Apr 20 2013
PowerStream and Georgian College are collaborating to better understand electric vehicles and their charging demands. A unique new applied research initiative will be conducted by means of a charging station, complemented by solar power, at the college's Barrie Campus.
The station will be the first of its kind in Canada with three levels of charging and the superior ability to collect data related to transferring power from the power grid to electric cars and vice versa.
Research projects will include comparing the power charge quality of various battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) to make recommendations on modelling, investigating load-levelling schemes whereby cars are charged at non-peak times to lessen the impact to the power grid, and studying the potential use of electric vehicles for energy storage as part of renewable energy management. The research collected from the charging station will assist with the adoption and optimization of electric vehicles.
PowerStream is investing $250,000 in the charging station which will be used by students and faculty from Georgian's School of Engineering Technology and Automotive Business School of Canada. They will work directly with PowerStream to undertake custom research projects.
The solar power-assisted electric vehicle charging station will be unveiled at the 28th annual Georgian College Auto Show on May 31.
QUOTES
- "The charging station embodies the innovative and technological savvy that will allow our students to be leaders in sustainable technologies," says MaryLynn West-Moynes, Georgian College's President and CEO. "The launch of the station is also a timely and relevant way for the college and PowerStream to continue its multi-year partnership to effectively prepare the future utility sector workforce."
- "As an energy-services company that is a recognized leader in the development and implementation of smart grid technologies, we are pleased to be supporting and working with Georgian College on this initiative," says Brian Bentz, PowerStream President and CEO. "The results and data the college will gather from this project will assist us in preparing our grid to handle the charging requirements of electric vehicles as their use becomes more common in the marketplace."
BACKGROUND
- PowerStream first partnered with Georgian College in 2009 with a $750,000 contribution towards the Centre for Sustainable Technologies building at the college's Barrie campus.
- In 2012, PowerStream teamed-up with Nissan Canada at the Georgian College Auto Show to demonstrate, for the first time in Canada, Vehicle to Home (V2H) power supply technology.
Source: http://www.powerstream.ca/