Bosch electricity storage unit
Consumer Electronics Show CES – In 2012 Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York and left thousands without electricity. South Korea has had to shut down a couple of nuclear plants for safety checks, which could bring rolling blackouts. It only takes a couple of hours without electricity to realize how dependent you are.
I’m so glad I don’t have an electric vehicle
It’s the first thing that pops up on my Facebook page after a blackout. If you don’t have electricity you cant charge your electric vehicle. You can buy solar panels that give you free electricity as long as the sun is shining, but the night is long and cold and dark without electricity. And solar panels only work when the sun is shining. Until now.
Bosch’s slogan is “invented for life,” but it should be “integrated with life.” I talked with Eric Daniels, the Regional President of Solar Energy, Bosch North America.
Bosch electricity storage unit
Bosch has installed an EV charging system using a charger from Eaton Corporation. The system connects Bosch solar panels to a charging unit for electric vehicles. These can be used in your garage or at car parks. Bosch can now take electricity and charge an electric vehicle whether there is a grid or not depending upon the design.
Through its Voltverk business unit, Bosch has developed a 5kwH storage unit that stores electricity for the home. If your home goes off-grid, the storage unit allows you to continue to run loads that are in the home. Daniels likens the idea to a bathtub or reservoir of energy.
If the electricity in my home goes out, I plug in a generator that runs on gasoline. The Bosch storage unit requires no fuel source; the only energy comes from the sun through the solar panels or from the utility if it is working. Daniels says to think of the solar panels as the generator.
The next step in the integration of solar life is using the battery in the EV to power your home. If the reservoir becomes depleted of energy and there is electricity in your EV battery, you will be able to hook your EV to the storage unit, pass that energy into the reservoir and electrify your home.
The storage unit, aka reservoir, should be out, according to Mike Mansuetti, President, Robert Bosch LLC, in about a year. Bosch has not said when the EV to storage unit will be available.
Why are smartphones so popular? It’s not the device, it’s the apps we can put on the smartphone.
Control your seat configuration with your smartphone – Pneumatic Seat Systems
That same smartphone with which you check your Facebook, or text on, could configure and memorize your car seat settings, rock your baby to sleep, or relieve back pain.
More and more people understand how important it is to sleep on a bed, such as a TempurPedic, that conforms to your body. A pneumatic seat not only acts like a TempurPedic bed, but additionally, it has an ergomotion-like bedframe that allows you to raise your head and feet for a more personalized car seat. The seat can be configured to massage you or have different temperature settings in different parts of the seat.
You can also set the seat to change positions every 20 minutes, keeping you more aware and pain-free. If you want, the seat can tell you when it thinks you’ve been sitting too long in one position.
The best part is – you can configure it with your smartphone. It will remember these settings and if another car has the same Continental seat you can press a button to quickly set the seat in your new car.
According to Continental AG, they are showing this smart app seat system to car manufacturers, but it is not on the market yet. The first time it was shown to the media was at a discreet location outside of CES.
Flexible Smartphone Docking Station
I own a 1993 Lexus LS400. It does not have the infotainment offered in new cars. I am seeing so much new technology being provided in new models that it makes me want to buy a new car for the infotainment/technology alone.
But all that infotainment can be found on my smartphone. Should I risk holding the smartphone where the Police cannot see it or is there an aftermarket device I can install that will allow me to go hands-free?
Do you have a smartphone that does everything you want, but needs a hands-free solution for the car? Enter the Flexible Smartphone Docking Station (FSDS).
The smartphone is fixed in a cradle of the FSDS and connected via Bluetooth®.
This concept could be an aftermarket solution. The docking station can fit any smartphone and allows applications like maps, online POIs, or music functionalities “ and of course phone calls “to be integrated into the vehicle through the FSDS.
An app to charge your EV, or monitor its charging
If you have an EV, you’re in luck: both Bosch and Continental are preparing to relieve your “EV range anxiety.”
Bosch has developed a software platform that integrates the multiple elements (charging station, utility electricity, EV vehicle, etc.) which interact to deliver a reliable eco-system for the EV driver. In particular, the Driver Portal Smartphone App allows the driver to locate the nearest charging station facilities, determine the number of stations if they are occupied or available to reserve for charging, the electricity rates by time of day, and a consolidated billing system.
Continental is creating an app called AutoLinQ that empowers Electric Vehicle drivers to get “live” information from their EV., including charge status, range, and remaining to charge time.
Heads-up display “ 6.5 inches
Putting a heads-up display in a windshield can be costly, especially if you have an accident and you need to replace it. But you want drivers to keep their eyes directly in the driver’s field of vision. Enter Continentals 6.5-inch heads up display that fit’s above the instrument panel.
