Smart Grid Charger for Electric Vehicles Using Existing Cellular Networks and SMS Text Messages

Charging large numbers of Plug-in Electric Vehicles may result in overloading sections of the electric power grid at certain times of the day. Smart grid technologies can be used to delay charging or regulate charging rates, enabling the existing power system to handle the increased load without having to increase peak power capacity of feeders or add generation. A key component of the Smart Grid is its communication system. We discuss the use of the GSM network and SMS text messages as an option for SmartGrid communication and present a system that provides the ISO control of thousands of mobile PEV chargers using a simple SMS text message interface.