EPRI and Calstart have unveiled the Advanced Transportation Research Center (ATRC). The new facility is part of the Electric Truck Research and Utilization Center (eTRUC) initiative.

The new research center was made possible with funding support from the California Energy Commission (CEC) through the Electric Program Investment Charge Program.

Advancing High-Power Charging Infrastructure

The new facility is located within Southern California Edison’s (SCE) High-Power Charging Lab at their Electric Vehicle Technical Center (EVTC) campus in Pomona, California.

The lab marks a major milestone in advancing high-power charging infrastructure and zero-emission freight solutions for heavy-duty vehicles, Calstart said.

Leaders from the project emphasized the ATRC’s critical role in accelerating transportation electrification.

“The Advanced Transportation Research Center provides unique capabilities for testing heavy-duty electric vehicle charging,” said Watson Collins, EPRI’s senior technical executive and co-principal investigator on the project. “The lab’s plug-and-play connectivity and readiness for a high-power grid connection enables users to test charging systems in a matter of weeks, making it an important resource to advance the evolution of EV charging.”

“This new lab represents a major step forward in accelerating zero-emission freight technologies,” said Jasna Tomic, Calstart vice president. “It’s exciting to see such strong collaboration across industry, government, and research partners—all coming together to drive real progress in high-power charging and commercial vehicle innovation.”

“We are working with many stakeholders to make it easier for everyone to use and benefit from electric vehicles and electric technologies,” said Brian Chen, SCE vice president of project and field engineering. “The High-Power Charging Lab is set to play a big role in speeding the testing and development for heavy-duty truck charging at megawatt (MW) power levels, which will significantly reduce charging times of electric trucks.”

A Collaborative Research Effort

The eTRUC project is a collaborative effort focused on innovation to support the deployment of high-powered infrastructure among key freight corridors to address the charging infrastructure needs required to propel Class 7 and 8 battery-electric truck adoption.

The ATRC is a key component of this effort. It offers a shared, high power-testing environment to evaluate charging systems, reduce implementation timelines, and inform future standards for megawatt-level charging.

The Center supports the testing of HD trucks at megawatt levels and serves as a user facility to third parties including vehicle/charging industry manufacturers. 

The lab offers:

• System-level functional and grid integration testing,

• Use of commercially available test instruments designed for the SAE J1772 Combined Charging System (CCS) standards,

• Testing and validation of HD vehicles and their charging systems using the CCS connector,

• An open process for manufacturers to apply for testing resources,

• Hardware-in-the-loop testing and laboratory connectivity between project partners and other relevant research facilities

This year, it will deploy instruments and resources supporting one MW charging.

Additionally, eTRUC is helping to develop two pilot demonstration sites in Ontario and Carson, California. 

The data from these sites will access the benefits of high-power charging infrastructure in commercial HD trucks viewed from technical and business perspectives.