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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 919 records · Page 51

NREL Infrastructure Perception and Control Workshop

A lack of highly reliable, full state-space awareness of roadway situations is the current bottleneck for the incremental introduction of smart infrastructure control. NREL's Infrastructure Perception and Control (IPC) lab applies advanced sensing and computation controls to the coordinated movement of vehicles on the road as well as people in large facilities and has produced field test results from a Colorado Springs intersection. In this presentation, NREL discusses the state of smart infrastructure control and opportunities for partnership.

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EVs@Scale NextGen Profiles: EVSE Characterization 2024

As part of the U.S. Department of Energy's EVs@Scale consortium, the Next-Generation Profiles (NextGen Profiles) project presents analysis and results from the characterization of high-power conductive and wireless charging infrastructure. High power charging equipment is capable of recharging electric vehicle traction batteries at power levels of 200KW and above. EVSE characterization was conducted over a wide range of DC output current and DC voltage charging for nominal and off-nominal test conditions. Test plans and procedures were developed and refined to define the test configurations and requirements, measurement parameters, and test procedures used throughout NextGen Profiles testing.

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Northeast Freight Corridor Charging Plan (Roadmap Report)

Final report produced as part of grant awarded to National Grid. The final report is a roadmap of 39 prioritized sites. These sites would create a minimum viable network of charging infrastructure, enabling the electrification of trucks across the Northeast

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Recommended Practice: Seamless Retry for Electric Vehicle Charging

This work introduces the concept of seamless retry in the electric vehicle (EV) charging domain. Its primary aim is to enhance the reliability and user experience of EV charging by reducing the frequency of user-required interventions in EV charging. This is achieved through an automated retry mechanism that activates upon encountering errors during the EV charging process.

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EVI-LOCATE User Manual

One of the longest stages in the deployment of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) is the initial planning of the infrastructure itself. Engineers and fleet experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have supported dozens of charging infrastructure site plans over the past couple decades, including the generation of site schematics, determinations of electric capacity, and estimates for likely costs. As the market for electric vehicles (EVs) has matured, this approach should no longer require a time and personnel intensive process. In order to shorten the time taken to develop site plans and cost estimates, NREL developed a tool that fleet managers, facility managers, electricians, EVSE installers, and members of the public can use to develop initial schematics and ballpark pricing for charging station installations. The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure - Locally Optimized Charger Assessment Tool and Estimator (EVI-LOCATE) provides a structured and consistent way for users to enter information about their planned EVSE project in a relatively simple web-based format. EVI-LOCATE then calculates electrical equipment capacity, wiring runs, and project costs. It produces a site diagram optimized around surface characteristics with differential trenching costs for softscape such as grass compared to hardscape such as asphalt that can be adjusted by users in the tool. It also stores the resulting site plans and costs in a dashboard for access at a later date, including plan revisions if necessary. This document guides users through the EVI-LOCATE screens and associated questions. It contains tip text boxes throughout on how best to interface with the tool and find additional information or context. The appendices contain the assumptions and calculations underpinning the tool. Much of the information for EVI-LOCATE was gathered through industry engagements with EVSE installers, invoices from completed EVSE installations, Gordian's RS Means construction data, and the General Services Administration blanket purchase agreement for EVSE. For a visual tutorial of the tool, users can watch EVI-LOCATE Step-by-Step Video. The tool itself is available at https://evi-locate.nrel.gov.

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The Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize (Final Technical Report)

This is a final technical report for the American-Made Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) in collaboration with the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) with support from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR). The MAKE IT Prize aims to catalyze domestic manufacturing of critical energy technology components, moving manufacturing facilities from planning to shovel-ready and enabling strategies for vibrant manufacturing activities in communities. This prize was launched with a prize pool of approximately $30 million spread across two tracks: Facilities and Strategies.

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Deer Isle and Stonington Energy Reliability Opportunities

The towns of Deer Isle and Stonington, located on the island of Deer Isle in Maine, partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) to examine options to enhance energy resilience, reduce dependence on imported fuels, and mitigate high energy costs. With technical support from the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and regional partner the Island Institute, the project focused on evaluation of the local electricity distribution infrastructure, examination of ongoing activities to reduce the frequency of outages, review of the applicable policy and regulatory environment, and identification of potential on-site energy solutions. Key findings revealed the island's reliance on a single distribution line, and limited hosting capacity for additional distributed energy resources. Solar photovoltaics (PV) technology, with and without battery storage, was found to be the most viable technology given economic, technical, and social considerations. While also technically feasible, wind energy faces more difficult siting and less public acceptance compared to PV. Marine energy technologies were determined to be infeasible due to technology immaturity and lengthy permitting timelines. Modeling of potential building-scale PV plus storage systems resulted in successful grant applications for installations at two local facilities. Analysis of community scale energy generation and storage options resulted the local utility, Versant, submitting a grant application for a proposed community-scale battery storage system to increase grid resilience and hosting capacity. This initiative has strengthened the communities' energy planning capabilities and laid the groundwork for future clean energy development.

