How smart charging technology can be a saviour in the era of electric vehicles? – EQ Mag Pro
Demand for charging infrastructure is increasing rapidly with the growing number of electric vehicles around the world.
With electric vehicles’ demand and sales rising substantially every year around the world, the requirement for a robust charging infrastructure too is increasing.
With the surging number of electric vehicles demands for charging infrastructure and more electricity is also increasing fast.
According to audit firm EY’s estimate, Europe alone will have around 65 million electric vehicles by 2030 and 130 million by 2035. This could overload the local grids if millions of EV owners plugin at the same time, which will cause blackouts.
In such a scenario, smart charging can be the answer to solve this issue, without crashing the local networks or spending a hefty sum of money on grid upgrades. According to a recent report by EY and Eurelectric, Europe alone will require nine million public chargers by 2035, up from 374,000 installed currently.
What is smart charging?
Smart charging technology is driven by software that allows electric vehicle owners to plug in during expensive peak hours. However, this technology ensures the EVs don’t draw energy until cheaper off-peak hours. This ensures less stress on the electric grid and makes better use of electricity. Also, it saves the EV owner’s money as well.
The smart chargers come with technology that connects the user with the network through a smartphone app allowing him or her to set charging speed, charging time and expect price till which the user wants to recharge his EV battery. This price setting is something similar to what we see in the petrol pumps around us.
In a nutshell, smart charging is a system, where there is a data-driven connection between an electric vehicle and a charging device. Also, this system has a data connection between the charging device and a charging operator. This technology enables real-time control of EV charging.
Advantages of smart charging
There are multiple advantages of smart charging, which are fast charging, safe charging, monitoring of electricity consumption, optimizable charging time, easier charging station finding method etc.
Smart charging devices enable safe usage of heavy-duty charging points, making the charging process much faster compared to traditional power sockets.
Smart charging is safer as well, as this technology automatically tests the connection between the car and the charger device before starting the process. Safety is increased with the dynamic load management method, in case there are several charging points in the same station. Also, this technology allows remote stopping of the process if required.
Electricity consumption monitoring is another advantage of smart charging technology, which is not possible in traditional home charging. This can save the user from hefty electricity bills.
Smart charging offers optimizable charging time as well, based on the local electricity pricing. This saves money for the user and benefits the environment and the electricity grid as well, as prices depend on electricity demand. Being a data-driven system, smart charging allows users to find charging station locations easily through smartphone apps.
Source: HT Auto Desk
