Automakers Race to Design Car-to-Grid Communications

“We all have to abide by the same laws of physics. When forced to do that, and do it in an economically responsible manner, you find out pretty quickly who is just talking and who has serious proposals out there.”

Greg Frenette
Ford manager of battery electric vehicle applications

Ford is scheduled to introduce the all-electric Ford Focus in 2011 and the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid in 2012—but the system to control how and when the car is charged is still early in development. “The clock is ticking,” Greg Frenette, Ford manager of battery electric vehicle applications, told HybridCars.com. “We have data to generate, information to absorb, and decisions to make.”

In August, Ford announced the introduction of an “intelligent” system for drivers to manage the charging of electric and plug-in hybrid cars. That system has been installed in exactly one vehicle so far—one of the 20 Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrids demo vehicles under evaluation at a handful of utility companies around the country. The wireless ZigBee-based communication capability will be added to the remaining 20 Escape plug-in hybrids by the end of this year.

Ford Intelligent Charging Interface

The prototype interface for Ford’s on-board charging controls.

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Filed Under: Electric Vehicles

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