Optimise Prime electric vehicle project to present at Fleet Live 2019

Key stakeholders from Optimise Prime, the world’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) trial, will be presenting and holding a Q&A session on the project at this year’s Fleet Live in October.

Fleet Live is the UK’s leading event for the fleet management community and gives decision-makers the chance to face future challenges and opportunities together with two days of learning, sharing and networking at the NEC in Birmingham on October 8-9.

Optimise Prime is a three-year project that launched earlier this year involving UK Power Networks and data business Hitachi Vantara, supported by Scottish and Southern Energy Networks and Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions.

Royal Mail, Centrica and Uber are key stakeholders in the project and will jointly run 3,000 EVs over the next three years.

The project looks to identify practical ways of overcoming the infrastructure concerns that are one of the biggest barriers to success with fleets looking to adopt EVs. The trial will also take a close look at total cost of ownership (TCO) for vehicles used in the trial.

Optimise Prime is intentionally vehicle agnostic and includes depot, home, and on-the-road charging scenarios.

Stuart Fowler, Centrica Business Solutions DNO Commercial Manager, said: “It’s still early days with the project but we will be talking about the reasons why we got involved and what we’re trying to achieve.

"On the surface of it, the project has some simple goals looking at electrification of fleet vehicles, but there are many complexities around vehicle charging management, data and how this links to networks.

“Having the different stakeholders there at the show to present and debate will also shed light on our different objectives and perspectives.”

The UK’s big commercial vehicle operators must overcome several obstacles before they adopt EVs on a large scale – all the way from the up-front capital hurdle to managing charging times.

Optimise Prime stakeholders are also looking to understand whether these vehicles can support the electricity network and help keep costs low for customers by discharging during peak times and recharging off-peak.

Duncan Webb, Royal Mail commercial director, said: “As a large fleet operator, I feel there is a shared responsibility to update the industry on the Optimise Prime trial.

“There are many fleets across the UK that are at different stages of their electrification strategy and Fleet Live presents the perfect opportunity to open up discussion and debate with delegates in attendance about this important topic.”

• Optimise Prime: The world’s biggest electric vehicle trial seminar session will be on day one of Fleet Live on October 8 at 14:00 in the Strategy Theatre in Hall 20 at the NEC in Birmingham. This session is just one of over 20 seminar sessions that will be held across both days at this year’s show.
• Fleet Live takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on October 8 and 9, and is free to fleet decision-makers. For more details, visit fleet-live.co.uk