NREL / SAE Charging Infrastructure Update

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AndyH

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PEV's are here! - is there infrastructure?

This was apparently prepared for the late Jan '10 Government/Industry meeting. It gives a nice overview of the entire 'EV space' and includes what industry thinks are factors influencing roll-out of the charging infrastructure.

The Level 3 connector will be the easy part. ;) Check out the overview from a communications and billing perspective:

charge_comms.jpg


Wheee!
 
Is "the cloud" some secure, encrypted communications via the G4 (or G3) "cell phone" radio network, and the 4Gsg some utility-oriented message-format conventions that "connect" using the 4G data system?
 
Apparently only Utility Companies in the US can "sell" power.

Apparently one cannot resell the power.

Perhaps one could charge for some sort of "occupancy time" at a privately-owned (or leased) charging station that provides a "service" and happens to let power through it?

Or, do the Utilities want to bill the end-user directly for the power?
 
At my home I am the "end user", so why would my home need the 4G connection?

If somebody charges L1 or L2 at a "public" charger, wouldn't the same power-selling rules apply?

The more "interconnection" there is, the more that can go wrong.

The L1 and L2 specs seem to require only very simple "handshaking", not complex "communication".
 
please follow the magic link in my post and I promise you it will all become clear.

Google is your friend.
 
AndyH said:
please follow the magic link in my post and I promise you it will all become clear.

Salesforce & Amazon are probably the ones farthest along in terms of cloud. Google, Microsoft, Oracle & IBM are in hot persuit. Not to forget Cisco.

605px-Cloud_computing.svg.png
 
garygid said:
The Wikipedia site on "Cloud Computing" (via your magic link) says (in Section 9.6) that Security is an unsolved issue when using the "Cloud".

You asked what the cloud was. I provided a link. The take-away here is that the cloud is outside our 'consumer' control and isn't something we need worry about.
 
garygid said:
Apparently only Utility Companies in the US can "sell" power.

Apparently one cannot resell the power.
I believe you have overstated the situation. RV parks, for example, sometimes resell power to the RV owners, especially if they ask for a 50A connection.

The real situation is apparently that resellers cannot make a profit on the electricity. So, for example, if a parking garage wants to provide charging stations, it can charge whatever it wants (within local restrictions) for the parking space, and that can be more than it charges for other spaces in the garage, but if the electricity there is metered it can only charge you the same rate on the metered amount as it pays itself.
 
Charging the same rate would rarely be even close to making a profit, due to many overhead items. But, in any case, there is a way to charge for the charge and make money.

Do "hookups" typically have individual meters for the various utilties, or just for electricity, or what?
Thanks, I have never seen or used one.
 
I believe, in this context, that "cloud connection" just means the Internet. The devices in the diagram that communicate with each other through the cloud probably use encrypted tunnels. That's the same technology that VPNs use to securely connect private networks through the public Internet.
 
With a VPN, the nodes know something about each other, so that they can code and decode info through the "tunnel", right?

If a "random" car would connect to a "random" charger through the Internet (cloud), how can they create a unique secure "tunnel" between them?
 
garygid said:
With a VPN, the nodes know something about each other, so that they can code and decode info through the "tunnel", right?
Yep.
garygid said:
If a "random" car would connect to a "random" charger through the Internet (cloud), how can they create a unique secure "tunnel" between them?
One solution is to have a trusted server act as a rendezvous point. The car and charger would both connect to the rendezvous server, which would authenticate them, and if they're authorized, would give them the information they'd need to talk directly.
 
Of course, THANKS.
Then, setting up the secure communication "tunnel" with the server could be done using a combination of several of the more-secure methods (phone, email, snail-mail, and wired connections) ... that are much less easily "tapped" than the unencrypted radio links.

But, that server might become a very tempting "hack" target.
 
garygid said:
But, that server might become a very tempting "hack" target.
Yep. There are privacy issues, too. Does the server keep a record of the cars and chargers it connects? Who has access to that data?
 
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