Mobile Metering, Ubiquitous Smart Charging of Electric Vehicles Made Affordable

Over the past several years, experts have declared that electric vehicles (EV) will strongly shape the future of mobility. And yet, electric cars just don’t seem to be getting on track. The lack of charging infrastructure marks a key obstacle. Conventional charging stations are too expensive. They not only entail high initial costs, but also cause running costs thereby making the operation uneconomic. Although, the Germany-based startup Ubitricity is following a disruptive approach to charging infrastructure that just might help to overcome this obstacle and pave the way for electric mobility.

Our power grid already provides the perfect foundation for an economically and environmentally sustainable charging infrastructure – it’s everywhere. However, access alone is not enough. In most cases, reliable billing and access management is an additional necessity when it comes to charging infrastructure. Many use cases for e-mobility, such as the use of corporate fleet vehicles or recharging in apartment buildings, require precise billing of the electricity consumed.

Smart Cable – Simple Socket

Electric vehicles are mobile electricity consumers. They require access to the power grid wherever they park on daily routines. Ubitricity therefore transfers the logic of mobile communication to the energy industry and enables the metering and billing of energy for mobile electricity meters. In order to organize the most efficient charging infrastructure for EVs, Ubitricity split up a conventional charging station into two components: a Smart Cable and a technologically lean System Socket.

Reducing a charge spot to a lean System Socket without abstaining from smart and authorized charging becomes possible due to the fact that technology and services for authorization, communication, metering/billing and smart control are mobile. The technology is integrated within a smart charging cable or directly into the EV. The services for billing and energy supply are bundled with the mobile smart meter. The user essentially takes services and technology along with them to each charge spot. As a result, the charge spot only has to be a low-cost “docking station” to the power grid, and the smart technology and the service are only required once per user.

Free Choice of Electricity Supplier – wherever EVs Charge

What really makes a difference with this innovation is that users only have one device to access the electricity grid wherever they are, just like you use one phone or one computer to access the data or voice grid. Furthermore, Ubitricity puts the user in charge when it comes to choosing the electricity supplier at the charging spot. In the same way users today freely choose a payment plan and telecoms operator, with Ubitricity EV users select the electricity provider for their Smart Cable, receiving a transparent monthly bill by the end of the month for all charging processes from the energy provider of their choice.

So how does it actually work? EV drivers bring their Smart Cable along with them to the charging point. When plugged in, the Smart Cable identifies the System Socket and transfers the data via mobile communications to the Meter Control Center, which automatically authorizes it, starts the charging process and locks the cable on both ends. When the charging process is finished, the meter and billing data is automatically transferred to the Control Center so that the electricity can be billed transparently.

Charging Infrastructure wherever EVs Park on Daily Routines

Not only is charging infrastructure based on mobile meters more flexible for the user who can charge the electricity of their choice to the conditions of their choice, it also significantly reduces the costs for charging point providers who build and operate charging spots.

Network infrastructures of the future are shaped proactively by municipalities and local authorities who are trying to plan ahead for their citizens’ needs. There is a definite need for a widespread charging infrastructure for electric cars. However, its implementation is still in discussion. It’s neither fair nor economic to impose all the costs of building and operating conventional public charging stations on municipalities. Instead, charging infrastructure should be built based on needs, and be paid for by those who use it.

By moving the metering and communication technology from the charging point into the cable, Ubitricity is reducing the costs for each charging point significantly. A low-cost power socket suffices as a local charging spot that no longer entails running costs for online communication and metering. Since the dimensions of the charging point are also reduced, they can even be integrated into street furniture, such as streetlights. Their modernization and new construction are generating important synergy effects by which costs can be reduced even more. Hence turning streetlights into charging spots for EVs is a promising solution for smart cities.

Having charging spots in public spaces is great, but it is not enough. Studies show that a vast amount of charging processes occurs either at home or at work. The majority of people in cities, however, live in apartment buildings without their own garage. Charging an electric car can be a huge challenge, especially since neighbours don’t want to pay for the electricity used for EVs that they are not driving on general utility bills. At work, most people will face a similar problem: their employer is not willing to give the electricity away for free. In fact, a withdrawal of electricity by EV drivers at work at the expense of the employer is a benefit in kind. Disclosing monetary benefits requires personalized accounting by law. In both use cases of e-mobility, metering and billing becomes a crucial element when recharging an electric vehicle.

A System Socket could be a smart and inexpensive solution. At work, the employer could offer a charging point for employees with a small and reasonable investment. The employee pays for the amount of electricity dispensed. It also works the other way around: the employee drives a company car and the employer covers the charging expenses. Since the contract is bound to the Smart Cable, all charging processes and costs are transparent. And in apartment buildings, a System Socket could be installed at the tenant’s parking spot. Other renting parties are not burdened with any costs, as the electricity is metered by the mobile meter of the EV driver.