DETROIT – The future of electric vehicle technology may be just around the corner — and it’s not necessarily what you might be envisioning.
A General Motors patent recently surfaced revealing some interesting ideas the company has regarding a burgeoning EV concept: bidirectional charging. Using this technology, EVs can become a power source of their own, providing charge to a home, grid, or even another EV.
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While bidirectional charging is not GM’s original concept — in fact, multiple EVs from other companies currently utilize it — they do have some novel ideas about it; the recently revealed patent shares some ideas about how bidirectional charging might work with multiple charge ports.
The patent suggests bidirectional charging could allow broader utilization of a single charging station. For instance, an EV could use one port to charge its own battery while using another port to charge an external energy storage device.
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Another concept detailed in the patent is the idea of daisy-chaining EVs so that a single charging station can charge multiple vehicles at once. This could be incredibly convenient for families with multiple EVs or for friends looking to take up less space at the charging station. It can also help provide a drained battery with enough charge to reach the closest charging station, almost like EV jumper cables.
However, the potential for this bidirectional charging concept may be even greater for companies with EV fleets. Rather than purchasing a charging port per vehicle, they can daisy chain from one for simple, effective overnight charging.
While bidirectional charging is already on the market, it’s clear through these patents that the technology still has some exciting untapped potential. They’re not the only recent innovations from EV makers, either.
Ford recently filed a patent for a technology to make EV battery repair simpler and easier. Korean EV researchers also just developed a technology that can improve EV battery performance in cold weather.
While the present for EVs may be bright enough, it’s looking like the future may be even brighter.
