Researchers at the Institute for Sustainable Futures are helping to accelerate Australia’s uptake of Electric Vehicles with two projects that address EV integration and infrastructure.
Demand for EVs far outstrips supply as the transport and energy sector sits on the precipice of profound change. The growing adoption of EVs will create many opportunities and challenges, calling for new research/industry collaborations to enhance outcomes and inform efforts around the world.
As governments, businesses and consumers make the switch to EVs and seek to decarbonise transport, ISF is involved in delivering some of the most cutting-edge EV research in Australia. This includes award-winning EV charging infrastructure support for local governments like Lake Macquarie City Council, the Australian Strategic EV Integration (SEVI), Lithgow’s Electric Car Parks, and more.
Led by ISF and Curtin University, SEVI is one of many in a greater network of ISF projects focusing on the evolution of energy infrastructure in the transition to 100% renewable energy.
At the beginning of 2022, the SEVI project received $3.4 million in funding from the RACE for 2030 CRC to investigate a selection of early-stage use cases for EVs within fleets, precincts, and regional contexts.
As part of its research program, SEVI will explore how EVs interact with the grid, embedded networks, and buildings that involve a range of energy storage options. It will also provide policy and regulatory recommendations, undertake social and behavioural research, analyse the business models and value propositions, develop energy system modelling, and assess the network impacts.
The SEVI team launch the EV charging station at Witchcliffe Ecovillage in WA. [l-r] Ben James, Scott Dwyer, Dr Charlie Hargroves, and Distinguished Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University, Peter Newman AO. Photo supplied.
The Lithgow’s Electric Car Parks project is an EV charging strategy ISF spearheads in collaboration with the Lithgow City Council and the Lithgow Community Power Project. It maps the installation of 32 publicly available medium-speed EV charging points across the Lithgow local government area.
The project identifies where destination charge points should be located, the type of charge points to install, how many to install, and when their installation should take place. This first tranche of charge points will be increased to bring numbers up to 58 Level 2, and six Level 3 charge points by 2026.
How EVs are integrated with our energy system will have long-lasting implications for Australia. Only through strategic cooperation between Government, industry, and research sectors, can we electrify the future.
Lithgow Community Power Project’s Chairman, David Peters says "By the end of 2023, we’ll have EV charge point coverage to put us in line with European Union standards, where uptake has been significant."