While electric vehicles might be cleaner than gas-powered cars, there’s no guarantee that the electricity source is renewable. For those that want to ensure that it is, the Energy Web blockchain and Volkswagen (VW) have partnered for a smart charging solution.
Energy Web’s “24/7” matching algorithm maximizes the use of renewable energy.
“The purpose of this project has been to showcase that advanced EV charging solutions can empower EV owners to set their own preferences for when and where they get their energy,” said Jesse Morris, CEO at Energy Web. “For instance, they can select to charge using wind and solar resources, from energy assets within a 10 km radius, and target 80% charge by 5pm.”
The Proof of Concept solution was trialed over a three-month period with VW’s electric SUV ID4. It integrated Energy Web’s solution with VW’s Elli electric charging app. VW is investigating additional features with the possibility of scaling it for production.
Energy Web first partnered with VW to explore electric vehicle charging applications back in March 2021.
The blockchain initiative is also working with BMW to charge cars using renewable energy. That was part of Energy Web’s Open Charging Network, which is similar to mobile phone roaming, where sometimes you use the operator you signed up to, and other times the network of another mobile company.
Energy Web has a large number of big brands as partners. Its blockchain is public and derived from Ethereum but uses Proof of Authority to avoid unnecessary energy usage.
