PHEV Center

The UC Davis Plug-In Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center is the hub of collaboration and research on plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles for the State of California. The Center, administered by ITS-Davis, expanded its focus from plug-in hybrids to both plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles with the renewal of funding from the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. Led by Director Dr. Tom Turrentine, the Center has been operating since early 2007.

The Center is as a magnet for innovative research on consumer behavior, environmental impacts, vehicle technology, batteries and grid integration. We provide technology and policy guidance to the state, and address research questions and commercialization issues for PHEVs and EVs.

During their first four years, we have completed a suite of reports, journal articles, and even dissertations using data collected from several Center projects laid out in the PHEV Research Roadmap created three years ago. These include reports on our two year PHEV consumer experiment, the BMW MINI E report, and more than 20 papers on batteries, consumers, and grid impacts which can be found on our publications page. We also published in January “Taking Charge” (pdf), a plan the Center wrote for CEC and the California PEV Collaborative.

The PH&EV Research Center was renewed for another three years through a second contract from the California Energy Commission, and we have already begun several new projects linked to the rollout of PEVs, including new work on consumers and clean electricity, several studies that are connected to the San Diego EV Project, a PHEV pick-up truck study with Chrysler Corp, continuing work on 2nd use of batteries, and fuel economy studies with ORNL.

We are at a turning point for electric transportation, and research will become even more critical as the rollout of BEVs and PHEVs proceed in California and throughout the world. The State of California must measure progress, the base conditions of the market – both the opportunities and constraints, and identify pathways to an optimal relationship of PEVs to our state grid which will advance the PEV market and enhance our grid operations and renewables content.

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