SBIR Phase II: Adaptive Charging Network for EV and Energy Services

Powerflex Systems, Los Altos CA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will address two societal needs. It will enable mass charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) at minimal cost, and will enable the provisioning of energy services to help integrate renewable energy sources. This is critical as electricity generation and transportation together consume close to two-thirds of all US energy and emit more than half of all US greenhouse gases. To drastically reduce greenhouse gases will therefore require electrification of our transportation and renewable generation of our electricity. California (CA) has a mandate to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2025 and, currently, half of the nation's EVs are in CA. If the project is successful, the proposed technology, when deployed at scale, can potentially save CA $144M annually in operating costs and $1.1B in capital cost when CA reaches its ambitious goal by 2025. This can help reduce greenhouse gases annually in CA by 5.5 million metric tons. This project will therefore make an impact in both clean transportation and clean energy. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project will develop an adaptive EV charging system that can implement a number of innovations that are not currently available in the EV charging industry. It will offer a site host a solution to recover costs, jointly optimize onsite distributed energy resources such as solar panels and battery banks, minimize operating cost for site host and charging cost for drivers, and optimally trade off preferences and constraints of different drivers and of the site host, subject to infrastructure capacity constraints. These technologies will be based on unique real-time sensing, communications, and control capabilities, as well as advanced optimization and learning algorithms. These technologies will provide a target charging capacity at minimal infrastructure and operating costs, as well as a platform for energy services to the grid. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.