Talking to the Grid
Plug-in hybrids, which recharge their batteries from the utility grid, could strain that system by increasing electrical demand. Ford is getting around the problem by equipping its plug-in, the Escape, to communicate with smart meters provided by utility companies. As demand varies through the day, so does the price of electricity. The Ford system can be programmed to charge the car when that cost falls below a user-determined threshold or to charge only at certain times of day. Future versions may allow users to request electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. The first Escape fitted with the system has been delivered to American Electric Power in Columbus, OH, for testing.
Courtesy of Ford
Product: Vehicle-to-grid system
Cost: N/A
Source: www.ford.com
Company: Ford Motor Co.
Other products in this section:
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A horrifying new AI app swaps women into porn videos with a click
Deepfake researchers have long feared the day this would arrive.
We can’t afford to stop solar geoengineering research
It is the wrong time to take this strategy for combating climate change off the table.
Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valley’s latest wild bet on living forever
Funders of a deep-pocketed new "rejuvenation" startup are said to include Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner.
The new version of GPT-3 is much better behaved (and should be less toxic)
OpenAI has trained its flagship language model to follow instructions, making it spit out less unwanted text—but there's still a way to go.
Stay connected
Illustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.