Volvo Partner in Development of Smart Charging Concept for Electric Cars

Volvo Car Corporation's focus on connectivity technology also includes smart features for charging of electric vehicles.

The company is one of the partners in the research project ELVIIS (Electric Vehicle Intelligent Infra Structure) that develops a smart on-board concept for controlling, measuring and paying for electricity when charging via any outlet.

ELVIIS is a consortium involving Volvo Car Corporation, Ericsson, the utility company Göteborg Energi and the Viktoria Institute. The innovative research project across several industries aims to bring mobile connectivity to electric cars - and to identify and remove barriers for using electrical vehicles in daily life. The concept works like this:

The driver can choose to charge the battery pack via any ordinary power outlet.

• The outlet is identified via GPS.
• The driver pre-sets timing and charging amount on the touch screen or remotely via a smart phone or tablet.
• Using the mobile network, the car communicates with the grid and sets the charging scheme in order to support optimal utilisation of the grid and most favourable energy price.
• Any unintended interruption of charging process is directly reported to the driver's mobile phone.
• The system directs the cost for each charge to the car owner's personal utility bill.

Electric drive without compromises

The Volvo C30 Electric has been used as a test car in the project. Equipped with an integrated 7-inch colour touch screen, it makes the smooth charging concept available at the driver's fingertip. Five C30 Electric cars will now be used for testing and evaluating the technology during a year.

"Our basic view is that the owner of an electric vehicle shouldn't have to sacrifice any of the properties he or she expects from a luxury car," says Lennart Stegland, Vice President Electric Propulsion Systems, Volvo Car Corporation. "This smart technology for charging in any outlet, and paying automatically via your own electricity bill, is an excellent example of how we do everything to make the daily use easier for the customer."

The concept is developed on a generic communication platform to make the technology globally applicable.

Totally in control, totally connected

The ELVIIS technology is fully in line with Volvo Car Corporation's development of Sensus technology, which makes the driver feel totally in control and totally connected.

"Sensus is the interface that promotes intuitive communication with the car, connecting it to the driver's digital world. We will continue to extend the offer of intelligent content that provides easy access to support, information and entertainment," says Lennart Stegland.