The EV WATTS project was a nationwide electric vehicle data collection initiative aimed at creating the first national-scale set of electric vehicle operating and charging session data. The project team had partnered with local fleets that possessed existing electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and data-capable electric vehicle charging stations to gather their usage data. Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities Coalition (CWCC) and the Western Washington Clean Cities Coalition (WWCC) had collaborated with fleets across the Pacific Northwest to deploy telematics devices in existing all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and to collect charging session data from vehicle chargers.
The project aimed to address the rapid increase in vehicle electrification by establishing an up-to-date and publicly accessible national dataset. This dataset was intended to offer insights into end-user charging and driving patterns, as well as vehicle and infrastructure performance. The data's purpose was to inform charger siting, policymaking, reduce barriers, and ultimately expedite electrification nationwide.
In partnership with the Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities Coalition (CWCC), the project's prime, Energetics, had been awarded $4 million to implement the EV Watts project. Clean Fuels Ohio led the project, collaborating with clean cities partners located across the country. The EV WATTS project involved partnering with local fleets that owned existing EVs, PHEVs, and data-capable electric vehicle charging stations to collect usage data and provide detailed analyses to the project participants.
The project provided free Geotab telematics devices for one year to fleet EVs and PHEVs lacking onboard telematics. Data was collected, anonymized, and aggregated for analysis over a year, with the analyses shared among the fleet participants. Vehicles equipped with existing telematics and data-capable charging stations had their data handled similarly.
Analyses conducted by the project and shared with fleet participants included information on charging duration, charger locations categorized by venue and usage level, comparisons between PHEV electricity and gasoline consumption, and insights into the fuel economies of electric vehicles, among other data-driven insights.
Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities had partnered with local public and private fleet members to offer free telematics devices for one year, complimentary data analyses for existing telematics devices on EVs and PHEVs, and data analysis of existing electric vehicle charging station data as part of their participation in the EV Watts project.
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