U.S. government electric vehicle charging plan

US laid out plans on 10 February 2021 for a $5 billion network of electric vehicle chargers, which plans Half a Million EV Charging Stations Along Interstate Highways.

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Aiming to boost confidence in battery-powered cars by ensuring drivers can always find somewhere to plug in, grants included in the infrastructure law will help states build a charging network designed to reach highways in almost every corner of the country. The federal government is “teaming up with states and the private sector to build a nationwide network of EV chargers by 2030 to help create jobs, fight the climate change crisis, and ensure that this game-changing technology is affordable and accessible for every American.

Electric vehicles are a tiny fraction of annual sales and establishing a viable network of chargers, is widely seen as a vital step to convincing more Americans to switch out of their gas-powered cars. There are 116,000 public charging ports in the country, according to the Energy Department — mostly lower-speed “Level 2” chargers that are heavily concentrated in California. Many agreed the chargers need to be high-powered — for quickly topping up batteries — and generally located in safe areas near highway exits with stores, restrooms, Coffee Shop, ensure prices for charging are listed in terms of kilowatts per hour and require that charging can be paid with credit and debit cards, rather than through an account with charging providers, the distance should be closer to offer convenience similar to filling up at a gas station.

We will have to expand both the transmission grid as well as the sources of clean energy, the federal money being distributed will “help states create a network of EV charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors, particularly along with the Interstate Highway System,” according to the Transportation Department, building charging stations will lower the cost of using EVs, which might encourage more driving.

Most EVs are hampered from driving long distances by the gap between charging stations and the time it takes to recharge their batteries, which have limited range. Most new electric cars can travel about 500 kilometers or less between charging stops. To rid EV drivers of “range anxiety,” there will be a “seamless network” of charging stations along the nation’s highways. Ultimately, the federal government will consider a particular corridor fully built out when it has at least four 150-kilowatt charging points every 50 miles.

The problems of charging electric vehicles today

With so many new electric cars poised to enter the market in the coming year many are pondering about how we are actually going to charge all these vehicles. It’s a fair question to ask, after all, there are roughly 15 electric cars for every public charging station. Even in the most mature electric car market, California, it’s not much better with a 10:1 ratio. When electric cars do eventually become mainstream it’s going to be a herculean task to build out a public network that works the way that people are used to.

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Solar mobile charging stations along highways make Long-Haul Journeys possible. Admittedly, the project still has some way to go in continuing to build out a charging network that works for all electric car drivers. However, this has provided the blueprint on how to make long-haul journeys possible.

Unlike petrol stations, in the vast majority of cases, you can’t just park up and charge. Long journeys in an electric car currently require an element of planning. Furthermore, rapid-charging plugs create confusion: most electric cars can receive rapid charging via DC and this is the fastest way to top up your car’s battery. The issue is there are two entirely different DC plugs – CCS or CHAdeMO – both of which require their own socket. Most cars that can receive a rapid charge today have a CCS socket.

After all, considering most U.S. drivers don’t crack 50 miles in a day of driving, range anxiety is more charge anxiety than anything else. If there were a charging station near your job and you could leave home and work with 80 miles of range every day, there’d be a lot more EV drivers.

It’s quite difficult to fast-charge your car in many U.S. cities, even when money is no object. You have to drive through strange neighborhoods and try to locate chargers in vast parking lots where GPS is known to drop out of service. The bottom line is there aren’t nearly enough places to recharge an EV at a respectable speed.

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On the highway, the situation is worse. Initiatives to build fast chargers along major highways are just getting started, so this problem could be addressed in the coming years. Unfortunately, if you wanted to charge your car on a road trip between East Coast cities, the options for fast charging are few and far between. Even California struggles with this issue.

Containerized Electric Vehicle Charging Power House

Our electric vehicle charging power house is a fully sustainable containerized solution that provides recharging power from renewable energy sources. Based on our containerized hybrid power unit, these vehicle charging stations feature a mounted solar array on the roof of the container which charges the intelligent battery bank within.

The stored battery power is then available to recharge electric vehicles that plug into the container. The units can be configured to accept solar. As part of the design, the solar array can be dismantled and stored within the container, making it easy to transport to locations worldwide as a fully iso-rated standard shipping container. Each unit offers a sturdy solution for locations where a grid connection is unavailable and can be easily operated and maintained by owners.

