What_Car_UK_-_August_2020

whatcar.com^ August 2020^49

One idea that has taken off in London

and is starting to spread to other cities

is installing chargers in lamp-posts and

other street furniture. Lamp-post chargers

are cheaper to install than conventional

ones – typically around £1000 each –

because the electricity supply comes

from the lamp-post feed, so the street

doesn’t have to be dug up. Users are

required to buy a smart charging lead

that monitors the amount of electricity

consumed. Fees for use vary, because

they are often set by local authorities.

Another solution that doesn’t use

up valuable space on footpaths is the

pop-up charger, which literally pops up

out of the ground when summoned by

a smartphone app.

A trial of these has recently been

completed in Oxford, with more than

four- fths of the people who used them

saying they would recommend them

to friends and family.

Another energy provider, Ovo Energy,

is running a trial that it says will result in

the creation of the largest and most well-

established V2G fl eet in the world. It started

just over two years ago and involves around

1000 Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 van owners,

using V2G chargers and a web app to set

the time at which they want their car to be

charged up. The app decides when to charge

the batteries and when to export power to

the grid. Ovo says if owners leave their cars

plugged in regularly, they shouldn’t have to

pay to charge them up.

The company has already seen

interesting trends among the EV

owners who have signed up, with users

having a signifi cantly higher level of

engagement with V2G than with other

forms of EV charging. “Customers plug

their cars in every day, as opposed to

twice a week,” says Ovo. “They also plug

in for longer, because they understand

the value of doing so and are more

engaged with the technology than

those using standard EV chargers.

“V2G is a real game-changer as

we transition to an intelligent, zero-

carbon grid. Not only can it enable intelligent

charging of electric cars so that energy is

used at cheaper and greener times of the day,

but it also offers a bidirectional fl ow that

effectively turns individual households into

mini green power stations.”

However, not all current EVs can make use

of V2G chargers. To be compatible, they must

provide a bidirectional power fl ow that allows

energy back out of the car’s batteries. V2G-

compatible EVs are equipped with ‘Chademo’

charging ports and include models from

Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota.

However, other brands are researching the

potential of V2G, and it’s likely to be available

in more cars soon. Last November, BMW

announced that it is leading a Bidirectional

Charging Management consortium research

project in Germany, developing bidirectional

wallboxes and car charging systems. It is soon

to start a one-year pilot programme with 50

private and fl eet customers driving BMW i3s

to test the hardware.

Fiat has started to build its own V2G charging

station at its Mirafi ori factory in Italy. It will

initially have 32 charging columns, capable of

connecting up 64 vehicles, and by next July the

aim is to have charge points for 700 vehicles,

making it the world’s largest V2G facility.

Meanwhile, Tesla is reported to have started

installing bidirectional charging technology

into the Model 3 executive saloon – despite

claiming previously that V2G wasn’t viable

due to battery degradation.

So, it’s clear that many in the motor industry

and the environmental sector believe V2G has

big potential. While this technology is still in

its infancy, EV owners with a compatible car

can take advantage of it already and charge

their car’s battery virtually for free. Many of

the regional V2G pilot schemes we’ve heard

about will install their charging systems for

free and let trial participants keep them at

the end of the scheme.

Pop-up chargers

take up little space

on footpaths