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GM Partner Announces First Blockchain Standard For Electric Vehicle Charging Grids

The Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) and its internal Electric Vehicle Grid Integration (EVGI) Working Group have released the world’s first standard for using blockchain technology to protect private user data in electric vehicle charging systems.

MOBI and the EVGI Working Group, the latter of which is chaired by General Motors and its technical partner, Honda, say the new working standard “covers the system designs and data schemas required for three core use case areas: Vehicle to Grid Integration (V2G), Tokenized Carbon Credits (TCC), and Peer to Peer (P2P) applications.”

V2G Integration refers to how electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids communicate with the charging grid when they are plugged in and how they send data back to the operator of that specific charging grid. P2P applications, in this instance, relate to how charging networks partition workloads between different users, which requires data sharing and thus blockchain technology to help protect user data. The blockchain technology can also be used to help facilitate and secure the trading of Tokenized Carbon Credits (TCC) between companies and corporations.

“Implementing the EVGI Standard will provide a variety of benefits for players on all sides of the electric vehicle and charging ecosystem,” said MOBI COO and founder Tram Vo. “Electric vehicles, chargers, and electricity producers can have a secure identity, communicate with a standard messaging format, and automatically record transactions such as charging, generation, and exchange on a distributed ledger.”

In a statement, Honda Europe senior project engineer Christian Köbel said the goal with the new standard “is to enable scalable, user-centric energy communities,”  and build “meaningful tools for energy-conscious end customers.”

“The EVGI Standard represents one of the first essential building blocks for founding such an ecosystem,” he added.

What does all this tech jargon mean for the consumer? MOBI says that a blockchain-enabled security system will enable “data transparency, trust, coordination, and automation among mobility service providers, consumers, utilities, and government stakeholders.” Put more simply, those tapping into EV charging grids will be able to rest easy knowing their data is properly secured as it is shared between companies trying to figure out which areas are EV hotspots and other important strategic factors. This may not seem like such a big deal now, but when almost every new car sold is an EV, data security with regard to charging is set to become a major talking point.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. General Motors needs to begin upgrading the design of their electric vehicles to accept 440 volt like European car manufacturers as this allows for a full charge within 40 minutes or 60 mile range in minutes as it is this type of technology that will encourage people transition to electric cars quicker.

    Reply
    1. Battery charging time is much more than voltage available. Charging slows dramatically as you approach 55% of charge. Most of us with EVs charge at home where a L2 charger does quite nicely.

      Reply
    2. That makes absolutely no sense when you have DC fast charging. DC fast charging puts the heavy and hot rectifier outside the car, so there’s no weight and space penalty or maintenance.

      400V only makes sense in certain parts of Europe where large apartments have split phase or 3 phase supplies. You will never get 440/480 V in North American homes, only businesses. Plus there’s serious safety regulations (arc flash) with these installs so you got to have regular inspections etc.

      So basically you can only use it where you’d be able to put a DC fast charger, except now you have to drag your DC fast charger along with all the cooling and safety parts wherever you go.

      Reply
      1. Sam, He’s talking about a higher voltage to the CAR, not what particular voltage the dc fast charger is accepting at its INPUT.

        The DC fast chargers (BOSCH) that are up to 25 kw capacity at the Chevy dealerships the vast majority of the time work on a single-phase (not split-phase – you are using the term incorrectly anyway since ‘split-phase’ involves a change in time, and there is ZERO CHANGE IN TIME with any power source that is not Polyphase) feed – conceivably 277 but the vast majority of the time 208, or 240 depending on whether the serving utility is supplying a WYE or Delta – connected electrical service.. Even at large dealerships with 277Y/480 volt incoming services, the dealership needs a separately derived 120Y/208 for incidental smaller loads, and the fast charger is usually hooked up on that, so that is why the vast majority of the time at either a large or small dealership, the fast charger’s INPUT will be 208. This model accepts a single-phase source ONLY.

        European electrical services (except in the more crowded British sub-divisions) are much more likely to be 230Y/400. But again, whatever input the charger accepts has no real relation to the output direct current to the car.

        Their output voltage is whatever the car’s battery requires.

        Reply
        1. Nope. You’re the one who doesn’t understand.

          In North America, homes are wired with 120/240 V split phase. That’s how your 240 V dryer works. The line voltage in Europe is 220-240 V. Some homes in some countries, not Britain, have a similar split phase, therefore can they get 440-480 V. In some other countries, there is 3 phase going to standalone homes. So with some additional wiring in the load center, they can get higher charge rates, exactly analogous to how you put in a dryer plug in your garage in the US.

