EMERGENCY ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE – Specific for Electric Vehicles

Submission from GELCOservices Pty. Ltd. Saturday, 4 August 2018

Submission Background:

A need has been identified by the Emergency Roadside Assistance (ERA) industry globally, for a portable and cost effective way to charge a depleted Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV/EV) at roadside throughout various countries in Europe. EV Sales in Europe are by far the highest per capita of any continents in the world and as a result the EV driving and operating experience is quite mature when compared to Australia.

The EV population is rapidly growing and with this growth comes the problem of how to offer an effective and highly efficient ERA attendance by a mobile facility to quickly deliver a small charge to then enable the EV to drive to a destination charge station for further charge levels. Currently the only ERA practice is for a tow to home or other location for recharge which may present considerable driver inconvenience.

The experience and innovative design of the mobile EV “self-recovery” system as developed in Adelaide now means that as the Australian envisaged uptake of BEV increases the ERA service providers will have access to a proven and fully supported Mobile Electric vehicle Service equipment offer to enhance their customers confidence when driving their EV.

A South Australian company – GELCOservices - has launched in conjunction with Club Logistics Services, a recently developed totally portable Electric Vehicle (EV) recharge system designed to enable a stranded EV driver who has a depleted high voltage battery to receive a charge at roadside for a short period of time and thus allowing the EV to “self-recover” from a roadside breakdown flat battery incident.

To now the only way to recover the stranded EV was to send out a tow truck. Now a roadside attending rescue patrol can simply plug in the battery EV, wait for around 10-15 minutes and effectively the EV can then drive off to the nearest fixed location EV charge station. The energy delivery at roadside is essentially one kilometre for one minute charge duration.

The great feature of the Mobile Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (MEVSE) design is in the capability of the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) 48 volt battery pack to be re-charged from the standard rescue vehicle on-board existing 12 volt charging system. No need for the ERA service provider to return to vase to recharge the high voltage battery packs that supply the power for the MEVSE.

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This feature in design is a world’s first and offers the rescue organisation total flexibility as the recovery vehicle does not have to return to base for recharge of the 48 volt Lithium cell system.

The MEVSE system was designed by GELCOservices in collaboration with Club Logistics Services to meet their roadside breakdown needs. The unit is built by GELCOservices in Parafield Gardens, South Australia.

Sales already have been made to USA, Ireland, Luxemburg, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Russia, Spain and other European countries, demonstrating the uniqueness of the MEVSE and the demand in the field for such a recovery service for Electric vehicles.

The MEVSE system has four main components;

 The LiFePO4 48 volt battery pack  The on-board charging and management system for the LiFePO4 battery pack  The Inverter system – rated to 8kW @ 220VAC  The EVSE delivery and BEV charge control system

The use of the Lithium battery cells as the power source means no internal combustion engines or generators running, no effective emissions whilst the energy transfer is happening and no noise. Ideal for EV recovery in confined or underground car parks. Safe to operate in extreme weather conditions.

Another feature of the MEVSE is that the unit is totally portable built in three cassettes that allow the kit to be man-handled easily from rescue vehicles to another location. Flexibility of the three cassette design also allows the modules to be placed in convenient locations within the service vehicle. The cassettes come with robust tie down fixtures.

The MEVSE is capable of delivering sufficient “self-recovery” energy for three broken down EV’s in a normal working day.

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The schematic below shows the typical systems layout

State of the art engineering in summary:

 16 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LifePo4) cells connected in series  Storage capacity 9.2 Kwh  Specialised Battery Management System  8.0Kw Inverter  Proprietary engineered electronic switchgear  EV Charge Control Computer – talks to the EV to determine the rate of charge voltage and power to be delivered.  SAE J1772 or Mennekes Type-2 International standard connector from EV charger to BEV  Full operational instrumentation for monitoring the charge process.  A skid mounted version has been developed.  Fully grounding current protected for operator safety

The unique self-charging MEVSE has been developed and manufactured entirely in South Australia and is exported around the world. Sales in Australia are yet to happen.

Submission Objective:

This Submission Paper to the Senate Committee on Electric Vehicles is designed to draw attention to the need for measures to support the safe and controlled operation of BEV’s in Australia by way of having a formally recognised Emergency Roadside

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Assistance structure in place nationally to reduce roadside delays caused by EV traction battery being depleted and causing traffic hazards and management issues, particularly in tunnels, bridges and congested motorways.

Secondary is the need for ERA service equipment to be built to the strict Australian/NZ standards, to ensure safety is paramount for operators, EV drivers and the EV itself.

For more information contact:

GELCOservices Technical Centre, Phil Gell – Technical Officer

Web: www.GELCOservices.com.au

About GELCOservices:

GELCOservices is an Automotive Industry Technical Consulting firm, specialising in Electrochemical Engineering, particularly related to the testing of automotive batteries, Electric Vehicle charge systems and infrastructure for battery and energy storage. The Company has a fully equipped Technical Laboratory for the effective Validation process of automotive batteries and other automotive equipment such as battery testing devices, battery related accessories, and battery related Metallurgical investigations and EV charge systems development.

Recently the company has embarked on developing a mobile EV charge system which is the first in the industry of its type and already sales of this product are being made in countries of Europe and USA such as Ireland, Luxemburg, The Netherlands and many more. GELCOservices is credited with the very first DC Fast Charger installations in Australia in 2010 in Adelaide, Darwin and Sydney. Supply and installations of EVSE now tops 400 units nationally.

About Club Logistics Services:

Club Logistics Services (CLS) is an Australian owned company based in Europe in The Netherlands. Currently their primary business is aiding Motoring Clubs in Europe with their Mobile Battery programs, and distributing the new Mobile Electric vehicle Service Equipment Globally. Discussions and projects are currently underway to extend their service to New Zealand, USA and Canada.

Contact:

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