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.

Related Content

  • December 16, 2014
    Do satellites provide a heavenly view of tolling’s future?
    Satellite-based tolling opens up new options for authorities and can be integrated with DSRC systems as David Crawford discovers. As the proud custodian of the European Union (EU)’s longest road network covered by a single (truck) charging scheme – and the only one to include all major roads - Slovakia has become the continent’s poster-nation for the virtues of GNSS/CN (Global Navigation Satellite System/Cellular Network)-based tolling. It is also proved to be a very fast implementer. Speaking at the 2014 I
  • July 18, 2017
    Authorities look to MaaS for new solutions and cost savings
    The structure of society and the way in which our cities work will be completely transformed by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Finland’s minister of transport and communications Anne Berner, told ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference 2017 in London. In her keynote address, Berner told a packed audience of more than 200 ITS professionals that MaaS has the potential to help governments around the world meet their big city targets such as the rate of employment, the environment, the efficient use of
  • April 9, 2014
    Gothenburg’s year of congestion charging
    A year after it went live, Colin Sowman examines the technology used for Gothenburg’s congestion charging system and the effect the scheme has had on commuters. When it comes to long-term planning, the Scandinavians take some beating.The West Swedish Agreement is a case in point. Introduced in 2009, the Agreement runs through to around 2027 and aims to create an attractive, sustainable and growing region, and over that timescale the number of journeys is expected to increase by a third. Therefore the Agreem
  • October 29, 2015
    Counting the environmental costs of ITS deployment
    David Crawford looks at the latest thinking about calculating the benefits associated with the environmental side of ITS schemes. The penny is dropping that some environmental costs “are being shifted outside the traditional bounds of evaluation methods” for ITS-based road transport projects, according to researchers at the UK University of Leeds’ Institute for Transport Studies.