Controlled charging thanks to charge controller in Barcelona
Hydra Power uses CarMedialab’s charge controller in street cleaning vehicles. The system links internal control units, such as the battery management system via ISO 15118 and IEC 61851, with the charging infrastructure for the charging process. A special feature of the system is the integrated mobile radio interface, which can be used for remote diagnosis of the charging process, individual control units or via the many CAN interfaces of the entire vehicle.
These vehicles clean streets in Barcelona
About “Cuidem Barcelona Residus” (Let’s take care of Barcelona’s waste)
Our customer Hydra Power develops, produces and markets hydraulic and pneumatic systems. In the Cuidem Barcelona Residus project, they are using the Flea as a charge controller. The project aims to improve the cleaning and maintenance of public places in the city.
To learn more about our software stacks for smart charging or our embedded systems, you can arrange a personal meeting here.
Interfaces between vehicle, charging station and backend ensure further development of charging infrastructure.
When charging electric cars, several factors are important to ensure a fast and safe charging process. This must also fit seamlessly into the local energy supply.
The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) is the common language between charging stations and their management systems. It has become the de facto standard for electric car charging. When an electric car starts its charging process. A comprehensive data transfer begins between the charging point and the CPO/MSP backend system connected to it. User data can be transmitted to the contract partner as billing data for the charging current. The time frame and the amount of energy consumed for the respective charging process are also transferred.
Vendor-neutral, license-free – the obvious solution for reliable and efficient management and control of the various tasks mentioned above. As a quality feature, the international partnership of over 160 electric mobility companies, Open Charge Alliance (OCA), added a certificate in 2019. This enables interested parties to immediately recognize whether a charging station is compatible with OCPP. CarMedialab is also a member of OCA. Currently, almost all leading manufacturers are looking to equip their charging stations with OCPP-compatible technology.
What are the advantages of OCPP? OCPP has a number of advantages over other standards and protocols. For example, charging stations can fully communicate with any OCPP-compliant CPO/MSC backend system, with data well protected. In this way, customers get a future-proof and cost-effective charging infrastructure. It can also be combined with additional software and hardware components from different manufacturers at any time.
Up-to-dateness for use of all functionalities It is important that the charging stations always use the latest version of the Open Charge Point protocol. This means that the core includes all services such as firmware management, smart charging, reservation, management of a local authorization list and remote triggering. All of this is provided with the current OCPP, which will be converted into an ISO standard in the future.
All info about our software stack OCPP can be found here.
A new version is released and will be available from CarMedialab this summer
ISO 15118:20 is an important communication standard that offers many new possibilities for electric vehicles.
This can be divided into four major functionality sections:
AC for alternating current charging
DC for direct current charging
wireless power transfer (WPT) for inductive charging and
Automatic Connecting Device Pantograph for charging communication via pantograph charging infrastructure
Bidirectional charging represents a sought-after technical advancement in the new standard. It enables both the charging of a vehicle and the feeding of energy back into the grid.
The new software is soon available for charging stations
The CarMedialab release is already available from the end of June. Ask now!
Smart charging of buses with “OppCharge” Alstom – a world leader in railroad technology – manufactures, among many other things, streetcars and trains for mass transit. Thanks to our charge controller, smart charging for buses has been made possible.
OppCharge and Pantograph Here, charging is done with so-called “Opportunity Charging”, among experts this is called: OppCharge. This refers to opportunity charging of the batteries of buses or trucks: With this technology, they are recharged with high energy at terminal stations or selected locations. The challenge here is to transfer a lot of energy in a short time. The connection is made by conductive poles and rails on the vehicle as well as Wifi communication and control within an automatic connection system. For charging, the pantograph is moved to the contact point on the roof of the vehicle.
The charging process works
Successful acceptance test on site With our valuable client we’ve performed successful acceptance test onsite. This was to verify that the application works as planned for the customer. Smart Charging from CarMedialab offers embedded systems that can be integrated into both the vehicle and the charging pole. For vehicle and charging pole to harmonize, software and hardware must be in perfect harmony. Our software stacks help to make this possible.
Why electric driving is coming to the fore in light of rising gasoline prices In fact, electric cars are increasingly performing better when you add up all the costs of owning a car. Although they usually have higher initial costs, they are significantly more economical, for example in terms of maintenance: Savings of up to 35 percent can be achieved here. In the long term, therefore, the price difference compared to diesel or gasoline vehicles can be compensated for in the acquisition costs. Nevertheless, there are more and more cheaper electric cars on the market with a subsidy of up to 9,000 euros. In addition to the purchase price, there are other factors that come into play.
Taxes The benefits don’t end with the purchase. Up to ten years of exemption from vehicle tax, depending on the time of registration, can be granted. As a company car with private use, only 0.25 percent of the gross list price even has to be taxed.
Charging costs Not only the billing model is decisive for pricing, but also how high the charging power in kW is at the charging point, how fast you can charge and which car you drive. The efficiency of the energy is very high.
What is unbeatable, however, is that vehicles can charge for free at some supermarkets, for example, while gasoline or diesel are not available for free. Otherwise, of course, the tariff in one’s own household determines further costs, while prices at public charging stations vary widely.
Maintenance Due to the fact that electrically powered vehicles contain fewer parts that are susceptible to wear, maintenance is a big plus point. Technical inspections are also less expensive, since the exhaust emission test is no longer required.
CarMedialab sponsors junior sports in Walldorf. Successful sport creates identity in the region. We support the athletes of the youth of FC-Astoria Walldorf and wish you much success and fun with your new equipment.
