The one company in the world that can be relied on to open up new market opportunities is Google. Already turning up on console screens in its capacity as a search engine and satnav assistant, the IT giant is now finding a new niche for itself in the automotive market. In cahoots with telematics and auto communication specialist OnStar and grid management conglomerate PJM Interconnection, the company is working on a system facilitating the charging of Chevrolet Volts with renewable energy.
OnStar is a subsidiary of GM providing subscription-based vehicle communications, security, navigation and remote diagnostics services. It has more than six million subscribers in North America and China. PJM manages power transmission to 60 million Americans from the eastern seaboard to the mid-West. Google would provide the back-office underpinnings for the system.
In coordinating the provision of renewable energy to the Volt fleet as a whole, the subscription-based system provides utilities and government authorities with accurate, to the minute data on demand from the Volt customer base for clean-sourced power.
According to PJM’s statement, its data shows that peak supply time for wind-sourced energy is generally in the off-peak hours from 10pm to 6am. Knowing that, subscribers to OnStar’s Smart Grid services could plug in between those hours to minimise their carbon footprint and save money.
Google has served up its 17-car Volt ‘Gfleet’ at its Mountain View, California headquarters as a test bed for the system.
OnStar spokesman Nick Pudar says the demonstrations taking place at the moment stand to give customers a powerful tool with which to register demand for renewable energy. “As customers configure their Volts to favour renewable energy for their charging cycle, this real demand signal will influence utilities to tap into renewable sources,” he said in a statement.
The process works through PJM’s systems uploading regular updates to OnStar’s Advanced Telematics Operating Management System (ATOMS) on available levels renewable energy on its grid.
OnStar’s systems process the data to manage the distribution of the available renewable energy at any given time among subscribers looking to charge simultaneously. The partners say it would take little to come up with a mobile app to alert customers when renewable energy is available.
Should the demos show enough promise to gain the go-ahead, it would be offered alongside other OnStar subscriber services.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) figures from 2010 break down US electricity generation into 70 per cent fossil fuels (coal 44.9, natural gas 23.8); 20 per cent nuclear and 10 per cent renewable (hydro-electric 6.2; wind 2.3).
EIA predicts that by 2035, coal’s contribution will drop to 39 per cent. Natural gas will rise to 27 per cent, renewables to 16 per cent. Of the latter, non-hydro renewable sources such as wind will more than double in the same period.
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