CO2 Smart Partner in Perth’s First Network of EV Recharge Stations

A consortium led by the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University, which includes CO2 Smart Pty Ltd as a project partner, will install Perth’s first Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations in early 2010 as part of a research project which has been awarded $229,000 funding under the Australian Research Council’s Linkage grant scheme.

The main aim of the project, which will involve the installation of around 10 charging stations, is to collect and evaluate data on EV charging behaviour in order to forecast power and grid capacity requirements for the next decade, as electric vehicles become more widely available.

Data will be collected from charging stations via wireless 3G broadband as well as from vehicles via black-box recorders. The project will also serve as a demonstration installation for future larger charging networks with vehicle-to-grid capabilities and help address the “EV chicken and egg” problem, in which the lack of a public charging infrastructure is seen as a hindrance to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles.

The charging stations will initially be made available for use by some 50 EVs from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association’s Perth Branch and UWA, with additional EVs expected to become available in 2010 as part of a wider EV trial to be managed by CO2Smart Pty Ltd.

The project is led by UWA Professor Thomas Bräunl and will run from 2010 to 2012.