EV Tanker - Deploying thermal and compressed air energy storage for electric vehicle charging

交通电气化是导致碳排放和道路使用引起的空气质量问题大幅减少的唯一最大机会。要实现这些高度优先的目标，需要在英国各地迅速广泛采用电动汽车(EVS)。随着越来越多的人转向电动汽车，城市将需要考虑如何为所有这些新车充电。为加油站和停车位安装电动汽车充电站只是解决方案的一部分。许多希望安装电动汽车充电器的现有加油站或新地点会发现，可用的电网连接无法处理这些水平的电力。在许多情况下，升级连接是不可行的，因为这是一项非常昂贵和漫长的工作。储能可以帮助解决这个问题。充电站可以在周围没有电动汽车的情况下，以其电网连接可管理的速度对其储能进行充电。当被调用时，能量存储可以以比电网连接本身能够提供的速度快得多的速度提供电能。这种方法允许在不升级电网连接的情况下安装电动汽车充电器，还允许发电站通过在非高峰时间为商店充电来降低电力成本。电动汽车的锂离子电池可以用于这一点，但它们很昂贵，而且需要开采难以回收的材料，造成负面环境影响。CEL正在为电动汽车充电站开发一种新的、绿色的、具有成本效益的储能系统，称为EVTanker。该系统从电网中获取电能，并将其中一部分存储为热量，另一部分存储为加压空气。该系统使用电动退役卡车发动机作为电力转换机器，用于将电力储存起来，并在需要时将其提取。EVTanker的一些关键特征是：其元件高度可持续，操作安全且简单，其主要部件可使用数十年，而且成本低于最便宜的锂离子电池。CEL开发了一个原型系统来演示这项技术。该项目的目标是将这项技术从全面的实验室原型转化为部署的试点系统。我们将在当地县议会的车辆段安装并调试试点系统，在那里将在真实条件下进行测试。CEL将与Open Energi合作开发强大的控制单元，这是将实验室原型转化为可运营的试点工厂的主要先决条件之一。控制系统将允许远程操作系统并监控不同组件的“运行状况”。它还将能够安排充放电周期以满足特定目标，例如最大限度地降低电力成本或确保储能库使用尽可能环保的电力充电。在该项目结束时，CEL将与英国客户一起安装、委托并测试第一个此类储能库。该项目将有助于促进该国对电动汽车的接受，并推动我们走向净零的未来。

Electrification of transport is the single greatest opportunity to cause dramatic reductions in carbon emissions and air quality concerns from road usage. Achieving these high-priority aims calls for rapid and widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) across the UK. As more people switch to EVs, cities will need to think how to provide charge to all those new vehicles. Retrofitting petrol stations and parking spaces with EV charging points is only part of the solution. Many of the existing petrol stations or new sites looking to install EV chargers will discover that the grid connection available cannot handle those levels of power. In many cases, upgrading the connection is infeasible as it is a very expensive and lengthy job.Energy storage can help solve this issue. Charging stations can charge their energy store when there are no EVs around at a rate that is manageable for their grid connection. When called upon, the energy store can provide charge at a much faster rate than the grid connection alone would be able to. This approach allows installing EV chargers without upgrading the grid connection and it also allows the stations to reduce their electricity costs by charging the store at off-peak times.Lithium-ion batteries from EVs could be used for this; however, they are expensive and they entail the mining of materials that are difficult to recycle, causing negative environmental impacts.CEL is developing a new, green, and cost-effective energy storage system for EV charging stations called EVTanker. The system takes electricity from the grid and stores a part of it as heat and another part as pressurised air. The system uses electrically driven ex-service truck engines as the power-conversion machines for putting electricity into storage and withdrawing it when needed. Some key features of EVTanker are that: its elements are highly sustainable, it's safe and straightforward to operate, its main components will last for decades and it costs less than the cheapest lithium-ion batteries.CEL has developed a prototype system to demonstrate the technology. The objective of this project is to take the technology from a full-scale laboratory prototype to a deployed pilot system. We will install and commission the pilot system at a local county council's vehicle depot, where it will be tested under real-life conditions.CEL will partner with Open Energi to develop a robust control unit, which is one of the main prerequisites for transforming the laboratory prototype into an operational pilot plant. The control system will allow operating the system remotely and monitor the 'health' of different components. It will also be capable of scheduling charge/ discharge cycles to meet specific objectives, such as minimising electricity costs or ensuring that the energy store is charged using the greenest electricity possible.At the end of this project, CEL will have installed, commissioned and tested the first energy store of this kind with a customer in the UK. The project will help boost the country's uptake of EVs and propel us towards a net-zero future.