August Smart Energy News: EV charging | Smart Energy | IoT

Recently launched connected products to market? Our webinar "Getting beyond the hundreds" offers a map of the journey ahead, plus a "to do" list of some early actions to get on the road to success.

EV charging

• In 2015, OPEC predicted 4m EVs on the roads by 2040. Yet today in 2021 there are already 8m.
• Seems like everyone - from governments to manufacturers - is starting to question the quality of today's EV charging experience:
• "Broken chargers, no coffee, no toilets … not good enough Ionity!" says VW Chairman Herbert Diess (VW part-owns Ionity).
• WhatCar rated EV charging networks and then ranked the networks. Fascinating to see how the conversation is moving beyond "where are the chargers?" to "why are they so unreliable and inconvenient?". These are the classic "crossing the chasm" challenges which DevicePilot can address.
• Funding:
• EO charging, UK leader in Fleet EV charging, whose customers include Amazon, is going public on Nasdaq via a SPAC
• Last month's panel The Future of EV charging identified a lack of reliable third-party solutions to manage EV charging to match agile utility tariffs - so it's good to see ev.energy raise $8m to address this exact problem.
• Chargepoint acquires EV bus management company Viriciti
• As Australia struggles to shed its fossil fuel legacy (electricity generation still >50% from coal!), Evie Networks is the main recipient of $25m for new EV charging points.
• Geektastic! Aat de Kwaasteniet built a great big spreadsheet ranking all EVs by charge rate, drive efficiency at different speeds and temperature.
• EV mfr BYD is using LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) in their "Blade" battery. This analysis was fascinating not just for the technical details, but as an example of how China is getting good at innovation.
• It's not all good news: Pen Test Partners revealed security vulnerabilities in a number of EV chargers, including remote operation and even rewriting the software. The BBC has urged customers of Wallbox and Project EV charger in particular to update their devices.

Smart Energy

• The UK now has a whopping 20GW+ of battery capacity in planning – about 40% of our grid's peak capacity.
• 10 years ago Robert Llewelyn started his EV podcast "Fully Charged" (now at 100m+ views and 1m subscribers). Now he's started a new 6-part series focusing on practical ways to reduce our home carbon footprint, Fully Charged HOME (energy efficiency, smart thermostats, storing and shifting electricity, heat pumps, zero-emission heating).
• It's fascinating to watch the evolution of tidal turbines, and as the world's largest tide turbine goes live (2MW), to note how simple in principle it is – a moored boat with a couple of big propellers, with all the technical gubbins above water. Must have some good anchors!
• China innovating with the first Thorium nuclear reactor, long supported by Bill Gates (works in dry regions, no weaponization, shorter half-life).
• Tesla melds its Powerwalls domestic battery storage product into a Virtual Power Plant in California (and says it will open-up its SuperChargers to all-comers).
• UK government publishes its Energy Digitalisation strategy for Net Zero
• BP buys Open Energi
• As Murata announces it will be manufacturing a solid-state battery from this Autumn/Fall, there's a great explanation here of why that's potentially such a significant, and long-awaited, development. 
• Sand in, solar panels out?

IoT

• Fascinating that Space-X has bought Swarm. Much of IoT needs ubiquitous coverage more than bandwidth.
• 6 years ago I watched the CTO of ARM wave something that looked like an old overhead-projector transparency about on stage, proclaiming it as the first printed ARM processor. Now it looks like PlasticArm, the first non-silicon ARM processor, might actually work (though it's not exactly power-efficient yet).
• Chip shortages continue to be a pain throughout the supply-chain - we're know a number of IoT vendors who are suffering
• Battery replacement can be a massive Achilles' heel for IoT devices that need them. This Tadiran paper presents evidence that they can last for 40+ years.
• A lack of entropy (randomness) potentially compromises millions of IoT devices.
• WilIoT raises $200m Series C for its ambient sensing tech
• Alas, the "Internet of Shit" is alive and well:
• (Although you really might not care by then) is your Crematorium IoT secure?
• Imagine being trapped in a capsule hotel where all the devices have been hacked
• Whimsically, cars are mistaking the moon for a traffic light
• When printers threaten you.

Until next month,

-Pilgrim