EVIC (Electric Vehicle Intelligent Charging)

The reduction of greenhouse gas global emissions, the increasing cost of carbon-based fuels, expected demand growth in the upcoming years, highlight the need of efficient and environmentally sustainable vehicular technologies that do not generate CO2 emissions. Within this context, the Electric Vehicle constitutes the most promising alternative to conventional automobiles. However, one of the main challenges faced in the European Union is the development of a framework for the successful integration of large volumes of EVs into electrical power systems. Currently, a few sparsely distributed charging stations give service to a reduced number of EVs in those areas where the EV has initiated its introduction. Yet, as the number of EVs driving around rises smart demand management systems are required in order to avoid power allocation failures and to optimize the electricity flow across the grid. Additionally, there are other challenges in order to achieve such a smooth integration of the EV. In this sense, the introduction of new business models in the European electricity grid ecosystem is of paramount importance. Likewise, end-user acceptance of an electric based car technology represents an ultimate barrier for a widespread deployment of the EV (range anxiety). It's then necessary to define added-value services to enhance the EV driving experience and to support the mobility needs of its users. To that end, one must consider the knowledge of the realtime location of the EV user as a key requirement not only for the provision of added value location-based services but also for the development of new functionalities needed by the electricity grid operators and Electric Vehicle Aggregators such as smart real-time demand management and demand load prediction, amongst others. EVIC shall consider EV processes as originally defined by other reference European projects on this subject, and build additional services on these processes using GNSS-enabled enhancements. The project will demonstrate it in different operational contexts with close interaction with fleet managers by a wide variety of communications-related applications intended to increase travel safety, minimize environmental impact, improve traffic management and maximize the benefits of transportation for both commercial users and the general public.