Smart EV charging system for high-utilisation commercial fleets

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Road transport accounts for 21% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK (ONS, 2019). To meet climate and clean air targets, a rapid shift to zero-emission vehicles is required. The current pandemic has highlighted the need for urgent action, with studies suggesting that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 death.A lack of charging infrastructure is a key issue slowing adoption of electric vehicles. There is now significant momentum behind the development of car charging networks. However, none are suitable for large commercial vehicles such as HGVs and coaches due to a combination of high prices, unsuitable locations, low speeds and no guaranteed availability.Some users of large electric commercial vehicles have got around this by developing their own depot infrastructure. This requires significant upfront investment which is hard for businesses to justify in a COVID environment. It's also fundamentally inefficient, analogous to every business building their own petrol station. Finally, it's not suitable for businesses that are operating vehicles that do high mileages without regularly returning to base (hereafter referred to as "high-mileage fleets") -- e.g. long-distance HGVs, intercity buses and tour coaches.For this project, we are developing a charge station software platform designed around the needs of commercial users. Specific innovations will include:* Smart scheduling: A software platform that integrates with the ultra fast charging hardware and gives operators the ability to schedule charging sessions. This will be done via a web interface or through an API. The API will allow for smart use cases, for instance integrating charger scheduling with satellite navigation or drivers hours systems* Dynamic power management: Tight integration with charge station hardware will allow power delivery to be started and stopped based on a wide range of inputs. For instance, charging might be slowed down if the user does not require the vehicle for some time. This would minimise battery degradation and reduce strain on the grid (thereby reducing costs)* Availability monitoring: Heartbeat checks on the chargers will be combined with camera feeds allowing blocked spaces to be detected using machine learning. This will ensure absolute reliability of status information, critical for commercial users designing operations around charge point availabilityWe will demonstrate this solution with a working prototype at the end of the project.A similar solution does not currently exist in any market today and this project takes the first step to solving the chicken and egg problem for high-mileage fleets leading to real-world reductions in carbon emissions. We will commercialise our solution both by developing our own commercial charging stations and licencing the platform to other providers.