Transport: Hi-tech technologies and systems for electric mobility
7/3/2019
Hi-tech systems for dynamic wireless charging, experimental investigations to increase battery safety, IT tools and studies to promote diffusion of electric mobility and support local administrations, public transport companies and charging infrastructure managers. These are some of the innovative technologies and activities conducted by ENEA and several universities as part of the 2015-2017 Electrical System Research Program approved by the Ministry of Economic Development, Involving over 50 researchers with a total investment of about 5 million euro. The results were presented in Rome during the conference "New scenarios of electric mobility: technological upgrading, potentials and impacts of electric mobility", attended by experts, operators of the sector and members of the institutions and the academic world.
"At ENEA, sustainable mobility is a strategic priority. We are at the forefront of research in this area both through public research programs and in collaboration with individual and collective transport companies" ,Federico Testa, President of ENEA said, announcing that " just recently the Agency has obtained a particularly important recognition with the assignment by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to the Consortium MOBiLus, to which ENEA belongs, of the KIC Urban Mobility[1 ],, , to create a European hub for the development of innovative technologies and solutions to sustainable mobility issues in urban areas ".
"The activities – Testa said - will last seven years and foresee investments of 1.6 billion euro, with a maximum of 25% financed by the EIT. The first results are expected as early as 2020. Of the 48 partners (13 cities, 17 automotive and ICT companies, and 18 among universities and research centers) only two are Italian, ENEA and the Milan Polytechnic Foundation".
Among the most interesting innovations, hi-tech systems to 'fill up' cars and electric buses: the dynamic wireless charging, which allows the transfer of energy while in motion from a system of "track coils" placed on the ground to a pick-up coil installed on vehicles, and ultra-fast charging systems, capable of supplying energy to buses while letting passengers on and off.
Among the key topics of the 2015-2017 System Research Program there are the surveys and analyses conducted in the laboratory and in the field at the ENEA Casaccia Research Center, which is one of the best equipped centers for the study of lithium ion accumulators in Italy, essential for electric mobility.
The life cycle of electric vehicles was also analyzed to identify potential failures in the availability of raw materials in energy consumption and in the disposal of materials. The impact on air quality and climate was the subject of a simulation study on the penetration of electric vehicles in Rome.
Finally, to support local administrations and operators in the costs/benefits evaluation of a possible electrification of the public service, in the framework of the 2015-2017 Electrical System Research Program, ENEA has created BEST (Better Electric Solutions for Public Transport), a software capable of performing a technical-economic feasibility analysis of power supply of city buses in different situation,s and of indicating to companies in the sector the optimal configuration of charging infrastructures. Finally, the simulation system EMU (E-Mobility Simulation), for public and private decision makers (local administrators, electricity operators and recharging services operators) for a more correct and sustainable diffusion of electric mobility in urban contexts.
For more information:
Video: ENEA per la mobilità elettrica – Immagini di repertorio
Brochure: ENEA for sustainable mobiliy
Antonino Genovese and Maria Pia Valentini, ENEA – Laboratory of Systems and Technologies for Mobility and Accumulation, Energy Technologies Department