Through a partnership with the FREEDM Systems Center at NC State University in Raleigh, GoTriangle expects to gain a new electric bus-charging station in three years through a U.S. Department of Energy funded project.
The Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center at NC State – a leader in power electronics research –will kick off the project this summer.
“We are extremely excited to be involved with this partnership with NC State,” said Pat Stephens, GoTriangle Chief of Operations. “GoTriangle has a commitment to continue the deployment of environmentally friendly buses and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. This is a great opportunity to move this initiative forward through research partners such as NC State.”
Phase 1 of the project will involve design, testing and assembly at the FREEDM lab on NC State's Centennial Campus and is expected to last two years. Preparation for installation is anticipated in the third year with GoTriangle employees involved in planning and site engineering. Duke Energy will also be heavily involved in planning. GoTriangle will keep the charger after the project.
“This project would not be possible without our demonstration partners like GoTriangle,” said Ken Dulaney, Director of Industry and Innovation at FREEDM. “This technology will increase asset utilization and speed the transition to low carbon transportation for bus fleets.”
The new e-bus charger will bring more power, and a smaller footprint.
Recognizing the need for higher power charging for heavy-duty electric vehicles, DOE previously funded FREEDM to build a 1-megawatt charging station for the New York Power Authority. This project for GoTriangle will result in a similar system but with lower cost, higher efficiency and a smaller footprint. The design goals include a scalable architecture to reduce the complexity of adding charging stations in the future. Other project partners in addition to GoTriangle include Danfoss located in Research Triangle Park, the NY Power Authority in New York, Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) in Chicago and the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, also located at NC State in Raleigh.
The Clean Energy Technology Center will also gather data on installation and operating costs for other high-power chargers to inform the overall system design. NYPA, ComEd and GoTriangle will each serve as demonstration sites for the completed charger design.