          You cite the 25 kW “fast” charger. That’s a fake fast charger so dealers can check a box. Real fast chargers, like Tesla Superchargers are 120-150 kW running off 480 V 3 phase. EVgo is 100 kW at the same input. Even the 50 kW blink charger is 3 phase 480. As you know, you cannot get that in residential areas.

          As I said, 400 V charging only makes sense in a small portion of Europe. The rest of the world, particularly 120 V North America, it serves absolutely no purpose.

          Reply
          1. You are almost totally clueless for 2 reasons:

            1). because you don’t understand his original post…and…

            2). Homes in North america are NOT split phase…. The word PHASE implies a change in time, and there is only 1 can on the pole, or 1 – single phase fed core in the green pad transformer on the lawn for Underground Residential Distribution (URD) installations. The L1 and L2 legs are not ‘two phase’ or ‘split-phase’ or whatever other idiotic phrase that people who think they know something use. L1 and L2 in a single phase development (around 97% of homes) are in perfect time synchronism so there is nothing ‘split about the phase’.

            If you would LISTEN to what the guy said – he was saying the slightly higher battery voltage enabled more cost effective faster charging, in the same way that a Porsche 800 volt system allows the car to charge quite quickly at minimal hardware expense.

            Porsche chargers are typically 6 phase, 12 pulse units. But that has nothing to do with a house.

            Wikipedia has incorrect information regarding ‘split-phase’… As a Wikipedia Author myself, I know that people can type anything and details are often wrong since the editors are not conversant with the material.

            Any Brits who talk about ‘split-phase’ must have heard Americans talk about it in connection with single-phase, and must have thought they were talking about the 3-wire system common in North America (and parts of Britain – but not inside the house).

            PROPER use of the term Split-phase is otherwise known as ‘Resistance Starting’ a single-phase motor, since BY DEFINITION, a single-phase motor has ZERO starting torque at standstill. The phase must be split to make the motor spin. The word ‘phase’ is then proper since you have 2 occurrences in time.

            Reply
  2. If I have a EV and want to charge it, how much data (other than pay data) do I need ? Kind of like buying gas at the pump. The only connection it should have to my EV is to the fill gage.

    Reply
  3. With my Bolt ev I don’t have the fast charging option, yet a friend tells me that he has to wiggle the connector to get the fast charger to work all the time.

    I told him to take the car in for warranty service..

    To which he replied: ” All Bolt evs have this same problem (!!!) “.

    Instead of worrying about this silly picayune stuff, perhaps GM should, for the $750 they charge for the option, get rid of the plastic junk thing, and put a decent connector on the car.

    Thankfully, the partial j1772 connector I have on mine, although too plastickey (tech term) has worked flawlessly for 65,000 miles, and, since I don’t have fast charging, it has many hours under its belt.

    Reply
  4. When every new car sold is an EV. What is it now 2% ? There wont be enough juice for everyone. Imagine how the government will decide who gets to drive?

    Reply
    1. Daniel – HA! You must live in California where they can’t keep the lights on during warm weather.

      Places around the country with hotter weather seem to have no problem keeping the lights on.

      Decades ago, when the transition was made from manually defrosting refrigerators with minuscule freezer compartments (actually the exposed evaporator) to totally frost free energy hogs (with electric heat cabinet sides to keep frost from forming, etc.) – the utilities had to add SIX CENTRAL STATION sized power plants to keep up.

      The recent outlawing of incandescent light bulbs has saved the equivalent of the usage for ONE average EV.

      A 2 car ev family will still need absolutely no infrastructure additions if the second ev is charged over the midnight hours when the electrical system is very underutilized.

      So that is 2 EV’s per family causing no concern whatsoever. And if families in general decide to all finally have 3 EVs, the added use will be welcomed by electric utilities and they’ll build whatever is necessary. Of course, you have plenty of gas turbines, combined cycle plants, solar panels and wind mills also adding more electricity.

      Looks like there is going to be too much electricity at times rather than not enough….

      Utilities can capitalize on the large excess during certain parts of the day by offering cheap rates during the time they don’t really need any more juice. Since people love bargains, enough people will change their charging times to take care of the excess, provided the incentive is right.

      Reply
  5. There isn’t enough juice to charge millions of cars. How will the government meter it out? Sorry you can’t drive today, just like when Jimmy Carter was in charge.

    Reply

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