Source: energate

These can independently analyse the state of the electricity grid and coordinate charging times with surrounding boxes. By communicating and coordinating with each other, a "swarm network" is created, explained Eberhard Waffenschmidt, who developed the technology together with others at the Institute for Electrical Power Engineering at TH Köln. The additional module developed for the intelligence could also be used for other consumers such as heat pumps.

The researchers added two components to a commercially available charging box: A measuring device that determines the status and current load of the power grid in the vicinity, and a communication module that sends information to adjacent charging boxes via the power line. "In the future, when several such boxes are installed in a neighbourhood, they will form a network that knows the status of the grid up to the next transformer station," Waffenschmidt explained. If there is a need for charging, this will be coordinated between the boxes by means of an algorithm. For most users, it is irrelevant whether the electric car is charged at 8 pm or at 3 am. For the grid, however, distributed charging means a lower load.

Practical test still pending

The researchers developed the wallboxes in a three-year research project and tested them in the laboratory. Now they want to carry out a real-life test for the modules in cooperation with an unspecified network operator and refine them in the process, for example by developing functional models that are close to series production.

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