NSERC’s Awards Database
Award Details

Battery-Enabled EV Fast -Charging Station

Research Details
Application Id: 509316-2017
Competition Year: 2017 Fiscal Year: 2017-2018
Project Lead Name: Iravani, Reza Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering Province: Ontario
Award Amount: $152,180 Installment: 1 - 4
Program: Collaborative Research and Development Grants Selection Committee: RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Research Subject: Energy conversion and distribution Area of Application: Energy storage and conversion
Co-Researchers: No Co-Researcher Partners: Ecamion Inc.
OCE Inc.
Award Summary

The salient barrier to large-scale EV adoption is "range anxiety", i.e., i) long charging time, ii) relatively smallrange of distance coverage per charge iii) and lack of necessary or readily-accessible charging infrastructure,particularly in rural areas. The most common used EV chargers are levels-1 and level-2 charges which take upto 8 hours to fully charge the EV's batteries and are not suited for use during long-distance travel. Level-3 (fast)chargers that take 20-25 minutes for charging are the next step in the evolution of EV chargers and enablelong-distance/rural EV travel. This collaborative industry-university proposal by eCAMION and the Universityof Toronto is to research, develop, test and install prototypes of EV fast-charging (level-3) stations that utilizegrid-level Li-ion battery as the main source to supply multiple DC fast-chargers. The envisioned chargingstation, within the next three-years, is primarily intended for installation in rural area, e.g., along Tans-CanadaHighway and other main transportation corridors, to address "range anxiety" for EV's long-range and/or ruraltravel. In contrast to the existing EV fast-chargers, the proposed technology neither requires high-capacityutility-feed nor results in power quality issues in the utility grid. These two features enable installation of thecharging station based on demand and market requirements and eliminates the need for i) access tohigh-capacity utility feeder or ii) feeder up-grade which can impose excessive cost. The battery module of thecharging station is charged i) gradually from the grid and/or ii) local renewable resources, i.e., solar-PV units,and thus further reduces GHG emission and cost of operation. This program focuses on:1- RD&D of i) control, protection and Power/Energy management software/hardware of the battery-enabledfast charging station and ii) charging station infrastructure using Si-based power electronic converter modulesfor charging unit and station battery operation, for applications within 2nd-3rd year of the project. 2- RD&D ofnext-generation fast-charging station based on i) enhanced version of the developed control system and ii)SiC-based power electronic converter modules for applications beyond the 3rd-year of this project.