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Massachusetts and New England Sustainable Aviation Fuel Study

The Massachusetts Port Authority established a project to assess feedstock availability to produce SAF near 10 New England airports. A techno-economic analysis was conducted to determine renewable fuels and SAF that could be produced from these feedstocks. The resource assessment found municipal solid waste, woody biomass, and food waste were most abundant. The techno-economic analysis found that potential fuel production varied widely based on location, feedstock, and technology production pathway ranging from 1 to 369 million gallons of gasoline equivalent per year. An assessment of infrastructure readiness to handle SAF was conducted. It was determined that SAF produced outside of New England should be blended in other regions with more capacity and flexibility and delivered to New England as Jet A is today. For SAF produced in New England, there are terminals that have existing infrastructure to receive, blend, and distribute SAF/Jet A blends.

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Automated Ride Hailing - Status, Projections, and Critical Safety Review

Automated ride-hailing services, commonly known as 'robo-taxis' are beginning to proliferate and scale. Currently they are available in four major US cities with another 10 cities planning their implementation in the near future. In the US, automated ride-hailing services are dominated by a single provider, with announcements from several competitors of service offerings by end of calendar year 2025. Internationally, only three companies are currently in commercial operations, with many more planned. The scaling of robo-taxi services appears to be the leading application of automated vehicles (AVs), and provides evidence of their anticipated safety in comparison to conventional vehicles. This presentation will provide an overview of the status of deployments of fully operational AVs in ride-hailing services, projections of the number of trips, vehicles, and vehicle miles traveled for the immediate future, and a critical review of the safety data that has been reported, both in the US as well as internationally.

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New Norms or Old Habits: Evaluating Interlinked Trajectories of Online Shopping and Work Commute Post-Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shifted travel behaviors, with major changes observed in online shopping and travel to work. Despite considerable research into pandemic-induced changes in travel behavior, it remains uncertain whether these new patterns have persisted or reverted to pre-pandemic norms. This study addresses this uncertainty by evaluating whether shifts in online shopping and work travel during the pandemic have become permanently ingrained in individuals' daily routine. Leveraging data from the 2022 National Household Travel Survey, a bivariate ordered probit model is employed to analyze changes in online shopping and work travel - whether they have increased, decreased, or remained stable compared to pre-pandemic levels across different population segments. The analysis finds that the pandemic did not significantly alter online shopping for home delivery and travel to work for the majority of society. However, a substantial portion of respondents reported increased online shopping for home delivery and reduced travel to work compared to pre-pandemic levels, with online shopping trends appearing more permanent. Segment-wise analysis and model results indicate heterogeneity in behavioral shifts with females engaging more in online shopping, while zero-vehicle households are traveling less to work, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, increase in online shopping frequency is significantly and negatively correlated with decrease in traveling to work. These findings highlight the need for improved digital infrastructure, flexible work policies, and integrated transportation solutions tailored to evolving demographic and socioeconomic needs in the post-pandemic era. Additionally, the study calls for integrating passenger and freight movement in a single framework rather than treating them in silos.

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The Next Stage for Smart Cities: Metrics to Spur an Evolution from Technology for Efficiency to Technology for People's Needs

The Smart Cities movement is about a decade old, energized by the USDOT Smart Cities grant that sparked cities to dream big. Now, 10 years later, and multitudes of conferences and papers later, the biggest question regarding Smart Cities is whether any progress has been made? Smart Cities forums are typically led by the technology sector, either telecommunications, internet access, or most recently artificial intelligence (AI) concerns. Each of these areas have grown and found new applications in the context of Smart Cities, however, these technology applications are just tools toward ends. Do digital communications and assistance enable or foster improved access to real, tactile, non-virtual goods and services such as transportation, food, housing, trash removal, health care, education, social interaction? These and other topics are not 'big tech', but are each critical to quality of life outcomes and are day-to-day necessities, comprising many of the touch points through which citizens interact with municipal agencies. Regarding Smart Cities, relationships have not been fully refined as to how best to merge the emerging generation of technology and related trends with more mundane but essential requirements of tactile services. How should municipal managers and operators bring the range of new technology tools (e.g. on-demand transit, automated vehicles, digital connectivity) to bear to improve functions serving real- physical- non-virtual needs? How do we make cities more efficient in providing access to services and opportunities for improved quality of life? This paper examines the current Smart City movement, emerging trends, and the need to put metrics with respect to the delivery, access, and provision of real-life needs. Using a few case studies of past, present, and projected future scenarios, this paper attempts to bring Smart Cities into the real cities domain, perhaps pushing the moniker away from 'Smart' to 'Efficient' - something that can be measured, counted, and assessed. Through the consideration of the next stage of the evolution of cities from 'Smart' to 'Efficient', the combined efforts and experience of multiple researchers at the NREL and their network of collaborators highlights the need for updates metrics that can be used to start guiding efforts toward productive initiatives to improve quality of life.

