Greenlots, HECO, & EPRI Trial Smart EV Fast Charging With Storage

Originally published on EV Obsession.

The electric vehicle charging company Greenlots has partnered with Hawaiian Electric Company to test out its SKY platform — a new vehicle-grid integration technology — in an active electric vehicle fast charger.

The new fast charger outfitted with the SKY platform will serve as part of a joint research and demonstration project with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The fast charger is located prominently, at the Kapolei Commons shopping mall in West Oahu.

The press release provides further information:

The fast charger’s integrated energy storage allows it to remain in full power using electricity stored at times when generation is abundant, such as mid-day when many rooftop solar panels are sending power to the grid. Stored energy is then available later in the day during peak use times when electricity is in high demand.

…A similar fast charger system will also be used when Hawaiian Electric opens its fifth utility-owned fast charger at its Ward Avenue facility next month. By harmonizing electric vehicles with the grid, Greenlots has created a flexible grid management platform to meet the specific electricity demand needs of Hawaiian Electric and electric vehicle drivers alike. In leveraging the industry’s leading open standards for demand response and price communications, OpenADR and the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), the Greenlots SKY Smart Charging platform can respond to demand response load modification requests and allow HECO to remotely control grid loads through demand response actions.

I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see more and more of these sorts of setups as time goes by.

Check out other Greenlots stories and/or EPRI stories.