Techno-environmental assessment of stationary EV charging solutions

Research Project, 2023 – 2024

The purpose of this work is to make a combined technical and environmental assessment of stationary charging of electrified vehicles. Another key aim is to build further from an already strong and fruitful cross-disciplinary internal Chalmers collaboration, while exploring a technology area where very few life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted – power electronics and foremost chargers. An overviewing technical study will assess the following options: (1) standard single-phase charging; (2) fast charging using three phase alternating current (AC); (3) fast charging using direct current (DC); (4) wireless charging; and (5) chargers utilizing the existing drive train in the vehicles (e.g. as in Renault ZOE). For option (5) the target will be to utilize the existing electric drive train to the highest extent possible as a means to avoid environmental impact, weight, and cost of infrastructure installations. These options will then also be assessed by screening LCA, and 1-2 options will be investigated more in-depth. In addition, the project aims to study technical and environmental implications of updating the chargers to bidirectionality, i.e. “V2G”. One specific technical objective is to build knowledge about the DC/DC conversion of the on-board chargers, a topic given little attention previously. Finally, an overall goal is to use the knowledge obtained in the project to form a platform for larger project applications for external calls.