Public Funding for Blink Charging UK Limited

Cloud based siting engine for the EV infrastructure sector

The business case for commercial fleets to go electric is getting stronger as technology advances reduce costs and companies search for viable solutions to growing urbanisation and environmental challenges. This has been further accelerated with the advancement of the deadline to end the sale of internal combustion engines in the UK by 2030\. This project seeks to address several barriers to fleet electrification, particularly those with home-start vehicles, whilst also improving the guidance on installing accessible infrastructure. Commercially, fleet electrification can lead to reduced risk from potential future regulation, and in the short term, the possibility of lower maintenance and fuel costs. Tax breaks, grants and other financial incentives also may be available to companies that convert to a zero-emissions fleet. As a provider of charging infrastructure to councils and telematics solutions to fleets, EB is well placed to develop, test and commercialise a solution in this space and is well supported by partners Brighton and Hove City Council and Disabled Motoring UK. This project will accelerate the market, using technology to unlock constraints so that the fleet can get accurate reports of usage, energy costs and revenues, arising from the use of smart charging and operators of EV charging infrastructure can benefit from new support on accessible infrastructure.

Awaiting public summary

The NetX project is seeking to address a number of key barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs); the cost of infrastructure, the ease of use of that infrastructure, and the challenging business case for investing in that infrastructure. Solving these facilitates the 'oversupply' of connectors reducing the restriction on EV drivers (or potential EV drivers) who do not have access to off-street parking (and charging). The current business model for EV charging is based around a margin on the energy sold through the network. This requires a well utilised asset and a high turnover of vehicles. This is in direct conflict with the user experience, as users will often require the parking space for longer than the charging event duration, for example a driver without off-street parking using an on-street charger doesn't want to move their fully charged vehicle at 2am. This tension prevents the investor from maximising the utilisation of their assets and in turn restricts further investment in infrastructure, and other drivers from accessing the chargepoint, both of which inhibits the take-up of EVs. A key advantage of EVs, is that by leveraging the established electricity grid, we can offer drivers the option to plug in every time they park their vehicles. This however, requires an oversupply of chargepoints, or a vehicle rotation policy. Some technology solutions have arisen around the deployment of mobile chargers linked to a battery. These however, come with the additional overheads required to move and operate the mobile charger. The NetX solution builds on the existing charger network to increase the number of access points, without requiring the installation of additional chargers, and the associated cost, until energy demand warrants it. Therefore, if the charging demand is reaching the upper limits of a NetX installation, the owner can then install more traditional chargepoints confident in the demand for them, because NetX provides visibility, unlocking a better view of the granularity of demand and type of supply required at each location. By providing end users multiple connectors from one chargepoint, linked to a smart network, we are able to both offer a significant reduction in the cost of the infrastructure, improve the user experience by removing the need to move a charged vehicle and improve the utilisation (and ROI) of existing and planned assets.

"Construction activity is essential to ensure the regeneration of not only London but also all UK cities and ultimately all cities around the world. With growing populations and increased urbanisation there's an ever-increasing need to provide more buildings for offices, retail and leisure and transport infrastructure to facilitate urban mobility. Whilst this growth potentially poses a problem it also creates opportunities for cities to develop new systems and processes facilitating and enabling streamlining of existing operations and develop new commercial models. The benefits of co-ordinating existing technologies and enabling user adoption through a nudge approach has the ability to deliver not operational benefits but also new revenue streams from optimisation of a city's assets such as the kerbspace and road network. Efficiencies for fleet operators from being able to book guaranteed delivery slots and reserve holding areas means savings in fuel, time and thereforein emissions benefitting the environment both generally and locally. Reduced miles driven means fewer accidents. Building visibility of construction freight vehicle movements into planning consent enables this anonymised data to be fed into real-time traffic management systems and historic data can be used in future modelling including how and where Clean Air Zones could be implemented. From an operator's perspective the granularity of data movements will enable a better understanding of whether EV HGVs could be considered as a cheaper operational option as well as enabling operational efficiencies from insightful interventions In London 35% of daytime HGV traffic in London is generated by the construction industry, equating to 520,000 miles per day. The annual value of construction in London is £31bn and the volume of construction freight is only set to grow further. This work generates a significant amount of road freight movement, which in turn increases congestion, emissions and road risk. The cost of construction road freight for the whole of London is £780m. Grid Smarter Cities intends to build a Freight Traffic Control Platform for construction freight to enable: - guaranteed landing slots for deliveries at or adjacent to construction sites - guaranteed holding areas at defined time / distance from site to prevent vehicle circling - visibility of all vehicle movements in real-time to ensure adherence to prescribed routes - improved delivery management for site operators - improved routing and scheduling for delivery fleets - EV HGV viability - commercialisation of the kerbspace through booking fees. - modular approach to enable scaling."

"The EV-NETX project is seeking to address key barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs); the cost of infrastructure, the ease of use of that infrastructure, and the challenging business case for investing in that infrastructure. Our current business model for EV charging is based around a margin on the energy sold through the network. This requires a well utilised asset and a high turnover of vehicles. This is in direct conflict with the user experience, as users will often require the parking space for longer than the charging event duration. This tension prevents the investor from maximising the utilisation of their asset and other drivers from accessing the charger, both inhibiting take-up of EVs. A key advantage of EVs, is that through leveraging the established electricity grid, we can offer drivers the option to plug in every time they park their vehicles. This however, requires an oversupply of chargers, or a vehicle rotation policy. Some technology solutions have arisen around the deployment of mobile chargers linked to a battery. These however, come with the additional overheads required to move and operate the mobile charger. Our solution builds on the existing charger network to increase the number of access points, without requiring the installation of additional chargers and the associated cost, until energy demand warrants it. By providing end users multiple sockets from one charging post, linked to a smart network, we are able to both offer a significant reduction in the cost of the infrastructure, improve the user experience by removing the need to move a charged vehicle and improve the utilisation of existing assets."

"The WS-CET feasibility project will provide evidence to taxi drivers that switching to electric cars has a positive impact on their business and that it will bring to them a lower cost per mile, thanks to the introduction of a disruptive cable-less charging technology with low infrastructure and capital costs. The proposed technology allows the drivers of electric taxis to conveniently charge their batteries during the downtime while they are queuing in a rank waiting for customers, hence obtaining a significant extended zero emissions range throughout the working day without any impact on business. The system will also be beneficial to local authorities in terms of supporting taxis in the transition to low emission vehicles and the subsequent reduction in emissions, carbon and air quality problems. The innovative charging technology has an estimated cost approximately 75% lower than the alternative wireless technologies, whilst being capable of supporting charging rates of an estimated 4 times while taxis are at taxi ranks. This combination will create a practicable business model from several potential charging methods which will be verified in the feasibility. Within the feasibility, the consortium will quantify the activity of taxis in respect to using EVs but will also measure the time and locations where taxis will gain the maximum charging benefit. This will be reflected in the different charging mechanisms and pricing strategies to be reviewed and matched against the costs to achieve a price per mile lower than that of a conventional car, which would make switching to electric cars also economically convenient for taxi drivers."