Volkswagen And Energy Web To Provide 24/7 EV Charging Solutions

Germany-based automotive manufacturer Volkswagen Group has announced partnership with Energy Web, a Germany-based nonprofit building operating systems for energy grids. Under this collaboration, Volkswagen’s Elli and Energy Web have developed a new smart charging solution enabling EV owners to charge their vehicles with renewable electricity that is matched directly with the vehicle’s real-time electricity consumption.

The approach is based on a “24/7” matching algorithm that optimises charging to maximise the usage of clean, locally supplied electricity and gives consumers an unheard-of level of control and granularity over EV charging. Users of the solution can specify the day and time of charging, the amount of charge they want to have at the end of a session, what renewable energy facility the electricity is pulled from, and more.

Volkswagen claims that in a period of three months, a couple of VW ID4s were successfully charged with the help of local clean energy consumption. Testing entailed a wide range of charging periods, ranging in length from a few hours to many days. Each time, the platform optimised the charging schedule following every session while also maximising the use of clean electricity.

The Elli green charging app, which gives users access to more than 300,000 public charging stations around Europe (as per the company claim), was integrated with Energy Web’s open-source 24/7 toolkit to create the Smart Charging App. Earlier this year, Energy Web made its 24/7 clean energy tools open-source.

Energy Web’s CEO, Jesse Morris, stated, “the project’s goal was to demonstrate how enhanced EV charging systems can provide EV owners more control over how and when they obtain their energy. In a user-friendly application with a detailed breakdown of their session’s carbon footprint, users can choose, for example, to charge using wind and solar resources from energy assets within a 10 km radius and aim 80 percent charge by 5 pm.”