Second-life battery electric charging station on campus selected as a finalist for ESNA award

Did you know that next week is National Drive Electric week? Help us celebrate by voting for the University of California San Diego and EVgo’s “Second-life Energy Storage + Level 3 EV Charging” project for the Energy Storage North America 2016 Mobility Innovation Award!

The UC San Diego Center for Energy Research began a partnership with EVgo, a leading provider of electric charging solutions, two years ago to develop this project and others as part of EVgo’s technology and demonstration program. The goal? Create a microgrid of technologies on the existing microgrid at UC San Diego.

“This is a shared vision for the future that combines the fastest electric vehicle charging technology, second-life battery energy storage, and integration of solar to mitigate the impact on the UC San Diego microgrid during peak hours,” said Byron Washom, Director of Strategic Energy Initiatives at UC San Diego.

The project is the first of its kind and consists of four charging stations, a solar panel roof, and two second-life batteries. The stations have been open to the public for the last year.

“The project started with two units and expanded to four,” said Washom. “UC San Diego’s population of 200 electric vehicle commuters now has access to 30-minute charging while contributing to the research and demonstration of these units.”

Second-life batteries are batteries that use to be in a car and are still useful. They help to reduce the cost of a charging station and therefore the cost of owning and operating electric vehicles.

“Using second-life batteries also defers the period of time in which we as a society will have to recycle them,” said Washom.

Vote now!

Next generation of battery tech at ARPA-E Technology Showcase

Sustainable Power and Energy Center booth at the ARPA-E Technology Showcase.

A new UC San Diego technology that enables lithium-ion batteries to run at record low temperatures could be useful for the electric vehicles of the future, and this in turn could help address “range anxiety,” especially in cold weather. This project was among the 250+ innovative energy technologies presented at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) Technology showcase last week in Washington, D.C.

"We hope this technology extends electric vehicle operation in cold climates, which is currently a known limitation of current electric vehicles," said Cyrus Rustomji, a postdoc in the Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC) at UC San Diego and lead researcher of the project. Rustomji earned his Ph.D. in materials science from UC San Diego in 2015 and now does research with nanoengineering professor Shirley Meng, director of SPEC.

(L-R): Director of ARPA-E Dr. Ellen Williams, Prof. Shirley Meng (director of SPEC at UC San Diego) and Cyrus Rustomji (UC San Diego postdoctoral researcher).

The technology could also enable lithium-ion batteries to operate in extreme environment applications, such as heavy-duty automotive engine cold-start, high-atmosphere drones or balloons, and aerospace missions.

Lithium-ion batteries are commonly found in most rechargeable electronic devices and electric cars. Some advantages of lithium-ion batteries are they charge fairly quickly and don't need to be drained before recharging. But like other batteries, their performance suffers in the cold. That's because because the chemical reactions inside the batteries slow down at low temperatures.

Lithium-ion batteries typically have a low temperature limit of -20 degrees Celsius. The technology developed by Rustomji and coworkers extends lithium-ion battery operation to as low as -60 degrees Celsius. Researchers achieved this exceptionally wide temperature range by replacing the conventional liquid electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries with a liquefied gas electrolyte that's stored under mild pressures.

"Such a chemistry has never been utilized for energy storage devices," said Rustomji. "Most battery technology utilizes a liquid based electrolyte, and a lot of focus is now turning towards solid state electrolytes. But it seems that nobody has yet thought to explore the possibilities of a gaseous type electrolyte. This opens up a new window of electrochemistry in which there are many possible applications and basic science principles to be studied beyond just the energy storage devices we have explored."

The technology garnered much interest during the ARPA-E Technology Showcase. "Visitors were very curious about the technology because it uses a non-conventional electrolyte system, and the low-temperature performance may enable some of their own applications. A scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was very delighted to see our results and invited us to discuss further and for a possible collaboration," said Rustomji.

Cyrus Rustomji (right) presents a poster of the project titled, "Liquefied Gas Electrolytes for Low Temperature Energy Storage."

Prof. Shirley Meng (left) discusses the project with Werner Kaufmann (right), a technology scout from BASF.

Technology discussion at the SPEC booth including Cyrus Rustomji (left), Prof. Shirley Meng (right) and Dr. Ellen Williams, Director of ARPA-E (second from right).

Cyrus Rustomji (left) demos UC San Diego technology at the SPEC booth at ARPA-E Technology Showcase.

Rustomji's startup, South 8 Technologies, Inc., is working to license and commercialize the liquefied gas electrolyte for applications in the automotive, high-atmosphere and aerospace markets. The company is also seeking partners, investors and funding opportunities.

