Electric vehicle smart charging to go nationwide in the Netherlands, taking advantage of solar and wind energy

Electric vehicle smart charging to go nationwide in the Netherlands, taking advantage of solar and wind energy While there are some small-scale projects going on around the world, like Nissan and Enel with the LEAF in the UK and BMW with about 100 i3 owners in San Francisco, smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technologies are far from being widely adopted as forms of electric grid services. But that doesn’t mean that they are not valuable services and the Netherlands sets out to prove it by becoming a large-scale test hub for the technologies with the hope to make them standards around the world. The idea is quite simple: have “smart” connectivity with electric vehicle charging stations across large networks in order to control the charging load and match it with peak production of renewable energy.That way electric vehicles get the most out of the grid when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and peak demand from electric vehicle charging can be reduced. The project called ‘Living Lab Smart Charging’ is an open platform to support smart charging. EV charging station companies and network operators can join the platform and they will update the stations to be “smart”. Electric vehicle owners using the stations can have access to an app to set their preferences for charging and they can earn money for being more accommodating to the grid requirements. See http://ift.tt/2edRATM