New partnership will drive electric vehicle performance

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Research into green transportation in Ontario received a boost, thanks to a new partnership that lets researchers and drivers see how well electric vehicles perform. The new collaboration, called Drive4Data, is the first of its kind in Canada and involves the University of Waterloo's Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and FleetWise EV300, an initiative of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund.

The project involves collecting data from the owners of electric vehicles who agree to have a small wireless device about the size of a cell phone installed in their car. The device was created by CrossChasm, founded and run by Waterloo Engineering alumni and a technology partner in this initiative. It collects key statistics, such as mileage, battery charging and energy use, and then relays it to WISE. This real-world data could help advance research into everything from battery technology to smart grid management.

"Just by logging into a website, drivers can access detailed reports on their vehicle’s performance," said Tracey Forrest, director of WISE. "They can track the distance they've travelled, improve their charging schedule, monitor their fuel and electricity usage and benchmark their performance against similar vehicles." [news release]