Visit the Sustainable Power and Energy Center site to keep up with the latest technologies in energy generation, storage and conversion from UC San Diego.

Smart clothing on display at ARPA-E Technology Showcase

Prof. Joseph Wang (left) and graduate student Jaewook Shin (right) representing the UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors at the 2016 ARPA-E Technology Showcase.

What if your clothing could help you save energy by serving as your own personalized air-conditioner and heater? This new generation of smart clothing from UC San Diego was one of the innovative energy technologies on display at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) Technology Showcase this week in Washington, D.C. The ARPA-E showcase featured more than 250 displays of cutting-edge technologies (from academia, industry and government) that aim to change the way society generates, uses and stores energy.

The smart clothing project, titled Adaptive Textiles Technology with Active Cooling & Heating (ATTACH), is led by Joseph Wang, distinguished professor of nanoengineering and director of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego. The focus of the project is to design clothing that adapts to temperature changes—in the home, office, or car—in order to keep the wearer's body at a comfortable temperature regardless of how hot or cold it actually is.

The fabric will be embedded with temperature-responsive polymers and a smorgasbord of other printed wearable devices, including rechargeable batteries, thermoelectrics and biofuel cells—which will all be thin, stretchable and flexible.

"Adaptive textiles can lead to major energy savings by providing localized heating and cooling," said Wang. Researchers propose that this technology could potentially cut the energy use of buildings and homes by at least 15 percent.

Read more about the smart clothing project here.

Visit the Center for Wearable Sensors site to keep up with the latest in wearable technology from UC San Diego.

See Clean Tech and Energy Research Advances from UC San Diego Engineers at Research Expo 2014

With more than 1,700 engineering graduate students, 200 engineering professors and $158M is engineering research expenditures, the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is teeming with exciting projects and entrepreneurial engineers looking to transfer their advances to society in order to solve problems, advance technology and make the world a better place. A good sized chunk of the Jacobs School’s graduate students and professors are working on research that can be leveraged to address our global clean-technology and energy challenges.

At Research Expo 2014 on April 17, UC San Diego engineering graduate students will present about 35 posters that the students have specifically tagged as relevant for “clean technology / energy” applications. But no doubt, more of the 200 students presenting at Research Expo are working on engineering challenges that are relevant for emerging clean technology and energy applications.

Below are just a few of the official clean-tech and energy posters. Have a look at the entire list of poster titles here. When you register for Research Expo, you get access to the full abstracts of each poster.

In addition to the posters session, Research Expo includes six fast-paced faculty talks and a networking reception…all during the afternoon of April 17, here at UC San Diego.

Research Expo admission is $100. Half-price for UC San Diego alumni. Our Corporate Affiliates Program members receive 2-for-1 admission.

28. WORKLOAD SHAPING TO MITIGATE VARIABILITY IN RENEWABLE POWER USE BY DATA CENTERS
Student: Muhammad Abdullah Adnan
Professor: Rajesh Gupta
Industry Application Area: Energy/Clean technology

42. USING OPTICAL NETWORKS IN THE DATA CENTER FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Students: Henrique Da Silva Rodrigues, Henrique Rodrigues
Professor: Tajana S. Rosing
Industry Application Areas: Electronics/Photonics | Energy/Clean technology | Internet, Networking, Systems

93. ONLINE OPTIMIZATION OF WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS
Student: Daniele Cavaglieri
Professor: Thomas R. Bewley
Industry Application Areas: Control Systems | Energy/Clean technology

109. PREPARATION OF HEXABORIDE NANOCUBES FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE APPLICATIONS
Student: James Timothy Cahill
Professor: Olivia A. Graeve
Industry Application Areas: Aerospace, Defense, Security | Energy/Clean technology | Materials

112. POWERING THE FUTURE WITH SOLAR ENERGY: ASSESSMENT, FORECASTING AND INTEGRATION STRATEGY
Student: Dung Nguyen
Professor: Jan P. Kleissl
Industry Application Areas: Control Systems | Energy/Clean technology | Software, Analytics

120. DECENTRALIZED CHARGING CONTROL FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Student(s): Andres Ivan Cortes 
Professor: Sonia Martinez Diaz
Industry Application Areas: Control Systems | Energy/Clean technology

165. STRETCHING AND CONFORMAL BONDING OF ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS TO HEMISPHERICAL SURFACES
Student: Timothy Francis Oconnor
Professor: Darren J. Lipomi
Industry Application Areas: Electronics/Photonics | Energy/Clean technology | Materials