Centrica has struck a deal with Ford to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure to its customers and dealerships. The energy supplier hopes Ford’s customers will also take up its dedicated EV tariffs. The move is part of Centrica’s shift to become an energy services business. The firm launched a Mobility Ventures unit earlier this year. Read more…

Cyan Finance has hired James Jean-Louis, formerly of BP Chargemaster, as it bids to significantly expand its footprint within electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.  Jean-Louis will be Sustainable Finance – E-mobility Lead and is tasked with driving forward Cyan’s activities in the sector. Cyan said creating the role underlines its ambitions to fund a significant Read more…

Planning permission has been approved for the key substation site proposed for the Energy Superhub project in Oxford. Flow storage company RedT said it enables plans to deploy a 50MW hybrid storage system, including 2MW/5MWh of its vanadium redox flow units, to progress. Executive chairman Neil O’Brien said it would be the firm’s first grid-scale Read more…

UK Power Networks has launched a smart charging trial that will incentivise electric car drivers to charge at times that best suit the local grid. The DNO hopes to recruit up to 1,000 EV drivers for the trial in London and the South East, alongside partners Octopus Energy, Ovo-owned Kaluza and charge point provider Pod Read more…

All new rapid and super fast electric vehicle (EV) chargers installed from April 2020 must offer card payment functionality. While the mandate only applies to rapid chargers upwards (50kW+) government ultimately wants industry to work enable any EV driver to use any public charging point to address interoperability issues that risk inefficiency and poor driver Read more…

BP Chargemaster has signed a deal to install up to 200 rapid electric vehicle chargers at Mitchells & Butlers pubs and restaurants, with 50 installations of the 50kW chargers expected to be completed in the next three months. “We recognise the importance of providing somewhere for EV users to charge their cars, while also giving Read more…

Engenie has secured £35m in backing from infrastructure investor Cube. The company will use the funds to rollout 2,000 rapid electric vehicle chargers over the next five years. CEO Ian Johnstone said the rollout will be “fairly linear” out to 2024. The company is installing chargers at 200 sites for pubco Marston’s and Johnstone said Read more…

Electric vehicle charging company Engenie will install 12 rapid (50kW) chargers in Cardiff as the city aims to reduce air pollution. Cardiff Council has modelled major road links in the city centre, and said the partnership with Engenie will help ensure air quality remains within legal limits. The package is fully funded. Meanwhile Gridserve, which Read more…

French-owned utility Engie has acquired electric vehicle charging provider Charge Point Services (CPS), which owns the Genie Point nationwide EV charging network.  The charging company’s business customers include Ford, Microsoft, Waitrose, Morrisons and Siemens and it works with around 30 local authorities on rolling out charging infrastructure. Engie said the deal buys it 20,000 Genie Read more…

Centrica Business Solutions is hoping to take a slice of the burgeoning EV market by bundling charging infrastructure with solar, storage and energy supply. The company says businesses aiming to install large numbers of chargers are often falling at the first hurdle: sufficient grid capacity. It believes on-site generation can help address the issue and Read more…

A UK study into the income potential of using electric vehicles to balance the grid suggests around £400 per annum may be the upper limit for cars plugged in 75 per cent of the time. The findings contrast with headline figures touted by vehicle-to-grid (V2G) proponents such as Nissan and Nuvve, which have suggested earnings Read more…

UK Power Networks and Northern Powergrid on the need to define what smart charging actually means, greater low voltage network visibility and how businesses and local authorities can ensure a smoother EV charging infrastructure rollout. UK Power Networks has one key message for organisations planning electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure rollouts, says Adriana Laguna, senior Read more…

Businesses with electric vehicle fleets are sought for a London vehicle-to-grid trial. Firms within the M25 with compatible vehicles (Nissan Leaf, Nissan e-NV200 or Mitsubishi Outlander) will be offered free V2G charging equipment, installation, maintenance and support. They will also get access to an app to manage their chargers. The E-Flex trial involves Cenex, Nuvve, Read more…

Mitie has ambitious plans to convert its fleet to electric vehicles. But getting hold of the vehicles is no mean feat. Mitie plans to switch 20 per cent of its cars and small vans to EVs by 2020. That’s around 717 vehicles, says fleet and procurement director, Simon King. “It’s very important to focus on Read more…

SES Water has decarbonised its power consumption, the next challenge is its transport emissions. The firm is trialling 10 electric vans with a view to ultimately linking vehicles to its other generation and flex assets as part of an advanced energy strategy. SES Water is trialling 10 Nissan e-NV200 vans, installing chargers at its head Read more…

The tipping point is coming, say electric vehicle (EV) charging point companies, fossil majors and would-be disruptors building charging networks. “Within five years, EV charging will be like wifi; a hygiene factor that you have to offer or customers will be unhappy,” says Erik Fairbairn, CEO & founder, Pod Point. Supermarkets and other retail and destination sites Read more…

UPS outlines what it has learned from deploying electric vans in central London – and why smart charging could be key to electrifying transport. Brendan Coyne reports UPS first trialled electric vehicles in New York in 1930. The technology has moved on somewhat, yet in 2019, decarbonising a delivery fleet at scale remains a complex Read more…

Businesses surveyed by The Energyst have significant appetite for electric vehicle (EV) chargers. Our latest report details their deployment plans, whether they have sufficient power capacity on site, their attitudes towards controlled or smart charging and receptiveness to engage in vehicle-to-grid services. Download the report The report also contains interviews with businesses that are switching Read more…

Oxford City Council has received government funding to build what it terms a ‘Superhub’ – a massive lithium ion-flow storage hybrid that underpins a network of EV chargers via a 10km private wire around the city. The project will also install 300 heat pumps, which, along with the battery and EVs, will be smartly controlled Read more…