IBM, Honda, PG&E Launch Smart EV Charging Project

IBM, Honda’s American arm and Pacific Gas and Electric will collaborate on a pilot project to allow communication between electric vehicles and the power grid, the companies have announced.

The project aims to demonstrate and test an electric vehicle’s ability to receive and respond to charge instructions based on the grid condition and the vehicle’s battery state. With visibility into charging patterns, energy providers will have the ability to more effectively manage charging during peak hours and create consumer-friendly programs to encourage adoption, the companies hope.

During the pilot, Honda Fit EVs (pictured) will initiate a charge request once plugged into a charge post. This request gets sent to IBM’s Electric Vehicle Enablement Platform, where vehicle data such as battery state is combined with grid data received from PG&E to create an optimized charge schedule, which is then communicated back to the vehicle. Using this aggregated data, the vehicle has the intelligence to charge to the level that is needed while factoring in any current grid constraints, IBM says.

The energy requirements for electric vehicles will challenge the current power grid as plug-in vehicle counts continue to grow to an expected 2.9 million worldwide by 2017, IBM says. If successful, the project has the potential to ease the infrastructure and consumer concerns associated with the mass adoption of EVs, by adding another layer of agility to the EV charging process, IBM says.

This is not PG&E’s first foray into electric vehicles. In January, the company unveiled an extended-range electric pickup truck designed especially for utilities, jointly developed with VIA Motors. The eREVs run their first 40 miles on electricity, before switching to gasoline, and can provide on-site power to shorten small outages, eliminate some planned outages, and boost the electric grid when needed.

In October last year, GE and Nissan launched a two-year collaboration to develop smart charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The effort is focusing on the integration of electric vehicles with homes and buildings and on the future impact on the electric grid once millions of EVs are on the road.

Source;
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/04/12/ibm-honda-pge-launch-smart-ev-charging-project/

Honda Recognizes Environmentally Responsible Battery Chargers

FERNDALE, Wash., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- ALTEN Battery Chargers Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as an OEM partner with Honda Inc., as it introduces the first full line of portable DC battery chargers to the North American market. Powered by Honda's environmentally responsible, advanced four-stroke engines, ALTEN's portable battery chargers can save up to four hours (67%) of time and offer up to 67% savings in fuel over conventional battery charging methods.

With over 10,000 battery chargers sold around the world, North America now has the opportunity to experience the quickest way to bulk charge batteries.

Originally designed for the rugged Australian Outback, by Christie Engineering, ALTEN's portable battery chargers are used in applications including mountain-top communication stations, charging batteries in unmanned lighthouses on the Norwegian coastline, and servicing heavy industrial equipment with the roughest abuse imaginable. "As a recognized Honda OEM partner, you can be assured that clean and reliable DC power supply will be there when you need it," says ALTEN President Will Huggett.

Unlike an AC generator paired with a slow plug-in charger, ALTEN Battery Chargers are a fast and highly efficient way of charging 12, 24 and 48-volt battery configurations. They can deliver up to 120 Amps per hour of run time consuming 0.4 gallons of fuel to achieve a 90% bulk charge on a 500 Amp/ Hour bank of batteries in 2 hours. Compared to a 3500W AC Generator, running at full throttle, paired with a 40 Amp plug- in charger, this same charging scenario would take 6 hours and consume 1.2 gallons of fuel. As a result ALTEN's portable battery chargers save fuel (67% savings), save time (four hours), lower emissions and increase reliability.

ALTEN, a Pacific Northwest company, offers a range of portable DC powered battery charger products for the Heavy Industrial, Off-Road, Marine, Security, and Emergency markets.
For more information and to see a high-resolution video demonstration of ALTEN battery chargers visit: http://www.altenbatterychargers.com

About ALTEN Battery Chargers Inc.
ALTEN Battery Chargers, based in the Pacific Northwest, was founded on the principal of solving the energy problems that matter. ALTEN brings ideas and technology to the North American market that help make better use of existing resources today in order to meet the growing demand for energy tomorrow. Focused on DC power and storage ALTEN's technology complements and offers reliable and redundant power for industrial battery applications, remote access power applications and micro generation platforms including solar photovoltaic, small wind and other renewable power generation installations. http://www.altenbatterychargers.com

Source;
http://sev.prnewswire.com/auto/20090224/AQTU04624022009-1.html