Source : Procurement Leaders
Honda has teamed up with IBM and US utility provider Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) on a pilot project that will allow communication between electric vehicles (EVs) and the power grid.
American Honda Motor said the pilot project aims to demonstrate and test an electric vehicle’s ability to receive and respond to charge instructions based on the grid condition and the vehicle’s battery state.
According to the scheme’s creators, providing additional visibility into charging patterns will help energy providers to more effectively manage charging during peak hours and create consumer-friendly programmes to encourage electric vehicle adoption. This factor will become more important as the energy requirements for electric vehicles impact the current power grid.
IBM estimates that the plug-in vehicle counts will continue to grow to an expected 2.9 million worldwide by 2017.
"This pilot project with IBM and Honda will help us demonstrate that third-party providers have the systems and capabilities to help meet some of the challenges that electric vehicles could place on the power grid as their adoption increases in the coming years," said Saul Zambrano, senior director for consumer products for PG&E.
"With updated charging patterns for EVs, we have the ability if needed, to shift demand to non-peak times to ensure the reliability of the grid so that we can continue to deliver safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers."
"The growth and success of EV adoption is reliant upon many factors, ranging from vehicle price and performance, to infrastructure readiness, to the consumer experience – a scope that cannot be addressed by one sole industry," said Allan Schurr, vice president, strategy and development of IBM’s Global Energy and Utilities Industry.
"This project with Honda and PG&E represents a significant step towards building an intelligent infrastructure that integrates capabilities and technologies across three major players. We are creating a system that allows electric vehicles to communicate with the power grid – this is groundbreaking."