Wincanton has successfully completed a pilot of Tual’s PowerUp Charger, demonstrating the ability to increase depot charging capacity by more than 200%.
The one-month trial was carried out at a Wincanton e-fleet operating site in West London where the battery-buffered DC charger underpinned the duty cycles of 19 large- and medium-sized fully electric vans.
This charger helped Wincanton deliver an average 4.9 high-power DC charges per day, using an 11kW connection that previously delivered 1.2 low-power (AC) charges per day.
It also facilitated 3,138 clean-air miles during its four weeks in operation – saving 1,560kg of CO2 emissions.
The demonstration – delivered in partnership with Wincanton, Connected Places Catapult and Department for Transport – showcased the ability for battery-integrated charging to increase available on-site capacity by up to 250%.
Tual said 50 to 80% of sites looking to electrify have constrained or absent grid connections, and that grid upgrades typically take from one to three years at a cost ranging from £150,000 to £3m.
The PowerUp Charger can be fully deployed and operational within 15 minutes.
Philip Clarke, CEO and founder of Tual, said, “Myself and the whole Tual team are delighted to see Wincanton and their clients benefit from our battery-buffered DC PowerUp Charger technology – successfully delivering the dependable, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable fast charging that lies at the core of our mission.
“That undertaking is a critically important one in the shift to sustainable fleet operations; businesses across the UK needing to electrify are faced with sites that don’t have the grid capacity to make an efficient transition possible.”
Claire Charlton, head of innovation at Wincanton, said, “Solutions such as Tual’s are central to making our net-zero ambitions happen, and smart innovation is essential for helping businesses expedite the expansion of their fleet electrification, cost-effectively.”
