Siemens' energy management division has teamed up with Duke Energy to demonstrate the results of an 18-month effort to reduce the cost of and expand electric vehicle (EV) charging technologies.
Held at the Duke Energy Envision Center in Erlanger, Ky., and using a Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, Siemens provided what it says is the first Underwriters Laboratories (UL)-approved residential EV supply equipment (EVSE) to demonstrate the ability to monitor status, report energy use and be controlled from the local area network and the cloud.
Siemens' EVSE was shown to be accessible by Web-connected computers, smartphones and tablets – allowing the EV owner to better monitor the status of the EV charging and schedule future charge events, as well as determine the total kilowatt hours consumed and the cost of charging.
The demonstration was funded as part of a grant received from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) office of electricity delivery and energy reliability (OE).
In March 2012, the DOE awarded Siemens a grant to develop a low-cost, smart grid-capable EVSE. Duke Energy and Ford joined Siemens as partners to provide utility and automaker expertise and feedback.
The Siemens EV charging station with Wi-Fi connectivity and smartphone application used in this demonstration is expected to be available to the general public in 2015.
More results from the demonstration can be found here.
