Jason Harper

Advances EV charging interoperability, smart charge management, and grid integration through standards-based R&D and open tools.

Biography

Jason Harper is a principal electrical engineer at Argonne National Laboratory. He builds and validates the systems that make electric vehicles and charge stations work together at scale, with a focus on interoperability, smart charge management, and vehicle grid integration.

At Argonne, Harper helped lead development of the SpEC communication module used in DC fast charging research and tech transfer, the Smart Charge Adapter that turns legacy Level 2 stations into controllable assets, and EVrez, a charge-station management and reservation platform deployed on Argonne’s campus. He also led work on OptiQ, a smart Level 2 EVSE, and holds numerous patents. His team releases open-source tools used across the community, including OCPP nodes for Node-RED and the CIP.io Link platform for rapid CSMS and site-energy prototyping.

Harper’s recent work centers on site energy management for high-power charging hubs, machine-learning-based charge scheduling, and vehicle-grid services, with collaborations that include the University of Chicago, other DOE National Labs, and industry partners. Earlier in his career, he worked in avionics, medical devices, and chemical instrumentation.

Education

M.S., Electrical Computer Engineering Technology, Purdue University, 2009
B.S. with Distinction, Electrical Computer Engineering Technology, Purdue University, 2006

Publications

Harper, J., “Development and Implementation of SAE DC Charging Digital Communication for Plug-in Electric Vehicle DC Charging,” SAE Technical Paper 2013-01-1188, doi:10.4271/2013-01-1188, 2013.
Cao, C., Wang, L., Chen, B., Harper, J., Bohn, T., Dobrzynski, D., & Hardy, K. (2017). Real-Time Modeling to Enable Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation of Plug-In Electric Vehicle-Grid Interaction. Proceedings of the ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2017), ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic & Embedded Systems & Applications (MESA), Cleveland, OH, USA, August 6–9, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2017-67390.
Chen, B., Hardy, K. S., Harper, J. D., Bohn, T. P., & Dobrzynski, D. S. (2015, June). Towards standardized vehicle grid integration: Current status, challenges, and next steps. In 2015 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC) (pp. 1–6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITEC.2015.7165789.
Full list of publications: Google Scholar

Patents

D. S. Dobrzynski and J. D. Harper, “Transactive framework for electric vehicle charging capacity distribution,” U.S. Patent 12,288,267, Apr. 29, 2025.
J. D. Harper, “Vehicle charging system compatible with multiple charging protocols and method,” U.S. Patent App. US 2024/0326626 A1, Oct. 3, 2024.
J. Harper, and D. Dobrzynski, “Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) smart charging module,” U.S. Patent 9,758,046 B2, Sep. 12, 2017.
J. Harper, and D. Dobrzynski, “Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) smart charging module,” WO Patent App. WO2016081498 A1, May 26, 2016.
Z. Ouyang, R. G. Cooks, S. V. Garimella, J. D. Harper, and N. A. Charipar, “Systems and methods for transfer of ions for analysis,” U.S. Patent 10,008,374 B2, Jun. 26, 2018.
Z. Ouyang, R. G. Cooks, S. V. Garimella, J. D. Harper, and N. A. Charipar, “Systems and methods for transfer of ions for analysis,” U.S. Patent 9,484,195 B2, Nov. 1, 2016.
Z. Ouyang, R. G. Cooks, S. V. Garimella, J. D. Harper, and N. A. Charipar, “Systems and methods for transfer of ions for analysis,” U.S. Patent 8,686,351 B2, Apr. 1, 2014.
Z. Ouyang, J. D. Harper, N. A. Charipar, and R. G. Cooks, “Low temperature plasma probe and methods of use thereof,” U.S. Patent 8,772,710 B2, Jul. 8, 2014.
Z. Ouyang, R. G. Cooks, S. V. Garimella, J. D. Harper, and N. A. Charipar, “Systems and methods for transfer of ions for analysis,” U.S. Patent 8,803,085 B2, Aug. 12, 2014.
Ouyang, Z.; Cooks, R. G.; Garimella, S. V.; Harper, J. D.; Charipar, N. A., “Systems and Methods for Transfer of Ions for Analysis,” U.S. Patent 8,410,431, 2013.