Bitcoin‘s relationship to energy is increasingly expanding beyond the traditional mining applications to include other uses.
The Lightning Network To Connect Teslas And Charging Stations
Developed by Andy Schroder and on display in the exhibition hall at Bitcoin 2022, a Lightning project dubbed Distributed Charge has the potential to improve Bitcoin integration with the energy industry in an interesting new manner.
Using Lightning, Schroeder is able to transmit payments for power between two Lightning-enabled nodes, one of which is embedded into a Tesla vehicle and the other of which is integrated into a charging station.
Individuals may stream satellites in exchange for electrons in a peer-to-peer energy marketplace using this technique.
Distributed Charge is currently piloting the concept with an electric vehicle use case, but the technology has the potential to be applied on a much larger scale, assisting utilities in more efficiently pricing and distributing electricity, as well as enabling independent power producers to sell directly to customers in a more mesh-like grid system, according to the company.
The node that Schroder created to operate in the charging terminal is beautifully intended to survive adverse weather, and his custom-made circuit board builds on a project known as Oratek’s TOFU node platform, which was originally developed by Oratek.
Additionally, 7.5 to 28 VDC may be used to power the node in addition to the USB-C port. With an M2 socket, you may add a thin SSD or cellular radio without having to unplug the computer.
The energy grid, according to Schroder, should be able to accept Bitcoin as a native payment network, and “every electric meter should be able to accept bi-directional payments and energy flows.” Additionally, “everyone should be able to easily buy and sell energy privately without the need to involve third parties or inflationary monetary systems,” says Schroder.
Furthermore, pricing and distributing power in satellites using Lightning is a really interesting notion with far-reaching ramifications for the future.