Shipping containers are a logical choice due to their appropriate size to house all the electrical switchgear needed to support the charging stations and can be moved in a similar way to how shipping containers with goods inside move.

The site restoration is minimal when a shipping container charger is moved because most of the equipment is located within the container, which is built with transport in mind.

This solution is ideal for operators who are unable to install permanent infrastructure on a site, whether because of lease agreements, ongoing site transformation, or other reasons.

EV Charging Power House allows customers to utilize semi-permanent, portable charging to account for unpredictable changes in operations, offering fleet operators the ability to charge EVs from any location with suitable utility power capacity. This means operators have more control over where and when their fleets are charged.

The idea to use shipping containers for portable EV charging is noticed as a major barrier to EV adoption and infrastructure. Many fleets have issues identifying permanent locations for EV charging stations, especially those that lease land rather than own it.

Flexibility is key when talking about fleet transition and EV charging. The majority of fleet EV solutions today are not plug-and-play but require support from utilities, grant writers, municipalities, etc. It’s a way to deliver the entire charging value proposition in a box and serve as a single solution provider to bridge the gap to more permanent installations.

The project will consist of shipping containers, one side housing the main charging station, allowing the electric vehicle to charge at once. Another side can be expanded with some businesses like a coffee shop or a small store.

Solar-Mobile-EV-Charging-Station Idea ISolar-Mobile-EV-Charging-Coffee-Shop-Idea-I

Benefits of this container charging solution include:

*50% less expensive than conventional EV charging solutions for design, procurement, and installation.
*Location flexibility for companies that lease or want a portable charging option.
*This system is customizable and can be configured for different purposes.
*The charging power can be dynamically adjusted through the monitoring system, fast charging during the day, alternating or uniform charging at night, reducing power station investment and increasing the utilization rate of charging facilities
*Unattended operation
*Automatic charging after plugging in, easy to operate; fault alarm and emergency call, no need for manual inspection
*Flexible distribution of charging power, higher charging efficiency, and higher power load utilization;
*Standardized, pre-loaded container design, small footprint, easy to transport and install, saving civil construction
*Construction cost and construction time
*Modular integrated design of power transformation and distribution, convenient expansion, flexible configuration, and complete functions;
*High-protection outdoor design, efficient heat dissipation, resistance to rain, snow, high temperature or low temperature, stable operation in harsh environments;
*Multi-language intelligent man-machine interface, simple operation;
*The system makes use of solar power, intelligently utilizing the energy sources available to charge the onboard battery array.
*The system also includes fire suppression, while auto-shutoff in the event of an incident ensures that the system is safe to use and performs optimally.
*By continually topping up the stored energy buffer via renewables, it minimizes requirements from bio-diesel generation or the national grid (if available).
*The along with the PV panels, feed directly into the batteries.
*MPPT(Max power point tracking) management system
*The prototypes set up and tested have a footprint of roughly 7m x 3m and a height of 2.4m. The final dimensions may vary.

Solar EV Charging Station

As critical power specialists, we were briefed to design and supply a ‘green’, mobile, off-grid charging solution that would enable the running of a building site without any existing infrastructure. Our highly-skilled team worked on this concept of EV Container Charging Power House from conception to complete build, taking care of all aspects from research, planning, and design to fabrication, testing, and rollout. This mobile solution “is just starting to get underway.” Mobile charging will be “a small portion of the overall mobile EV charging project.”

The primary goal is to provide charge point owners and fleet operators with some flexibility, diminish the risks of stranding investments tied to large deployments of stationary chargers, and avoid grid distribution upgrade costs and some installation costs. Flexible charging stations can easily be built up anywhere and be connected to the grid. There’s also the flexibility to set them up off-grid. In that case, the charging station has to be removed for charging if the built-in battery pack is low. How the charging station is used, and the duration depends on the provider and the user’s demand.

The flexible, quick charging station has a big potential in the rapidly growing market for electric mobility like the U.S. The EV ecosystem is a work in progress, and when it comes to charging infrastructure, there are some key pieces missing from the puzzle. There will surely be a need for some form of portable charging on demand, and this is the niche.