Source-Aware Smart Charging

[jamieb]

Saw an online article announcing an internet-connected EVSE that maximizes the use of green energy sources in deciding when to charge:

New Home Electric-Car Charging Station Chooses Greenest Power

Seems to me that Tesla could do this with even more granularity and sophistication on the server side, interfacing with utilities so that, for example, if Tesla knows who my utility is and I am plugged into my charger at home, it can prioritize renewable sources or perhaps time when the charging happens based on the Utility's grid needs.

So... the interface on the car would already know the peak and off-peak periods and rates, and the car owner would input the time s/he wanted the car to be at 90% for the next morning and choose whether to prioritize renewable energy or lowest rates.

An added potential benefit would be that since Tesla would work with the utilities to help push Tesla charging into the lowest-demand periods even within off-peak times, it would be a win for the utilities and perhaps such sophistication could drive even lower rates for folks who sign up.

Thoughts?

 

[Ollie Jones]

Many months later ....

Yes.
It would be great if the scheduled charging feature in the car firmware could be made smarter.

Here are my suggestions for that.

• allow the driver to enter a local time-of-use power tariff.
• look to the future when those time-of-use tariffs are available automatically.
• set up a way to tell the car when to FINISH charging rather than when to start.
• control charging amperage dynamically if it helps with power cost.
• optimize power cost while targeting the charge finish time.
• when it's very cold, start accepting charge as soon as the car is plugged in after driving to avoid letting the battery cool
• when it's very cold, restart charging shortly before the scheduled FINISH time to condition the battery

This could be very good for people in places with time-of-use rates. This is coming in California. It could also be good for public utilities with needs for load leveling.