Greenlots Introduces Open Standards-Based SKY Smart Charging™ for Utilities; Electric Vehicles Now a Grid Resource, Not a Liability

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenlots, a global provider of open standards-based technology solutions for electric vehicle (EV) networks, today introduced its SKY Smart Charging™ platform designed to address the needs of the utility and vehicle-grid integration (VGI) sectors. The company, which has received OpenADR 2.0b certification through the OpenADR Alliance, is now the first EV charging platform provider capable of using the standard to manage and influence charging behavior thru dynamic pricing. The announcement signals the growing demand from utilities for an open standards-based approach to vehicle-grid integration and maintains Greenlots' position as the EV industry's strongest advocate for open standards, extending its commitment to utilizing open standards from the charge port all the way to the utility back office. 

"Certification of the Greenlots SKY Smart Charging platform fills an important gap in the growing collection of OpenADR certified products," said Barry Haaser, managing director, OpenADR Alliance. "Utilities can now add EVs as an energy resource to their OpenADR-based demand response programs."

The growth of EV adoption can have a significant impact on a utility and as the market grows it is important for utilities to manage EV charging to prevent overloading of the electricity network. The impact of EV charging on peak load and local distribution networks are some of the key challenges that a utility faces. A fully operational open standards network, SKY Smart Charging™, allows utilities to manage EV loads through OpenADR, an already established industry standard for demand response. This eliminates the need for utilities to develop separate systems for EV charging management and streamlines operations while saving implementation overhead.

With SKY Smart Charging™ utilities can:

• Resolving peak load impact of EV charging through automatic load curtailment
• Enable consumers to opt-in or out of a demand response program
• Provide price incentives to users to charge their EV during off peak hours 
• Resolve system integration challenges without incurring significant development costs
• Directly engage customers in demand response programs through Greenlots applications
• Mitigate local transformer overload risk in areas with EV clusters
• Create accurate load plans through site and region specific demand response management of EV charging
• Lower system costs via open standards, eliminating the need for separate systems

"With the proliferation of EVs, demand response programs will be a critical aspect of ensuring charging availability without the need for utilities to incur expensive infrastructure upgrades," said Brett Hauser, President of Greenlots. "The OpenADR Alliance is committed to programs which help utilities maintain grid reliability and enable customers to realize significant value. So, receiving OpenADR certification was a natural step for Greenlots as we continue our global efforts to support driving interoperability and open standards for the industry."

About Greenlots             

Greenlots is a global provider of open standards-based technology solutions for electric vehicle (EV) networks. Designed to answer the needs of site hosts offering workplace, utility and public charging applications, Greenlots' SKY platform is a robust network management solution that utilizes Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), the largest open standard for charger-to-network communications. SKY obsoletes the subscription-based model by providing drivers with flexible payment solutions including dynamic queuing and pay-by-phone. For site hosts running on SKY, that flexibility offers the freedom to mix and match charging stations, while setting station pricing to best suit their needs: by kWh, session or time length. Greenlots is headquartered in San Francisco and has sold networks in 13 countries. www.greenlots.com

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Greenlots@missionCTRLcommunications

SOURCE Greenlots