• • • ELECTRIC VEHICLES • • •
EVSE 3.0: A network of networks
Don Dulchinos, director, market facilitation OpenADR Alliance, says that two years ago, we started to see the effects of a fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) industry, which has since spawned an ecosystem of vehicles, charging equipment and managed charging businesses
A
t the time, an emerging trend was the central role electric utilities played for a new generation of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) companies, which we called EVSE 2.0.
Since then, we have seen over 40 companies with novel managed charging business models join us and certify their platforms compliant with OpenADR protocols. Certification enables automated interconnection with utility demand response and distributed energy resource programs.
This growth reflects a fast-growing, broader ecosystem of participants in EV and EVSE development – automotive manufacturers, charging corridor initiatives, oil companies and the utilities themselves playing new roles.
The role of automotive manufacturers
Automotive manufacturers (OEMs) play a central role in this new EV world, with the acquisition of managed charging start-ups. They see customers as active participants in electric vehicle infrastructure development and want to ensure a good customer experience in that development. Automotive OEMs have actively engaged in the larger ecosystem around electric vehicles. Recently, Ford purchased managed charging provider Electriphi, now under its Ford Pro umbrella, which targets the commercial fleet market. To support both consumer and commercial uses cases, a more direct relationship between OEMs and electric utilities has become vital. Several years ago, a group of OEMs partnered with the Electric Power Research Institute to develop the Open Vehicle Grid Interface Platform (OVGIP) to fully define the interfaces between OEM and utilities. Having a standards-based architecture is critical for OEMs, so having standards that are widely supported among utilities are vital to meet this strategic goal. In addition, OEMs support a long-standing automotive standards effort, the Connected Vehicle Systems Alliance. This is a standard integrating operating systems and middleware present in connected vehicles and the associated cloud services. We are proposing to define a grid interface in that context.
Utility diversification One part of the OVGIP reflects automotive consideration of vehicles as sources of battery storage, individually or in fleets, which can then be grid resources – so-called ‘vehicle to grid’. This development is not lost on the utilities, who in
42 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • FEBRUARY 2023
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recent years have accommodated large amounts of distributed resources connected to the utility grid and are looking to expand this amount dramatically over the next 10 years. Utilities are already expanding their role by incorporating EV into their business strategies. Centrica, for example, owns EV charging company Driivz, while Enel X, a spinoff of Italian utility Enel S.p.A., owns EV charging pioneer eMotorWerks. Energy service provider AES recently created a spin-off called Motor, a monthly electric car ‘subscription’, which is partnering on a pilot with AES Indiana.
Electric vehicle corridors One final trend we are seeing in EV is the construction of electric vehicle charging corridors. Tesla, the poster child of electric vehicles, pioneered the space with its proprietary network. Electrify America, owned by Volkswagen and Siemens, has been building a public fast charging network. The National Electric Highway Coalition (NEHC) is a collaboration among electric companies committed to providing EV fast charging stations that will allow the public to drive with confidence along major US travel corridors by the end of 2023.
The scale of these efforts is transformational, and collectively they represent a huge grid resource opportunity.
These EV corridors have attracted the attention of another major player; petroleum companies, who operate nationwide fuel and motorway services locations. In the past year, Shell has acquired Greenlots, and BP has acquired AMPLY Power. The incorporation of OEMs into the national electrical grid also implies the participation of the automotive ecosystem that has built up over the last 100 years.
The major automotive companies have announced plans to migrate their product lines to EVs, while consumer demand is already outstripping supply. To support this coming revolution, the multi-faceted ecosystem for electric vehicle charging underscores the long-term evolution of the utilities towards beneficial electrification.
These developments point to deeper EV integration with electric utilities, and an ongoing need for efficient, scalable solutions. As the ecosystem creates an even more diverse set of distributed energy touchpoints on the grid, the role of standards-based organisations will only continue to grow.
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