UK Power Networks to host free EV transition event

UK Power Networks will be presenting practical ways to help fleets ‘go electric’ at a free-to-attend seminar.

The event, which takes place on January 18 at the Science Gallery, London Bridge, will showcase the solutions, tools and processes that have been developed as part of the Optimise Prime trials to make fleet electrification journeys, easier, cheaper and faster.

To register to attend the event, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/optimise-prime-helping-fleets-go-electric-tickets-483116503467.

Optimise Prime saw UK Power Networks and Hitachi (now Novuna) join forces with Scottish and Southern Energy Networks as well as the UK's biggest fleet operators, Uber, Royal Mail, and British Gas to understand when, where and how often employees charge on-the-go, at home and in a depot. The live trials from the project concluded in June 2022.

Together, the group has produced the world’s largest EV dataset, providing insights into EV fleet behaviour as well as a Site Planning Tool - designed for any fleet manager to assess how to go electric at lowest cost.

Florentine Roy, innovation project lead at UK Power Networks, said: “We’ve worked hard to understand exactly how much energy fleets will require to charge, enabling us to model charging demand over the day and night to achieve the lowest cost for fleets to charge up. From up-front costs to charging infrastructure, we’ve identified and found solutions to the barriers stopping fleets making the switch to EVs.

“We’ve developed a new way for businesses to develop new income streams to cut the cost of running electric fleets, supporting their business model and enabling them to transition to EVs earlier.  For example, many fleet managers won’t have even thought that their EVs could be a source of income and not just a cost. If you have a fleet of 100 EVs charging in a depot, that’s 100 batteries’ worth of capacity that could be used to help the network at peak times.”

During the event, visitors will get the opportunity to learn from fleets who are already on their transition to EVs as well as hear from the Optimise Project Team including representatives from Royal Mail, Centrica, Uber, UK Power Network and Hitachi. UK Power Networks will be sharing information about the solutions it has been trailing that that will form part of tomorrow’s future and visitors can also find out more about the tools already available to make it easier for fleets to go electric.