University of Louisville Brings Kentucky to the Forefront of Workplace Charging Challenge

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The University of Louisville (UofL) has become the first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Workplace Charging Challenge (WCC) partner in the state of Kentucky. The Workplace Charging Challenge program aims to achieve a tenfold increase in the number of U.S. employers offering workplace charging in the next five years.

Employers involved in the Workplace Charging Challenge range in size, industry, and geography but strive for a common goal to advance the nation’s economic, environmental, and energy security by supporting electric vehicle technology and cutting petroleum use in transportation. Leading Kentucky’s WCC involvement, the University of Louisville, a Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition member, has joined a strong network of employers across the country who help determine best practices of workplace charging and are locally and nationally recognized for their efforts.Workplace Charging Challenge Logo

The University of Louisville’s Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering has purchased 6 GE charging stations of which 4 are installed in the UofL Floyd Street Parking Garage. This important resource not only allows faculty, staff and students access to charging stations for their electric vehicles, but also provides a test bed for research related to the communication between the car, charging station and electric grid.

“What we look forward to doing here at the university is to show the Department of Energy how we are effectively and efficiently utilizing the charging stations, by eliminating any peak demand electric charges from the charging stations,” said John Naber, Associate Chair of the ECE in the University of Louisville’s Speed School if Engineering

ECE doctoral student Nick Jewell has been using an algorithm he has developed to predict the peak demand time of electricity usage on the UofL campus and remotely turn off the charging stations during this critical, cost sensitive time period.

“U of L is not placing a few EV’s and recording mileage, it is providing the hands on data to change the automotive industry,” said Melissa Howell, Executive Director, Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition (KCFC).