Posts Tagged → academic

Participation and sensemaking in electric vehicle field trials: A study of fleet vehicle-to-grid in Australia

We have just published a new article from the REVS V2G trial about how participants in a field trial – in this case, the fleet, sustainability and asset managers – make sense of and influence technologies when a group comes along wanting to deploy and test them.

We found unexpected effects which revealed insights about what configuration of V2G might be acceptable to fleet end users. If energy market participants want V2G to solve their problems (and make them profit), they need to do the flexibility work.

Abstract

Vehicle-to-grid is a niche technology that has the potential to benefit electricity markets and support more renewable energy in the grid. However, interest from prospective users in adopting V2G is not well understood, particularly in the context of fleet vehicles. Technology-oriented field trials can contribute to the development of niche technologies. Trials usually focus on making engineered systems work, institutional embedding and testing business models. However, through the participation of users they also provide the opportunity to explore processes of problem definition and the formation of social, ethical and cultural meanings. This article presents findings from the Realising Electric Vehicle-to-grid Services project, an Australian trial of vehicle-to-grid in a government-owned light passenger car fleet, aiming to explore co-productive processes as essential aspects of participatory technology development. Our data comprises interviews with organisational actors responsible for facilitating and mediating the trial, as well as others in similar organisational roles. Adopting ecologies of participation as a framework, it reveals the productive effects of these actors in mediating the local embedding of vehicle-to-grid. These findings challenge the framing of vehicle-to-grid as being a question of consumer acceptance and suggest that, for this promising technology to contribute to a more sustainable future, the electricity sector must accept more risk.

Full article: https://lnkd.in/eukchts2

Young ANU scientists make their mark with Tall Poppy honours

Four outstanding early career researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) who are forging new ground in fields spanning tissue engineering to how we experience and communicate emotions have been recognised with ACT Young Tall Poppy Science Awards. 

Dr Kiara Bruggeman, Dr Joshua Chu-Tan, Dr Bjorn Sturmberg and Dr Amy Dawel have been honoured for pushing scientific boundaries and fostering an appreciation for the sciences by communicating their work to the public.  

The awards are considered an early indicator of Australia’s future scientific leaders. They highlight the excellent work of young scientists who have made significant contributions to their respective fields of science that will benefit Australia and the world.  

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Overwhelming interest in EVs for remote communities

In response to the incredible media interest in our recent paper on electric vehicles in remote Australia – with the second most media stories that the journal Australian Geographer has ever generated in it’s 94 year history – the publishers have lifted the paywall to make the full article available for free until the end of Oct.

So if want to look behind the headline, now’s your chance https://lnkd.in/dvF7FKxi

Exploring the feasibility of electric vehicle travel for remote communities in Australia

New paper out today showing that current EVs would be able to service the vast majority (93%+) of residents of remote communities in northern Australia (under simplified assumptions).

My take aways:

  • We cannot leave these communities out of our clean transport plans (as we did with clean electricity) – they are not in the “too hard basket”
  • If EVs can service trips in remote communities their ranges are likewise sufficient for regional communities – who too have received less support for electrification
  • Charging infrastructure – especially in regional and remote service towns – is now the missing piece of the puzzle

The media’s takes:

  • The Guardian “Regional residents at risk of being ‘last people in the world’ driving petrol cars due to misconception electric vehicle batteries lack range” (a stretch perhaps)
  • Cosmos Magazine “Electrification shouldn’t ignore remote communities.” (nailed it!)

Article is here and abstract and link to free to access pre-print are below

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FACTS – a Framework for an Australian Clean Transport Strategy

I was part of a team of 18 independent experts (academics) who developed a comprehensive framework for decarbonising the Australian transport sector in a manner consistent with international best practice (eg shifting trips to public and active transport) and climate science to keep warming within 1.5d.

Below are some takeout snapshots. The full report is available at transportfacts.org and a summary was published in The Conversation.

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Neighbourhood batteries in Australia: Anticipating questions of value conflict and (in)justice

We have a new paper published today in Energy Research & Social Science.

Highlights

  • Energy professionals and citizens hold diverse values on algorithm design, governance and the energy transition generally.
  • Differences in how values are interpreted and which values are emphasised suggest future points of conflict (and injustice).
  • Systemic issues raised both down and upstream of the technology suggest distributed responsability ill suited to centralised governance.
  • Our focus on responsibility and justice reorients the problem to re-design rather than accommodation.

Pre-print is freely available below and the published paper is available at https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1ely67tZ6ZxQoB

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