Skip to main content

First eVolt charge point installed for Electric Nation

The first eVolt smart electric vehicle (EV) charge point has been installed at a residential property outside Nottingham for the Electric Nation trial, which is seeking to find a smart charging solution that will better manage local level power distribution at peak times. According to eVolt, the eMobility brand of the Swarco Group, research suggests that some of the UK’s local electricity networks will need intervention to enable motorists to charge EVs at home at peak times. It indicates that at least U
March 13, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The first eVolt smart electric vehicle (EV) charge point has been installed at a residential property outside Nottingham for the Electric Nation trial, which is seeking to find a smart charging solution that will better manage local level power distribution at peak times.

According to eVolt, the eMobility brand of the 129 Swarco Group, research suggests that some of the UK’s local electricity networks will need intervention to enable motorists to charge EVs at home at peak times. It indicates that at least US$2.7 billion (£2.2 billion) would be needed for local electricity infrastructure upgrades.

The Electric Nation project is funded by Western Power Distribution (WPD) and Network Innovation Allowance, providing new electric car owners with a free smart charger. In return, the project will have access to charging data to help electricity distribution companies better manage electric vehicle charging.

The trial is seeking 500 to 700 members of the public to install a smart charge point on an ongoing basis to accurately measure charging levels, and eVolt, which is the eMobility brand of the Swarco Group, is providing half of the trial’s chargers. All smart charging units are subsidised by OLEV eligible households are initially required to be within the bounds of WPD (South West, South Wales, and the Midlands.) OLEV grants are only available to people with an EV who have not previously received OLEV funding for a charge point for that vehicle.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Improving traffic flow with automated urban traffic control
    April 25, 2012
    Alterations to traffic signals and variable message signs are being activated to reduce congestion as soon as it occurs, through a pioneering fully automatic UTC system. Jon Masters reports In the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley in England, strategies for dealing with traffic congestion have been devised from analysis of queue data, then made to work automatically: “This represents the future of ITS for urban traffic control,” says Siemens Consultancy Services senior engineer David Carr. Over a career span
  • EU hopes for private investment in planned €1.77 trillion infrastructure spending
    March 28, 2012
    Securing sufficient funding to complete truly European infrastructure projects is the major challenge lying ahead of EP's three co-rapporteurs on the Commission's proposal of a new funding instrument for Trans European transport, energy and ICT networks. The first joint meeting of TRAN and ITRE members to discuss the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) took place on yesterday. TRAN-members Dominique Riquet (France) and Inés Ayala-Sender (Spain), and Adina Ioana Valean (Romania) from the committee for Industry,
  • Cost-effective alternatives to traditional loops
    February 1, 2012
    Traffic signal control is a mainstay of urban congestion management. Despite advances in vehicle detection sensors, inductive loops, which operate by using a magnetic field to detect the metal components in vehicles, are still the most common enabler for intelligent signalised junctions.
  • Weighing up the future with AI
    April 14, 2022
    There is broad agreement that artificial intelligence will be an important part of Weigh in Motion as we go forward – but Adam Hill finds that not everyone agrees quite how close we are to that point