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A three-year pilot scheme for an innovative blockchain-based electric vehicle, or EV, charging platform has received $ 1 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada, a government department in the country.
The scheme promises to reduce the cost of electric vehicle charging transactions and improve the efficiency of the electricity grid, according to an article in the independent platform Electric Autonomy Canada.
The pilot project will take place in two multi-tenant office buildings in downtown Toronto and is managed by the electric vehicle charging platform SWTCH Energy and intelligent energy software developer Opus One Solutions.
The innovation comes from the awareness that electric vehicles are not just alternatively powered cars, but batteries on wheels.
This allows them to be used in a two-way charging scenario where they are charged overnight using cheap electricity and can then supply excess power to the building at peak times during the day.
Car owners are then credited for the power they provide, based on the competitive price of electricity at the time. The blockchain is used to maintain an automated record of transactions.
This technique can be used to stabilize the requirements imposed on the electricity grid and smooth out fluctuations in the supply of renewable energy sources. As SWTCH CEO Carter Li explained:
“You’ll have plenty of spare battery storage that’s just sitting there – most people only drive their vehicles 10% of the time. You use these electric vehicles to reduce the peak in energy demand.”
As Cointelegraph reported last month, General Motors and Honda also worked using blockchain technology and electric vehicles to store excess renewable energy, publishing a global standard on how such a grid could work.
