Dr Seyedfoad Taghizadeh
A device which enables electric vehicles to charge homes and stranded EVs could be commercially developed by Sydney’s Macquarie University researchers.
Dr Seyedfoad Taghizadeh leads a team considering the commercial potential of the technology based on vehicle to grid (V2G) systems which may significantly increase the appeal of EVs.
The new charging system is installed inside a vehicle, which can then be charged by plugging it into a domestic circuit. For houses that rely on batteries for storage, the fully charged vehicle is also capable of feeding power in the other direction, thus becoming a back-up system, the university says.
“It is also useful on the road,” Taghizadeh says. “If the car runs out of power and is nowhere near a charging station, the device lets the driver plug into another electric vehicle and boost the battery that way.
“Our charging system will be onboard and unlike the existing charging systems, including the Nissan Leaf charger, ours will enable road-side charging assistance,” he says, adding the technology can be applied on motorbikes too.
Called the Intelligent Charger, the device will also reduce concerns among energy providers and power utilities about any drain on the power network that might arise as EVs become more common.
“The device uses an advanced control system which minimises the output transients of the charger`s operation,” Taghizadeh says.
“Furthermore, while the device is used for charging/discharging the electric vehicle at home, it is capable of improving the power quality of the local power grid (household grid) via reducing the harmonics and improving the voltage profile of the local grid.
“We have built the laboratory prototype of the device and are currently working to reduce its size to be acceptable for commercialisation. The size of the device can be reduced to be applied for both cars and motorbikes, although this requires financial support from an investor/manufacturer.”
The research has been described in papers published in journals, including Applied Energy.
