On the surface, the move to electrify the world’s transportation system seems a straightforward replacement.
Plug your vehicle into an electrical outlet instead of fill it with gas, and substitute one form of energy for another. Below the surface, the switch is anything but simple.
That’s why the evolution of smart-grid standards is so critical and why it needs to be followed closely. This is especially true of the deliberations at SAE International, where in May the first in a series of five communications standards for electric cars was published in draft form.
SAE International is developing five related communications standards for electric cars
The standard is among the first to help dictate how power will flow from the electric grid to EVs. Specifically, the proposed J2836/1 standard will govern network communications as cars plug into charging stations at home, work and during travel. The goal of the standard is to enable utilities to handle new demands for power, especially during peak-load periods, and to encourage consumers to charge off-peak when power is cheap and plentiful.
Rich Scholer, HEV E/E systems engineer at Ford Motor Company, said the draft standards incorporate basic techniques for load balancing and demand response, such as temporarily turning off an air conditioner to balance the draw of a quick, middle-of-the-day, peak-load charge at home.
It also will support the delivery of consumer pricing tables, so cost savings can motivate charging decisions.
Scholer, chair of the SAE International’s hybrid task force, says the committee’s goal is to keep behind-the-scenes complexities hidden from consumers. The interface at a home charging station might offer the choice of a fast or slow charge and leave the network to handle the details. “We’re trying to make things so they are relatively intuitive and simple,” says Scholer.
More than 200 companies are working with the hybrid task force, including carmakers General Motors, BMW and Honda, and the utilities PG&E, Southern California Edison and Progress Energy. The entire series of standards could take as long as three years to evolve. The first, the J2836/1, is targeted at utilities while future standards will address off-board charging, diagnostics, two-way energy flows and other topics.
Until then, vendors will need to develop workarounds for their products and incorporate agreed-upon technologies when they become available.
One challenge facing the task force is in coordinating with standards efforts taking place in Europe and Japan. Scholer says the task force is meeting with the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission for that purpose.
“We’re all trying to harmonize,” he said, adding that this goal of integration is “doable.”
A second thrust is to keep the finished product from becoming too complex, especially with the number of companies involved. It is an objective Scholer says he intends to achieve.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
