Santa Monica Teams Up with UCLA to Install Experimental EV Fast Charger

SANTA MONICA, CA -- Electric vehicles are seen as the future of clean transportation, but they can also be used as energy storage devices, and that is the what the City of Santa Monica and UCLA have teamed up to test with the installation of an experimental Level 3 charger.

The charger offers the fastest vehicle recharge currently available on the market. The experimental part of the special charger is that it then connects the vehicle to the electrical grid as a battery storage device.

The test is hoping to show how EVs can be used as batteries to push electrons onto the grid in the event of short fluctuations in grid electricity, fluctuations likely due to limited solar output on cloudy days, and the like. A fast charger can fully charge an EV in less than half an hour, compared to typical Level 2 chargers, which usually take several hours (Level 1 charging requires the use of a standard plug).

"Saving energy and installing solar was the first generation of effort," said Dean Kubani, Chief Sustainability Officer and Assistant Director of Public Works. "The next generation is about managing energy onsite with interconnected assets like battery storage in buildings and EVs, on a minute-by-minute basis. The technology is coming, and fast, and we want to be ready."

Santa Monica's first public fast charger was installed last week in the Civic Center Parking Structure by UCLA's Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC). The project, funded by a research grant from the California Energy Commission, will manage and monitor the flow of energy between the structure's rooftop solar system, onsite battery storage and City electric vehicles.

"The utility grid likes consistency when it comes to power," said Dr. Rajit Gadh, SMERC Director, "When a cloudy day disrupts electricity generation from a solar system, there is inefficiency that strains the grid. Electric vehicles are like mobile batteries that can discharge excess energy back to the building and the grid in times of need."

As a partner to the grant project, the City has offered to use its eligible vehicles for the test. UCLA will monitor the parking structure's 213 kW solar system and, when energy productivity drops, will trigger a discharge from the City's EV.

The fast charger will be offered free for use by the public with time restrictions to allow for the research to be conducted. However, private EVs using the fast charger will not be subject to testing. Currently, the only vehicles with a fast charger plug known as CHAdeMO can take advantage of the service.

-- News release from the city of Santa Monica. Photo courtesy of UCLA.