_honda_partner_to/
- Source link:
The trio will become equal shareholders in a new company called ChargeScape, which they [1]said in a statement will begin operations next year, pending regulatory approval. The goal is to "create a single, cost-effective platform connecting electric utilities, automakers and interested electric vehicle customers."
In other words, they want to develop a shared standard for connecting EVs to the grid for the planned benefit of vehicle owners, manufacturers and utilities.
[2]
ChargeScape was formed to bring V2G charging into the mainstream, which will in turn let the grid sap some stored EV battery juice at times of high demand (with permission), as well as management options that'll restrict EV charging to "grid-friendly" times of day.
[3]
[4]
ChargeScape will enable such features by making use of the Open Vehicle-Grid Integration Platform
[5]PDF
, which feeds EV information from automakers to power companies to be used for charging management across OEMs. Of course, ChargeScape sees both features as potential payouts for EV owners, who would be compensated for supplying energy, as well as not drawing it, at least that's the theory."Due to the efficient integration with participating automakers and the anticipation of high levels of EV customer enrollment, these energy services are expected to be a cost-efficient, operational benefit for electric utilities," the trio predicted in their press release.
[6]
If ChargeScape's plan sounds familiar, that's because it's a lot like Tesla's plans to use its home energy storage Cyberwall batteries to [7]supply power to the grid to fight blackouts. The key difference between Tesla's plans and ChargeScape, however, is the V2G component, which Musk has expressed disinterest in.
"I don't think very many people are going to want to use bidirectional charging, unless you have a Powerwall, because if you unplug your car, your house goes dark, and this is extremely inconvenient," Tesla CEO Elon Musk [8]said at [9]Tesla Investor Day in March.
[10]Power grids tremble as electric vehicle growth set to accelerate 19% next year
[11]Tesla to license Full Self-Driving stack to other automakers, says Musk
[12]China's top EV battery maker announced a breakthrough, but top boffin isn't convinced
[13]Chinese battery maker for the stars of the EV world suddenly wants to be seen powering human rights
Several EVs have been built with V2G, vehicle-to-load and/or vehicle-to-home charging capabilities, but Tesla has yet to include such features on its vehicles. We reached out to Tesla to see if, based on the similarity Powerwall's tech and what ChargeScape is planning to see if it had been invited to help, but haven't heard back.
"The three founding members welcome other automakers to join in and fully unlock opportunities provided by ChargeScape's grid service offerings once the company is fully operational," the trio said.
Another sign of the times
Looking around the auto industry today, you could be excused for thinking internal combustion vehicles are still the undisputed kings of the road. They may rule for now, but their manufacturers' projects point to an impending end to the ICE era.
Tesla may be doing its own thing with the Powerwall, but it's also been seeking to make some of its tech a national standard with the push for automakers to ditch the Combined Charging System in favor of Tesla's presumptively-named North American Charging Standard. Several automakers have already decided to adopt Tesla's tech, [14]including Ford, GM and the Society of Automotive Engineers.
The US's [15]notoriously horrible EV charging networks are also getting investment from the likes of General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Stellantis and others who announced earlier this year that they were [16]partnering on a nationwide network of 30,000 EV charging stations.
[17]
Even Honda, which has been relatively slow to embrace EVs, is part of ChargeScape, the nationwide EV charging network initiative - and has finally [18]partnered with GM to produce EVs on its US partner's Ultium battery platform.
All these collaborations mean one thing: competitors are aligning to create standards so they can all economically benefit once the dust settles and EVs are a part of daily life. Quite frankly, if even Honda is looking beyond the internal-combustion engine, its days are numbered. ®
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[1] https://global.honda/en/newsroom/news/2023/c230912eng.html?from=newsroom_headline_area
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZQIxL3@MRFec0upYotWwrAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQIxL3@MRFec0upYotWwrAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQIxL3@MRFec0upYotWwrAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.openadr.org/assets/Detroit%20Case%20Study%201-2022.pdf
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQIxL3@MRFec0upYotWwrAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/18/tesla_expands_powerwalltogrid_program/
[8] https://electrek.co/2023/03/01/tesla-says-it-could-have-bidirectional-charging-in-two-years-but-will-it/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/02/tesla_investor_day/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/ev_growth_gartner/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/tesla_to_license_fsd_software/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/24/catl_battery_claim_questioned/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/catl_un_global_compact/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/28/sae_approves_standard_tesla_charger/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/15/ev_charging_infrastructure_sandia/
[16] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electric-vehicle-charging-station-network-bmw-gm-honda-hyundai-kia-mercedes-stellantis-tesla/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQIxL3@MRFec0upYotWwrAAAAQY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2022/apr/0405-gmhonda.html
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Voila!
Proof that we're moving to a self-imposed, energy-scarce future where every single electron will need to be scavenged, just to keep the lights on.
Re: Voila!
Or maybe we're moving to a future where we make more efficient use of resources instead of wasting them as profligately.
Re: Voila!
Or it's a start in freeing ourselves from energy delivery monopolies. The more home-to-home sharing, the less need for the big power company to balance varying local production and consumption.
Batteries age by use and calendar time. For occasional drivers, this could be a little revenue from a car battery pack that would otherwise be depreciating unused.
Don't get it
ChargeScape was formed to bring V2G charging into the mainstream, which will in turn let the grid sap some stored EV battery juice at times of high demand ( with permission ), as well as management options that'll restrict EV charging to "grid-friendly" times of day.
Who in their right mind would allow the electricity company to drain their EV's battery rendering the car useless should they require it in an emergency? Have the recent forest fires and floods passed you by?
Re: Don't get it
As the quote mentioned its 'some' of the battery, not to run it to empty.
I saw a Technology Connections video on Youtube a months or so ago where he managed to power his whole house using his EV for a day or two without using any mains electric, and i think he showed you can specify how much of the battery you wanted to use before it would stop supplying it. So you can still have enough remaining to use the EV to drive.
I could see this being useful if you live in a place where you get a lot of power outages or even just have a cabin/caravan etc off grid and want to use your EV to power things rather than a noisy generator.
Re: Don't get it
Still going to keep a UPS hooked up, though, just in case power fails when the car's not around..
Re: Don't get it
The price is dynamic in some places. Charge to 85% when it's cheap, discharge to 65% when it's expensive. For a 100kWh pack, that's $1.80 a day in California. Texas has extremely dynamic pricing so you could probably make a fortune every time there's extreme weather.
Clarity
"an initiative from Ford, BMW and Honda's American arm"
This phrase highlights the importance of both the Oxford comma and singular/plural agreement. It implies that Ford is the American arm of BMW and Honda, whereas the article later stipulates that there are three companies involved in the project, Ford, BMW, and Honda. I know that the Oxford comma has been taken out back and unceremoniously executed, but it would certainly reduce ambiguity in this case, as would using the word "arms."
(I know, I could have just sent a note to the author, but by God, I am willing to die on the hill of defending the Oxford comma, and I don't care who knows it!)
Well I think people in warmer temperate zones but very much like it as an alternative to grid power.
If your climate supports it then you don't need air conditioning or heating running while you're gone.
So power only matters if you're there. And even then you still don't need power if there's daylight out.
Electronic entertainment is still but a small subset of all the activities available for human to enjoy.