Part of the attraction of electric (both plug-in hybrids and all-electric) vehicles is the freedom they offer to drivers. Freedom from having to go to the gas station. Freedom from volatile fuel prices.

Because this is a strong selling point, the introduction of smart charging that will manage (and in some cases control) access to power will be a slow process.

This month the bright folks at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced they had developed a smart charging control unit. Michael Kintner-Meyer created the device that can manage the flow of power to vehicles in response to changing grid conditions. If demand starts peaking, then the grid would send a wireless signal to the controller to slow down or even pause charging. This will be a great benefit to the utilities who are still studying how the increased demand for EVs will affect them.

Really smart charging will respond to price signals so that vehicles would only charge when the electricity falls below a certain price. This advantage for consumers is that they can squeeze the most miles out of their energy dollar. However, the savings of literally pennies per day by shifting charging probably isn’t worth the loss of control in many consumers’ eyes.

Also, who’s going to pay for the smart charging hardware? The auto industry doesn’t want any limits to be placed on the EVs that will be on dealer lots in the next few years, so they have almost no interest in placing smart charging equipment inside the vehicles. Also, since the vehicles will already be pricey, they don’t want to add any extra hardware.

Utilities, though they would benefit the most from smart charging, don’t see the need for smart charging at the volumes of EVs that are expected to sell in the short term. Smart charging is more about cost avoidance (by moving energy consumption away from the peak) for utilities than new revenue generation. The smart meters being distributed by utilities that control the energy flow to the entire household can serve some of the smart charging function.

Smart charging does make sense for fleet managers who need to balance the impact on the grid from a large number of vehicles. The cost of the charger can be split between many vehicles, providing a quicker return on investment.

Because of the eventual impact of mass numbers of vehicles on the grid, smart charging will happen, and it is great that the government lab is taking the early lead to show that it can be done. But it will only happen after EVs have established their place in the market.