The Spark Gap - Episode 7
Rodney McGee, a researcher at the University of Delaware, discusses his work on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, explaining how electric vehicles can serve as distributed energy storage to stabilize the power grid. He details the technical challenges of standardizing communication protocols between cars and charging stations, highlighting the flaws in existing PWM-based standards and proposing single-ended CAN bus as a robust, low-cost alternative. McGee also covers the economic incentives for users, the specific power electronics required for grid-tied inverters, and the regulatory hurdles facing widespread adoption.