The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia will radically alter both network operations and the way consumers use and manage their electricity. Just as for the rapid uptake of solar, the transition to EVs will require the electricity sector’s policy and regulatory frameworks to evolve to ensure the integration of distributed energy resources (DER) is done to the benefit of all consumers.

With technology, policy, regulation, and consumer behaviour all impacting energy consumer’s experiences and how network operations will perform in the future, detailed data on DER, especially EVs, becomes ever more important. The EV Data Availability Taskforce, led by AEMO, evaluated the data needs and priorities across the sector and published their recommendations https://bit.ly/3yqlJXW. C4NET’s EV Data Warehouse is aimed at addressing one of the four recommendations of the Taskforce, the availability of research data.

There is a lot of research underway to help inform the change impact of EV adoption, yet a persistent challenge for researchers and policy makers is to simply access high quality, curated data to inform their research. C4NET is collaborating with numerous stakeholders nationally to create a comprehensive EV Data Warehouse to help researchers, industry and government, manage the efficient transition to a decentralised electricity network.

The Data Warehouse is expected to include datasets such as:

• Network and EV operational data
• EV Charging profiles
• Network related data
• Smart meter data
• Current modelling and forecasting by academic and industry researchers
• Existing Trial Outcomes
• Consumer behaviour
• Standing/demographic data (charging stations and EVs)

The EV Data Warehouse is currently under development and we look forward to bringing it to you. In the meantime, C4NET is keen to engage with:

• proponents of EV research projects either underway or complete to help understand how we can facilitate access to the datasets used and generated through your project, enhance knowledge sharing and promote the insights of your work
• anyone seeking to conduct EV research, either seeking data or our support
• anyone who’d like to share their ideas on how the service could meet their needs

This work is supported by the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) led by RMIT University together with La Trobe University, Monash University, and C4NET.