EV INFRASTRUCTURE
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // January 2020 // 71
MODELING IDEAL CHARGE LOCATIONS
Modeling can provide a deeper understanding of behavior and
how charging types and locations will work in particular settings.
ZEnMo (Zero-emission Energy & Mobility) simulations specializes
in taking a neighborhood (map with physical infrastructure) and
populating it with people.
“Every person and machine exhibits individual behavior – so,
for example, solar panels produce sun when the sun shines,
people go to work using a car – and from the collective behavior
a picture emerges,” says company founder, Auke Hoekstra.
“We look at driving and charging/fueling behavior of drivers to
get a realistic image of fleet behavior. The difference with most
other approaches is that this is very much bottom-up, with the
structure being a result.”
Results so far, include, he reveals: showing the Province of
Brabant what a 100% renewable energy+mobility system would
require in terms of trade-offs such as with investments and land
use; showing people working in charging infra or EVs (members
of the NKL) what to expect in terms of charging growth of EVs
and charging infrastructure; supporting new tariff schemes that
in turn could making charging EVs smarter so they don’t overload
the grid at all; and showing that most heavy trucks could be
electrified for the Rotterdam Port Authority and its customers
when they become available in a few years and how this would
reduce costs.
“We simulate a neighborhood with inhabitants that fulfill their
mobility needs,” he adds. “We then predict who will buy an
electric vehicle and when. We then model when those electric
vehicles will charge based on mobility and charging needs.”
Models can show in advance what subsidies and roll-out
schemes are most (cost) effective, show that this is not a ‘pipe
dream’ but inevitable and that this system will be not only
more environmentally friendly but also cheaper in the end.
Policy makers, entrepreneurs and buyers are slowed down by
uncertainty, so it can help speed up the transition.
For the coming years, Hoekstra expects vehicles with a plug (a
CCS plug in EU) to be exactly what 999 out of 1,000 cars need:
“As we grow, we can learn about the proportion fast-chargers
vs park chargers and about the speed car batteries will be able
to handle. Maybe smart charging and V2G will make it more
interesting for people to be plugged in a larger amount of time but
this will mainly impact home charging and work charging. All in
all I’m not worried about stranded charging assets for EVs either
PHEV or BEV.”
slow roll out of the sort of
charging infrastructure
su cient to feed the
hungry vehicles expected to
fi ll European roads in the next
few years. This chicken and egg
scenario could have an impact on both
industry profi ts and the ability of systems to
cope, no matter how integrated or ‘smart’ they
may be.
Enevoldson is more optimistic: “While it
is di cult, we should avoid thinking of EV
charging as a ‘chicken and egg’ problem that
requires thousands of chargers to be installed
everywhere before EV adoption takes off .
Instead, the EV industry needs to think of
charging as a ‘hot dog and bun’ problem: as
we keep adding more chargers, people will
keep buying more cars and the ratio will
even out over time.
“At ChargePoint we traditionally grow
15-20% ahead of market growth for EVs. That is
what the market is driving. Government
activity and consumer demand for EVs are the
driving force behind this.”
Kevin Pugh, UK and Ireland business
development manager at Tritium, is of the
opinion that there are many years of transition
for fuel-station forecourts ahead: “The nature
of evolving a fuel-heavy site from petrol and
diesel into one incorporating or exclusively
off ering EV charging will happen only with a
planned transitional model. Charging will be
on the perimeter to begin with, but as volumes
4. One day it is hoped
that inductive charging
lanes will become
commonplace on
our roadways
4
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