Leading up to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, cities around the world announced commitments to slash carbon emissions. In the U.S. alone, 130 cities — representing over 54 million Americans — announced joining the Cities Race to Zero, a United Nations initiative committing urban centers to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050[1]. Many of those cities are electrifying transportation, given that transportation accounts for about 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.[2].
Auto manufacturers like Audi, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford have also pledged to either eliminate or drastically reduce production of internal combustion engine vehicles[3].
Many EVs, but where to charge?
As EVs become more affordable and, thus, more accessible, the primary challenge to city electrification will be to ensure adequate and equitably distributed charging infrastructure. This is particularly true in cities with dense urban cores, where residents of multi-tenant apartment buildings and condos could face challenges when it comes to installing residential charging stations. This would be a missed opportunity for cities because urban residents tend to purchase EVs at higher rates than those who live in rural areas.
Traditional curbside charging can tackle these needs by increasing access to charging stations in downtown cores where space may be limited, and by doing so providing drivers who live in condos and apartments with access to charging in nearby on-street parking locations. Depending on each city's specific objectives, budgets and electrical capacity, another option may be available to provide a quicker and more cost-effective solution: utilizing their own existing infrastructure.
Working with what is already in place
Here's how it works: in addition to dedicated curbside charging units, cities can use their existing network of streetlights, lampposts and utility poles to reduce the cost and speed up the installation of EV charging. To do this, cities mount a Level 2 EV charging station onto an existing streetlight or utility pole and tap into its excess power, which can reduce the overall deployment costs.
When you have appropriate curbside assets already in place "the estimated savings in using existing assets to host curbside EV charging could be in the realm of up to 70 percent because you're not conducting civil works like trenching to feed the conduit and wiring needed for traditional curbside chargers," says Frank Fata, Global Head, Utilities at FLO — a North American leader in EV charging solutions that has already sold over 50,000 public, commercial and residential EV chargers. "We have also found that installations that take advantage of available capacity and existing infrastructure can be implemented in as little as one or two days."
The approach presents a significant opportunity to scale access to chargers quickly and cost-effectively.
Higher utilization and a complement to LEDs
While most cities have available infrastructure that can accommodate EV charging, urban areas that have completed or are considering a transition to energy efficient LED streetlights often have a particularly attractive opportunity. "The electrical capacity that is freed up by converting to LEDs could potentially support EV chargers," says Fata, who also notes that installing EVs on streetlamps in commercial areas can also increase grid utilization. "The lamps light up overnight, while clients parking in commercial areas plug in during the day," he says. "So commercial areas aren't battling for power on the lamppost at night or during the day, and you're really optimizing available energy."
Because retrofitting available infrastructure is often the most efficient way to electrify city roads, it also tends to be a good strategy for cities concerned about democratizing access to EV charging. Ensuring that charging infrastructure is available in traditionally disadvantaged neighborhoods is critical to delivering the benefits of electrification to all citizens. "The dealerships won't be offering gas vehicles in five or 10 years, so everyone will have to be able to charge their vehicles," says Fata. "Cities need to deploy EV chargers equitably across their communities to ensure that all residents can enjoy the benefits of electrification."
Progress in Los Angeles
FLO is already working with a number of cities to quickly and cost-effectively deploy EV charging using existing infrastructure. For example, FLO worked with the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting, which recently upgraded the city's 220,000 light poles to LED. FLO partnered with the City to develop a mounting bracket that made it easy to install the company's Level 2 chargers onto the poles. FLO also ensured that the chargers were built to withstand extreme heat.
Moreover, FLO and local crews were able to deploy chargers quickly and at scale, installing 75 chargers in just 90 days, a much shorter timeframe versus other curbside charger installation projects. The results have been impressive in the twelve months following installation: the chargers have hosted 3,669 charging sessions, and average monthly growth in users has been 24 percent[4].
The lessons learned in LA are now being applied to another project to accelerate EV charging by using existing utility assets. FLO has teamed up with Arup, the Electric Power Research Institute, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and Southern California Edison, which were recently awarded a California Energy Commission grant, for a program called BESTFIT. The project will involve mounting curbside stations (including a DC fast charger) to a range of utility assets to analyze the benefits and challenges involved with each.
FLO and its partners will use the lessons learned from the BESTFIT project to inform utility rules governing the use of existing infrastructure for charging. The project will also demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of this approach — which is especially important in California because the sale of new gas-powered cars will phase out by 2035 — and inform the development of a pricing strategy that allows third party companies to provide EV charging.
"There are millions of street poles in California alone," says Fata. "As the state looks to move quickly towards EVs, it will need to deploy charging quickly and affordably. This will help not only California, but also the many cities around the globe looking to encourage the adoption of EVs."
Sources:
[1]. "More than 100 American Cities Make Historic Pledge to Accelerate Net-Zero Emissions, Deliver Action Needed to Meet National Climate Goals." C40, 25 October 2021, URL. Accessed 18 November 2021.
[2] "Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions." Environmental Protection Agency, URL. Accessed 18 November 2021.
[3] "Here Are All the Promises Automakers Have Made about Electric Cars." Car and Driver, 26 June 2021, URL. Accessed 18 November 2021.
[4] "Los Angeles Case Study." FLO, URL. Accessed November 18 2021.