alsmith said:
I'm one of those people who love new technology, and new stuff but I'm not so sure this is particularly evolutionary, never mind revolutionary. It seems like just another option for connections.
The promise of a better connected world
I've read about this and it's very interesting.
These innocent looking magnetic charging connectors are quite unique because they also exhange data and could be part of the coming incarnation of SKYNET, the EnergyBus standard. Let me explain...
The ROPd connector, also known as the EnergyBus connector, is part of the EnergyBus Standard. The goal of the EnergyBus Standard is to make energy consumption more efficient by taking the whole process into consideration in its most minute detail.
The idea is to make all electrical devices and components that are on the power grid more efficient, by making them smarter.
So for example if you go to a public electrical charging station with your electric bike, the charger will be able to know what kind of battery you have, and send the appropriate voltage and current. It is also able to communicate other info, like the vendor id of the device, serial number, the device model no, the chemistry of the battery and priority level of the vehicle.
So with EnergyBus, there will be universal chargers - as the lovely brochure says -
EnergyBus Brochure said:
"The EnergyBus connectors and bus system makes it possible to provide one charger for every battery, independent of chemistry and size. Since systems are compatible, the dealer does not have to stock many similar components of different suppliers, but instead can offer a variety of components in price and functionality.
Now the EnergyBus is a very complete protocol. , the different components in your Ebike will be also using the EnergyBus protocol. So the bike computer will be able to communicate with the motor, the motor with the controller, the controller with the battery, the battery with the charger, and the charger with the central power grid.
The EnergyBus standard brochure claims the following
EnergyBus Brochure said:
"The EnergyBus solves this issue as it allows manufacturers to bring products to the market with great functionality, quality in a short development time, with low costs. "is is achieved through communication between the components. It enables them to interact and change their functionality depending on the controller’s capabilities. For example, one charger could fit all batteries since they communicate the needs through the bus.
The EnergyBus Ecosystem
Some of this technology can already be found in cars today. What is different is that your vehicle will also be communicating with its source of energy, the power grid, potentially revealing all its secrets by doing so. The idea is to make a better use of the power grid, of the power infrastructure.
I can easily foresee the following situation. The charging station sets the price of the electricity you're using according to the amount of electricity available on the grid. So for example, if you need to charge at peak demand hours, the price of a kilowatt will be higher. I imagine you could also set your bike to recharge only when the price of electricity is at a given price. The charger may also refuse to charge your vehicle, because it doesn't have a sufficient priority level. For example, the charging station you want to use is reserved for emergency vehicles.
In the future, I imagine your electrical vechicle will be registered to a central system. So you'll be automatically be charged for the electricity you're using as you charge from one public charging station to the other.
The charging station could also help fight electric vehicle theft by tracking vehicle serial number. With this system, as you go from one charging station to the other you're leaving a very traceable data trail.
The flipside of this technology is that in the name of efficiency, the EnergyBus has the potential of compromising our privacy and our civil liberties. Now, if we used gas, this wouldn't be possible. Gas is your firewall. You just can't trace gas guzzling vehicles that easily even though they do leave a massive carbon footprint. Smart electric vehicles on the other hand will be watching every move you make.
Obedient ebikes at the docking station. Are these the new instruments of mass surveillance? Will you be betrayed by your own ebike?
The days of vehicle privacy are coming to an end. You won't be able to jump into your Tesla roadster and just escape. If you just robbed a bank, I'm pretty sure you'll be launching a whole swarm of drones on to you. I wouldn't be surprised if as we speak the NSA is devising new schemes using this protocol in order to better fight terrorism by better tracking our every move. I don't know if I want to live in a world where my vehicle tracks everything I do and sends that "metadata" to a giant server in Utah. Then again, if you have nowhere to hide, you have nothing to fear. Right?
We have feared Big Oil, now we should worry if the EnergyBus Standard will morph itself into the next incarnation of SkyNet.
So are you still liking those magnetic data/electrical connectors?
