Multi-vehicle auxiliary power interconnection technology study

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The Erwin Hymer Group North America, Inc. (EHG), a market leading Canadian manufacturer of recreationalvehicles, is seeking to engage with the research group of Dr. Jin Jiang at Western University to investigatepotential technological solutions for interconnecting the auxiliary power systems on board their vehicles. Thesevehicles incorporate advanced power systems, including photovoltaic arrays and lithium batteries, however thecurrent offerings are only capable of connecting to the grid for charging purposes. Currently highlyconfidential, EHG would like to explore the possibility of including features such as vehicle-to-vehicleinterconnections, so that multiple vehicles can share power with each other, and vehicle-to-grid features toallow excess power to be exported to the grid. The intent of the research project is to systematically identify thepotential interconnection use cases, constraints, and topologies, and then to develop high level designs that canserve as a starting point for future product development activities. Dr. Jiang's research group has publishedextensively on the key topics of interest, including hybrid power management, photovoltaics, and microgridenergy management, with both theoretical and experimental contributions, and can therefore provide theexpertise that the company is seeking. EHG recognizes that technological innovation is a key element inmaintaining their market leadership position, and has demonstrated the engineering and production capacity totake sophisticated concepts to market. The company is supporting the project with engineering staff time forboth deep-dive sessions and semi-monthly updates, and with access to vehicles and photovoltaic/batterysubsystems. Follow-on research projects are anticipated, either to perform a more in-depth investigation ofpromising results from this project, or to pursue additional research topics that are of interest to the company.This collaboration will allow EHG to leverage the expertise at Western University to establish a solidfoundation for future product innovations in this area, which will ultimately contribute to increasedemployment of HQP and increased export revenue flowing into the Canadian economy.