ABB's OPTIMAX® Cloud for Smart Charging is a state-of-the-art power management system designed for EV charging stations and heavy vehicle depots in the logistics and bus industries. It provides smart load management for ABB and non ABB EV chargers, and integrates with external assets like battery storages, PV systems, and interfaces to grid operators’ systems. OPTIMAX® Cloud for Smart Charging helps reduce energy consumption, lower operational costs, and decrease harmful emissions.
ABB wanted to build a solution that would go beyond traditional smart charging systems by considering the complete energy production and consumption on sites, and integrating seamlessly with the raising demand for chargers.
The Need for a Highly Scalable Solution
ABB faced the challenge of creating a cloud-native application that could support hundreds of customers simultaneously, with real-time optimization and control across multiple locations. Existing on-premise systems couldn’t handle the complexity and availability requirements for customers. As they scaled, they needed a solution capable of managing and analyzing vast amounts of data from their rapidly increasing number of customer sites, while delivering fast, relevant reports for customers.
After evaluating multiple database solutions, ABB chose CrateDB for its scalability, real-time processing capabilities, and ability to handle time-series data from diverse sources.
CrateDB was implemented to collect and process operational data for all customer sites, including time-series data from chargers, measurements, and external systems.
Real-Time Insights for Reduced Emission Costs
- Real-time data management: CrateDB efficiently collects and processes data from a variety of sources, allowing ABB to perform real-time optimization of energy usage across all customer sites.
- Seamless integration: The database is fully integrated into ABB's solution and covers all data from external systems, such as battery storage, PV systems, and grid operator interfaces, enabling ABB to forecast energy consumption and manage assets across locations.
- Scalability: With CrateDB’s cloud-native architecture, ABB has been able to scale their platform to support a growing number of customers, with over 380 million records captured across all sites in the first year.
- Powerful querying and reporting: ABB uses CrateDB to run complex queries and generate reports that provide customers with real-time insights into their power consumption, including monthly 15-minute averages and detailed charging session histories.
- Reduced emissions and costs: By optimizing energy use across charging stations and integrating with external systems, ABB has significantly reduced energy consumption and operational costs while minimizing environmental impact.
ABB’s implementation of CrateDB has been integral to the success of their OPTIMAX® Cloud platform. The database’s scalability, real-time data processing, and seamless integration capabilities have enabled ABB to stay ahead of the market’s evolving needs for smarter, more sustainable charging solutions. With CrateDB, ABB has not only optimized charging operations but also reduced costs, improved efficiency, and made significant strides toward environmental sustainability.
