The project has been developing an innovative smart EV charging (EnSmartEV) system integrated within a smart microgrid which can be installed in residential communities for households without off-street parking, commercial communities for the public and employees and visitors of businesses and organisations, and organisations for fleet charging (such as hospital ambulances and supermarket delivery vehicles), etc.
EnSmartEV is a revolutionary new system that utilises a 622kWh battery store for seamless, AC and DC charging of EV's. Highly innovative new and patented technology is at the core of the EnSmartEV system that not only allows for multiple EV's to be charged simultaneously though also balances out demands on the grid thereby reducing grid connection costs.
The smart EV charging system within the smart microgrid enables controlled EV charging directly by solar PV power and/or battery energy, which is charged by surplus solar PV power and/or off-peak low-cost grid electricity, enhances owner's/operator's economic benefits, whilst providing low-cost charging for users and supporting the electricity grid.
The project develops cloud back office for operators to run the smart EV charging system and is developing a smartphone APP for users to instruct EV charging and payment.
The project will have a major impact on ZEV because the innovation will enable EV charging directly from solar PV and off-peak grid power at the highest power efficiency and balance the electricity grid and improve the grid operation efficiency.
The project will play a key role in facilitating road transport electrification and smart microgrid implementation and have very positive impact on climate change and environmental sustainability through carbon emission reduction and air quality improvement.
The project will generate and safeguard jobs and benefit the UK economy, have major impact on the electricity grid infrastructure planning and operation, facilitate time-of-use electricity tariff.
The project brings together UK's leading expertise in smart EV charging and smart energy management from both industry and academic sectors and will generate first-hand education materials for universities and colleges students to further facilitate the interest in and uptake of both ZEV and smart microgrid system solutions.
The project will develop an innovative smart EV charging hub (SEVHub) integrated within a smart microgrid which can be installed in residential communities for households without off-street parking, commercial communities for public, businesses and organisations for employees and visitors, and organisations for fleet charging (such as hospital ambulances and supermarket delivery vehicles), etc.
The SEVHub comprises a central EV charging cabinet, which can be installed in a container or plant room housing the smart microgrid equipment, a few (typically three) EV charging stations, each with a QR code for those with smartphone APP to use, and a central card payment station for those without smartphone APP to use. This makes SEVHub a low-cost solution.
The SEVHub within the smart microgrid enables controlled EV charging directly by solar PV power and/or battery energy, which is charged by surplus solar PV power and/or off-peak low-cost grid electricity, enhances owner's/operator's economic benefits, whilst providing low-cost charging for users and supporting the electricity grid.
The project will develop cloud back office for operators to run the SEVHub, and smartphone APP for users to instruct EV charging and payment. The cloud's scalability and flexible storage capacity will facilitate performance analysis, AI and machine/deep learning can be run on the cloud to provide business insights and increase competitiveness.
The project will conduct market research to determine suitable system specifications, identify potential installation sites, including residential and commercial communities, businesses and public organisations, consult the public, stakeholders and authorities, so that the solution is fit for purpose.
The project will have a major impact on ZEV because the innovation will enable EV charging directly from solar PV and off-peak grid power at the highest power efficiency and balance the electricity grid and improve the grid operation efficiency.
The project will play a key role in facilitating road transport electrification and smart microgrid implementation, and have very positive impact on climate change and environmental sustainability through carbon emission reduction and air quality improvement.
The project will generate and safeguard jobs and benefit the UK economy, have major impact on the electricity grid infrastructure planning and operation, facilitate time-of-use electricity tariff.
The project brings together UK's leading expertise in smart EV charging and smart energy management from both industry and academic sectors and will generate first-hand education materials for universities and colleges students to further facilitate the interest in and uptake of both ZEV and smart microgrid system solutions.
This project will develop a smart home EV charger, supplying both AC and DC power for EV owners to charge from home. For those properties with off-street parking and rooftop solar PV installation, the smart home EV charger, will boost the smart home power (microgrid) system performance, reduce the microgrid system cost and maximise user's benefits from both the smart EV charging and smart home microgrid with solar PV power generation.
