EV drivers to be offered financial incentives to charge off-peak

UK Power Networks is offering financial incentives to electric vehicle (EV) drivers to charge their vehicle off-peak.

Up to 1,000 EV drivers across the South and East of England will take part in a trial, which is called Shift, to try and lessen the demand on local electricity networks.

The trial aims to develop a large-scale, smart charging solution that can be rolled out nationwide by flexibility service providers like ChargePoint operators, aggregators and energy suppliers.

UK Power Networks’ ‘market-led’ approach will see the power company work with entech supplier Octopus Energy, intelligent energy platform Kaluza and charge point operator Pod Point to explore the different business models and market mechanisms to deliver benefits from smart charging.

Ian Cameron, head of innovation at UK Power Networks said: ‘We’re really excited to be working with our customers and industry on a nationally-significant trial that could revolutionise the electric vehicle industry.

‘There has been a lot of talk about how smart charging could save customers money and help manage the network, but this is the first time we’ve actually set out to discover how.

‘Stakeholders have told us that a smart charging market is what they’d like to see because it gives them both choice and freedom over how they charge their electric vehicle. Listening to this feedback, we are working with others to design new devices that enable customers to benefit from the low carbon transport revolution.’

Last week, the government announced EV charge points will be built on every new UK home or office with a car parking space.

They also say that to mitigate any negative impact on housing supply due to the cost of creating a new connection to the grid, they are proposing an exemption of £3600 per charging point, which is more than three times the average cost of an electrical capacity connection required for one charge point.

The government hopes it will mean more vehicles are charged overnight, reducing pressure on the National Grid.

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