Skip to main content

TRL to lead project to encourage wider adoption of plug-in vehicles

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has appointed TRL, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, to lead its Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI) project. The US$8 million project will examine how the UK energy system needs to adapt in order to accommodate and encourage greater adoption of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. The project aims to understand the required changes to existing infrastructure, as well as consumer response to a wider introduction of plug-in hybrid and el
September 11, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has appointed 491 TRL, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, to lead its Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI) project. The US$8 million project will examine how the UK energy system needs to adapt in order to accommodate and encourage greater adoption of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

The project aims to understand the required changes to existing infrastructure, as well as consumer response to a wider introduction of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles in the UK. The project will be led by independent transport specialists, TRL, supported by Element Energy, Baringa Partners and Cenex. Other team members include EDF Energy, Route Monkey, EV Connect and the University of Aberdeen.

The two-year project will be carried out in two stages. The first stage will focus on detailed analysis and design of market, policy and regulatory frameworks, business models and customer offerings, electricity and liquid fuel infrastructure and technologies throughout the energy system, as well as at charging and refuelling points and on-vehicle. This will be supported by insights from consumers and fleets into use of plug-in vehicles.

The second stage will deliver a trial involving over 300 mass market users to validate the impact of solutions identified in stage one and understand consumer and fleet responses to the vehicles and to managed charging schemes.

Outputs from the project will be made publicly available throughout the project.

Commenting on the project, Jenny Stannard, TRL project manager said, “We’re already starting to see a sizeable shift in acceptance of electric vehicles in the UK. However, as more vehicles become electrified, we need to understand the pressure this extra demand will put on our energy networks, as well as the potential opportunities it will bring.

“We also need to understand how consumers will respond and engage with these vehicles in order to develop an appropriate energy system that meets the needs of all parties. The CVEI project is the first and only project to analyse each of these elements in tandem - from energy demand and supply through to consumer usage and response. This not only provides a holistic picture of the energy demand, use and supply surrounding plug-in vehicles, but will generate the required evidence to inform policy makers and long term infrastructure investment in the UK.”

ETI project manager, Nick Eraut, added: “Light vehicles account for up to 20% of UK CO2 emissions and are a major contributor to congestion and urban air quality so it is important that emissions from the light vehicle sector are reduced if the UK’s 2050 emissions targets are to be met cost effectively.

Related Content

  • July 23, 2012
    Improving the positional accuracy of GNSS road user charging
    The European GINA project is intended to address and overcome many of the institutional, technical and public acceptance hurdles currently faced by satellite-based road user charging schemes. Dave Tindall and Denis Naberezhnykh, TRL, and Laure Dezes, ERF, write. Pay-as-you-drive Road User Charging (RUC), whereby demand (or congestion) is managed by applying appropriate tariffs in order to encourage drivers to make their journeys at less busy times, on less congested routes or even on different modes, could
  • February 2, 2016
    UK consortium to trial driverless cars on UK roads
    The MOVE_UK project, recently announced by the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, is a consortium of companies that will help position the UK as a world leader in automated and self-driving cars. Led by Bosch, the MOVE_UK project benefits from a US$8 million grant awarded by InnovateUK and will see driverless technology trialled in real world conditions on roads in Greenwich, London. Project partners include Bosch, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (T
  • November 1, 2023
    The challenging European road to carbon neutrality and the need for distance-based charging
    Fuel taxes are falling and EVs have the potential to create social equity issues. The answer may lie in expanding the use of technology which has successfully been used for two decades with trucks
  • October 22, 2015
    LowCVP calls on truck operators and others to focus on cutting truck emissions
    To coincide with its participation in the new Freight in the City event on 27 October, the LowCVP is calling on fleet operators, local authorities and others to join forces in building the market for heavy goods vehicles which cut carbon, reduce emissions and lower fuel costs. In earlier research, the LowCVP has identified three main opportunities for cutting emissions from HGVs which pointed to the need for specific interventions: independent testing to validate the effectiveness of retrofit technology