In addition, the project will develop an EV user's smartphone App and associated cloud-based management system to aggregate and manage users' resources, including electric vehicles, to enable users to participate in the electricity market in a collective manner so as to further enhance user's economic benefits, whist also providing the grid with load balancing services and support for the grid.
The project will have a major impact on the uptake of zero emission vehicles because the innovation will enable EV charging directly from solar PV power at the highest power efficiency, enable EV's in the home to provide grid ancillary services, both balancing the electricity grid and improving the grid operation efficiency.
The project will play a key role in facilitating road transport electrification, domestic home solar PV installation and smart home microgrid implementation. Re-use of after-service or end-of-life EV batteries in the smart home microgrid, and therefore will have very positive environmental impact through carbon emission reduction and air quality improvement.The project will generate and safeguard jobs and benefit the UK economy, have major impact on the electricity grid infrastructure planning and operation, facilitate time-of-use electricity tariff.
The project brings together UK's leading expertise in smart EV charging and smart home energy management from both industry and academic sectors and will generate first-hand education materials, and knowledge transfer for universities/colleges and students to further facilitate the interest in and uptake of both zero emission vehicles and domestic solar PV systems.
It is recognised that current transport system based on petrol/diesel (ICE) motor vehicles is becoming unaffordable and unsustainable, and electric vehicles will be one of the means to address the problem providing the electricity supply is from renewable power sources and affordable.
Sub-Saharan-Africa is one of the regions underdeveloped and experiencing rapid growth in population and economic activities. In terms of modern transport system, it is still a "blank canvass" and the right time to think differently to the developed world and design a public transport system which suits the local society and is sustainable and affordable.
It is about overcoming the problems of poor public infrastructure to help people in Africa benefit from low cost and low carbon transport system -- focusing on an innovative and less costly battery swapping/charging model, that can take advantage of Africa's rapidly expanding, renewable solar PV power generation.
As such, the project aims to assess the feasibility of the design of a smart community electric vehicle charging hub to facilitate light electric vehicles such as motorbikes, tuk-tuks and small mini-buses in Kampala, Uganda to demonstrate a feasible solution for the country to provide an affordable, clean and sustainable transport system for all.
The project aims to develop and demonstrate an innovative and game-changing smart public fast EV charging system, EnSmartEV.
The government has made commitments to reducing CO2 emissions but current public EV chargers use peak power to charge EVs and still require burning of large amounts of fossil fuels, so the problems are being moved elsewhere - to the point of power generation rather than the vehicles themselves.
Our vision is to provide a smart, public, fast EV charging solution to truly enable low/zero carbon transportation and encourage purchase of EVs, particularly for those without off-street parking and business users.
EnSmartEV offers fast DC and AC charging for CCS standard EVs, such as BMW i3, and fast AC charging for other standard EVs with Type 2 inlet, such as Nissan Leaf. It is designed for all EV models (including cleaning and delivery vehicles, i.e. not only passenger vehicles) in the UK/EU.
EnSmartEV integrates lithium batteries and is designed to charge EVs with ~100% off-peak or low tariff power or renewable electricity at highest power efficiency and lowest grid connection costs, which enables high penetration of renewable power with the grid infrastructure.
EnSmartEV enables re-use of after-service EV batteries, and which extends EV batteries life-span.
EnSmartEV system includes a Battery Container and three slim/simple Charging Posts. The Battery Container houses all the equipment and can be screened to be embedded in a space away from the street/pavement. The Charging Post has very small footprint on street/pavement, is designed for all users (including disabled drivers), and considers other road users, particularly the blind and wheelchair users.
Each Charging Post is designed to serve two electric vehicles charging simultaneously and provide multiple uses, such as mobile phone top-up charging, lighting the street/pavement while indicating drivers the status of the charger.
EnSmartEV is designed to provide supporting services (i.e. balancing and frequency support) to the grid at zero extra cost, and which is well beyond V2G (vehicle to grid) and demand response.
EnSmartEV is truly the next generation smart EV charging solution which enables low carbon transportation and addresses climate change.
EnSmartEV can be used for all public locations, including but not limited to on-street, community parking hub and car parks when there are spaces available for the Battery Container.
EnSmartEV will facilitate rapid growth of EVs, stimulate road transport electrification, enable re-use of after-service EV batteries, enhance air quality and hence quality of life.