Sunverge & Eaton Collaborating To Improve The Grid & V2X Tech

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One of the big things anti-EV FUDsters like to say is that the electrical grid can’t handle EVs. They know that ICE vehicles use a lot of energy to move, and that providing that much electricity must be a sure recipe for disaster. They’d have us believe that the grid is already on the verge of collapse, and that EVs will return us all to the Stone Age.

The truth is more complicated (which is what makes it so easy to spread FUD). For starters, EVs don’t waste as much energy as ICE cars, so they don’t need the equivalent amount of electricity. They can also be charged at night, when the power grid is experiencing lower demand in most places. The power grid can also grow to accommodate new demand, just like it has in past decades.

But, more importantly, EVs can also become part of the solution and not just a problem for utilities and drivers to manage. Not only can charging be optimized to meet a utility’s needs, but they can also give power back to the grid at key times to help stabilize it.

We’re not quite ready to do this at scale, but it’s something that the industry is working on. Vehicles are starting to have two-way charging capability, and standards are in development.

Part of the story of getting that capability going is outside of utilities’ and manufacturers’ hands. Between the utility and the manufacturer is not only the vehicle’s owner, but the hardware and software that needs to be not just installed, but available to buy.

That’s why a recent announcement from Sunverge and Eaton is important.

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Sunverge and Eaton have announced an expanded collaboration to provide dynamic utility management of home electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The two companies’ advanced technologies are being combined to maximize the value of EV charging while enhancing grid resiliency, reliability and flexibility. Sunverge’s intelligent home energy management platform and real-time multi-service virtual power plant (VPP) platform will enable utilities to better manage load requirements, allowing for optimal use of available resources, while Eaton’s innovative EV charging solutions help facilitate decarbonization efforts. Together, these technologies can provide a comprehensive solution for managing and optimizing residential EV charging infrastructure in order to meet consumer needs without compromising grid performance or reliability.

“We are excited to expand our collaboration with Eaton. Eaton’s powerful EV charging and smart breaker technologies provide a platform for utilities to manage and harvest real-time load flexibility behind the meter,” said Martin Milani, CEO of Sunverge. “With the rapid increase in electric vehicles, utilities now clearly see the opportunity to better manage EV charging and leverage EVs for much-needed grid services. This collaboration enables utilities to realize significant upstream gains through real-time DER orchestration, aggregation, and dynamic load management and co-optimization on both sides of the meter. The result will be increased grid resiliency and overall greater system flexibility and reliability, a win-win for utilities and customers alike.”

Sunverge and Eaton’s latest collaboration enables deeper visibility into and management of home EV charging, allowing for greater efficiency and flexibility. Eaton’s smart home technologies, including its EV chargers and smart breakers, provide utilities with the ability to better manage load requirements while taking advantage of available resources such as onsite solar and energy storage.

Meanwhile, Sunverge’s cloud-based platform enables these same capabilities while also providing utilities with access to a range of grid services such as base load management, frequency response, peak load management, black start support, and more. Ultimately, this collaboration helps optimize residential EV charging infrastructure in order to meet both consumer needs and grid performance without compromising reliability or resiliency.

“Rapidly growing EV adoption has massive implications for the grid, and we are delighted to work with Sunverge to help utilities put large-scale EV charging deployments to work effectively,” said Paul Ryan, Director, Connected Solutions and EV Charging at Eaton. “Smart charging helps utilities and homeowners alike by optimizing the use of onsite renewables, enabling peak demand shaving and charging EV batteries when rates are lowest.”

What This Deal Will Help Lead To

The obvious thing this deal could lead to is more virtual power plants. A virtual power plant (VPP) is an integrated system of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as renewable generation, battery storage, and electric vehicles that are connected to a centralized control system and operated as a single entity. A VPP leverages the combined capabilities of DERs to optimize operations and provide valuable services to the grid. With Sunverge’s intelligent home energy management platform, utilities can now take advantage of these real-time multi-service VPPs to deliver flexible load management, aggregation, orchestration and value stacking of grid services while also supporting decarbonization efforts.

At the same time, the thought of giving control of your EV’s charging to utilities and governments probably scares some readers. Cars are supposed to give a driver more freedom and independence, not dependence and control by government and corporations.

The truth is, V2X (vehicle to X, or vehicle to everything) technologies include more than just V2G (vehicle to grid). There’s also vehicle to home (V2H) and vehicle to load (V2L), which is something a vehicle and home’s owner gets full control of.

While virtual power plants can help stabilize the grid, an EV can instead serve its owner if there’s a grid outage, serving as backup power to keep the lights and HVAC going. V2L technology can power everything from construction sites to camping setups, allowing for off-grid operation.

In other words, smart two-way EV charging is about a lot more than just getting individuals to bow down and serve the collective. There are so many options with V2X technology that it can be used for anybody’s benefit, and can greatly serve individual choice, the collective good, or even both at the same time.

That’s why it’s great to see these companies come together to put their minds and talents together. As V2X and load management technology continue to improve, everybody will be better off, no matter what their needs and philosophies are.


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Jennifer Sensiba

Jennifer Sensiba is a long time efficient vehicle enthusiast, writer, and photographer. She grew up around a transmission shop, and has been experimenting with vehicle efficiency since she was 16 and drove a Pontiac Fiero. She likes to get off the beaten path in her "Bolt EAV" and any other EVs she can get behind the wheel or handlebars of with her wife and kids. You can find her on Twitter here, Facebook here, and YouTube here.

Jennifer Sensiba has 1929 posts and counting. See all posts by Jennifer Sensiba