Smart charging and energy management specialist The Mobility House has partnered with Itron on a project in New York State to implement technology to accelerate fleet electrification. This initiative, supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will use flexible service connections to address distribution system capacity bottlenecks.
The demonstration will integrate Itron’s IntelliFLEX DERMS solution, part of its Grid Edge Intelligence portfolio, with automated load management (ALM) from The Mobility House’s ChargePilot charge management system (CMS). The goal is to enable fleets to operate efficiently while reducing or eliminating the need for costly and time-intensive infrastructure upgrades.
“This technology combination is absolutely critical to the timely transition to zero-emission vehicles,” says Greg Hintler, CEO of The Mobility House North America. “If we can solve the interconnection backlog, the biggest obstacle to fleet electrification will be removed.”
Flexible service connection enables a utility to approve service to energize EV charging infrastructure that might otherwise be prohibited by distribution capacity constraints. This is possible because the utility can ensure that the fleet does not exceed a predetermined charging capacity limit at certain times, based on forecasted or real-time distribution system capacity. Under the implementation architecture tested in this project, to reliably reduce charging when required, the utility provides physical equipment limitations and grid topology to the Itron IntelliFLEX solution, which then sends a signal to ChargePilot to dynamically adjust charging as required.
“This collaboration between The Mobility House and Itron to deliver flexible service connections illustrates the possibilities of Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence portfolio,” said Don Reeves, Senior VP of Outcomes at Itron. “Utilities can now enable intelligence at the grid edge and help end-use customers avoid the financial burden and wait time associated with upgrading distribution infrastructure to support their fleet electrification goals.”
In the first phase of the demonstration, The Mobility House and Itron will deploy the technology integration with an implementation of five chargers at a school bus site in Staten Island. In the second phase, ten additional chargers will be deployed at a second site elsewhere in New York State.
Source: The Mobility House