News: Microelectronics
24 October 2022
ComEd and NCSU receive $200,000 US DOE grant for SiC-based XFC project
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based energy provider Exelon Corp), in partnership with North Carolina State University’s FREEDM Systems Center, has been awarded a $200,000 federal research and development grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to help fund a $5m research project focused on improving the efficiency of, and reducing the cost of, extreme fast charging (XFC) for electric vehicles (EVs).
The XFC project aims to allow EV owners to charge their vehicles at a much faster rate than Level 1 or Level 2 EV chargers, which rely on standard 120V and 240V outlets, respectively (taking about 50 hours and 7.5 hours, respectively, to fully charge a standard 70kWh EV battery).
The XFC charger that the project seeks to develop and demonstrate will be an ultra-low cost, all-silicon carbide (SiC) modular power converter for direct current charging equipment that can connect directly to a medium-voltage distribution system. With power capabilities of 300kWh, these chargers target reducing the time to fully charge a standard 70kWh EV battery to as little as 15 minutes.
“The goal of this new project is to bring extreme fast charging much closer to market realization and support the continued adoption of electric vehicles by reducing consumers’ charge anxiety,” says Srdjan Lukic Ph.D., NC State professor, deputy director of FREEDM and principal investigator for the project. “We could not achieve that without collaboration from project partners like ComEd.”
The project will be divided into two phases focused on cost analysis & system development and system demonstration, respectively. After the charging systems have been developed, ComEd’s Grid Integration and Technology (GrIT) Lab in Maywood, IL, will serve as the initial testing location for the new technology — providing an independent validation of the XFC system performance. ComEd will also support phase two of the project by identifying ideal locations on the distribution grid to demonstrate the technology, unlocking the potential for wider deployment.
The full $5m XFC EV development and demonstration project is funded through collaborator cost shares including $200,000 from ComEd. Other collaborators include Danfoss, GoTriangle, New York Power Authority and North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center.
