US carmaker General Motor’s security, safety and navigation services division, OnStar, has partnered with energy services firm TimberRock to develop advanced electric vehicle (EV) solar charging technologies.
As part of the project, OnStar's Smart Grid solutions will be integrated with TimberRock's solar-powered canopy charging stations that store energy and determine how solar energy from an EV can be sent to the electric grid.
The integration would also allow monitoring the output of the stations and determine when an EV can be used to support the electric grid and sell energy back to server peak demand.
GM claims that the move would mark the first 'real-world' deployment of OnStar's 'Smart Grid' technologies.
General Motors renewable energy manager Rob Threlkeld said that the future of EV charging will be a blend of renewable energy and battery storage as users seek to deal with the intermittency of renewable solar and wind power.
"This project supports GM's goal of using all factors of the charging equation: electric vehicles, solar power, and battery storage," Threlkeld said.
TimberRock will deploy its fleet of four Chevrolet Volt EVs in the project to manage energy flow regulation, which would also assist in balancing the system.
OnStar's Demand Response technology, which can be accessed through its Smart Grid application programming interface, or APIs, would assist in automatically controlling the EVs' charging depending on energy need through software algorithms.
GM Smart Grid and EV Services global manager Paul Pebbles said that TimberRock has been allowed to access Demand Response to control the charging of their fleet of Volts.
"This is the first time a demonstration of Demand Response is being taken beyond lab or university studies," Pebbles said.
"This opens the door for solutions like this to be brought to the public, which could increase the benefits of owning an electric vehicle.
"Whether it's charging with solar or wind energy, or even standard electricity, consumers will start to see that they have options when it comes to managing their EVs."
