Mountain View, CA (October 23, 2024)—The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), together with the Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and the Army Reserve, delivered a new dual use commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging process with integrated physical and digital infrastructure to enable fast and cost-effective EV charging. The “Service Based Charging” process optimizes the accelerated deployment of advanced EV technology solutions, including nearly 120 new EV Charging Facilities (EVCF) at 10 locations across the country.
DIU worked with TechFlow Inc and Leidos, companies selected through DIU’s competitive Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) process, to design and build this integrated set of services and physical/digital infrastructure. TechFlow and Leidos varied their business model offerings in response to Service-specific interest, where the overall focus of DoD was to retain ownership of command infrastructure, while allowing EV users to control their charging needs. The Services can now use Government Owned/Contractor Operated (GOCO) and/or Contractor Owned/Contractor Operated (COCO) charging solutions for their scaling needs.
A TechFlow Inc EV charger.
This flexibility allows the installations to decide whether to purchase or lease chargers, work with a contract provider to manage the billing, payments, service, and maintenance, while keeping operational control and ownership of facility and associated grid infrastructure. Exploring how the DoD can leverage investment from the private sector, DIU’s efforts have also resulted in a first-in-Government budget-neutral EV Charging as a Service model, where charging sessions can be used to de-risk the technical and economic decisions inherent in pushing out novel capability to Defense Installations. These options enable military bases and government facilities to increase their buying power, as the DIU co-developed electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) systems and have established a model that allows bases to augment their purchase of additional EV equipment.
The collaboration has proven to be a replicable and efficient business model for delivering cost-effective EVs via EVSE charging system end points at military facilities. Private EV drivers can conveniently charge their vehicles at government locations using charge cards or smartphone apps for point-of-sale transactions on-base when infrastructure is not actively supporting mission requirements. This demonstrates a scalable solution that could be applied throughout the Department of Defense.
“New realities like the reemergence of Great Power Competition and increasingly destructive extreme weather events necessitate rapid action to ensure our installations are resilient and sustainable. Our 75,000 vehicular assets represent thousands of opportunities to increase installation energy resilience, reduce military energy supply chain dependency, and minimize operations and maintenance costs. This collaboration is enabling us to deploy the necessary infrastructure to transform our non-tactical vehicle fleet at a pace that would have been impossible under existing acquisition pathways, all while reducing costs to our Installations,” explained Nancy Balkus, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Infrastructure, Energy, and Environment.
The benefits of Service Based Charging are shared because power is delivered through the base’s existing electrical energy distribution infrastructure. EVSE is a stepping stone in DoD fleet modernization, and provides opportunities to explore how additional technologies, like microgrids, autonomous EVs and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, may be woven into the DoD’s resilience ecosystem.
“The new on-base EVSEs give the DoD a cost neutral way to transfer electrical energy that’s already being piped into the base by our local utility, powering EVs at little to no increase in our cost,” said Rear Admiral Bradley Rosen, Commander, Navy Region Southwest. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increased demand signal for EV charging on bases from both active-duty Sailors and our civilian workforce. This effort is critical to our larger mission to provide state-of-the-art quality of life services for our Sailors and their families, while also maintaining the competitive work environments that allow us to hire the best and brightest.”
“Investing in electric vehicle infrastructure across our installation is a pivotal step towards enhancing operational sustainability and supporting our long-standing environmental stewardship, said Brig. Gen. Nick I Brown, commanding general, Marine Corps Installations West. These charging stations not only provide convenience for our service members and families, but also reflect our dedication to innovation, resource management, and responsible energy use.”
A Leidos EV charger.
DIU has worked with TechFlow over the past 22 months to install EVSE equipment at two Army Reserve bases (Camp Parks and Moffett Field), one Marine Corps base (Camp Pendleton), one Navy base (San Diego), and three U.S. Air Force locations (Joint Base Andrews, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling). Leidos’ projects kicked off in August 2023 at three U.S. Air Force locations (Plant 42, Fairchild Air Force Base, and Dover Air Force Base). All Services selected a mix of Level 2 and Level 3 chargers and allocated those to installations based on mission needs. The ten bases on which DIU installed EVSE equipment now offer a total of 234 chargers between them.
“The Army Reserve’s successful partnership with the DIU made it possible to roll out EVs across the enterprise,” said Stephen Sullivan, the Army Reserve’s CFO and Director for Resources, Installations, and Materiel. “The Army Reserve will install charging facilities utilizing a production contract enabled by DIU. This will support the deployment of approximately 2,800 EVs to over 760 facilities nationwide to meet federal requirements and goals for the Army Reserve. The Army Reserve and DIU’s work on this project exemplifies the type of innovative service and technology solutions that can be achieved when government collaborates with industry to solve 21st century problems by leveraging partnership-oriented acquisition authorities.”
Production contracts are underway with the Army Reserve, the Department of the Air Force, and will allow other bases and Government facilities to directly acquire charging infrastructure from TechFlow and Leidos. Additionally, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps plan to follow with production contracts after the successful completion of their initial projects.
“Now government users will have a choice both tactically in terms of technology as well as strategically in terms of process and procedure. This enables that in production by choice of vendor, business model and contractual price/terms. In turn, this offers choice to the user – something like picking what price they want to pay for which octane of gasoline – while enjoying the familiarity of a seamless experience for users at the point of sale,” said CAPT Charles “Newt” McKissick, formerly base commander at Coronado, now the Senior Military Advisor of the DIU Energy Portfolio.