FAQ

Terminologies

BEV - BEV is short for “Battery Electrical Vehicles”. It is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that solely rely on electricity stored in batteries for propulsion. BEV does not have a gasoline engine. The key components of a BEV include an electric motor, a battery pack, and a control system.

Smart Charging - Smart Charging means to control and monitor the BEV charging process. In our project, it contains SMC and V2G.

SMC - SMC is short for “Supplier-Managed Charging”. It allows the charging stations to monitor, manage, and even restrict the charging process to optimize energy consumption. Specifically, SMC monitors and controls charging window and amount, to make sure they are mostly charged during the off-peak periods of the electricity demand.

V2G - V2G is short for “Vehicle-to-Grid”. It allows bidirectional charging, so that the vehicle can discharge a certain amount of electricity back to the grid to further optimize energy consumption by balancing supply and demand.

Conjoint Survey - A conjoint survey question packs different attributes together into each option, so that when participants make choices, they choose the whole package instead of only one attribute. For example, when I choose to buy an iPhone, I accept its expensive price, moderate signal, and durable quality at the same time. In this case, choosing to buy a phone is a conjoint question.

Q & A

Why Smart Charging - As BEVs are becoming a considerable part of vehicles, it is urgent to have a better power management process. The Smart Charging programs contribute to a zero-carbon power generation, and will be valuable to both the environment and the participants, including the grid providers and the BEV owners.

Why Conjoint Survey - A conjoint survey is a pilot simulation to people’s willingness of adopting to the smart charging program. By a proper modeling, executing, and analysis process, we’ll know in what conditions will BEV owners participate in the smart charging program, and how the program will be in details.