Dive Brief:

• Burns & McDonnell, a leading power engineering firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, selected Greenlots to help install an advanced electric vehicle (EV) charging network on the campus of its main headquarters in order to test new open standards charging technology. 
• The partnership will incorporate networked Level 2 charging stations into an existing network utilizing older equipment on the Burns & McDonnell campus. Greenlots' operating platform will be integrated with Burns & McDonnell's open standards EV supply equipment. 
• The companies say the combination will provide real-time visibility into the network and allow for charging data collection. They also agree to work together "in the years ahead" to provide complementary hardware and software solutions for the EV industry. Greenlots was selected by Electrify America last year to support a $2 billion investment in charging infrastructure across the country.

Dive Insight:

As EV charging infrastructure becomes more commonly available, the ability for stations to interact with the grid is an increasingly vital function. Greenlots and Burns & McDonnell say their partnership aims to demonstrate open standards technology in a campus testing environment, with an eye towards moving their findings into the utility sector.

EVs present a "great opportunity" for electric utilities — but only "if they are ready," Mike Beehler, vice president of Burns & McDonnell, said in a statement. 

"The new charging loads have the potential to be significant so we, as an industry, need to test our response," Beehler said. 

Each Level 2 station can fully charge a vehicle in four to six hours. The charging data will be analyzed for predictive modeling with testing and modeling results then used to assist utility clients in managing EV-related load growth, Burns & McDonnell said.

While the outlook for electrified transportation is generally positive, the uptake has been slow in the United States — though experts say it will soon accelerate. Worldwide, there are more than 3 million EVs on the road, and the United States accounts for about 750,000 of them. Last year the Edison Electric Institute and the Institute for Electric Innovation forecast 7 million on U.S. roads by the end of 2025.