Nottingham City Council is set to trial new electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, including battery storage and bi-directional chargers, as part of an EU-funded vehicle-to-grid (V2G) project. Nottingham is one of four European cities that have been selected as pilot sites for CleanMobilEnergy – a project backed by € 4.29m of EU funding which will utilise various clean energy systems and V2G technologies to support regional EV rollouts. The Council has purchased 40 new EVs to trial a V2G concept at its Eastcroft Depot site – a waste transfer facility – through an innovative energy management system. The project combines three main elements: solar panels at the Eastcroft Depot to generate electricity, a large battery to store energy until required, and a fleet of EVs for additional storage and operational purposes. The Council has also said that it plans to use the system to bid into ancillary services and trial selling flexible power. Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Energy and the Environment Sally Longford said: “Nottingham is leading the way when it comes to green transport and, as a Council, we’re on track to convert over 20% of our fleet to ultra-low-emission vehicles by 2020. “The 40 new vehicles we are planning to buy go further than that and embrace a revolutionary concept of using stationary vehicles as energy stores to resupply the power grid. On average, domestic cars sit idle for 95% of the time, and this project allows them not only to be charged, but also to feed electricity stored within their batteries back to the grid or nearby buildings.
Edie 27th Feb 2019 read more »
The decision to slash incentives on electric cars means the Government risks missing its own targets to radically increase the number of low-pollution vehicles on the roads, according to AutoTrader. Nathan Coe, boss of the car website, warned that last year’s decision to end grants on hybrid vehicles and reduce them by £1,000 to £3,500 on all-electric cars is deterring buyers. Last summer the Government said it wanted “at least” 50pc and up to 70pc of all new cars bought in Britain to be electric by 2030. Just 6pc of new cars bought in the UK last year were so-called Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles (AFVs), with some sort of electric power. This 50pc target in the Department of Transport’s “Road to Zero” plan followed an announcement in 2017 that new cars with only petrol or diesel engines would be banned by 2040.
Telegraph 27th Feb 2019 read more »
Only three-quarters of new cars sold in 2040 in the UK will be electrically powered, falling short of government targets, unless ministers increase incentives for consumers to buy battery vehicles, analysis by online marketplace Auto Trader suggests. Monitoring search and buying habits through its online platform of half-a-million cars, and a poll of 3,000 consumers, the group predicts in its latest market report that sales of electric or hybrid cars will overtake petrol and diesel by 2030, but will only account for 75 per cent of new sales a decade later. The government has a target of phasing out the sale of non-electrical cars by 2040, in efforts to cut Britain’s carbon emissions and improve city air quality.
FT 28th Feb 2019 read more »
Concerns over access to the electric vehicle (EV) public charging network across the UK have been raised by the Renewable Energy Association (REA), which has said “interoperability” should become an industry priority.
Edie 27th Feb 2019 read more »