Atlantic City Electric is stepping up its smart charging game — and they’re not just slinging rebates. The Exelon-owned utility is using its innovative new EVsmart program to make EV charging easier for utility customers across South Jersey while quietly laying the groundwork for a smarter, more flexible electrical grid.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports that fully 13.56% (!) of all new vehicles registered in the NE state last year were electric, and that rate of adoption shows no signs of slowing down.
Getting electric fuel to all those vehicles present a significant challenge for the local utility, but Atlantic City Electric is going “all-in” on EVs with EVsmart, a new program that offers multi-family properties and commercial properties a chance to save money with incentives designed to cover up to 75% of the cost of L2 EV infrastructure – and the company isn’t stopping there.
The utility is partnering with Epic and EnergyHub to help load balancing, share vehicle and battery data, and avoid the kind of grid strain that many chronic EV-worriers believe will surely come as BEVs and PHEVs become a larger share of the overall driving fleet.
ELI5 – load balancing
You’ve probably seen the words “load balancing” in articles and conversations about EVs and smart charging before. In simple terms, it just spreading out electricity use so everyone can “plug in” at once – whether that’s an EV or a teakettle, in the famous British example – without overloading the broader system.
In the Atlantic City Electric EVsmart program, the EnergyHub software either staggers or throttles charging rates based on a combination of variables to keep the electricity flowing to where it’s needed. When it’s done right, it all happens invisibly, without the need for intervention from end-users or fleet operators.
EVsmart’s third partner, Epic, provides the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) based software on the charger side to ensure network interoperability, uptime, and grid-friendly performance across a wide selection of EVSE.
By reducing the obstacles to greater public charging deployment, the Atlantic City Electric program projects a number of long-term benefits to New Jersey-ites (New Jersers?), including improved air quality and reduced pulmonary disease from accelerated EV adoption that lowers the state’s carbon footprint.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Exelon.
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