Providing expanded options for home charging of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will be important as the market for PEVs continues to grow. Studies have estimated that as much as 90% of PEV charging occurs at residences. Though many organizations are working on charging solutions for single family homes, multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) present some unique challenges including the variety of property styles and architectures, models for access to electric service, parking, and potential capital costs.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office is funding the Vehicle Charging Innovations for Multi-Unit Dwelling project to help identify and address MUD charging issues. The Center for Sustainable Energy, which hosts the San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition, is leading a nationwide team of project partners including Virginia Clean Cities and other DOE Clean Cities coalitions; Energetics; Forth; Idaho National Laboratory; the National Association of State Energy Officials; state and local government agencies; MUD property owners; electric utilities, and; charging technology providers. The project team will engage stakeholders to document barriers to MUD and residential curbside PEV charging, gather utilization data from existing MUD and residential curbside charging stations, demonstrate innovative technologies that address barriers, compile project findings in an easy-to-use toolkit, and disseminate the toolkit across national, regional, state and local channels.
Virginia Clean Cities is contributing to the project by:
- collecting and analyzing data,
- helping to plan and implement charging infrastructure demonstrations and evaluation, and
- working to engage partners and otherwise contribute to market transformation in our area.
Our coalition works to advance air quality improvements, economic opportunity, and energy security through deployment of alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure, education programs, and other petroleum reduction activities.
More information on electric vehicle charging for multi-unit dwellings is available from the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center.
This article was written by Marc Lemmond with input from Kevin Wood of San Diego Clean Cities with the Center for Sustainable Energy.