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EV chargers that can talk to the grid being tested in California
The University of California, San Diego already has a healthy number of EV charging stations, but dozens more have been installed recently as part of a three-year pilot project. These new ones are not like the others on campus, see: they're next-gen chargers supplied by German utility company RWE. They're the only model in the world right now certified for the 2017 global charger standard, which means they can communicate with the grid in real time to determine supply and demand. Thanks to this "smart charging" capability, stations can recognize if electricity's needed more elsewhere -- the charging process will then be interrupted whenever that's the case.
Automakers agree on common plug to recharge electric vehicles
Just hours after General Motors put forth a proposal for a standardized plug for electric vehicles, in flies this. German energy firm RWE has stated that a cadre of respected automakers and energy firms have all come together in agreement on a three-point, 400-volt plug that will enable electric cars the world over to be recharged anywhere, regardless of which recharging station they stop at. Caroline Reichert, an RWE spokeswoman, noted that the idea here is to ensure that "a car can be recharged in Italy in exactly the same way as in Denmark, Germany or France." We're told that the agreement includes nods of acceptance from the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Eon, Vattenfall, EDF, Npower, Endesa and Enel, and while there's no time frame for when it'll be introduced, we're pretty stoked to hear that at least something has been decided upon.
