Wireless performance monitoring of plug-in electric vehicules

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Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) promise a clean, inexpensive alternative to petroleum vehicles that account for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. PEV's are quieter, have good torque and require less maintenance. However, PEV's offer limited range per charging which causes the well known range anxiety. In addition, each PEV requires significant amount of electricity and time to recharge. With large number of PEVs soon expected in the streets (over one Million by 2015 in US), uncontrolled PEV charging can overload the distribution transformers and disrupt the power grid. Currently the utility provider has no means of knowing when and how connsumers will charge their PEVs. This has caused the demand anxiety to the electricity provider. The outcome of this project will alleviate these anxieties. The PEV can be considered as the mobile portion of the smart grid. There is no connectivity when it is off-grid. However, the utility provider is looking for ways to communicate with the PEV continuously to better predict and manage the charging process. In addition, the user as well as the PEV manufacturers have interest to understand the power consumption characteristics of the PEV and how it varies with various operating conditions. In this project, a wireless system in hardware and software with associated algorithms will be developed to manage the interaction between the PEV and the smart grid. There will be a wireless module in each PEV that will internally collect and communicate real time energy performance data of the PEV with the grid. This will enable better understanding of the highly nonlinear battery charging/discharging characteristics under actual driving conditions. Another sub system at the charging stations will transmit charging related data (rate. time etc) to the grid and enable authentication and automatic billing for the seamless usage of public charging stations. Hence, the proposed system will help the grid to better predict and manage the PEV charging process. The measured PEV power consumption characteristics will be available over the Internet and smart phones for those interested.