A few days ago, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María inaugurated an electric vehicle charging point at its Valparaíso main campus, named “Punto EV USM.” This initiative aims to foster electromobility within the university community and the region, as well as promote the use of renewable energies.
One of the main allies in bringing this initiative to fruition is the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (AC3E), whose human capital and capabilities contributed to the design of a system capable of charging up to six electric vehicles using solar energy.
“It’s an honor to participate in this project from its inception, when Rector Dr. Juan Yuz invited us to be part of the challenge. We worked on a system capable of balancing the load, for which we calculated how much vehicles would consume from Monday to Friday between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM so that the energy generation from the photovoltaic panels between Monday and Sunday would be equivalent to the electricity consumption,” stated Javier Robledo, R&D Business Developer at AC3E.
It’s worth noting that, since its beginnings, our ANID baseline center has been working on the development of various technologies for the efficient use of renewable energies and the large-scale penetration of electromobility in the Valparaíso region and throughout Chile. Examples include the work of researchers related to electric vehicle charging infrastructure to reduce charging times and make it more efficient, micro-electromobility or urban electromobility to help decarbonize and decongest large cities, and power electronic circuits to make a more efficient coupling between renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
Academy Industry Linkage
Another contribution of the center to this USM initiative was related to articulating with different industries to secure donations that made this important milestone possible.
To achieve this, leveraging their experience with industry, they invited companies to be part of this project, highlighting its impact and new approach where electric cars would no longer be charged at night but during the day and during working hours. “Being able to charge vehicles in broad daylight allows for maximum utilization of the high electrical generation provided by solar and wind renewable energies,” the engineer highlighted.
In this way, several companies joined, contributing not only with monetary donations but also with necessary components for the implementation of the charging point, such as Rhona, Arauco, Dhemax, and Nissan.
Today, in conjunction with USM, we are seeking more support to achieve the goal of having PuntoEV USM operational at all campuses and venues by 2026, making the institution the university with the largest volume of free, green-energy charging points in Latin America.
