Skip to main content

UK government launches funding competition for vehicle to grid technology

The UK government is to invest US$25.7 million (£20 million) in vehicle to grid projects as part of its Industrial Strategy to create a smarter energy system, while increasing the numbers of electric cars on UK roads.
July 10, 2017 Read time: 1 min

The UK government is to invest US$25.7 million (£20 million) in vehicle to grid projects as part of its Industrial Strategy to create a smarter energy system, while increasing the numbers of electric cars on UK roads.

The projects will investigate technology that allows plug-in electric vehicles to not only draw power from the grid when charging but return it to people’s homes or back to the grid.
There are already 100,000 electric cars and 11,000 charge points and as this number grows they become a resource for a smart electricity grid, bringing benefits for drivers and creating a more flexible and efficient energy system.

The funding will be awarded to three types of innovative vehicle to grid projects: feasibility studies; industrial research or experimental development; and demonstrator trials in the real-world environment.

The competition process will start in the next few weeks with the aim of winners being notified in December and projects starting in early 2018.

Related Content

  • Will mobile apps kick-start mobility pricing?
    January 5, 2016
    Thomas Hallauer from Ptolemus believes trials of connected road charging services will show the pay per mile concept will go much further than previously thought. Drivers are progressively becoming directly connected to the transport infrastructure and while the methods are changing, the innovation is really in the models rather than the technology.
  • Moneybarn: 1,800% increase in UK electric car registrations over five year period
    November 2, 2017
    Nearly 10,000 electric cars are now registered in the UK with Japanese and German manufacturers dominating most popular brands in the UK, according to a five-year analysis on the development of the Electric vehicle industry by Moneybarn. These findings have been revealed following the government’s plan to ban the sale of all petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040.
  • Tolling Matters: Getting the balance right
    January 18, 2023
    The concept of road usage charging (RUC) is slowly coming to the fore. But it isn’t just a question of good fiscal sense – it’s about promoting equity and ensuring sustainability too, says Scott Jacobs of Emovis
  • UK research team aims to develop smart electric vehicle car park
    March 3, 2017
    Cenex, the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, is to be part of the team carrying out a project to establish the feasibility of turning a Solihull car park into a MW-scale battery to provide power on demand to the electricity grid. Part funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, the 12-month Net-Form project seeks to develop a secure, dynamic data management platform that collects, aggregates and optimises energy collected by large populations of grid-connected