Need electricity for your electric car? There's an app for that.

IBM with Swiss company EKZ, is creating an app for electric car owners to see the current cost of electricity and to help them find the best moment to charge their EVs. It works from a simple app, which links to a book-sized unit in a car, and the grid itself, which relays information on power availability. Drivers can see whether their car needs topping up, then decide when to charge, and whether to use conventional or renewable output. If the car is plugged in, they can even complete the process remotely.

“The mobile application essentially allows people to control how their electric vehicle is charged,” says Clay Luthy, IBM’s global distributed energy resource leader. “They can choose to charge immediately, delay the charge until when electricity rates are cheaper, or use an optimized charge schedule.”

The third option turns the timing of the charge over to the utility. It can then schedule when to charge based on the resources available, smoothing out peaks in demand, and avoiding use of backup sources that tend to be more expensive, and worse for the environment.

Hydrogen cars- a real possibility?

Automakers have invested billions of dollars in developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Major auto manufacturers may see these vehicles hit the retail market by 2015, but the Obama administration isn't as confident.
“We feel like the technology is virtually ready to go,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president of product planning at Hyundai.
Hydrogen cars are seen as a possible solution to reducing the US oil dependence. But recently the Obama administration cut the proposed budget for a key hydrogen program for the third year in a row by 40 percent. Instead, the administration has encouraged and championed more hybrid and electric cars.
Robert Walker, a member of the federal hydrogen technology advisory committee, along with Byron McCormick (former director of GM's hydrogen fuel cell team) have both resigned in protest.
“I resigned because of the closed-mindedness of the administration on these matters,” McCormick said. “The dismissive attitude and seeming unwillingness to talk or discuss or even share any real technical basis for believing fuel cells and hydrogen will or won’t work caused me to think I was wasting my time under the current circumstances.
“I just feel sad they’ll be proven so very wrong by history.”
One of the main perceived problems with hydrogen cars is that they would require refueling stations. And as of right now, it is unclear how refueling stations will be financed and built.
In comparison, electric cars can be charged at home or work, and do not require commercially built stations. But, electric cars are much more expensive to manufacture than gasoline cars of equivalent size, making them less desirable as a long term solution to consumers. Precise price estimates for hydrogen cars are unavailable.
Obama has set a goal of getting 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, a shift from President George W. Bush, who touted the hydrogen car.
The Obama administration has supported $2.4 billion in spending for electric vehicle battery and component manufacturing plants and other electric car projects. It has also provided more than $2.5 billion in loans to Nissan, Tesla and Fisker to establish electric vehicle manufacturing facilities.

Source:  Automakers promote hydrogen cars: Obama administration remains skeptical

Environmentally friendly electric car charging station

It almost seems like an oxymoron that electric vehicles (EVs) are powered by charging stations that are powered by coal energy. (Coal energy is a significant source of electricity.) So in light of such things, it is nice to hear about a joint effort between the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Knoxville, Tenn. and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to bring about a charging station that uses solar panels and batteries to power a vehicle charging center.

You can read the whole story at Solar EV Charging Station Feeds Grid at earthtechling.com.