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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/N022289/1
Title: TransEnergy - Road to Rail Energy Exchange (R2REE)
Principal Investigator: Stone, Professor DA
Other Investigators:
Fletcher, Professor DI Shires, Mr JD Cruden, Professor A
Gladwin, Professor D Smith, Professor ASJ Foster, Professor MP
Harrison, Professor RF Koh, Professor SCL
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Mr J Goodwin
Project Partners:
Department: Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Organisation: University of Sheffield
Scheme: Standard Research
Starts: 01 August 2016 Ends: 31 July 2021 Value (£): 1,520,589
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Energy Efficiency Energy Storage
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Energy Transport Systems and Vehicles
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
25 Nov 2015 Transport Energy Demand Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The focus of the research proposed is on electrically powered rail transport systems and electric road vehicles (EVs), and extends to the power supply network which supports them. The convergence over coming years of both road and rail transport on electric power with reduced dependence on fossil fuels offers great potential benefits, but also has risks from dependence on a single fuel type and peak demand stress on its underlying supply network. Although fossil fuels have environmental drawbacks they have the advantage of offering inherent energy storage, thereby desynchronising time of energy use from its supply, and smoothing demands on the supply network. This is not the case for electricity use in which there are currently only limited means to smooth and reduce demand.

The proposed research addresses both the technology to store electric energy in a form suited to transport use, and the modelling to understand how to use the technology to reduce overall energy demand. Transport energy demand reduction can be viewed at two timescales: (i) a twice daily demand caused by rush hour commuting, and (ii) minute by minute variations in demand as required by individual vehicles. Both timescales pose tractable research questions which can be addressed by energy storage. The work will examine the technical issues surrounding the use of both new batteries, and second life (old) EV batteries as line-side storage. This study will be complimented and enhanced with the addition of research on through-life environmental issues, and the consumer acceptance and legislatory constraints surrounding this use. In addition, the novel use of EVs in a road to rail (R2R) energy exchange scenario will provide an opportunity to explore the use of in-car EV batteries as energy storage when parked in rail station car parks, and address the implications of this use on the consumers, together with the consumer acceptability.

The research will be accomplished through eight interrelated work packages:

WP1: Techno-economic supply chain analysis of energy storage technologies for application in UK rail and road transport

WP2: Optimising transport network operation for R2R energy exchange

WP3: Power network simulation

WP4: Versatile line-side storage demonstration

WP5: Demonstrator data analysis and second-life EV battery

WP6: Attractiveness to users and incentives for implementation

WP7: R2R Communications, control and interfacing

WP8: Project Management

Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Summary
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Organisation Website: http://www.shef.ac.uk