Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments relate in general to the field of electric charging technology, such as electric vehicle charging, as well as to power grid management and, more specifically, to a computerized system for smart grid integrated electric vehicle charging.
Description of the Related Art
Electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (EV and PHEV) owners today have some control over the vehicle charging cost when they charge their vehicles at their residences. Specifically, EV/PHEV owners subscribing to special EV charging tariffs offered by many local utilities are able to achieve the most significant vehicle charging cost reduction by charging at specific time(s) of the day. The most simple way to achieve this is to connect, or plug-in, the vehicle to the electricity supply line at times when the electricity costs are the lowest per the user-selected tariff. More advanced charging controls, disposed either onboard the EV/PHEV or embedded into the electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), allow owners to plug-in the vehicles anytime, but enable the charging only within the designated time-of-use (TOU), which owner specifies.
While current charging solutions make it somewhat easier for users to minimize cost of EV charging, they are not integrated with the smart grid to enable EV owners to participate in demand response (DR) programs using distributed energy resources (DER). Moreover, many EV/PHEV owners choose to drive their vehicles to minimize CO2 emissions. Current charging solutions, however, don't provide visibility into what sources generate the electric energy used to charge their vehicles and what are the atmospheric CO2 emissions associated with the charging.
Therefore, new and improved systems and methods are needed that would assist the EV/PHEV owner in selecting proper vehicle charging parameters based on the cost of electricity, owner's participation in DR programs, atmospheric CO2 emissions impact, time necessary to charge the vehicle, required driving range on the vehicle charge, and the like.