What_Car_UK_-_August_2020

48 August 2020 whatcar.com

Innovativesolutionsarebeingfoundfor

the43%ofUKmotoristswhohavetopark

theirvehiclesonthestreet.Manyare

fundedbygovernmentgrantsviathe

On-StreetResidentialChargingScheme

(ORCS),whichhasprovidedEVcharger

fundingto 61 localauthoritiessofar.

New charging

solutions for

those without

off-street

parking

ADVICE

electricity supply can accommodate a 22kW

charger, though; these require a ‘three-phase’

electricity supply rather than the single-phase

supply that most households have. Basically,

your home’s electricity will either be supplied

by a single live wire or three live wires.

A simple way to check which you have is

to see how many 100-watt fuses there are in

your home’s fusebox. If there’sjustone,you’ve

got a single-phase circuit; if thereare

three, you have three-phase power.

You can have your single-phase

supply upgraded to a three-

phase connection; costs for

this will vary. Expect to pay

around £1200 to £1500 for

a 22kW charger before the

grant, or from £850 after

the grant has been applied.

You’ll also need to decide

whether you want a charger

with a cable permanently

attached to it (known as

‘tethered’) – or one into whichyou

plug a regular Type 2 cable, as youget

with most EVs. Having a tethered unit means

you simply plug the other end of the cable into

your car rather than having to get one out of

the boot every time you charge up. However,

the cable might not be compatible with all EVs;

you might need to use an adaptor if you change

cars or have more than one EV to charge.

Latest innovations in

EV charging

Since July last year, the EVHS grant has been

available only to buyers of smart chargers,

which enable you to use a smartphone app

to choose when the car is charged up or have

the batteries topped up by a certain time. The

advantage these have over basic chargers is

that you can choose to use electricity when it

is cheaper, usually in the middle of the night,

rather than simply plugging the car in and

recharging it when you get home from work.

In fact, this is only the beginning of a new era

for home charging; a whole new breed of even

smarter charging points is on the way. Around

the world, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-

everything (V2X) chargers are being trialled.

Their aim is twofold: to help EV owners charge

up for less and to manage demand for energy

by selling electricity back to the grid when

it’s needed. They also have the advantage of

being cheaper and simpler to install than

alternative home energy storage methods such

as the large battery banks offered by the likes

of Nissan and Tesla.

The National Grid predicts that there will

be as many as 11 million EVs on British roads

by 2030 and 36 million by 2040. It says V2G

chargers will provide a useful level of support

from 2030; even if V2G supplies only 2% of our

electricitybythen, that equates to 220,000

carsusingit, collectively supplying up

totwogigawatts of power at peak

times – enough to power around

two million homes for an hour.

“V2G charging systems are

among a range of new home

charging technologies being

developed for consumers

in the UK. As the number

of EVs grows and the size

and capabilities of batteries

increase, there is a huge

opportunity for them to be a

signifi cant electricity storage

resource for a smart grid,” says

PoppyWelch, head of Go Ultra

Low, the joint government and industry

organisation that provides motorists with

information about EVs. There are 20 new

V2G initiatives being funded through a

competition held by Innovate UK, backed

by a £30 million government award.

According to Go Ultra Low, this has made

the UK a world leader in V2G technology.

In June last year, energy provider

Octopus Energy launched a car leasing

and energy package that comes with a

V2G charger. Under the scheme, called

Powerloop, customers lease a car –

currently restricted to a 40kWh Nissan Leaf

• from the company for two or three years.
  They are given a vehicle-to-grid charger and

a £30 refund on the monthly lease fee for

every month in which they charge their car

up overnight at least 12 times. Assuming this

refund is granted every month, the resultant

annual saving of £360 is said to equate to

recharging the Leaf’s batteries enough to

complete 10,000 miles.

“There’s a huge amount of energy locked up

in electric cars,” says Octopus. “Just 10 Nissan

Leafs could power 1000 homes for an hour.

V2G gives us the ability to store and release

renewable energy whenever we need it.”

Octopus Energy customers can lease a Nissan Leaf

and get a vehicle-to-grid charger to help save money

Lamp-post chargers

allow the recharging

of EVs on the street

32,000

The number of public

EV charging points

now available

throughout the UK,

at around 11,000

locations.