⚡TransnetBW tests dimming of charging points - an approach that is doomed to fail? 🤔

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• TransnetBW tests dimming of charging points - an approach that is doomed to fail? 🤔

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

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TransnetBW tests dimming of charging points - an approach that is doomed to fail? 🤔

TransnetBW (a German transmission system operator) has connected around 140 charging points at Mercedes-Benz's Sindelfingen plant to its "StromGedacht" app. The application helps to manage power consumption during tense grid situations by automatically reducing the load. This initiative, which started in September 2023, aims to test intelligent infrastructure management. Since the start of the project the app’s “orange signal” was triggered four times, indicating grid congestion. Once triggered, the charging power is temporarily reduced to 7.0 kW. After these Orange phases, charging sessions are resumed at full capacity (either 11 or 22 kW, depending on the car’s onboard charger).

3 Thoughts 💭

1. Transparency ➡️ Traceability: Simplified and visual representation (like a traffic light🚦) for grid congestion is a good way to increase user awareness. EV drivers will understand that there is a value to the grid in temporarily pausing or reducing the EV’s charging load.

2. Grid Power = Time-Based Monetary Value: While a color scheme is easy to read and dynamically adjustable, it’s not reflected in the grid connection fee that is paid as a static fee based on the annual peak load. Therefore, instead of using colourful schemes, (virtual) dynamic grid charges should be introduced for pilots to better simulate the effects and investigate adapted user behaviour. Check-out this short article (in german) if you want to learn more about dynamic grid fees.

3. Financial Benefits 🧮 Real Individual Inventive: While “StromGedacht” creates transparency on grid utilization, it will fail to adapt user behavior. Even worse, grid operators will not achieve understanding among customers and users for pausing or reduced charging power for ALL users. Real incentives to shift behavior and relieve the grid is created through a monetary benefit. In the end, it is an individual decision of willingness to pay for my current mobility (charging) needs.

✍️ Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

3 Links 🔗

• Import taxes on Chinese EVs 💰: The US has raised its tariff rate on imported Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%. At the same time, the EU investigation into Chinese subsidies is due to be completed by 4 July. It has already been leaked that EU import taxes will be increased from 10% to 25-30% to compensate for the subsidies and create a level playing field.

• 1st Public Megawatt Installation in 🇺🇸: WattEV has opened the first electric truck charging depot in the US using the Megawatt Charge System (MCS), capable of delivering up to 1.2 megawatts of power. The site is complemented by on-site solar (5 MW, extendable to 25MW) and stationary batteries (3 MWh), and is located in Bakersfield, CA.

• Matter IoT compatible with EV chargers 🛜: Matter, an Internet of Things (IoT) standard developed by large tech companies like Apple, Google and Amazon, has received a compatibility update for EV chargers. Version 1.3 enables EV charging equipment manufacturers to offer e.g. Apple Home-Kit Integration which lets users control how and when they charge their vehicles. Also, it allows users to manually start or stop charging, adjust the charging rate, or specify how many miles of range to be added by a set departure time, leaving the charging station to automatically optimize the charging to happen at the cheapest and lowest carbon times.

Most-clicked link last week: Was Rebrcca Tinucci’s LinkedIn Profile (Tesla’s Senior Director of EV charging) after we reported that she will be leaving the company, along with most of her ~500-person charging team → last week’s post.

Meme of the Week 🤡

🤣🤣🤣

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Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Freakin’ awesome on ⚡Tesla Supercharging Layoffs, Rivian opens network and Alpitronic shares metrics and wrote:

“The meme of the week ^^ Hard sh*t ”

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