Advanced
Transportation Systems

Our nation’s vast transportation system keeps goods – and people – moving across the country and our economy chugging along. Researchers in INL’s Advanced Transportation group are helping to make this system more energy efficient through their work in bioenergy, hydrogen and fuel cells, energy storage, advanced vehicles, real-time electric grid simulation and data analysis.

Advanced Vehicles and Infrastructure

The future of advanced automotive technology is here. From electric vehicles (EVs) to the batteries that power them to advanced fueling systems, the Advanced Vehicles and Infrastructure research team covers it all:

  • Advanced electric drive technologies
  • Advanced energy storage
  • Battery electric vehicles
  • Connected and autonomous vehicles
  • Connectivity between EVs and the power grid
  • Extended-range EVs
  • Hybrid electric vehicles
  • Internal combustion engines burning advanced fuels
  • Plug-in hybrid EVs
  • Unmanned aerial systems

Learn more about Advanced Vehicles and Infrastructure here.

Find more research, testing and demonstrations here.

Battery Test Center

We are helping improve energy storage for more efficient batteries, developing new modeling capabilities for new materials, and refining engineering processes and equipment for more effective analyses. With INL’s Battery Test Center, researchers also provide independent, third-party testing to analyze advanced vehicle performance and assess various batteries for longevity and power performance. We work closely with industry and government to ensure the best transition into new transportation technologies.

Learn more about the Battery Test Center here.

EV Charging

We are helping improve energy storage for more efficient batteries, developing new modeling capabilities for new materials, and refining engineering processes and equipment for more effective analyses. With INL’s Battery Test Center, researchers also provide independent, third-party testing to analyze advanced vehicle performance and assess various batteries for longevity and power performance. We work closely with industry and government to ensure the best transition into new transportation technologies.

ChargeX Consortium

The National Charging Experience Consortium, or ChargeX Consortium, is a collaborative effort between Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, EV charging industry experts, consumer advocates, and other stakeholders. Its mission is to work together as EV industry stakeholders to measure and significantly improve public charging reliability and usability by June 2025.

Learn more about ChargeX Consortium here.

Caldera

Caldera is an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure simulation platform that enables the development of control strategies and artificial intelligence (AI) for holistic integration of electric transportation with the grid. The foundation of Caldera is it’s first-of-its-kind library of high-fidelity charging models for a wide variety of vehicles, validated by test data under a range of operating conditions. Caldera adeptly bridges the gap between transportation and grid models and provides accurate co-simulation of both, a crucial need as the transportation sector shifts to EVs.

Caldera offers a development and virtual testing environment for multi-agent controls and AI decision algorithms. It allows research and engineering teams to develop and test smart charge management strategies, automated load management controls for DC fast charging (DCFC) and extreme fast charging (XFC) sites, and driver decision support tools for site-level and network-level vehicle/grid integration.

The Caldera simulation platform is the premier tool for accurately forecasting EV charging demand on the grid across multiple scenarios and use cases. It allows electric utilities, fleet and facility managers, and charging infrastructure planners to overcome uncertainty about charging loads and explore options for managing grid demand, while still meeting EV charging needs.

Caldera links with transportation network and grid distribution network simulation tools through Hierarchical Engine for Large-scale Infrastructure Co-Simulation (HELICS).
With its charging model library, control strategy module, VehicleAI and InfrastructureAI, Caldera is a versatile tool for understanding and managing the impact of EV charging on the electric grid in many use cases.

  • PRIMARY USE CASES
  • Smart charge management and vehicle-to-building/vehicle-to-grid charging at residences and workplaces
  • Caldera results show how residential smart charge management impacts peak feeder power and compares various approaches.
  • High-power fast charging and integration of stationary energy storage for light-duty EVs on corridors and in communities
  • Caldera explores the benefits of stationary energy storage at a public high-power fast charging station with various dispatch controls employed to limit utility demand charges.
  • Commercial applications at travel centers, package sorting centers, and goods distribution warehouses that will support electric vans and trucks in the future

 

Learn more about Caldera here.

 

Hydrogen and fuel cells

At INL, we are proud to be at the forefront of hydrogen research and testing. With our expertise and cutting-edge technology, INL is leading the way in the use of hydrogen as a clean and sustainable energy source.

Learn more about INL’s work on hydrogen and fuel cells here.

Idaho National Laboratory