ACEP Launches New Interactive World EV Map
The electric vehicle revolution is amping up. Even in Alaska, where the average temperatures are colder than most states’ coldest, EVs are finding their place in the Arctic environment.
Over the 2020 summer, an ACEP team, including Michelle Wilber and Chris Pike, worked with University of Washington graduate capstone project students to develop a World EV Map that shows temperature-based zones related to range and battery safety.
This map helps place regions of Alaska in context with other areas of the world. This can help Alaska learn from other places where appropriate and identify where additional information may be needed to predict the costs and benefits of EVs to consumers and the electric grid.
ACEP, through the initiative of Research Professor Erin Whitney, has begun looking into research questions around EVs, beginning with a survey a year ago in this newsletter.
Cold weather concerns were prominent in the survey responses received. Wilber, an ACEP research engineer, began investigating the literature for information on cold weather impacts, especially around the dependency of energy use and battery health vs. temperature.
It turns out there is very little information on the impact of temperature on energy use and range of electric vehicles below -20C. With temperatures reaching -40C and below in Alaska’s Interior, there are questions about how EVs fit in the energy picture in Alaska.
Wilber’s recently launched EV calculator determines fuel costs and emissions for Alaska communities. The calculator takes a range of inputs on vehicle use (daily mileage, parked in a garage or outside, etc.) and compares the energy “fuel” costs and emissions of an EV to an internal combustion vehicle.
Data from EVs in Interior Alaska, including Fairbanks, can help fill in the data gaps for use in the extreme cold temperatures. ACEP will continue to gather EV data and improve the models behind these tools, as well as investigate other questions pertaining to the interaction of electric vehicles and electricity grids in Alaska.
For more information, please contact Wilber at mmwilber@alaska.edu.