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Energy 101 Transportation [Slides]

The Energy 101: Transportation presentation, developed for the Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP), provides an overview of transportation. It covers fundamental concepts, technologies, considerations, case studies, and additional resources.

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A framework for integrating supply chain, environmental, and social justice factors during early stationary battery research

The transition to a decarbonized economy will drive dramatically higher demand for energy storage, along with technological diversification. To avoid mistakes of the past, the supply chain implications and environmental and social justice (ESJ) impacts of new battery technologies should be considered early during technological development. We propose herein a systematic framework for analyzing these impacts for new stationary battery technologies and illustrate the framework with a case study. The goal is to promote future development of technologies with secure supply chains and favorable ESJ profiles to avoid expensive corrective actions after substantial resources have been invested. This framework should be a useful tool for public and private researchers and sponsors who want to ensure that supply chain and ESJ concerns are considered and integrated as part of decision making throughout the research and development process.

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Assessment of Economic Viability of Direct Current Fast Charging Infrastructure Investments for Electric Vehicles in the United States

As the global transportation sector increasingly adopts electric vehicles, the demand for advanced and accessible charging infrastructure is rising. In addition to at-home electric vehicle (EV) charging, there is a growing need for the swift development of commercial direct current fast charging (DCFC) stations to meet on-the-go EV charging demands. While government funds are available to support the expansion of the EV charging network in the United States, the establishment of a robust nationwide EV charging infrastructure requires significant private sector investment. This study was conducted to assess the economic feasibility of various business models for fast charging stations in the U.S. using two case studies and exploring different operational strategies including sole ownership and collaborative ventures with public and private entities. The results indicate that based on the current adoption and utilization rates in the U.S., the business model involving an owner-operator collaborating with a public partner ensures profitability and protects the investment in DCFC stations from financial losses. The study also highlights that demand charges and electricity retail prices are the factors that affect the profitability of a DCFC station.

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Clean Cities and Communities Small Project Funding

The presentation will address the varied and diverse ways that NLR provides DOE funding to support Clean Cities and Communities coalition projects. This includes three project approaches: Jumpstart funding, Coalition Building, and Energy to Communities (E2C).

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UL 1741SC Conformance Development, Evaluation, and Proposal [Slides]

V2G AC is a type of grid interconnection by mobile battery that transforms an EV into a DER with the potential to stabilize the grid and lower costs for electricity. UL 1741SC is a critical new standard to enable grid interconnection of V2G AC-capable vehicles, by defining requirements for V2G AC-intended EVSEs as a gatekeeper between the grid and the EV to support grid safety, such as through redundant voltage trip (namely oversight). EVSE manufacturers need a clear set of conformance test cases and criteria by which to evaluate their equipment and confirm the compliance with UL 1741SC, so that the EVSEs performs as intended for the grid safety. Hence, NLR identified necessary conformance tests and performed the tests identified to understand the maturity.

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Resources for E-Mobility Program Implementation [Slides]

The Energy to Communities (E2C) peer-learning cohort program provides technical assistance to groups of 15 community entities around a common energy topic over the course of 6 months. Every month, participants join a virtual meeting where they hear from experts and exchange strategies and best practices with their peers. This cohort, "Successful Energy Project Implementation" will explore common challenges in implementing energy projects and learn strategies to turn project plans into reality. Each participant will focus on a local energy project or priority as a cornerstone for their learning throughout the series.This presentation overviews the basics of developing electric mobility projects with emphasis on leveraging the right tools to advance technical scoping and program design.

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Alternative Fuels Data Center

This presentation provides an overview of the Alternative Fuels Data Center for the 2026 Transportation Technologies Annual Merit Review, including project objectives, milestone, approach to developing and maintaining the website, project accomplishments and progress, and collaboration with other national labs and external partners.

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