Argonne's Pilot Electric Vehicle Charging Project

As part of Argonne's continuing efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, several electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will be installed around the laboratory campus as part of Argonne's Pilot EV Charging Pilot Program. In addition to displacing petroleum through the use of EVs and plug-in hybrids, the program includes the installation of a solar power array and wind turbine to provide clean, renewable electricity for charging.

Solar array and charging station.

Solar energy will come from 3.8 kW Sunpower panels with a DC/AC inverter and a tracking array mount that allows the mounted panels to tilt toward the sun, guaranteeing an optimal angle for power generation. The solar array features a monitor to track how much electricity is being generated by sunlight. A 60-foot free standing Skystream 3.7 wind turbine will supply wind power.

The deployment of charging stations will begin with 20 parking spots strategically located around the lab's 1,500-acre campus. The eventual goal is to have enough charging stations to accommodate 5 percent of Argonne employees, which equates to 160 parking spaces. The installation of the charging stations, solar array and wind turbine will be completed sometime in 2011.

As a member of the Grid Interaction Tech Team, Ted Bohn, principal electrical engineer in Argonne's Transportation Technology Research & Development Center (TTRDC), is excited about the prospect of having a small-scale, functioning EV charging infrastructure on site.

"As a laboratory focused on energy R&D, this is the right thing to do," Bohn said. "But it's also a great research tool for us as we pursue the development and validation of smart charging and smart grid technologies. We can use this on-site charging infrastructure for data collection and for field tests on our new prototype technologies such as software-defined radios and compact metrology units."

Not only will the program offer a means for recharging both employee-owned and laboratory fleet EVs and plug-in hybrids, it will also give transportation researchers a real-world test bed to gather data and validate smart charging technologies.

"There is good synergy between Argonne's EV Charging Pilot Program and our ongoing smart-charging and smart grid technology development projects," said Bohn.

Funding for this work is being provided by the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Program under the direction of Lee Slezak and Argonne National Laboratory's Greenhouse Gas Energy Conservation Account, Facilities General, under the direction of Mike Dunn.

Source: Argonne National Lab