Objective

The legacy utility systems and infrastructure providing power to National Guard Readiness Centers (RC) lack the resilience required to operate during a disaster reliably. As electric vehicles (EV) achieve performance parities with internal combustion vehicles, opportunities have emerged for the Department of Defense (DoD) to leverage EVs as dual-purpose assets capable of powering RCs and providing fleet transportation through the bidirectional vehicle to grid charging technology. This project will assess the technoeconomic value of EVs as fleet vehicles and mobile power sources while offering a framework for system design that will generate critical inputs to enhance National Guard master planning and drive commercial innovation.

Technology Description

This project aims to establish the technical and economic viability of integrating EVs with bidirectional chargers into the existing RC power generation and transportation fleet. This capability would aim to serve three functions; 1) use the storage capacity of EVs to supplement existing backup power sources ability to serve critical loads in the event of a grid outage, 2) support energy and cost savings by using EVs to participate as an energy storage resource to the Texas Military Department (TMD) during normal use, and 3) utilize onsite renewable generation sources to power critical means of transportation during a time of restricted fuel supply to the TMD region. Existing generation within the TMD includes solar photovoltaics, stationary battery storage, and backup generators. The concept is to modify RC infrastructure to accept power from the stored energy of the EV fleet so that during a grid emergency, operationally relevant RCs will be powered by resident, mobilized, or pre-staged EVs.

EVs are a proven technology, as is their capacity to export power. However, this project requires further demonstration that the fleet management team can effectively transition an EV from a fleet transportation asset to a deployed mission-dedicated mobile power asset supporting emergency operations. The deployment process must be tested and standardized to ensure effective program replication across the DoD. This project will conduct a techno-economic analysis of the system to compare other technological solutions' efficiency, performance, and cost. This project will demonstrate that the technology could black-start a facility without additional power generation assets. This project will conduct the research required to identify the proper cybersecurity protocols to integrate bidirectional charging technology into the existing installation level industrial control system operating on the DoD information networks (DoDIN).

Benefits

This project will establish the technical and economic potential for supporting energy resilience and increase energy savings to National Guard RCs using bidirectional capable EVs and charging stations in the future. This project meets the guidelines outlined in Section 205 of Executive Order 14008 by "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad" to achieve or facilitate the current presidential administration's intent for, "clean and zero-emission vehicles for Federal… fleets" by demonstrating critical value streams from increased EV deployment in National Guard and DoD applications. The project will further increase resilience to the National Guard mission allowing unit commanders to tailor the operational power capability to the RC with the highest mission priority and the versatility to alter or relocate this capability should the mission priority change. This project will also present an opportunity to explore the cybersecurity challenges associated with EV fleet/bidirectional charging technology integration with building automation systems operating on the DoDIN.