Royal Mail is adding another 87 electric vehicles to its London fleet. The vans, Mercedes eVitos and Peugeot Partners, will arrive at the Mount Pleasant depot over the next two months. The vehicles will be used in the Optimise Prime project, a back-to-base smart charging project funded through Ofgem’s innovation allowance, which also involves Hitachi Read more…

Nottingham City Council is to trial wireless electric taxi chargers after receiving government funding. The trial, which involves the council, Cenex, Sprint Power, Shell, Parking Energy, Transport for London and Coventry University, aims to determine whether wireless technologies can speed up charging and help reduce congestion and clutter in city centres by enabling multiple vehicles Read more…

Islington Council can now run its town hall entirely off grid at peak times, using five Nissan ENV200 electric vans to provide power. Under a trial with energy technology firm Moixa and Honda’s energy management arm, the council aims to work out how electric vehicle (EV) smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technology can cut carbon and Read more…

Stronger incentives and new markets will be required to unlock potentially gigawatts of electric vehicle flexibility, according to a government-appointed taskforce. The call was among a number of recommendations in the EV Taskforce’s report, launched Tuesday. Proposals include making all private chargers ‘smart’ by default by next year, opening new flexibility markets by 2023 and Read more…

Eaton and Green Motion are touting bundled EV charging stations and battery storage for commercial sites. The two aim to sidestep UK grid constraints, which are likely to increase as electric vehicle penetration increases. Eaton said the system can also integrate with onsite generation, such as solar PV, using intelligent charging management to maximise consumption, Read more…

Hydrogen power firm AFC Energy has launched a rapid electric vehicle hydrogen fuel cell charger aimed at areas where grid capacity is constrained, or lacking entirely.  Firms installing rapid chargers nationwide have suggested around one in four sites are too constrained to accommodate infrastructure. Others have described finding suitable sites as akin to a game Read more…

UK Power Networks has pulled together details of vehicle-to-grid trials around the world at V2G Hub. The distribution network operator is involved in various EV trials exploring smart charging and flexibility, including Optimise Prime, which includes Royal Mail, Centrica and Uber fleets (though the DNO is still trying to recruit other participants). It is hoped Read more…

Distribution network operators Western Power Distribution and Electricity North West are working on plans to connect substations together in order to create on-street rapid electric vehicle charging hubs. Consultancy Ricardo is also involved in the £5.6m trial funded under Ofgem’s innovation scheme that allows DNOs to spend money to develop a smarter power system. Substations Read more…

A study involving Honda, Salford University, Good Energy and Upside Energy suggests vehicle-to-grid (V2G) revenues are eaten up by high hardware costs. As such, smart charging may deliver much of the available benefit for lower outlay – at least within domestic premises. The Haven trial looked at savings or revenues available to energy suppliers and Read more…

BMW is taking steps to work out how its electric vehicles could provide power back to the grid. The carmaker said it plans to start real world testing of i3 vehicles providing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services in 2021. BMW will act as the lead party in a consortium that includes transmission system operator TenneT, distribution network Read more…

Without adequate smart charging incentives and policy, electric vehicles will save substantially less CO2 because drivers will naturally charge during evening peaks, when demand – and carbon intensity – is highest, according to a new report. Meanwhile, if drivers all respond to the same price signals at the same time, a new ‘super peak’ could Read more…

A start-up that aims to make charging electric vehicles easier and cleaner has won EDF Energy’s Pulse Innovation challenge. Ev.energy provides solutions to energy companies and chargepoint operators as well as EV drivers. Its apps can control charging around cost and carbon and can integrate with on-site/on-home renewables. It also provides a white label solution Read more…

Brighton & Hove City Council will start installing around 200 lamppost electric vehicle chargers in January. Via Electric Blue, the council will earn 1p/kWh and charge users 28p/kWh. Its cut will rise to 4p/kWh, according to Air Quality News. Following Olev funding, the council will also install four rapid charging hubs for taxis and take Read more…

EDF has acquired Pivot Power, the UK start-up bidding to build a network of 50MW batteries to provide grid services and high speed electric vehicle charging. The firm announced plans to develop up to 2GW connected directly to the transmission system last year, which would require investment of up to £1.6bn. To date, Pivot has Read more…

Liberty Global plans to rollout 1,200 on-street electric vehicle chargepoints powered through its telecoms boxes. Subsidiary Virgin Media operates some 40,000 units across the UK and said it plans to build a “fully scalable” smart network using the connectivity they provide. The project, which has InnovateUK backing, brings together a consortium of partners, including: Vattenfall, Read more…

Lidl has outlined a major expansion of its EV charging infrastructure. Customers can no longer use its rapid chargers for free – but the discounter appears to have entered an EV charging price war with Tesco. Lidl says customers can still use 7kW chargers for free, but from this month must pay 23p/kWh to use Read more…

Western Power Distribution has launched a new, searchable map that enables anyone planning to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure to check whether capacity is available. Constraints on distribution networks are a key consideration for those installing EV chargepoints, particularly faster chargers. Firms have told The Energyst determining where infrastructure can be sited is often a Read more…

Mitie’s head of fleet and procurement outlines key challenges as the firm bids to decarbonise its fleet by 2030. Mitie this week rolled out its first electric vans and remains on track to switch 20 per cent of its cars and light commercial fleet to EVs by the end of 2020. But vehicle visibility and Read more…