Smart EV charging system for high-utilisation commercial fleets

道路运输占英国温室气体排放量的21% （ONS, 2019）。为了实现气候和清洁空气的目标，需要迅速转向零排放汽车。当前的大流行凸显了采取紧急行动的必要性，研究表明，接触细颗粒物（PM2.5）与COVID-19死亡风险增加有关。充电基础设施的缺乏是阻碍电动汽车普及的一个关键问题。目前，汽车充电网络的发展势头强劲。然而，由于价格高、位置不合适、速度低以及无法保证可用性，没有一个适合大型商用车，如重型货车和长途客车。一些大型电动商用车的用户通过开发自己的仓库基础设施来解决这个问题。这需要大量的前期投资，而在新冠环境下，企业很难证明这一点。从根本上说，这也是低效的，就像每个企业都建立自己的加油站一样。最后，它不适合那些运营高里程且不定期返回基地的车辆（以下简称“高里程车队”）的企业，例如长途载重货车、城际巴士和旅游大巴。对于这个项目，我们正在开发一个充电站软件平台，围绕商业用户的需求而设计。具体创新将包括：*智能调度：一个与超快速充电硬件集成的软件平台，使运营商能够安排充电时间。这将通过web界面或API完成。该API将支持智能用例，例如将充电器调度与卫星导航或驾驶员小时数系统集成在一起*动态电源管理：与充电站硬件的紧密集成将允许基于广泛的输入启动和停止供电。例如，如果用户一段时间不需要这辆车，充电速度可能会减慢。*可用性监控：充电器的心跳检查将与摄像头馈送相结合，允许使用机器学习检测阻塞空间。这将确保状态信息的绝对可靠性，这对于商业用户围绕充电点可用性设计操作至关重要。我们将在项目结束时用工作原型演示该解决方案。类似的解决方案目前在任何市场上都不存在，该项目为解决高里程车队的鸡和蛋问题迈出了第一步，从而减少了实际的碳排放。我们将通过开发自己的商业充电站和向其他供应商授权该平台来实现我们的解决方案的商业化。

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.