An EV charging at a station Wikimedia Commons
Researchers from Penn State have developed a framework to use streetlights as a charging option for electric vehicles. They installed 23 streetlight charging units in Kansas City and Missouri to test their framework, collecting data from each unit for a year.
Electric vehicles incur lower fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions, but they are a practical option only if drivers have convenient ways to charge their EVs. People living in urban areas often find EV charging difficult due to lack of infrastructure.
The researchers worked to solve this issue and found that streetlights emerged as a better alternative than traditional charging stations. Apart from convenience and accessibility, streetlights were cost-effective and time savers for EV users.
Inspiration for the project
“The motivation for this work comes from the fact that many apartment and multi-unit dwelling residents, particularly in urban and downtown areas, lack access to dedicated home EV chargers, since they don’t have the privilege of owning a garage,” said Xianbiao “XB” Hu, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.
“Fortunately, streetlight poles are already powered and typically owned by municipalities, making them relatively easy to work with. Their placement—often near on-street parking and in high-traffic areas—makes them well-positioned to serve both local residents and visitors,” he continued.
The researchers collaborated with Kansas City, the non-profit Metro Energy Center, local utility providers, and the National Renewable Energy Lab to retrofit existing streetlights into EV chargers.
They also created a three-part framework – centered on demand, feasibility, and benefits – that other communities can adopt to develop their streetlight charging networks.
Importance of scalability and demand
Yang “Chris” Song, a corresponding author on the study, stressed how scalability is important in achieving maximum results through this project.
“The scalability was a huge part of what makes this framework important. Creating something that works not just in one specific city but that can be adopted by many communities easily is critical for increasing EV use across the country,” he said.
The researchers trained their AI model based on insights regarding land use, station density, nearby points of interest, and the traffic volume.
“We also took into account equity, which here means proactive engagement with the community to ensure fair and inclusive distribution of the streetlight charging benefits across diverse neighborhoods,” Song said.
Discussing the findings
For the researchers, the stations were cheaper to install due to existing infrastructure. Streetlight chargers also offered faster charging since they drew power from municipal electric lines.
According to Yuyan “Annie” Pan, this was likely because they used dedicated municipal power lines and didn’t have to compete with many vehicles charging simultaneously, unlike commercial stations.
Streetlight charging stations also contribute to the environment by reducing gasoline use. They also enabled lesser use of greenhouse gases, since they were installed at locations where cars were parked.
“We found that using streetlights for EV charging offers an innovative and equitable approach to expanding charging infrastructure and promoting sustainable electrification,” Pan said.
The researchers plan to use socioeconomic and weather data to improve their framework and models in the next steps.
The study was published in the Journal of Urban Planning and Development, which is overseen by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Atharva Gosavi Atharva is a full-time content writer with a post-graduate degree in media & amp; entertainment and a graduate degree in electronics & telecommunications. He has written in the sports and technology domains respectively. In his leisure time, Atharva loves learning about digital marketing and watching soccer matches. His main goal behind joining Interesting Engineering is to learn more about how the recent technological advancements are helping human beings on both societal and individual levels in their daily lives.
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