Planning and analysis of charging infrastructure

In a large part of the world, electric vehicles are already both practical and economical for some applications. Electric ferries, city buses and taxis to name a few, are becoming increasingly common, and we are seeing a transition to fully electric vehicles in other applications such as city refuse and distribution trucks as well. Some transportation categories are still difficult to electrify, but development is rapid in everything from heavy intercity transportation to commercial aircraft.

For an individual actor considering a changeover to electric vehicles for the first time, it is nevertheless common to run into new questions and uncertainties which need to be sorted out. Often it is necessary to take into account the amount of energy which can be stored on board the vehicles in a different way than before, and study planning and logistics with fresh eyes, to find or create charging opportunitites. Still there are also segments which are perceived as more difficult to electrify, where there are no obvious or proven solutions or where one at least needs to be more careful to solve the puzzle. The questions not only concern vehicle owners and transportation operators but also organizations with overall responsibilities for public transport, refuse collection or other transportation services.

For actors in infrastructure there is also a puzzle to solve, regarding where chargers should be installed and when. Incentives and costs need to be considered, and comprehension needs to be built regarding how the need for charging infrastructure grows and is best accommodated. The issue also involves production and distribution of electricity, for instance regarding the environmental friendliness of the energy and the power capacity of the electric grids.

The amount of involved actors and systems makes it necessary to look at the whole picture while the parts are still studied in sufficient detail. RISE is an independent research partner actively working for sustainable transports from a societal perspective. We have a portfolio of projects in the area, where we together with real actors work with matters such as:

• Survey of and dialogue with actors, their interests and needs.
• Data collection, processing and analysis.
• Modeling, simulation and calculations relating to vehicles, charging stations and energy systems.
• Planning and functional and economic analysis of different electrification alternatives.
• Tools for simpler and more efficient planning and analysis.
• Interaction between electricity production, -distribution, -trade, energy storage and power trains.
• Load balancing and local production and storage of electric energy.

Please get in touch if you would like to know more or have ideas or suggestions for new projects!