Military Bases Testing EV Charging with Pilot Program

Eight military bases across the U.S. will be testing out electric vehicle (EV) charging through a pilot program set up with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) along with the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Army Reserve, according to a Department of Defense article. 

The pilot project will allow for both government and privately-owned vehicle charging using a combination of Level-2 and Level-3 chargers, according to Benjamin Richardson, DIU Energy Portfolio director. 

After the chargers are installed, DIU will run a one-year analysis to measure the following:

• Usage
• Uptime
• Vehicle types (government or personal)
• Wait times
• Mean time to repair

The project will also evaluate the viability of "charging-as-a-service" payment models, wherein personal vehicle charging revenues defray DOD EV infrastructure investments, he said. 

A panel of DOD subject matter experts facilitated a commercial solutions opening and down-select processes, resulting in the selection of seven vendors for the EV charging effort, Richardson said. 

The DOD partners selected TechFlow, a San Diego-based company with expertise in renewable energy projects, to complete the first eight pilots. 

"EV technology is not novel, but its use in military installations is, especially when combining Level-2 and Level-3 chargers for overnight and fast-charging use cases within the same military base," Benson said. "We’re excited to help with the military’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint by making EV charging for government and service members more accessible than ever."