Battery-powered EV chargers – co-developed at U of T – installed on St. George campus

The historic core of the University of Toronto’s St. George campus is now home to a pair of next-generation electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that utilize technology co-developed at the university.

The two new stations use direct current (DC)-sourced EV chargers boasting integrated battery energy storage systems – novel technology that minimizes strain on the electrical grid.

Located in the Landmark Garage beneath King’s College Circle, the chargers are rated Level 3+, meaning they can charge EVs in under 30 minutes, and bring the total number of EV charging stations in the garage to 50.

The technology underpinning the new charges was developed by Jule, an energy storage and EV solutions company co-founded by Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering alumnus Carmine Pizzurro, in collaboration with U of T faculty members.

Jule embarked on its first research collaboration with U of T shortly after its founding in 2009, teaming up with the Centre for Applied Power Electronics led by Professor Reza Iravani at the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering.

It also worked closely with the city's electric utility.

“One of our first collaborations was with Toronto Hydro, which led to us being the first company in the world to put lithium-ion batteries on the distribution grid to provide backup power during outages and reduce stress on the grid during peak periods,” says Pizzurro, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at U of T.

Pizzurro went on to install Jule’s first battery-powered fast chargers in northern Canada as part of a collaboration with Natural Resources Canada.

But the company needed to address a longstanding challenge with lithium-ion batteries: they’re temperature-sensitive and must be able to operate reliably in both hot and cold environments if they are to help power a net-zero future.

To tackle this issue, Jule in 2018 expanded its partnership with the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering to include University Professor Cristina Amon and senior research associate Carlos Da Silva of the Advanced Thermofluids Optimization, Modelling and Simulation (ATOMS) laboratory in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering.

The ATOMS experts have been developing computational models and experimental characterization to optimize Jule’s battery thermal management systems – work that is being carried out in a state-of-the-art battery testing facility that received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund.

“Thermal management is an issue that impacts both aspects of Jule’s EV fast charging technology: the power electronics to enable the charging, as well as their unique integrated battery storage system,” says Da Silva, who is also executive director of the U of T Electrification Hub. “Thermal management is critical for mitigating battery degradation. It requires regulating the temperature in such a way that you keep the battery within an optimal range that will extend its life span.” 

Jule’s fast chargers use energy stored in batteries, rather than drawing it directly from the electrical grid in the manner of traditional fast chargers. That means they don’t cause grid overloading during peak usage times and can be charged during off-peak hours when electricity is less costly; they also don’t require significant investments in electricity upgrades.

“The battery storage system is charged using current from the electrical grid, which is alternating current (AC); and then this larger battery, which uses direct current (DC), charges the smaller battery in the electric vehicle,” says Amon. “It is more efficient to fast-charge from a stationary battery to an EV – DC to DC – than it is to fast-charge an EV from the electrical grid, which requires converting AC to DC power.”  

Jule’s Level 3+ charging station can provide up to 200 kilowatts of power output, yet only needs 45 kilowatts of input power. Amon says this rapid charging speed can help alleviate range anxiety among EV users: “Some drivers fear that EV batteries may not have enough energy to reach a desired destination. But if charging time is much closer to the time required to fill up a tank of a gas-powered car, that can reduce this worry.”  

The Level 3+ stations are joining 48 Level 2 chargers that are already available for public use at the Landmark Garage.

This increases the campus’s charging capacity to over 25,000 charges per year, which can eliminate over 700 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to U of T’s Sustainability Office.  

“Hosting these first-of-their-kind EV chargers right here on campus extends beyond providing a new and exciting sustainability service to our community,” says Ron Saporta, U of T’s chief operating officer, property services and sustainability. “It represents just one example of how we are supporting the intersection of research, learning and commercialization of sustainable innovations developed by members of our very own U of T community.”  

The charging stations will also serve as a living lab to test future thermal innovations jointly developed by U of T Engineering researchers and Jule.  

“Having these chargers on campus enables us to have a greater capacity to test the system in ways we are limited by doing in a lab setting,” says Da Silva.